The Pickle Jar Mystery
Dr. Gordon W. Fuller*, consultant to the food industry, relates a story of a
major pickle processing plant that went into a crisis mode when they
received a large number of complaints for smashed pickles in their
gallon jars.
At first, this appeared a big mystery to everyone since such
high incidence of mashed pickles was unheard off.  
Investigation revealed the real cause.
Sometime before this incident, the Quality Control Department complained that
the gallon jar production line was producing poorly sealed containers. The line
Supervisor found his own solution to this sealing problem. He had assigned
an employee to stand on the production line and use a big rubber mallet to
push down every pickle that extended over the rim!!  The results on the sealing
test improved. The Quality Control Department was satisfied not realizing how
the problem was “solved” or that a new problem had been created.
Dr. Fuller notes that the root cause for the mashed pickle problem was a lack of
communication and teamwork between production and Quality Control. The
QC analyst appeared to “wear blinders” as he walked to and from the air
conditioned lab to the production line.
The Quality Control Department viewed its job as the enforcer of rules and
specifications, not as part of a team that must be involved in process problem
solution. In other words, QC believed themselves to be “the good guys” and
they viewed manufacturing the “bad guys”. After the mashed pickle problem
was solved, a more cooperative work relation between departments
developed.
Some points to keep in mind about this example:
  • The Supervisor was left to solve a quality problem on his own and took
    the most expeditious route to “solve” the problem.
  • The QC analyst view of his job was to report the problem, not help with
    the solution
  • The Supervisor saw no obligation to report his corrective measure for
    the original problem
  • The QC analyst was only responsible for a small part of the job, had no
    ownership for the rest of the line, and spent little time on the
    production floor.
Regardless of the type of organization you lead, incidents of lack of
cooperation and “throwing” problems over departmental walls abound.
You don’t have to wait to get “into a pickle” to determine your own
organization’s vulnerability to this type of problem. Look for attitudes of “we”
versus “they” in the way your people think. What kind of territorial thinking is
going on? It is essential that barriers between departments are demolished in
order to engage in any serious effort towards long-term improvement. The
term “we” should apply to the entire enterprise and “they” should only refer to
the competition
Adapted from a story in Getting the Most Out of Your Consultant: A
Guide to Selection Through Implementation,  Gordon W. Fuller: CRC
Press,1999, p. 129.
Article by Enrique M. Bekerman, Quality Manufacturing Associates, January , 2000