The Ikea Way
Not long ago, this guy shared his experience with getting an Ikea kitchen on his blog. It’s appalling, and anyone who has been through renovation would feel for him. It’s one of those typical horrible experience with contractors, miscommunications, wrong measurements, bad workmanship and worst of all, bad attitude. It makes me somewhat sad and disappointed, because Ikea has been known for their innovation and creativity in managing their furniture design to maximize functionality at low cost through working with their network of suppliers. I’ve done so many case studies about Ikea during my studies in Sweden, and Ikea represents Sweden in so many ways. Moreover, their kitchen cabinet uses OEM blum accessories, which is probably the best kitchen accessories currently! Ikea’s kitchen is also looking great with a large selection of sinks which I really like.
To Ikea’s credit, they have upheld their values and reputation by rectifying the situation once they got wind of this. It truly shows the power of social platforms and how important reputation and reviews are these days. But being able to apologize for their mistake and take such measures to rectify it shows a lot about the values behind a corporation. A good company will realize that customers’ satisfaction is the main driver of profits and should be one of the top priority.
When it comes to carpentry work, it’s quite easy to discern good workmanship. Apart from the apparent fit of the carpentry and smooth surfaces, one can easily check the workmanship in a few ways:
1. The edges. The laminate should be seamless at the edges without things like jagged edges and not-so-straight cuts that do not cover the wood totally.
2. The alignment. The drawers should be perfectly aligned and straight. There should be minimal gaps between the panels of a cabinet. The easiest way to check alignment is to open up all your carpentry, the drawers should not hit one another and panels should not be drooping.
Sadly, I learnt by experience. Till now, more than 2 years after my own renovation, I’m still annoyed when I notice the gaps between my cabinet panels. Still annoyed when I clean my kitchen cabinets and see how misaligned all the drawers and panels are. Yes, they are totally functional and could last for years to come, but I don’t think anyone likes living with such substandard work.
You know what’s the worst thing? The worst thing is, if the carpentry is already done badly, there’s very little anyone can do to rectify such issues, unless to redo the whole thing (which is almost impossible given the cost and time involved). Our drawers did get re-aligned just so they don’t hit each other when opened, but the gaps between the drawers and panels were never able to be perfectly aligned. The edges of the laminate, when not done properly? - The only rectification possible was to use a paint pen of similar color to color over the visible jagged edges just so it’s not so visible. Two years down the road, some of the paint has worn off and I’m getting the husband to buy some paint pens for me to redo the edges because it annoys the hell out of me whenever I see them. It will be many years later before I can ever redo my kitchen and carpentry work, because it’s going to cost me a five figure sum and a whole lot of inconvenience.
I can’t stress the importance of doing some homework and choosing a reputable and good contractor/designer. Sometimes, it all comes down to ethics of a person or a company and how they choose to make their money. It’s difficult to discern, except to follow your heart and your 6th sense when interacting with people and observing them. Mistakes are inevitable, but what’s more important is attitude and how people handle their mistakes. Some will apologize and make the effort to rectify their mistakes, while some will never admit their mistakes but blame everyone else instead.
Not everything legal is ethical, and every business wants to make money. What is most important is how you make your money, because karma works in mysterious ways.
君子爱财取之有道
Be righteous and make money in righteous ways.
Kudos to Ikea for doing what they did in response to such a situation. Most of the time, customers simply want their issues to be acknowledged and would forgive many mistakes if they were handled in a reasonable way.
On another note that’s relevant to business ethics, here’s a link to one of the biggest story in Singapore’s social media world that made me lose some faith in humanity, yet have it restored again.
There’s always bad people around, but there will also be great ones. Sometimes, when the law doesn’t help, the compounding power of people could be a great catalyst for change and justice. It takes courage to stand up for your values and go against what you believe is wrong. Not many people do that nowadays. We simply take it as it is and continue living life. It's amazing how the power of social media can dig up so much information and make life difficult for some unethical merchants. Not all may agree with it, but hey, I think we do need such people who's unafraid of legal repercussions and spend their time fighting for things they believe to be right.
There are still too many unethical businesses around, too many people making money at the expense of others. But beware of karma and such social media forces! Every single action produces a consequence.
To ethics, humanity and karma, and the Ikea way ~
