… and not just because you’ll lose!
Purchasing are a good example but the same advice applies to finance, stores control or any other bureaucratic, procedure based department that prevents engineers doing anything they want, straight away.
Many engineers fight these departments. For routine work they moan, argue a bit and use various loopholes. When a plant breakdown occurs they escalate problems up the management tree. With the plant stopped they will always win that particular battle. Ultimately they might lose the war but as an engineer they are determined to go down fighting.
Does that sound mad? Actually I think the majority of engineers work like that. Try an alternative and you might get a surprise.
The time to settle your differences is not at 4.55 pm on a Friday with the plant stopped and an order for half a million pounds that you’d like to place without anyone signing it! Instead visit your esteemed purchasing colleague when they are not too busy and when you don’t actually want anything.
You will discover several things:
- They are just as keen as you to help the company make money and the work run smoothly
- They think their systems are really useful but no-one uses them properly or appreciates them
- They want their systems to operate properly
- As long as you work within the correct systems you can probably get what you want
As with so many things, it is better to take a long term view and explain what you would like to achieve rather than a short term view and explain how you want to get there. Once you explain your problems properly your purchasing manager may well solve them for you ideas you would never thought of. The difference is that you are using flexibility within the system, not just fighting it.