mmmmm dd, yyyy
Overview
There was a widespread low morale existing among the employees in the Papoose lamination company simply because there were just too many issues in the processes, organization and interpersonal relationships. As a business, the company is doing well but it appears that the owner, Ben Richardson, was maintain it that way at the expense of asset investment and working conditions of employees. On telling indicator is the consistently high turn-over of workers.
In operations, there are issues in schedules, safety, communications, procedures, equipment, plant space and quality. Human resource management has issues in turnover, performance and rewards; hiring, overtimes, staffing, work conditions, work-life balance, training and motivation. External business pressures also come from problems in delivery and purchasing.
Consulting work aimed to uncover the cause of the above problems by the use of action research where they would directly get data from company information and employee’s observations and insights (Dick, 2000). Not surprisingly, the employees were wary of external parties inquiring about people and work conditions but they found an opportunity to vent their long suppressed views
Jack Lawler opted to use the method of action research for Papoose Laminator’s as the scope of the problem was already defined by the owner as that of a general morale problem. The approach aims to breakdown the general problem in smaller detailed ones by cyclically posing questions that will reveal conditions and hidden issues. The diagnostic tool is the designed set of questions (Creelman, 2002). Consistency of outcomes is achieved by posing the same issues from multiple sources which in this case, would be the employees at various levels.
There is a limited funding for the consulting work so Jack Lawler had to engage the services of students. Aside from lower cost, another advantage of using younger people was they appeared less intimidating than polished professionals. After some initial hesitancy, the employees willingly cooperated recognizing the exercise as a step forward to solving long standing problems.
Jack Lawler could have made use of the open systems model of organizational development together with action research (Simon-Solomon, n.d.). It would have complemented well with the action research that he employed. It would have been effective as the issues apply at group and individual levels where his team can use the action research on. One critical input in the consultative process could have been the inclusion of official management support from the owner. The official appointment of a change manager from a widely trusted manager could have encouraged better cooperation from the workers.
Analysis and Feedback Methods
The team both used the interview and observations for their collection methods. They interviewed all of the managers and supervisors and key workers. Most of the data that were collected were verbal accounts of situations and personalities and the rest were from assets and processes. Content analysis is then used for the data that was gathered. (Cummings & Worley, 2009)
The Owner’s Influence
A good analysis of the company would start on looking at the influence of the owner on the overall situation of the company. In the process, we may be able to identify other issues that will relate to him. Ben Richardson had been described as follows:
A conservative, hands-on and authoritarian boss who values and rewards loyalty
He doesn’t believe in unions as he sees workers as disposable assets
Would incentivize only those in management (bonuses and pension plans) and can be demanding on them with high expectations of commitment
Stingy on employees’ salary, equipment and information
Puts low priority on safety
Unpopular and distant with the plant workers
Creates unofficial lines of authority (uses Richard to oversee the lam plant)
Can be personal and impressionable with employees
Ben is the type of owner who does not see human resources as valuable assets. It must be a buyer’s market in the industry’s job market as he believes employees can be hired and fired anytime. He is contented so far with the company’s performance and he does not owe much to employees’ contributions. He will only start investing when employees have become long-serving like some of his managers and supervisors; only then will he reward with benefits and rewards. A big drawback is he extends his stinginess on company machinery and plant space which affects production. It has double negative effect on productivity as it slows down work and demoralizes many workers who find no incentive to improve performance.
A survey feedback showing all of the above findings will be presented to the concerned client personnel. The purpose is to verify and refine the data.
Structural Conditions
The following issues are related to Ben’s outlook. There is a slowdown in planning because of the lack of hoists which Ben refuses to add on to. Safety procedures are being taken lightly all over the company because Ben hasn’t pointed out its importance. There had been a recent fatality but the company response had not been commensurate in terms of future prevention. There have been several cases of injuries as well. Again, it reflects on Ben’s treatment of human resources.
Lamination has the largest profits among the companies and to maintain that, manpower count is constrained which results in overly long working hours and shuffling of people between jobs. This has an adverse effect on productivity and people. Maintenance has one man for a two-man job causing a work backlog of 6 months. The planning group has complained of too many 10-hour workdays. The high rate of attrition has caused younger men to be hired; being less committed, they incur more absences which cause too much shuffling among workers. Training and development has also been affected in that there’s not enough time for people to be trained on a job when they get shuffled. This also reduces experience which lowers quality at times.
There are also questionable practices in management. The plant manager, Joe Bamford, models after Ben when he does not communicate changes downwards. Joe and Ben do set goals but they are documented and communicated. Ben has the habit of bypassing official channels to assign people odd roles. Rich works for industrial relations but he had been asked to also do hiring and oversee the lamination plant. He wisely refused the latter. It is no wonder then that Rich can discuss on deliveries and timber purchases though operations is out of his scope in industrial relations. It is remarkable that as manufacturing concern, there is no purchasing or a marketing job in Papoose.
Human Resource Conditions
The long hours are taking its toll on people and their families and Ben was insensitive by threatening termination for non-cooperation. One factor in the safety issue is that when workers get tired during overtime, they become more prone to accidents. Even the lunch break was cut down in half to add more hours. This was outrageous for those who go home for lunch.
Working conditions is also another source of complaints. The metal building becomes so hot in the simmer that men lose as much as 5 pounds of weight for an 8-hour shift. The complaint had been raised but again, management was not willing to spend.
Even compensation is an issue. The company has been able to keep out the unions but the union workers elsewhere are earning more than Papoose workers. As mentioned above, only long serving management personnel are given bonuses and pension plans. Even though the package has hourly wage, vacation, paid leaves, insurance, there is no variable income to motivate workers to over perform.
Personnel Conditions
Issues among key employees were also noted in the study. The profile of the president, Ben , had already been examined previously.
Joe Bamford is the manager. Joe tolerates inefficiency when he duplicates the records of his secretary Susan. While he is also the bid manager, Joe is seen as lacking control over his staff and his group’s operations. Joe basically does not like the work of supervising; he’d rather believe that his people are good enough to be left alone. He’d rather work on other works like bidding, managing and engineering. It shows that Joe is good in sales but he may be struggling now from having too many roles. He has done well with customers but appears poor in planning and collecting. He appears also to be too chummy with the workers. This can be seen negatively as unhealthy or positively as having a close touch with workers.
Susan is the secretary of Papoose and also helps Joe in the bidding. She is computer literate and could be more efficient but the lack of a computer is another sign of Ben’s failure to buy necessary equipment. She has also been working 10-15 hours daily which may be a cause in the decrease of quality in her work. She also appears to have a larger role in the bidding in the manner that she can confer with Joe on prices. Like Joe, customers like her too. Sue appears to be a dedicated and responsible worker but like Joe, has too much work on her hands.
Dirk is the scheduler and was tagged to relieve Joe of sales but is still unassigned. He also complains of working on different positions. Rolf is Joe’s supervisor but his personality seems to be not cut-out for his role and he is not confident about it. He does his best for his job shuffling men as he needs to but became unpopular as the one who introduced the half hour lunch. Joe and he have introduced safety measures. He has lost some respect from the men as he allows Joe to bypass him sometimes. John Walton is the quality control officer and he is respected all around. He actually reports to Rich as quality was seen to be outside of production. Jim Fuller is the supervisor for glue and perceived to have many extracurricular activities which cast a doubt on his commitment to the company. He has the important role of plant safety representative. John Rondo is another preglue supervisor and is well respected by both management and the staff. Ron is the glue supervisor. He is well respected and also vocal about the overly long hours which deprive men of family life. Bob Bennis is the finishing supervisor John McClough is failing as a supervisor but is a good worker.
Intervention Options
Techno-structural interventions deal with technology and structure. Human resource interventions deal with HR processes. Human process interventions refer to interpersonal relationships and group dynamics. (Foster, 2013)
Techno-Structural Interventions
The biggest reason for the low morale is the overly long working hours demanded from staff. They may be earning well but their family live had been suffering. Ben should launch a thorough study on what can be the tolerable levels for his employees regarding overtime. Another possible result is a reengineering of the work processes that will require fewer workers. This would solve many existing problems like job attrition, accidents, poor quality and training. Shuffling of men can be minimized or eliminated altogether. Another possible conclusion is additional manpower which may mean an increase in cost in wages and training too but the positive effects may offset them.
In the work reengineering, there should also be an inspection on what are the equipments and facilities improvements that need to be bought and carried out that will improve the working conditions of workers. The environment is part of the process and should be conducive for productivity.
Structural design can lead to the creation of a marketing, purchasing and a safety function for the Papoose. These are the currently unfilled requirements that are affecting the quality of work of people who have to add them to their regular positions.
Human Resource Interventions
There had been dissatisfactions regarding performance and rewards as being stagnant. Papoose should look into a judicious performance appraisal and rewards system that will retain good employees. This hopefully will reduce the high attrition which is a factor in the decreasing quality of work. A suitable rewards mix can be chosen that will balance seniority and performance. The risk is that the company may over commit on this additional compensation ant it may hurt financially.
Until the shuffling problem is fixed, coaching can be used for senior and junior workers so intense training can be done in the short times available. The risk is that senior staff may be reluctant and insecure to share their knowledge and skills. Career planning can also be implemented by job rotation where workers will be able to experience all facets of work. The risk is that group harmony will always be disrupted by changes in members.
Human Process Interventions
Individual interventions can be used for those individuals who were observed to have incongruities with their jobs. Activities will involve their groups and peers who will contribute observations that will provide insights to the subject.
There had been hidden conflicts between some supervisors and the workers. These can be cleared up by using third-party interventions. The risk is that without adroit third-party mediation, the conflicts may worsen.
Team-building may be used to improve relationships in three groups:
Ben, Rich, Juanita, Joe and Susan
Joe and his supervisors
Supervisors with their staff
They can reveal their impressions and expectations of each other for better collaboration at work. The risk is that there may be hidden conflicts which would derail the activities.
Evaluation Methods and Planned Changes
The desired result of the whole exercise is to lift the morale of the employees. One indicator would be the attrition rate which should go down for the project to be considered successful. Another would be a satisfaction survey among the employees to measure new satisfaction levels and feedback. A performance measurement can also be carried out to show increases in productivity that will prove higher levels of morale among the workers.
New behaviors will be observed to see if the planned changes have been institutionalized. The important behaviors are the consistent practice of safety within the premises. Managers and supervisors are expected to be more involved with their units. Communications should be more transparent and flowing in the organization.
References
Creelman, D. (2002). OD Diagnostic Tools. hr.com. Retrieved March 20, 2016 from http://www.hr.com/en/communities/organizational_development/od-diagnostic-tools_eacyjbui.html
Cummings, T. and Worley, C. (2009). Organization Development & Change, 9th Edition. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Dick, B. (2000). A beginner's guide to action research. Resource papers in action research. Retrieved March 20, 2016 from http://www.aral.com.au/resources/guide.html
Foster, C. (2013). OD Intervention Categories. Organization Development. Retrieved March 20, 2016 from http://organisationdevelopment.org/the-od-cycle/the-intervention-phase/od-interventions-intervention-categories-new/
Simon-Solomon, S. (n.d.). Systems Thinking in the Workplace - An Action Research Approach. Retrieved March 20, 2016 from http://www.umsl.edu/~sauterv/analysis/F08papers/Simon_Solomon_Systems_Thinking_in_the_Workplace.html
