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| When mistakes happen in your company, who takes the blame? |
Analytics Operations Engineering
It is human nature to find a single cause of a problem, fix it, and assume everything is fine. In fact, the use of a scapegoat is documented in writings from four thousand years ago. All of the sins of a community were laid on the head of a single goat that was then driven into the wilderness, relieving every one of their problems. Four millennium later, we still believe in the power of the scapegoat to take away problems. When a product fails in the hands of a customer, triggering a recall or creating excessive warranty costs, companies quickly find a solution (or fire someone) and assume all is well. Mistakes are embarrassing and it is easier to assume they won’t happen again. The GM recall case is a classic example of this. News articles focus on one or two issues: the engineer who signed off on the change or the automotive safety reporting requirements. Everyone is pointing a finger at each other.
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