Why Define Roles and Responsibilities

 Publicado em 7 de janeiro de 2018

Roles and Responsibilities in most organizations are fluid

at best and many times changes are made based on the
day, situation or person. Because organizations thrive and
survive based on structure and organization defining roles
and responsibilities using a methodical and well thought
out approach should be a requirement.

Having learned many years ago people in a reactive

environment dodge true responsibility for their actions and
use excuses such as:

It is not my problem, it is their problem. (whoever “their” is)

Production is the problem, not maintenance. (production is always

at fault)
Maintenance is the problem, not production. (maintenance is
always at fault)

When equipment breaks down no maintenance person can be

found.

When equipment breaks down no operator can be found.

We never have the parts in the storeroom when we need them.

How come it takes so long to get parts in here?

Why can’t we hire a consultant to solve our problems? I remember

because we do not have the money to invest in one.

In addition, you may hear these statements;

Why can’t we ever make our production goals established by

corporate?

Where are the maintenance personnel when you need them?

Where are the operators when you need them?

If only maintenance did their job.

 If only production did their job.

These type problems do not occur in proactive

organizations however out of all the reactive organizations
in the world I have visited all used some if not all the
excuses I stated and many more that I dare not to use. I
must say some sites used their wording more eloquently
than I did.

Let me provide an example:

Let’s say we were to approach two maintenance techs or
operators and tell them they are responsible for the PM
program on their production line, would they both
understand what tasks must be accomplished, in what
order, and to what specifications are required of a
successful PM Program, I would say 100% they would not.
Heck at most sites they do not truly understand the
definition of Preventive Maintenance.

Roles and Responsibilities are difficult at best in any workplace

environment. Think about a person who knew specifically what they
truly were responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for,
how much more efficient and effective would they become?

When people work in synchronization with others stress is

reduced, the work environment becomes enjoyable, errors
(whether production or maintenance) are reduced, total
cost go down and life becomes “good”.

Let’s look at a situation where the outcomes would be

different if everyone truly understood their roles and
responsibilities.

Plant A: “Roles and Responsibilities are fluid at best” or

“just a statement people use when they want to shift blame
to someone else”. Plant production issues were costing
the company untold amount of money due to overtime,
product waste, and lost capacity and business.    

What you find:

People always blaming someone else for the plant

problems.
The plant manager accusing maintenance for the
equipment not meeting the requirements of production
through unplanned breakdowns, which may be true or not.

PM’s not completed on time because production needed to

meet the expectations of their customers.

Maintenance cost is out of control and all the plant

manager can say is stop working overtime and parts are
shipped overnight on a regular basis.

Maintenance Manager or Plant Manager position is often

replaced like a revolving door.

All of the above are great excuses and maybe should not
be discussed (at least not for 3-4 days). Understand an
“Excuse List” is a document posted in the plant meeting
room, on the plant’s share drive, or wherever people can
see it daily so they can see how silly and unproductive
excuses can be. I have used this method to get my point
across at number of sites around the world and it works.

Plant B: “Roles and Responsibilities” are well defined for

most tasks and developed by maintenance, production,
purchasing, plant leadership, maintenance storeroom, etc.
(it is hard to hold someone accountable for something they
did not understand). Roles and responsibilities must be
defined, to include who (specific title or position, ie.
Mechanic, Plant Manager, Operator, etc.), specific task
(Perform Maintenance PM or Perform Operator PM) along
with who is Responsible (R) two-way communication,
Accountable (A) the buck stops here, Consulted (C) two
way communication and Informed (I) no need to reply.
If you have questions or comments please share them with
everyone. I may not have the best answer, someone else
may.

An Example of a RACI Chart

Once a RACI Chart is developed by key players from

operators, mechanics/electricians to the plant manager
things will change creating an environment which breeds
success resulting in capacity yields beyond expectations,
breakdowns become a rare occurrence, turn over of
personnel becomes near “0”, cost dropping below what
one believes is achievable and Corporate visits wanting to
know what is happening at your site.

None of this is rocket science jut a proven approach that

works.