From the
Director

James E. Christenson,
Director of Plant Operations

This is the last time I will write for the Plant Exchange as the Director of the Plant Operations Division. On May 31, 2000, I will retire from the standard work world. Since June, 1958, I have served in 17 facilities management positions within 13 organizations, in 12 different locations (on three continents), for five employers. For the first twenty years of our 42-year marriage, my wife and I moved an average of 7000 miles when I changed job locations! If change really causes stress, I probably should have been stressed out long before now.

Even in 42 years, there is much about facilities management that has not changed. In fact, besides overseeing construction contracts, one of my key duties in 1958 was to implement maintenance control (~ work control). After considering the concept at the University of Michigan for a long time, our first work control manager, Jim Vibbart, was just appointed in 1999. The hands-on work of the trades, groundskeepers, custodians and many others has changed only in the new tools and equipment available to improve productivity, quality, and safety. For clerical, engineering, HVAC, power plant, and financial workers, though, the change has been dramatic, especially in automation. We are still experiencing a doubling of computer power every 18 months. Engineering knowledge now has a half-life of four years! Continuous education in these fields is essential.

But the change that I hope has affected everyone positively is in the way organizations work. In the 1950s, '60s and '70s, the foreman / quarterman / supervisor was often a petty dictator. At the University of Michigan at least, the introduction of M-Quality in 1991 began to change that. The concept of quality service requires that everyone be given boundaries within which they can be free to make the decisions that serve our customers best. In Plant Operations, we have attempted to do that. The clearest expression of this is in our "high performance teams" or self-directed work teams. But I hope all of you feel that you have a degree of freedom to do what is in the best interest of your customer and the University of Michigan. This hasn't been easy. Empowerment is messy. Sometimes it seems, as Robert Quinn puts it, that we are building the bridge as we walk on it. It's been especially hard for the supervisors. Their role changes from boss to coach as the organization reaches a high level of performance. But I know the changes have affected all of you. I thank you for being willing to stretch.

Plant Operations still has a distance to go before our Guiding Principles really become totally shared values, accepted by all 1280 people in the division. But we are well along the road in many areas. I urge you to continue to give your best for those we serve in this great University. YOU are the people who really MAKE BLUE GO! Keep up the good work.

- Jim Christenson, Director