Quality Control (B)

Abstract:
Under pressure from President Carter to gain control of her agency's budget, Carol Tucker Foreman, assistant secretary of agriculture for food and consumer services, introduced new, less labor intensive methods of quality control into the Meat and Poultry Inspection Division. Over two years later, she announced a pilot program to expand voluntary reliance on statistical quality control methods. In the interim, she faced the misgivings or outright opposition of employee unions, the food processing industry, consumer groups, agency lawyers, and members of Congress. While Foreman was able to justify the program, it was a far cry from an aggressive, comprehensive inspection program reform. This case can familiarize pre-career students with bureaucratic politics and governmental processes, while more experienced students can use it to examine the obstacles and opportunities facing the government executive who wants to accomplish organizational change. Part A presents the arguments for and against inspection reform, and takes Foreman to the point of deciding to launch the program; it can be used by itself to focus discussion on appropriate strategies to gain approval for the proposed reforms. Part B describes how Foreman tried to win support from industry, employee unions, consumers, Congress and agency lawyers. An abridgement highlights the objections of Agriculture's own attorneys to the proposed program.