The process of making hotplates involves a number of departments in which they are different workers to complete the job. The initial arrangement was in such a manner that each hotplate would pass through different workers with each having to complete the manufacturing process partially. This involved teamwork and collaboration within the workers as the work of one affected the other. This method did not however work as each worker preferred making own plate from the beginning to the end instead sharing the manufacturing duties.
Absenteeism in the workplace was caused by the low morale of the workers regarding the initial arrangement. Improvising a new process increased the morale of the workers thus increasing their desire to show up at work as required. Offering the workers a chance to make the hotplates wholly reduced the rate of absenteeism as they were motivated to make as many hotplates as possible (Luecke & Harvard Business School, 2005). Working from the start to the finish offered them a manner of ownership to the completed hotplates increasing the desire to increase production and outdo each other. Missing work would mean one has few hotplates to own up to which acted as a motivating factor for them to attend work thus reducing absenteeism.
Increase in production in any organizations is caused be efficiency in labor and reduction in wastage of raw materials (Pride, Hughes & Kapoor, 2010). In this case, it is notable that controllable rejects had reduced by a large margin of 22 percent. The reduction is an indication that most of the raw materials which had been previously wasted were currently used to produce extra hotplates. This translates to an increase in production that was not in any way attributed to an increase in the materials used to produce the hot plates. Efficiency in labor can be achieved through motivation of workers, supervision or training. In this case, the worker's morale was increased through a new production process and initial training took place to ensure they understood the duties involved. The increased production can, therefore, be explained as a result of the combination that was increased morale in the workers and training of the process. The increase in morale also led to the reduction in absenteeism that means that the effective labor hours was increased making it possible for the workers to increase the hotplates produced.
An analysis on this case study indicates that it is essential for workers to be motivated as this increases the morale and reduces absenteeism. It is also evident that the rate of controllable wastages also affects the level of production thus this should be minimized where possible. This is evident in the real world with the automobiles industry being the best example (Walters, 2010). Research in production of Toyota Company indicated that the percentage of automobiles increases with an increase in efficiency of labor.
Motivated workers have limited supervision and corrections in the products leading to high output. Automobiles also require the use of many raw materials such as metals while producing them indicating the need to reduce wastage. Wastage of raw materials in the company can cause high losses as the materials used are highly valued. To reduce the wastage, the workers are well trained on the processes involved to ensure they understand the most effective manner of production. This includes induction for new workers, on-the-job and off-the-job training in regards to the departments involved.
References
Luecke, R., & Harvard Business School. (2005). Time management: Increase your personal productivity and effectiveness. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press.
Walters, J. H. (2010). Positive management: Increasing employee productivity. New York, N.Y.] (222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017: Business Expert Press.
Pride, W. M., Hughes, R. J., & Kapoor, J. R. (2010). Business. Australia: South-Western/Cengage Learning.
