Staffing and Quality of Work

As the supervisor of an assembly line responsible for assembling tuning devices that go into cell phones, I have discovered poor quality distribution in my group. This has caused our units to be re-called and reworked which is costly and gives the company a bad reputation for its product. In order to assess the problem I must eliminate any other possible reasons for the failure. It may be that the equipment, the machines or the original parts in the assembly are defective or damaged. Once I am assured that it is not a mechanical problem, I can actively assess and address the training of the employees. My boss has attributed the problem to the training of my employees so I must address this issue and resolve the problem expeditiously. When companies have problems with employees, their typical responses are to train, transfer, and coach and counsel them, then threaten, discipline and replace them (Ricciardi, 1996). All of these responses are based on the assumption that the root of all performance problems is defective people, when in fact; people are only one element in a complex performance process (Ricciardi, 1996). In order to improve a performance system, dedication to managing the system and not just correcting people is needed. Many companies fail to recognize the difference between productivity and quality of output, focusing instead on one or the other (Ricciardi, 1996).

Training programs that concentrate solely on productivity create a quick employee that processes work at an intense pace which unfortunately, may cause the employee to make mistakes that are passed on to customers (Companies, 1994). A focus on quality may generate great products, but also unacceptable lead times and missed delivery dates whereas poor ...

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...raining will not only address the possibility of lack of training but will inform management of the progress by providing data, providing feedback, and continuing to work on viable solutions for continued improvement. Our goal is to create a training program that will include quality control measures to test quality of our part in the cell phone assembly before they are introduced to the market.

Works Cited

Companies worried about workforce performance. (1994, June). Industrial Engineering, 26(6), 6. Retrieved March 7, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 21748).

Dessler, G. (2011). A Framework for Human Resource Management (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Ricciardi, P. (1996, March). Simplify your approach to performance measurement. HRMagazine, 41(3), 98. Retrieved March 7, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 9323414).