Please read the case, then answer the questions below:

Concise introduction to the case & the issue(s)/problem(s) contained

The TRS Group is a leading manufacturer of machine components, which headquarters were also awaiting an explanation from him. He could feel the comprises a development, manufacturing, and sales network with more than 200 tension in the air when he was speaking to his boss on the phone. His boss asked subsidiaries and regional companies in approximately 45 countries. Founded in him many questions: "Do you have a plan? What are your next steps going to be? the early 20 th century, the company had built a strong global reputation Moreover, what is going to happen if the head of the machinery division, supported by high-quality production and a culture of trust and collaboration. In scheduled to perform his yearly visit to the Bursa Unit next week to assess its late 2007, David Phillips was the Technical Manager of the TRS subsidiary located general performance, decides not to continue to invest here?" in Bursa, Turkey, which was one of the earliest established operational units of News of this visit only served to escalate Phillips' anxiety. He knew that it was the TRS Group. TRS employed around 4500 skilled associates and set an industry benchmark in manufacturing highly complex machine parts, with many quality essential that they solve the mystery of the defective product and restore trust awards, lean production, and a continuous improvement culture. and peace in the organisation again. One morning all employees received an email from the senior management Putting down the phone, Phillips pondered on how fast things seemed to have about a defective product that had been sent to a customer. An engine escalated since the defect was first discovered, He started to reflect on what type component had not met the quality standards and caused a major safety of problem this presented to the company and what would need to be his next problem. Thus, the customer who used this defected product had to recall step. thousands of its subassemblies. This was considered by Phillips to be PART-B unacceptable for a company like TRS, famous for its zero-defect policy and lean Phillips had been working for TRS Group for 13 years when he moved to Turkey processes. "We want to learn how it happened and take the necessary measures with his family to join the Bursa plant as a technical manager in 2006 . He was tall to prevent it from happening again, " he indicated in the email. All the quality and generously proportioned, with a personality to match. If he was not smiling, teams were informed about the quality problem during their routine shop floor his hard face was generally full of determination. He had a clear, analytical mind, meeting. Other TRS plants that produced the same component were informed as and tended to speak only when he felt that his words were better than his a precautionary measure. Phillips feared that if the problem could happen in silence, albeit he was known to have the last word on most matters. He held a Bursa, it could have also occurred in other plants as well. In this way all affected mechanical engineering degree from Hungary and a PhD from a reputable process owners in TRS Global were warned about the possible defect. Phillips felt Austrian technical university. He started his career in the TRS group as a process that the most important thing was to find out the root cause of the quality engineer in Corporate Research and Development. During his years in the problem. All employees were invited to inform their respective managers about company, he worked in several management positions mainly in Manufacturing, anything they knew about the defect. Production managers started a thorough Quality, Safety, and Project Management, as well as contributing to several investigation at the shop floor among the blue-collar employees, and all cameras corporate functions. He had a broad range of experience in different divisions of were reviewed several times for the possible periods during which the defect the group and hence was welcomed by the group's senior management as a might have occurred; however, nothing was found. A group of managers began highly experienced technical leader in Turkey. to think that it was an external sabotage activity. This soon led to rumors and TRS Bursa Unit had been dedicated to total quality management (TQM) systems conspiracy tales among employees in both the main offices and the shop floor. since 1999. This started with a competition among all associates to determine a By the end of the week, Phillips was growing impatient. Managers from the TRS slogan to carry the company into the 21 st century. The slogan: "Follow quality with us" set the ambitious standards for the entire company. This slogan was so targets, results, and the improvements that had been achieved across the plant highly espoused that several years later employees were still wearing t-shirts consistently proclaimed the strengths of the company. emblazoned with the slogan. The major milestones of this change period "Continuous improvement" was another core value of the company inherited included the development of mission statements, vision, values, leadership principles, policy and strategy documents, all of which contributed to the development of what many believed to be the strong corporate culture the company had continued to sustain well into the new millennium. from its founder, who once said, "Practice the philosophy of continuous improvement, get a little bit better every single day!" Many tools and systems were designed to achieve this value; for example, Lean Production Systems had In 2005, the TRS Bursa Unit received a prestigious and widely recognised quality been implemented with the objective of having a culture of continuous prize. During 2004-2006, the company went through a rapid phase of growth improvement of manufacturing and logistics processes, to detect and remove with increased investments, production, and employees. It was during this period waste, and to use standards like Kanban1 and Heijunka2 boards. Another tool that Phillips joined the Bursa unit. In spite of the upturn in production, a few was the Shop Floor Management Cycle (SFMC), which included cycle-time Turkish managers had warned him about some perceived risks that had become documentation, hourly tracking of the line performance, and systematic growing concerns. "Many new employees joined the Bursa unit during the recent problem-solving tools. Since 1999, many different methodologies had been growth phase. Recruiting new employees brings creativity to the company; introduced to the production processes to improve quality. Intensive application however, there is also a risk. Full deployment of the corporate culture to the new of quality methods such as Firewall3, FMEA4, and Poka-Yoke5 resulted in zero employees should be considered." They were keen to remind Phillips of the defects and rapid quality improvements. The Bursa Unit had two groups of strong total quality management culture that had been built over time, due customers a) internal customers (other TRS departments or plants that used largely to the efforts of the Turkish managers and the strong corporate values of Bursa unit products as part of their products or shipped them directly to the end whole TRS Group. Phillips was assured that TRS had always been a company customer) and b) external customers. Quality parameters were tracked closely driven by its values. These organisational values were first determined at a and carefully for each customer group. In the external customer's group, the management workshop in 1999 and had continued to be driving force for the company had only once experienced a problem that caused a 28 ppm6 failure organisation's success. Trust was one of the core values of the company culture. rate in 2002. Rejection rates had, in fact, dropped to 0 ppm in the last three Building trust inside of the organisation (especially between employees and years. Similarly, for internal customers, rejection rates had decreased from 59 management) was an essential issue as well as building trust with customers. The ppm to 0ppm in the past three years. To solve the problem, a Q-team (quality senior management strived to build this trust by open communication and to team) supported by an experienced black belt and an external Shainin expert was ensure effective deployment of the right information at the right time to the brought in to bring the performance back to its former level. right people and in the right way. This was accomplished using many tools such as information meetings, review meetings, employee dialogues, associate 1 Signboard or billboard in Japanese. Kanban is a scheduling system for lean manufacturing and just-in-time manufacturing (JIT). A kanban passes on surveys, and open house sessions. Since the senior management wanted a information that typically would be communicated via words and visualizes it on company-wide commitment to the vision, mission, and values, all meeting a Kanban board, allowing team members to see the state of every piece of work rooms, offices and the shop floor were adorned with posters about the vision, mission, and TRS Group values. As well as these soft issues, visualisations of at any time. 2 Heijunka means leveling of production by volume or product type in the lean production system. 3 Firewalls provide a detailed analysis of all process Quality Gates (inspection areas), cross-referenced with potential faults via Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis (PFMEA) and actual faults found in the respectful of different cultures, supportive and result oriented, who quickly process. 4 Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) is a step-by-step approach gained the trust of his colleagues and the approval of his managers. He was the for identifying all possible failures in a design, a manufacturing or assembly kind of man with a motto "Difficult is done at once; impossible takes a little process, or a product or service. 5 Poka-yoke is any mechanism in a lean longer". Some employees described him as pokerfaced because of his calm manufacturing process that helps an equipment operator avoid (yokeru) persona. He had a big role in persuading TRS Group headquarters to invest more mistakes (poka). Its purpose is to eliminate product defects by preventing, in the Bursa Unit. He and a few other managers were considered champions of correcting, or drawing attention to human errors as they occur. 6 Parts per the TRS company culture, and they were also mentors for new foreign plant million. managers. When Phillips joined the company, he determined that the company vision be to It was 9 am on Monday morning, and Phillips noticed that the calendar was cost competitive and to strengthen trust with customers through zero defects. giving an alert for a meeting about the defective product. The participation of Phillips soon became a strong promoter of this corporate culture on the shop Phillips, Acar, and the new production manager was required. At 09:05, Phillips floor, emphasising the mission, vision, and corporate values on all possible and Acar were at the meeting room, still waiting for the new production occasions. He always mentioned that "Leadership on the shop floor is a manager, Ahmet Korkmaz. Phillips was always punctual, never putting up with challenge. We need leaders who can spend more time on improvement activities late arrivals to meetings, and in principle, never waiting for anyone for more than and troubleshooting." In 2007, the company was recognised with an award for its five minutes. Everyone knew this in the Bursa Unit. Phillips stood up and said: Six Sigma projects. Following these successes, Phillips and the Commercial "Ok, that's it--we don't have more than five minutes to waste." Director became committed to a new challenge to motivate employees in their total quality management journey. For this purpose, a project was established to They left the meeting room and continued to discuss other topics while walking win a quality award. The Bursa Unit had won the award in 2005, and with this to their offices. The arranged meeting was rescheduled for 13:00 with the project, the unit was keen to reclaim this award once again to prove that they participation of all managers, who now made sure they were on time. The were still the best benchmark in total quality management. However, this project was full of risks. If they won, the Bursa unit would show that they were still the meeting began with excuses from Korkmaz for delaying the meeting in the best benchmark in Europe, even among other TRS group plants. However, if they morning. Phillips mentioned briefly how important punctuality is at TRS and then did not win, it would be a serious disappointment. To mitigate against this, they came to the main issue: the defective product that was sent to its customer. Phillips put Cem Acar in charge of the project. Korkmaz began: "We are lucky that the defective product was sent to an internal Acar had become a role model leader of Total Quality Management in the customer. Otherwise, the pressure would be high for us." organisation, especially on the shop floor. He was one of the key people who had Phillips responded: "It doesn't matter whether the customer is internal or not. built and deployed the total quality management culture all over the Quality is our top priority. We still don't know how it happened, and frankly, I organisation. Phillips noted that Acar had had an amazing success story, which really don't understand how it could happen in spite of all our control processes." had seen him rise from the shop floor to the management ranks of TRS Bursa The managers in the room could see his face was starting to turn red, which Unit. He had been responsible for the coordination of continuous improvement tended to happen when he was getting angry. "Everything that happens once in the early steps of his career. He was considered to be a polite role model, Acar interjected confidently: "We've taken all the necessary measures to prevent Phillips thought about this for a moment: "What if we postpone the employee this from happening again. All related employees in the Bursa Unit, as well as the satisfaction survey for a couple of months to allow time for things to settle back other TRS plants, have been warned about the issue. As agreed in the last quality down?" However, Acar was insistent: "No, this will only strengthen the mistrust of review meeting, a special Q-team has been formed. They have already begun to employees in top management." work on it. The team will soon analyse the reasons including all possible Phillips retorted: "So what do you suggest we do to increase the motivation of scenarios and take the necessary actions for improvement. I am sure that our the shop floor employees for the Quality Award?" Acar hesitated: "This project team can manage this quality problem." He turned the new production manager belongs to them more than me. All our employees are involved in at least some and continued. "However, we mustn't risk the possibility of another defect in part of it. They have planned and implemented each step. However, we're very production. You saw the headquarters visit yesterday. Thankfully everything went near to its end, and I'm starting to realise that the employees on the shop floor well. However, increasing defect rates means less investment from the TRS group now need extra motivation. During my time in this company, I have seen that to the Bursa Unit, and it means less employment and less employment security. when associates in the shop floor start expressing different values, the overall All employees of the Bursa Unit should also know this fact. This is the reality of effect is decreased motivation. For example, in our last weekly meeting in the Turkey." shop floor, one of our colleagues said, "The success of Bursa in Europe will also Korkmaz seemed impressed by Acar's speech. Acar continued: "But there is mean success in Turkey." Emphasising this point was a huge motivator. I think we something more important about this quality problem. There is someone out can build on this discourse on the shop floor. "Our flag will be waved over there who knew about this problem, and this person is hiding. Of course, we are Europe with our quality award". We can also have posters prepared that not looking to point a guilty finger, but we need the information to ensure we've incorporate the TRS company logo, the Quality Award, and Turkish flags all accounted for the causes. It doesn't sit well with our culture to simply let this one together". go. My guess is he is someone who is new in the TRS Bursa Unit. However, you Korkmaz was unsure: "What does this quality award mean for us? I am confused." know the shop floor; this kind of thing may cause mistrust and gossip if it is not Acar sought to clarify: "The Award itself is not our main aim, of course, but it is a handled properly. I heard some rumours from the shop floor. Some blue-collar employees believe that management will charge the cost of the defect to the tool that will motivate us along our long total quality management journey. employees." That's why it is important." Phillips continued: "Where there is smoke there is fire. My own experience tells Phillips agreed: "Well, I am certain the project motivates the employees on the me that trust in the shop floor is just like an eraser; it gets smaller and smaller shop floor. You know them better than me. Anyway, I will arrange an information after every mistake." Acar responded: "It is also a threat for our quality award meeting and invite all blue- and white-collar employees together on Wednesday. project. These kinds of rumours have a negative effect on the motivation of our We should provide clear and direct communication about the defect. Please employees. You know, according to our calendar, we will be conducting the prepare me a draft presentation in Turkish. I think we should remind everyone of employee satisfaction survey next week. Given these circumstances, I wouldn't be the importance of trust." surprised if employee satisfaction decreases by as much as two or three points. On Wednesday, Phillips presented his speech in Turkish, as agreed. He did this We need to weigh up the risks for the award." when he really wanted to reach the hearts and their feelings of the employees. A huge crowd was waiting for him and, as usual, he was there on time. While he knew what needed to be said, he never felt as comfortable in these situations as he did on the shop floor. His speech was not very fluent; however, most felt it was both sincere and touching. He mentioned that this was not just a quality problem but also a cultural problem, and he added that quality defects were easier than cultural defects. He seemed confident when he stated: "Leaders in TRS never try to find a guilty person when they face a defective product or a challenge; instead, leaders in TRS try to find the reasons and take the proper corrective measures. This is called continuous improvement, and we all need it. Likewise, employees in TRS never hide important information from management because they all know that we are all one team. This is called TRUST; it's what this organisation was built on, and we all need it." He closed his speech by guaranteeing that the employee or employees who caused the defect would not face any punishment. The last slide of the presentation that included a quote from the founder of TRS was projected on the big screen. "If you don't have trust inside your company, then you can't transfer it to your customers