Good Products, Bad Products: Essential Elements to Achieving Superior Quality

CHAPTER 2Problems in Increasing Product QualityNarrow-Mindedness and Attitudes

We are creatures of our culture. The United States, for instance, is a relatively young culture, blessed with a large amount of usable space, excellent natural resources, and ambitious immigrant forebears. But young cultures that have prospered on the utilization of natural resources can be a bit raw. As an example, think about the reluctance of many people involved in the production of products to become more comfortable with, and competent at, handling aesthetic and emotional issues in their lives and culture—in a sense, this reflects our history. Our industrial past is characterized by competent, competitive (sometimes ruthless) people and spectacular material gains. ...