‘TQM’ author: Get productivity going

Alison Calkins

Thursday, Sept. 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

What's the plan?

Who's in charge?

Compared to what?

What's in it for me?

Those are the four questions that all American business managers need to ask and understand before productivity can increase, according to W.L. "Bill" Creech, author of "The Five Pillars of TQM: How to make Total Quality Management Work for You."

"There's enormous potential in the American workforce and those are the things they need to know. We can go brilliantly into the 21st century if we get the idea of treating people better," he said, during his address to Wednesday's Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

Creech said the United States is no longer the only economic game in the world. He referred to the growing economic clout of Asia in general and Japan specifically, and said their success is based on the principal of motivating workers.

And if the stalwarts of American business don't accept that, it's time to look around, he said.

Creech mentioned the Consumer Electronics Show conducted annually in Las Vegas and pointed out that many of its vendors are Asian.

"Ninety-seven percent of managers in (Japanese) industrial firms get bonuses and stock options. Less than 5 percent of American employees get any incentive at all, but all front-line Japanese workers do. The problem is that workers don't share when the productivity increases," he said.

American workers are sick of the seemingly endless "crusades" of management techniques that companies adopt, because most are meaningless to their lives, Creech said. Employees in small businesses also struggle with a lack of generous pension programs and benefits, according to Creech.

"If 90 percent of employees believe that productivity is in their best interest, productivity will rise," Creech said. "It's time for us to pull out of old habits that were good at another time, but are no longer working."

He said the Globalization Age is upon us and that it's calling for new ways of doing business. And if American business doesn't heed the call, there could be trouble ahead.

The Henderson resident also spoke of his love for Las Vegas and his projection for the area's future.

"Las Vegas has so much going for it. I see a city of 3.5 million and now's the time to start planning for it. It's an oasis. Let's keep it an oasis or people will stop coming," he said.