Clever learning after the Samsung Galaxy Note 7's failure

I just wish the kind of public scrutiny that happens every time a plane crashes, could also occur inside Samsung so that the world learns what management mistakes not to make ever again.

It is so unfortunate that the only time I was considering exchanging my iPhone for a Samsung model this is precisely the one I am not allowed to use on board planes due to the risk of explosion. But the airline industry is one of the safest in the world thanks to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that supports aviation with global standards for airline safety, security, efficiency and sustainability. I wish we could have the same going for the consumer electronics industry and these Galaxy Note 7 failures might have never occurred in the first place.

Loss of control in flight

Safety is IATA #1 priority and they have a 6 points comprehensive approach to identifying organizational, operational and emerging safety issues. The first one being Loss of Control In-flight (LOC-I) which remains one of the most significant contributors to fatal accidents worldwide.

LOC-I refers to accidents in which the flight crew was unable to maintain control of the aircraft in flight, resulting in an unrecoverable deviation from the intended flight path. This is precisely what happened with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, and I just wish the kind of public scrutiny that happens every time any airplane crashes could also occur inside Samsung so that the world learns what management mistakes not to make ever again.

Speculation and evidence

Browsing the Internet there are a number of entries referring to the technical mistakes that could have explained the unpredictable battery explosions of what could have been the most advanced mobile phone model in the world, the latest and the greatest in the phablet era.

Yet little or none official explanations from Samsung themselves. I was surprised to see that back in 2014 Mr. Chang Dong-hoon resigned and was replaced based on 'criticisms that the Galaxy S5 has received a lukewarm response from consumers.' Boy, if that was the case then, this must really be a different company today. We are not talking here about 'criticisms', what happened with the Galaxy Note 7 is a number of catastrophic events and at the same time, the company also recalls almost 3 million washing machines because they might explode.

What the hell is going on?

Evidence of Samsung's poor performance is undeniable but the official statements are so scarce that we must rely upon speculation. My source of inspiration is Adam Grant's book the Originals and I hope these ideas might proof useful for anyone avoiding committing the Samsung mistakes.

A good product's vision is not enough

When Skype decided to convert their platform into an HD video conference service and to release Skype 4.0 within a very short time frame employees distrusted the move and felt disempowered to achieve such a challenging goal. The morale was low, and the CEO of the company - Josh Silverman - realized that he needed to have something more than a 'product vision' he also needed to create an inspiring 'passion' around the product that galvanized people's energies around a flawless execution. I wonder if this was also the case in Samsung around the Galaxy Note 7...

"One of the things that strike you on watching Josh at work within Skype is the passion and energy he radiates to his team, and indeed to the business," said Rosalind Bergemann that worked then as a consultant in the company. A challenging product's vision is not enough you also need passion, the kind you have in Apple or as some people inside Samsung call it - the 'fruit brand'. I am here speculating but wonder if you ask all of Apple and Samsung employees to pick the cell phone they most like regardless of the company that employs them, I bet that very few people at Apple will be using a Samsung.

A 'strong culture' impacts innovation

It is not a secret that since June this year, Samsung has announced a number of important changes to address the problems of a toxic work culture: "They will eradicate the culture of staying late at the office just because their supervisors and bosses are still there, and will allow shorts in the summer. This is the result of Vice Chairman Lee Jae-Yong's thoughts to make Samsung into a global corporation whose organizational culture can compete with that of Google and Facebook, rather than remain as a physically big company."

The Korea Times reported that other changes include holding more internal discussions and meetings online and reducing unnecessary meetings. "These measures are intended to seek faster and quicker policy implementation," Samsung said. All participants are encouraged to speak out about key topics during meetings. "Management is strongly advised to respect the results from internal discussions," it added.

The positive effect of these changes is perhaps too late for fixing Samsung problems with the Galaxy Note 7 and their wash machines but they certainly point to the right direction.

Facilitative leadership and GDSS

The rise of facilitative leadership in the Land of the Morning Calm should not be a surprise. The move is also evident in mainland China where the International Association of Facilitators - the IAF - has inaugurated a Facilitator's Certification program in Mandarin.

As these managerial skills are learned and used globally they will bring forward the demand for the use of better GDSS (Group Decision Support Systems). I am again being speculative here, but I doubt Samsung's technical problems with explosive products would ever occur if their development teams would have used facilitated meetings with proper group decision support systems.

Adam Grant is a best-selling author that has presented the case of the classic experiments of Solomon Asch where individuals conform to a group's majority of choice even if it is not the correct one. In the psychology lab, individual subjects are asked the question 'which of these 3 options A, B or C is similar to the line on the left?' In one experimental situation, everybody is free to make their choices and C is the most chosen option. However, when the scientists have a group of subjects instructed to give the wrong answer (B) the naive individual subject also gives the wrong answer. Inquired after the experiment, subjects said that they deliberately chose the line they knew didn't match just because they did not want to feel embarrassed or look stupid in front of the group.

This is pure speculation but inside Samsung's management team meetings in charge of designing the Galaxy Note 7 (or the wash machines) defying the majority norm and pointing that certain technical options were wrong might have been difficult to accomplish.

With a Group Decision Support System (GDSS) technology, group evaluations are anonymously collected and transparently shared in charts and diagrams that point out areas of dissent without the burden of any group pressures. With clever facilitation, the group can use these results to improve their group problem-solving skills and reach better decisions.

groupVision specializes in optimizing group problem-solving and decision-making. With more than 100 years of accumulated experience in the use of GDSS technology we recommend the best tools and train you as a group facilitator or facilitative leader to host better team meetings.