Quadracci is an unabashed fan of management theory. He reads every how-to book he can get his hands on, gleans something from each one, and expects everybody on the routing list to do the same. As a result, even lower-echelon managers are comfortable bandying about such terms as "participative" and "authoritarian," and many of them have at least a nodding acquaintance with Theories X, Y, and Z. Give them an opening to discuss specific strategies, and they will pay homage to The One-Minute Manager, by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, as well as the "management by wandering around" technique described in Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman's best-selling book, In Search of Excellence (see INC., July, page 34).
What is going on at Quad/Graphics is an amalgam of many management methods that -- with all due respect to Messrs. Peters and Waterman -- could well be dubbed "management by walking away." Quadracci has developed a work force that he can turn his back on -- a company that he can trust to virtually run itself. He has done it, he says, by emphasizing the word "responsibility." But he is not referring to the traditional, line-and-staff variety, in which a manager delegates duties to specific employees.
"We don't believe that responsibility should be that defined," Quadracci explains. "We think it should be assumed and shared. Nothing should ever be 'somebody else's responsibility.' Anybody who sees that something needs to be done ought to assume the responsibility for doing it." Leaning forward to emphasize his words, Quadracci adds, "Our people shouldn't need me or anybody else to tell them what to do."
The fact is, Quadracci often refuses to tell his employees what to do. For example, when Quad/Graphics's shipping department needed greater back-haul revenue to finance expansion of the trucking fleet, Quadracci handed each of his drivers the keys to one of the company's Peterbilts. From now on, he told them, they were owner-operators -- partners in a new division called DuPlainville Transport Inc. -- and it was their duty to make the rigs profitable on return trips. When the truckers asked what they should take on the back hauls, Quadracci shrugged.
"How should I know? I don't know anything about driving an 18-wheeler," the company president recalls telling them. "I'm not going to find you your loads." With that, he turned and walked away.
The truckers, many of whom had never been in business for themselves, spent weeks filling out forms requesting the Interstate Commerce Commission to grant them common-carrier status and hours on the telephone convincing brokers to push some business in their direction.
"Believe me, it was a big challenge for everybody," says fleet manager Larry Lynch. "We got stung a few times [by loads and destinations that were not as promised], but we got rolling."
Similar stories exist in the founding of each of Quad/Graphics's divisions. When Quadracci began to integrate the company vertically -- setting up work centers for inhouse graphics and lithographic plate-finishing, as well as for the research and development of new inks, better machinery, and more-advanced computerized controls for the presses -- he tapped people with expertise both inside and outside the company, told them to consider themselves entrepreneurs, and then turned them loose. When representatives of each fledgling operation -- Enterprise/Graphics, Martin/Colorplate, CR/T, Werkes/Tech, and Quad/Tech -- asked if he had any specific goals in mind, the answer was always the same.
"You're going to have to assume responsibility for things like that," Quadracci told them. They did. Now some of these companies-within-a-company have won awards for their innovations, and most sell their products and services to other entities -- including competing printers. Quadracci couldn't be more pleased. "We get to make a profit, and help make printing a more efficient, attractive advertising medium at the same time," he says.
Quad/Graphics's philosophy of managerial freedom, or "management by walking away," is at its purest when departments or divisions are setting internal policy. Once Quadracci leaves someone in charge of an area and its practices, he stays out. He never considers the door closed, though when things that might affect the entire company are not proceeding according to his liking. It is rare, but when such situations arise, Quadracci steps back in.
DuPlainville Transport was pulled up short when the truckers began buying more trucks than Quadracci thought their profits could support. On the other hand, he spurred the managers of Quad/Tech into hiring more engineers than they had planned. "They didn't think they could afford more people, but I knew we'd need them [to further the division's work in developing computerized controls for presses]."
Quadracci doesn't see such interventions as those of a boss pulling rank; he prefers to characterize them as guidance coming from an experienced teacher. "Sometimes people need a little help with their risk-taking, particularly if it involves spending money," he explains. "Sometimes they pay too much attention to the bottom line; sometimes they pay too little. That's when I have to assume the responsibility and make a management decision."
"Walking through here is like walking through the junior prom," Quadracci mutters, barreling full-stride through the door to the pressroom. As he passes, employees clad in blue coveralls -- some of whom look too young to drive, much less run a press -- nod or murmur a respectful greeting. Even though Quadracci invites employees to call him by a nickname, "Larry" ("it's a leveler -- it's not as formal as Harry," he says), most of the younger workers apparently prefer "Mr. Quadracci."
Quadracci talks as he walks, explaining the finer points of "assumed responsibility." No, he says, he does not automatically trust his employees to be responsible, and he does not immediately grant them full freedom to participate in any decision-making. He doesn't even allow new hires to wear the company uniform until they have served out a rigorous two-month probation period. Why all the restrictions? "Because they're kids," he says, with sudden toughness, "and they don't all have their heads screwed on straight when they walk in the door." Half of his workers are under 24, he points out, and many have never held a full-time job before.
