Okay, we all had a good laugh making exploding phone jokes back when the Note 7 was released. But everyone except me said that this was an unfortunate incident that could have happened to any manufacturer. I said, “No, this would have never happened at any of the manufacturers where I’ve worked.” A faulty design made it out the door when someone should have hit the abort button.
Now, Samsung is looking at another epic disaster. Their new Galaxy Fold phones are literally disintegrating within days of being used by reviewers. Two things make this situation seem even worse. First, reviewers get the cherry-picked best products. Second, these are professionals who treat their products gingerly since they have to send them back.
I’m going to say it again. Something is seriously wrong with Samsung’s corporate culture.
I guarantee that people within Samsung knew that this phone would fall apart. I also guarantee that people high up in the ranks at Samsung had no idea that their latest achievement was about to become the Hindenburg.
Since I don’t work at Samsung and have no inside sources, I can only guess what happened. Based on what I’ve seen in the business world in my 25 years in manufacturing, this is my theory.
My best guess is that Samsung has a two-fold problem:
You could probably write an entire book on this subject, and doubtless, people already have. But in my view, top level managers and vice-presidents can’t rule by fear. They can’t simply exist to “push people”. You get promoted to set priorities and help solve problems and should never, ever, raise your voice at people beneath you in rank. If you do, you don’t deserve to be in leadership.
In order to get honest feedback from your organization, people need to feel like there is a safe space to speak. But if people feel like management is unwilling to listen, or worse, will get enraged. The temptation to say that everything is fine is great. If you’re a corporate officer and you feel that raising your voice helps you to be more effective, fine, but don’t expect open feedback. This puts you at risk of flying blind.
On the flip side, if engineering managers at Samsung told their bosses that the product is ready for launch, then they did a disservice to their company. The fact that their bosses would get angry is no excuse to hide the truth. They are also in a position of leadership and need to do right thing, even if it is not easy.
I don’t know what the real problem is at Samsung, but it is now publicly evident to everyone that something is awry over there. With their second public disaster in a rather short period of time, Samsung had better start doing some serious introspection on how it has gotten to this point. For whatever reason, the actual progress on engineering projects is not getting communicated to the top. If they don’t fix this problem, there will be more spectacular failures coming in the future.
I’m going to say it again. Something is seriously wrong with Samsung’s corporate culture.
I guarantee that people within Samsung knew that this phone would fall apart. I also guarantee that people high up in the ranks at Samsung had no idea that their latest achievement was about to become the Hindenburg.
Since I don’t work at Samsung and have no inside sources, I can only guess what happened. Based on what I’ve seen in the business world in my 25 years in manufacturing, this is my theory.
My best guess is that Samsung has a two-fold problem:
- A dictatorial top management that sets unreasonable goals and refuses to take “No” for an answer
- A layer of middle management that is shielding their top management from the truth
You could probably write an entire book on this subject, and doubtless, people already have. But in my view, top level managers and vice-presidents can’t rule by fear. They can’t simply exist to “push people”. You get promoted to set priorities and help solve problems and should never, ever, raise your voice at people beneath you in rank. If you do, you don’t deserve to be in leadership.
In order to get honest feedback from your organization, people need to feel like there is a safe space to speak. But if people feel like management is unwilling to listen, or worse, will get enraged. The temptation to say that everything is fine is great. If you’re a corporate officer and you feel that raising your voice helps you to be more effective, fine, but don’t expect open feedback. This puts you at risk of flying blind.
On the flip side, if engineering managers at Samsung told their bosses that the product is ready for launch, then they did a disservice to their company. The fact that their bosses would get angry is no excuse to hide the truth. They are also in a position of leadership and need to do right thing, even if it is not easy.
I don’t know what the real problem is at Samsung, but it is now publicly evident to everyone that something is awry over there. With their second public disaster in a rather short period of time, Samsung had better start doing some serious introspection on how it has gotten to this point. For whatever reason, the actual progress on engineering projects is not getting communicated to the top. If they don’t fix this problem, there will be more spectacular failures coming in the future.
RSS Feed