Are there any management practices that seem to make sense but actually don’t? Does your company have such things?

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Are there any management practices that seem to make sense but actually don’t? Does your company have such things? Some managers tend to think that \"the stricter the management, the better.\" Is it really true that the stricter it is, the better? Is it really true that the stricter the management, the better for the company? Let’s take a look at the following work behaviors: they may seem strict on the surface, but do they truly bring benefits to the company? Method 1: Choose to cooperate as long as the price of the supplied materials is low. [Current situation] In some companies, the personnel in charge of procurement consider only the price when purchasing materials; they will immediately enter into a partnership with the supplier if the supply cost is low, even if payment has to be made upfront. 【Recommendation】It is inevitable for those responsible for material procurement to consider price, but price should not be the only factor taken into account. Other considerations include the distance between the supplier and the company, the supplier’s management level, the stability of the quality of goods supplied, the supplier’s after-sales service, the terms of payment for cooperation, the supplier’s ability for technical development, and the compatibility of these materials with other materials in use. Only when all these aspects meet the company’s requirements can cooperation with that supplier be considered. In other words, when selecting a supplier, it is the cost-performance ratio that matters, not just the price alone ； If only price factors are considered and other aspects are ignored, issues such as unstable material quality from new suppliers, unreliable delivery times, inadequate after-sales service, management levels that do not match those of the company, and materials that are incompatible with other materials used in production may arise. These problems could cause immense and incalculable losses to the company. Method 2: Return the goods as long as the purchased materials are of substandard quality. [Current situation] As suppliers, quality control during production also relies on sampling inspections, and it is impossible to ensure 100% compliance with standards. In practice, some quality management personnel, when conducting inspections on the quality of incoming materials, decide to reject those goods outright if they find them to be substandard. Although this seems like a strict form of quality control and an effective approach for company management, it actually imposes significant negative effects on the company’s operational costs. 【Recommendation】Quality inspection personnel handling incoming materials should classify the quality requirements into different levels based on the severity of the impact that the quality of these materials has on the company’s products (such as critical quality indicators and general quality indicators). Different AQL values should be assigned to each level of quality indicators. The advantage of this approach is that it enables a fair, reasonable, and scientific partnership with suppliers, helps to deepen the cooperation between both parties, and reduces the company’s procurement management costs ； If a penalty of death is imposed without any consideration for the circumstances, simply because something does not meet the standards, it may seem as though the company incurs no loss (after all, the goods are returned and the company doesn’t have to pay for them). In reality, however, significant losses are incurred, such as wasted time, delays in production schedules, delays in meeting customer deadlines, wasted effort by inspection staff, wasted resources on procurement activities, a decline in the quality of cooperation with suppliers, and constant efforts to find new suppliers. In more severe cases, it could even lead to the company never being able to find a suitable supplier. Method 3: Never visit the suppliers of key materials. [Current situation] Some procurement staff believe that it is sufficient to return the materials if they do not meet the standards, as this will not cause any loss to the company; as a result, they rarely make an effort to visit the suppliers of key materials in order to understand their actual situation and take preventive measures so that the company can obtain materials that continue to meet the required standards in the future ； Some leaders even believe that making on-site visits to suppliers is a waste of time and money, and it’s better to use that time to do other tasks within the company. 【Recommendation】As a procurement professional, it is not sufficient to simply issue purchase orders based on the company’s needs, monitor the progress of purchases, and assume that the procurement task is complete once the supplier delivers the goods on time. In reality, procurement involves various other steps such as supplier selection, evaluation of suppliers, on-site inspections of suppliers, product testing, material procurement, assessment of suppliers’ performance, subsequent on-site audits of suppliers, and providing guidance to suppliers. Therefore, to become a competent procurement professional, all these aspects need to be managed properly; none of them can be ignored, as otherwise it will have serious negative consequences for both the company’s procurement cost management and procurement quality control. Especially for critical materials that have a significant impact on the company’s product quality, it is necessary to develop plans for inspecting the suppliers’ facilities as well as specific inspection standards. Regular assessments should be carried out at the suppliers’ sites to gain a thorough understanding of their actual management practices. Even when there are no issues with the cooperation, potential management problems can be identified together with the suppliers, allowing for timely resolution. Method 4: Viewing training as a waste of time 【Current situation】As managers, their primary task is to continuously improve the team’s work skills and align their thinking. A good and efficient way to do this is to provide training for the team based on actual needs. However, in reality, some managers believe that it would be better to use the time spent on training to produce products instead; they see training as a waste of time and an expense, and think that it is better to focus on producing more products. While this may seem like a way to boost production efficiency, it actually creates serious obstacles to the company’s development. 【Recommendation】If the team is not trained, it is possible that they will not know how to operate the equipment or be unaware of the specific requirements for the manufacturing process; as a result, they may produce products that either fail to meet quality standards or do not satisfy the customer’s requirements ； Secondly, the team’s understanding of quality standards differs from that of the management, which results in a large number of defective products being produced ； Furthermore, the team does not know what amount of work needs to be completed each day to meet the company’s expectations; as a result, it is very likely that despite the team’s hard efforts, the manager remains dissatisfied, which leads to almost zero team cohesion ； Therefore, every company should provide training for its teams from time to time; it’s not sufficient to train only middle management – front-line employees also need training, especially when new processes or products are introduced. In addition, training should be conducted periodically on aspects such as a sense of responsibility, quality awareness, cost consciousness, efficiency, and teamwork, in order to continuously enhance the team’s sense of belonging, achievement, responsibility, and commitment. Method 5: Thinking that having regular conversations with employees is a waste of time and effort. [Current situation] As a manager, don’t assume that just because your employees arrive and leave work on time every day everything is fine; don’t think that the fact that they aren’t upset means everything is in order, nor assume that their lack of complaints toward you indicates smooth operations. Sometimes, behind this apparent calmness, there can be serious management issues. Otherwise, how could it happen that employees who seem to be performing well and showing no signs of problems suddenly decide to resign, giving reasons that they themselves are sometimes unwilling to admit as true? 【Recommendation】As managers, it is important to learn to have regular conversations with their subordinates. Each such conversation does not need to be long; rather, managers should learn to listen to what their subordinates have to say. Through these conversations, they can understand the subordinates’ inner thoughts and feelings, as well as their views on the company. Such conversations help to bridge the gap between team members, strengthen team cohesion, enhance subordinates’ sense of belonging, and boost their sense of professional dignity and respect. Additionally, they help the company make management decisions that are more in line with reality, contribute to the development of a corporate culture, promote unity among team members, and foster a sense of shared purpose and empathy among them. Method 6: Blindly accepting customers’ orders 【Current situation】In order to secure customer orders, they never consider the actual conditions of the company (such as whether delivery can be made on time or whether the company’s capabilities can meet the customer’s requirements). Their only mindset is to accept the orders first, and therefore they are willing to make any kind of promise before accepting an order ； But after placing the order, the delivery dates kept getting delayed, and quality issues kept arising; we had to explain things to the customers over and over again. 【Recommendation】The most important thing for a company is to keep its promises and be trustworthy, especially in collaborations with customers. Every time taking on a customer’s order, it is necessary to carefully consider whether the company’s actual conditions – such as existing orders, daily production capacity, technical development capabilities, and costs – are sufficient to meet the customer’s requirements regarding delivery times, quality, and service. If, for some reason, these conditions cannot be met, it is important to explain the situation honestly to the customer before accepting the order. Every customer will understand and appreciate honesty, and this will facilitate constructive negotiations. Even if the results of those negotiations do not meet the customer’s expectations, it is better for the customer to refuse the order than for the company to accept it through deception only to fail to fulfill the requirements time and again ； If customer orders are acquired through deception or trickery, it may seem as though the company has a high volume of orders, but since this volume far exceeds the company’s capacity to handle them, the company will end up in a situation where its business reputation is irreparably damaged; even if efforts are made to remedy the situation later, it will be very difficult to regain a solid business reputation in the market. Method 7: Blindly agreeing to the cooperation terms proposed by clients 【Current situation】Some sales staff, in order to secure sufficient orders from clients, sign agreements without giving them proper consideration – sometimes just taking a brief look, and other times not even reading them at all. As a result, during the subsequent collaboration, it turns out that the terms proposed by the clients pose many risks to the company, such as extended payment terms, quality penalties, and delays in delivery – all of which are unacceptable to the company. 【Recommendation】As business professionals or business departments, one should pay close attention to and carefully examine the cooperation terms proposed by clients. This is necessary in order to determine which of those requirements can be accepted by the company and which cannot. For those that cannot be accepted, it is essential to communicate with the client in a timely and patient manner to reach an agreement. If no solution can be found through negotiation, the severity of the impact on the company’s development should be considered, and the matter should be reported to higher management for discussion on appropriate countermeasures. If the company still cannot find a solution, it is better to inform the client of the actual situation; failing to reach an agreement with the client is far less harmful than making decisions blindly, which could harm the company’s development. Method 8: Any defective products produced are to be dismissed as scrap. [Current situation] Some quality management professionals, in an effort to avoid hassle, decide that any defective products that arise during the production process must be discarded outright. While this approach may seem like strict management, it actually reflects a lack of management skills, no awareness of quality or economics, and a failure to understand the company’s product and quality standards, the actual conditions of production, and customer requirements. In more severe cases, it indicates a complete lack of understanding of quality management practices. 【Recommendation】Regardless of the stage at which non-conforming products are detected (such as during production inspections, quality checks upon product receipt, or quality inspections before product shipment), such non-conformities should be classified (for example, into minor non-conformities, serious non-conformities, and critical non-conformities). Appropriate quality decision-making measures should then be taken based on the severity of the non-conformity (such as rework, repurposing, using the product at a lower grade, selecting suitable units for use, granting special approval or accepting the product despite its defects, or discarding it) ； Secondly, as an excellent quality management professional, in addition to handling quality management tasks properly, one must also possess a proper awareness of quality economics and costs, and should constantly seek ways to help the company reduce its quality management expenses. Please consider the actual situation in your company and analyze whether there are also such management practices that appear strict but are actually wasteful.