What do they do when you’re not there?

Stephanie Gaulding, CQA, CPGP

Principal Consultant – Quality and Regulatory Compliance
Stephanie.Gaulding@dpsgroupglobal.com | https://www.linkedin.com/in/sgaulding/

13 October 2017
Key topics

Typical signs of “good” and “bad” organizational

culture, specifically with respect to quality

Integrating cultural assessment into a supplier

management program

Techniques for gathering “data” on an organization’s

culture during an on-site assessment

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
What is culture?

Culture is the personality of an organization

and is driven by the assumptions, values,
norms and behaviors of the employees.

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
 • Behaviors
Tangible • Skills
• Practices

• Values

Intangible • Morals
• Attitudes
• Assumptions

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
Typical Quality Culture Descriptions
Undesirable Desirable

Reactive / Firefighting Proactive / Continuous Improvement

Finger pointing Root cause focused
Drinking from a fire hose Planned and managed
Pound out the pounds Right the first time
Do what you’re told Empowered employees
We’ve always done it that way There is always a better way
Quality is QA’s job Quality is my job
Silos Teams / Collaborative

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
Types of Quality Cultures

Predictive

Proactive

Reactive

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
Supplier Management

Strategy Governance Quality

Performance
Capacity Mindset
(KPIs)

Audits &
Risk People
Assessments

Competency Agreements Processes

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
Carter’s 10 Cs of Supplier Evaluation

Clean

Culture
Culture Communication

Consistency Competency

Supplier
Evaluation
Cost Capacity

Cash Commitment

Control

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
Prepare: Understand your own culture
• Values?
• Key Cultural Dimensions and Indicators?
• Mindsets?

You

Supplier
October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
Questionnaires / Self- Assessments

• Typically used for

quick, initial
information gathering
– Basic facts and
figures
– Often yes/no or fill in
the blank structure

Not helpful in assessing culture!

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
Looking at Culture: The Tour
Keep your eyes open for cultural indicators

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
Looking at Culture: Other observations
Cultural observations don’t stop on the tour….
• Opening and closing meetings
– Start on-time and don’t drag on
– Level of engagement
• Document reviews
– Request response time
– Handing of pre-requests
• Management Reviews and Trending
– Frequency
– Content

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
Looking at Culture: Examine Major Events

Unexpected
jump in
employee
turnover

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
Looking at Culture: Interviewing
Ask lots of questions then….Listen, listen and listen!
• Look for non-verbal clues especially for disconnects
• Tune in to what they’re saying, recap, then record

Communication Continuous Mindset and

Governance
and Collaboration Improvement Attitudes
• How are • How did you • How did you • Tell me about
objectives and solve XYZ achieve a XX% your role in XYZ.
KPIs problem? reduction in • Describe the
determined? • How was XYZ deviations? approach you
• How are they (an issue) • How did you used in making
monitored? communicated achieve a XX% XYZ decision.
and to whom? increase in on-
time shipments?

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
Audit Wrap Up
• Include any concerns during closing meetings – no
surprises!
• Include in summary section of reports - not as
specific findings
• Ensure cultural concerns are understood internally
– Improvement plans
– Coaching / mentoring

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
And then?
• Select performance metrics that include cultural
dimensions
– On-time deliveries / Right the first time
– Complaint rate
– Repeat corrective actions
– Etc.
• Know triggers for re-assessment
– Major events
– Decline in performance metrics

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison
 Questions?

October 12 - 13, 2017 26th Annual ASQ Audit Division Conference: The Intercontinental Addison