Abstract

American business and industry are rapidly changing and adapting to economic pressures and competitive influence from international organizations. A supportive culture and a systematic approach to problem solving are necessary to attain productivity and quality goals.

Cultural and environmental blocks inhibit a supportive work environment. Exposure to a given set of cultural patterns creates cultural blocks. Environmental blocks cause a lack of support to new ideas. Organizations must support problem solvers and the problem solving process before it can be effective. A systematic process is an orderly, interacting step-by-step procedure designed to efficiently obtain desired results, an example of which is the ISO 9000 standard. Problem identification, problem statement, cause analysis, and carefully planned implementation are the required steps to problem solving.

A case study demonstrated how successful this systematic approach to problem solving was at a manufacturing facility which employed over 2,000 hourly and salaried employees. The systematic process used a logical, step-by-step approach that was easy to understand. All levels in the organization used this process.