Though, ultimately, events forced cooperation and a solution to the quality issue, the damaged reputation of this department continues to make it difficult for them to do their best work. I asked Annette Simmons to consider these examples in light of what she has learned about turf warfare and suggest ways to reduce or eliminate this sort of behavior. She begins with an overview of her research. Games people play For you to understand territorial games, you must look at your company differently. Pretend it could be mapped into regions and countries, each with distinct boundaries and terrain.
Every company has areas that people come to think of as their own.
They even develop their own language and jargon. Every quality initiative implemented must, by definition, be an invasion of someone's territory. Even so, quality managers often assume the benefits of quality philosophy and new processes are obvious to others, and barge into claimed territory uninvited. With the best intentions, they begin analyzing the territory and suggesting improvements to existing systems. They treat the quality manager like an outsider.