The case of the missing magnets

My name is Grady. This is the plant where I work. No, I'm no private eye. I'm a supervisor. But, well, all those who done it on TV, sometimes they get you. You know what I mean? Just let something go wrong, and who gets assigned to solve the mystery? Grady, that's who. And on the morning I'm going to tell you about, I had a real case to solve. I know you've been in the same boat, or one like it. So, maybe you'll get a charge out of seeing how fast you can spot the clues. Maybe you can solve it faster than I did. Try it anyway. The case opened with a piece of paper. The weekly production chart. The trouble was there in cold, hard figures. Man hours of labor up, production down. And my job? Find out why. It was the case of the missing magnets. Right away, I started getting my arguments ready. Absenteeism, inexperienced help, supplies not delivered on schedule. You know the alibis. Trouble was, so did the boss. Hello. Talk louder. Something's wrong with the phone. Well, why don't you have it fixed, Mr. G? Guy's supposed to come today. Um What's up, Sally? Boss want to see me? No, I just thought you'd like to know, Mr. G. He'll be out of town till tomorrow. You've got a whole day to fix up your story. What story? You know, Mr. G. Bye-bye. Yes, I knew. And I had to find out why production was down. Not just because the boss would be on my neck, but because it was my job. The answer was out there somewhere. But where? Then I saw we were still having trouble trying to make a new machine work like it should. And right then and there, I spotted the trouble. Here was the guilty party in the case, that machine. Purely a technical problem. Like the crackling on the phone. You're working kind of late, aren't you? A little. So are you. Everybody out there has gone home. Yeah. We got trouble with the new machine. Now, this machine won't trouble you anymore. Oh, thanks. Thanks. Don't you use your right hand for phoning? Nope. Well, why don't you put the phone over here where it'll be more convenient? Cord won't reach. Ah, I can fix that. Oh, don't trouble. Ah, it's not much trouble, really. All I've got to do is move the block. Why are you doing all that? It's my job, giving service. Oh, I get it. It'll look good when you turn in your report. No. Nobody'll know it but me. But the way I figured if I'm going to do a job, I'm going to do it right. Uh you make it sound real important. Well, just how important is the phone to you? All right, look. I was only kidding. I know you're just trying to be helpful, and I appreciate it. This phone's always been a nuisance. Well, it won't trouble you anymore. You know, I could use a little of that attitude around here. That's no big deal. We all get a kick out of doing the best job we can. So long as we know it's recognized. Well, you've got a big vote of thanks from this satisfied customer. Is that what you mean? Well, that helps. But lots of times we don't even see the customer. It's just that we we want to know that our boss recognizes a good job when he sees it. Oh, I see. Your your boss makes you feel important, is that it? Yeah. Yeah, something like that. does he do it? I mean, how does he make you want to do your best? Gee, don't ask me. He just gets it out of us without always cracking the whip. We respect him. And he respects us. He lets us know he expects us to do a good job, and well, somehow, we can't let him down. Well, so long. Thanks again. Good night. It wasn't long before he was gone, but what he had said started me thinking. I began to remember. I remembered the time when I was out there working on the line. I was working right here. I'd begun to remember Ernie Scott and that other foreman, uh what was his name? Oh, yeah. Now I remember. It was Miles. Yeah. Miles. Listen, you. You know you're way off your production. What have you been doing all day, goofing off? It's not my fault. Most of these parts don't fit. Well, why didn't you tell me? We'd get new ones. I only work here. Hey, who's missing here? Al Whitley. He's sick. Again? He's been out 4 days this month. Talk to him. We got to tighten up AROUND HERE, SEE? TIGHTEN UP. Tighten up. That was his favorite expression. But anybody could tell he ran the loosest shop in the plant. The signs were all around. Absenteeism, tardiness, turnover, sloppy housekeeping, griping. They never told us anything, but we had the healthiest grapevine in the place. Me? I became an expert in spinning my wheels. Why not? I didn't know what was expected of me. It was just a job. If we ever did good work, we never heard about it. And the only time we got reprimanded was when the heat was on. Now look, fellas. I I don't want to ride you, but uh they just had me upstairs and chewed me out. Now, we've got a quota to meet, and we've got to tighten up and meet it. They want more magnets, and we're going to turn them out. I don't care how you do it, but the next time I go upstairs, I want to look good, see? Good. So, tighten up. Tighten up. Tighten up. That's all that guy knows. Why should we break our backs for him? All he wants to do is impress his bosses. Well, he's not going to get more work out of me. No more work out of me. That was the sum total of Miles' scoldings and threats. And his empty slogan. He failed to impress his men. He failed to impress the men upstairs. And it wasn't long before we had a new foreman. The new foreman was Ernie Scott. And what a difference. He brought a new outlook, a new atmosphere into the department. And it wasn't long before, well, before the whole department had a different attitude. I thought you'd like to know, Hank. You haven't had a single reject all week. That's what I call good work. Yeah? Thanks. Don't thank me. Okay. Say, Ernie. This new stuff that's coming through, it it doesn't seem to work quite the same. What do you think? No doubt about it. Ernie was on top of his department, helping us when we needed help. Jacking us up when we needed jacking up. Ernie arranged with a company to show us just what happened to the magnets we made and what they did. Then one of the company salesmen explained how what he sells is the quality of the work we do. And how to get orders, he has to promise delivery. And how if we don't deliver both quality and quantity, we'll all be out of work. It was a kind of pep talk, but on a solid, practical basis. And I know we all went back to work feeling our jobs were more important, and we were more important. Then there was the time we had a new machine coming in. I guess it's just natural for everybody to resist change. But before that new machine arrived, Ernie had talked it over with each one of us. When you add it all up, I think the big difference, the reason we changed from a gang of goldbricks to a productive team, was that we had respect for Ernie because he respected us. I was getting pretty close to solving the case now. And there was a question on my mind. I didn't want to ask it, but I had to. Looking out there in in shop, I asked myself, "Which kind of a worker would I be working under me?" That was the vital clue in the case. I knew the answer. And it told me who the guilty party was. What did that telephone man say? "If I'm going to do a job, I'm going to do it right." So, I typed out a little memo to myself. Things to remember about the connection between attitude and productivity. And I boiled it down to three words. Enthusiasm. It's contagious. Pride in themselves and their jobs. Standards. Known and enforced. There's more to being a good supervisor and more to meeting production goals. You know there is. Every day, you're the detective in your department. You won't solve every problem the way I solved the case of the missing magnets. But if you'll think about the clues we've developed, well, don't you think some of them might help you crack your next case? I hope so. Anyway, that's the end of my story. Pretty hot, isn't it? When the guilty party turns out to be the detective.