Who Controls Quality?

Connie was quite upset to find her production line and her people idle when she returned from her morning break. Everyone was standing around the head of the line engaging in social chitchat. Two inspectors from quality control were arguing with one of her people, Albert.

"What's going on?" asked Connie. Albert started to speak but was interrupted by Brenda, one of the quality control inspectors.

"Connie, your robot 62 was malfunctioning. I shut the line down because the parts were getting welds that were too thin."

"You have no right to shut my line down," snapped Connie. "I'm in charge of this line and I am the one to shut it down when there are problems. I suppose you've screwed around with the robot too. The minute I turn my back, you people sneak in here and mess up the operations. How come you never find a problem when I am here?"

"Look, Connie, I didn't consult you because you weren't here twenty minutes ago when the problem was spotted by Jean, my assistant. I told your people to stop production until the problem could be traced. Jean traced it to robot 62, and we were about to send a search party after you. It's your job to adjust the robots, but it's our job to inspect your output."

"I tried to tell them that we can't stop the line without your permission," said Albert, "but they ‘pulled the plug' anyway. I told you she would be mad, Brenda."

"Look, Brenda, I'm the one responsible for what comes off my line. My people and I are committed to quality production. Anything that affects this line affects me. Your job is to advise me, not run my line when I'm not here."

"Connie, all of us are committed to quality. What did you want us to do-let your line continue to produce defects until you came back?" asked Jean.

1. Who is in charge of quality in this case? Who should be and why?

2. What lessons are there in this case about delegation?

3. Should quality control inspectors have the authority to stop production when they spot defects? Why?