Making changes in a difficult time

The previous episode detailed my first experiences as General Manager of the Ceylon Ceramics Corporation, the changes I introduced, and how I faced difficult situations arising from the ongoing insurgency at that time.

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Modifying the logo

One of the first things brought to my attention by many of the officers was that the Corporation's logo was faulty. According to traditional beliefs, the logo should be closed at the bottom. "Our logo has a hole at the bottom, and that is why all the money goes down the hole", they said. Although I subscribed to the belief that good management was the more critical aspect to reducing waste and generating profits, I decided to give in and make these people happy. I commissioned an advertising agency that produced several creative logos, but the Board was not satisfied with any of them. Finally, an artistic Board member made a small adjustment and plugged "the hole". This was adopted as the standard thereafter. The Corporation started making profits, and all the credit went to the "hole" that was plugged. Very few gave me credit for the restructuring I did, including many wasteful "holes" that I plugged. The lesson I learnt was that traditional beliefs should not be dismissed but rather incorporated into strategies and work culture. Modern management techniques should be synthesized with conventional methods to make changes more acceptable.

A New Quality and a Customer-Oriented Culture

Whenever people I know or those introduced to me find out that I am the GM of Ceylon Ceramics Corporation, about half of them have a quality complaint. I discussed this at a meeting, but the answer was that they receive only a tiny percentage of complaints. If it is a factory issue, a replacement is made. I countered that all unhappy customers may not complain, but it didn't sink in. It was mentioned that they are duty-bound to attend to actual written complaints only, and nothing more. The attitude was that we actually do our customers a great favour by making available sanitary ware and tableware at affordable prices.