Communication in the Production:Production Management for Senior Managers

Communication in the production and especially on the shop-floor is more important than many a manager would think. To hold discussions and re-views over all possible subjects seems to have be-come a kind of sports discipline in many organiza-tions. The false belief of many senior managers is to think that the more discussions a manager attends, the more important and esteemed he is. Otherwise no one would think of inviting him. And already the manager is sitting in a confer-ence room and discussing with other participants. Naturally with coffee and if possible also with biscuits and cakes. A fantastic picture for every employee on the shop-floor, or? A manager is only then a manager, when he car-ries out his management responsibility or can carry it out. And this is only limitedly possible in a conference room, since the problems are to be found on the shop-floor and not in the conference room. Here it must also be said that not all the discus-sions in the conference rooms are unnecessary, or are a wastage. There indeed are discussions, which should or must take place in closed or quiet areas. But how many of the discussions really take place due to these reasons? And how many discussions take place with participants, who ask themselves only one question over the entire meeting: "What am I really doing here?" The inviting party should ask himself the following questions, as for instance:  How structured is the discussion?  How prepared is the discussion?  Are the right participants invited?  Which objective, which significant points does the discussion have?  How long should the discussion last?  Which rules are there in the discussion, in case it does not run so smoothly?  Where should the discussion take place?