When I worked for Sara Lee it was in the golden days when Sara Lee was No1 in Branded Apparel
(Champion, Haynes, Playex), No1 in smallgoods (Jimmy Dean, Bryan Foods), No2 in Household and Body care (Radox, Ambi Pur, White King, Kiwi) and No2 in Direct Selling (Fuller, Nutrimetics, Avroy Shlain). Sara Lee was riding high, had 137,000 people and had just donated the biggest Australian Art Collection in the world to the National Gallery in Australia.
The CEO changed. In that year (1999 I think) there was a Listeria outbreak that killed 37 consumers, mostly young children and babies. It took months to find the plant where it was coming from. I remember thinking - "why?". How hard is it to check every plant and report up to the Board?
Too often I've seen companies approach the assurance of food safety and quality as if it was a technical challenge - a system with boxes to tick. When it goes wrong there is no shortage of people who can show you that it shouldn't have because all the boxes were, in fact, covered.
I think it's time to add culture to the assessment of safety and quality because more often than not it's the intangible (but measurable) factors that turn out tho be key.
Organizational culture can significantly impact safety and quality outcomes in food companies.
Here's how:
Accountability: A culture that emphasizes accountability will ensure that all staff members take responsibility for maintaining safety and quality norms. Therefore, potential issues should be promptly identified and resolved
Customer Orientation: A customer-centric culture ensures high quality as it understands the importance of delivering safe and high-quality food products.
Training: An organization with a robust training culture continually educates its employees on the changing safety regulations, standards, and procedures. This education leads to better adherence to safety norms and thus, better quality outcomes.
Communication: An open communication culture encourages employees at all levels to share concerns or observations that might impact food safety.
Value for Safety and Quality Procedures: If the organization's culture values adherence to safety procedures, there will be minimal deviations and inconsistencies in the process, leading to better control over quality.
Risk Awareness: Companies with high-risk consciousness tend to forecast potential safety and quality-related issues and take proactive measures to mitigate them.
Continuous Improvement: Organizations with a culture of constant improvement constantly strive to enhance their safety and quality standards, leading to better outcomes.
Staff Engagement: A positive organizational culture encourages higher staff engagement. Engaged employees are likely to be more conscious of their roles in maintaining food safety and improving quality.
Reward System: A reward system that values safety and quality as much as EBIT and revenue is key. At the very least these should be gates. I am also biased toward team-based incentives as most complex challenges and failures are usually multi-disciplinary and across levels.
Audit: The audit system should focus on culture, team-working, engagement and role clarity as much as safety and quality compliance.
In conclusion, an organization's culture significantly influences how safety norms and quality measures are perceived and implemented throughout the company. Therefore, a positive, accountable, and transparent culture is crucial for ensuring food safety and quality outcomes.
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