Question

Part 4/A

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Date: July 1, 2012; 12:30 PM

After the big igniter problem, the company is still reeling. The ramifications were severe; they lost several big customers over it, along with creating a huge amount of scrap. To make matters worse, they were not able to recoup their payment from TriTech because the igniters were delivered as they had been designed. It was their own fault, not TriTechs. After a few weeks, purchasers were able to find replacement parts, but delivery took several weeks, and at significant cost. During that time, Patrick had hourly employees take a two-week unpaid leave. After employees were asked to return, productivity was low—presumably because morale was low after the forced leave, and they were likely performing a work slow-down that was not sanctioned by the union. After what they have been through, Bill’s cannot afford to have poor productivity now—all of the gains made between March and May were wiped out with the igniter snafu.

Part 4/A - Answer the following questions:

1. First, describe your gut reaction to this situation. What do you think?

2. What can Patrick do to improve productivity? What types of leadership would be most appropriate? Use the information from Chapter 12 to answer this question.

3. How can this situation be applied to Power and Politics in Chapter 13? Be specific.

4. Based upon what you have learned from the text, what recommendations do you have for Patrick. Be specific.

Part 4/B

Date: July 15, 2012

Early in July, Patrick noticed that productivity numbers were very low and attributed the problem to a work slow-down. Knowing that the union had not sanctioned the slow-down, Patrick took a hard stand. He implemented strict new rules for bathroom breaks, smoking breaks, and lunch.   Productivity seemed to go up. He walked through the factory 3 times a day to be sure that the machines were running, and that they had an hourly employee working on them. Even though they complained about the new rules, employees seemed to be generally following them and working harder. He assumed this resolved the productivity issue once and for all.

But, three days after implementing the new rules, the earnings report came in, and things looked bleak. In the last 3 months, Bill’s had lost over a million dollars per month. At this rate, Bill’s could only survive another 4 months before they were completely insolvent.

Patrick would have no choice but to lay people off. He decided to lay off 100 people with the lowest seniority, and move other employees around to get the work done. Many hourly employees would have to change shifts and work days to accommodate the new schedule. Patrick knew this would cause problems for people’s personal lives, but he had no choice, what else could he do? They would also have to work harder since they continued to have the same amount of work, but had 100 fewer people to complete it.

After a week of planning with Susan and Janet (the managers of HR and Operations) and a few key supervisors, Patrick executed the layoff. Within an hour, union officials from within the plant and state union representatives were calling. They were threatening a walk-out. Patrick needs to fix things. Now.

Part 4/B -Answer the following questions:

1. First, describe your gut reaction to this problem. What do you think?
2. Over the course of the last 7 months, Patrick has faced multiple challenges. Please list what you believe are the five biggest problems Patrick has faced. Be specific. Why are those the biggest, and how do these impact the larger organization?
3. Chapter 14 discusses organizational structure and change. Based upon the information provided in the readings, what is Patrick’s first step in finding the causes of the problems at the plant? Be specific and refer to the text.
4. If Patrick decides to undergo significant organizational change to solve some of the problems at the plant, first he must diagnose the root cause. What questions would be appropriate to ask, and to whom would he ask them?
5. Based upon your knowledge of the entire case, list at least three issues that you believe could be root causes of the problems that Patrick has seen?

Part 4/C:

Date: July 20, 2012

It has been a taxing, exhausting first six months for Patrick. In that time, he learned a great deal about the financial and accounting systems, the hierarchy and reporting structures, and the market. However, upon reflection be began to notice that while he had spent a great deal of time thinking about money and structure, he hadn’t spent a lot of time thinking about the company itself. As he reflected, a number of things popped out at him. The next morning, he started to open his eyes to his surroundings and the results were enlightening.

First, he noticed the parking lot, and realized that there were actually two—one out front for the office people, and a much larger one behind the factory where hourly factory employees and supervisors parked.

Next, he noticed that when you walk into Bills’ there are several grills sitting in and around the offices. But none were Bill’s Grills—they were grills from competitors. There were several pictures from the old days—pictures of Bill in the original garage where the company started, pictures of their first factory in the old warehouse, and pictures of Bill at the company picnic. But, all the while he had been there, few had mentioned Bill’s name.

Finally, he went onto the factory floor.   Within minutes of entering, he noticed an employee bending steel for the gas line that connects the propane canister with the grill itself. After observing for a moment, he realized that the employee had removed the safety shield that kept her arm from entering the metal bending press. Further, when she bent the steel, it left a stress crack in the metal—one that went unnoticed. Knowing what he did about steel and pressure, Patrick was concerned that the crack would turn into a full-blown hole when under pressure from the propane coming out of the propane tank.   Patrick watched the employee bend three pieces of steel, each resulting in a stress crack. Out of curiosity, he stepped up to the employee, who continued to work, and asked “Did you know that you are making bad product?” She responded “Yes”, and went on with her work. “But why?” said Patrick, “this is a huge liability and potentially very dangerous for consumers.” Her response was simple: “Because my supervisor told me to. She said the order had to get out--if we missed this shipment, we would lose the account.” And, with that, she went back to work. ‘Ironic’ thought Patrick. All of this took place beneath a large banner that said “Quality is our Top Priority”. This exchange left Patrick thinking about the organization’s culture in a totally new way. What was he going to do?

Part 4/C -Answer the following questions:

1. Based upon the scenario above, what do you think about the organizational culture at Bill’s?
2. Think about the dimensions that make up a company’s culture. Based on what you’ve learned about Bill’s throughout this semester, and the company’s assumptions, values and artifacts, do they have a strong or weak culture? Why or why not?  
3. Does Bill’s need a culture change? If so, how?

Answer 1

4A 1- It has been a sad situation from the start. It Cleary demonstrates poor leadership skills and low team motivation and team work. It will be very difficult to boost the morale of the workers and get back on track.

2- He needs to use task oriented leadership style. As task oriented leadership will involve structuring the roles of subordinates, providing them with instructions, and behaving in ways that will increase the performance of the group, which is crucial at this time. I am sure by getting involved himself he will be able to motivate the employees morale and boost up the performance levels.

3- Patrick has legitimate power and the employees need to comply with the requests he makes because they accept the legitimacy of the position, whether they like or agree with the request or not. He could use reward power and coercive power to boost up the morale of the employees and pump up the productivity level.

4- Patrick needs to understand his skills and leadership style as by doing so he will be able to use it wisely. He needs to be able to use his power that comes with the position so that he can direct it for the benefit of the company. Employee satisfaction is critical to company success, so he needs to provide his employees with adequate motivators to help them be more productive at work.

4B 1- I feel that the situation demanded the tough decision making. But lay off won't be a quick fix for issues. As the Union seems to be involved they would demand increase in pay or would ask limited work hours. This would cause greater harm in the long run. I feel that laying off someone who is obstructing work is good. for the company but just having mass lay off would cause greater issues and create chaos and further more lower the morale of the employees.

2- Five biggest problems faced by Patrick are-

a) Poor Communication between the leadership team and the employees . Lack of clear communication has caused the company great loses. b) Poor management has caused loss of accountability. No one is ready to take responsibility of their positions at the company and this lack of management has led the workers to not confirm to rules and regulations. c) Lack of Respect of the leaders has caused workers to be less productive at work as they seem to disregard the task and regulations set forth. d) Poor leadership style of Patrick is yet another problem. He is not able to use his skills in the manner he should at his position. Also his use and understanding of Power at his position is also very poor due to which he is not able to boost up productivity as well as morale of the employees. e) Unhappy an dissatisfied employees are a major concern as it negatively effects the progress of the company.

3- I believe that Patrick should determine what types of changes need to be such as improvement in technology or whether the company needs a change caused by poor performance and poor productivity . I also think that Decentralization of the organizational structure will be good for creativity, bringing out the best in employees who have an eagerness to learn new things. This would help in overall progress of the company.

4- He needs to ask questions either face to face or by providing a questionnaire for feedback from the employees to get a better understanding of the position of the company. He needs to ask the hourly workers- If they are satisfied with the pay and hours of work? If they are satisfied with the management? If not, what changes would they want in the management? Next would be the People managing the workers Managers and Supervisors- Are they happy with the hourly workers productivity level? What changes would they want to make in the schedule of the workers to improve productivity?

5- The root causes are the lack of the communication, the lack of motivation of the employees, and the lack of management and leadership skills.

4C 1- Organizational Culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that indicate what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior within a given organization. But looking at the scenario there seems to be lack of coordination, trust, understanding and belief. Profits and quantity are preferred over value and quality. This makes the culture very toxic as the employee are not in sync with one another causing greater problems in the long run.

2- They have a weak culture as the core values are not clearly defined, communicated or widely accepted by the employees working for the company. The employees do not behave as expected and do not follow the beliefs, values and assumptions thus becoming rebels and fight the culture itself.

3- Yes Bill's do need a culture change. They need to turn their weak culture into a strong culture. Changing an organization’s culture takes a determined and effective leader and Patrick needs to step up and devote himself unselfishly towards the betterment of the company and needs to put the organization first before himself. He needs to take control of the direction of the company and needs to understand the value of Human capital. He needs to reorg the management and set forth rule and regulations that are to be followed with repercussions.

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