CASE STUDY
Read the case and answer the question given at the end.
The ABC Manufacturing Company is a plant under the direction of a plant manager who is known as a strict disciplinarian. One day a foreman noticed Bhola, one of the workers, at the time-clock punching out two cards- his own and the card of Nathu, a fellow worker. Since it was the rule of the company that each man must punch out his own card, the foreman asked Bhola to accompany him to the Personnel Director, who interpreted the incident as a direct violation of a rule and gave immediate notice of discharge to both workers.
The two workers came to see the Personnel Director on the following day. Nathu claimed innocence on the ground that he had not asked for his card to be punched and did not know at the time that it was being punched. He had been offered a ride by a friend who could not wait for him to go through the punch-out procedure. Nathu was worried about his wife who was ill at home and was anxious to reach home as quickly as possible. He planned to take his card to the foreman the next morning for reinstatement, a provision sometimes exercised in such cases.
These circumstances were verified by Bhola. He claimed that he had punched Nathu’s card the same time he punched his own, not being conscious of any wrongdoing.
The Personnel Director was inclined to believe the story of the two men but did not feel he could reverse the action taken. He recognized that these men were good workers and had good records prior to this incident. Nevertheless, they had violated a rule for which the penalty was immediate discharge. He also reminded them that it was the policy of the company to enforce the rules without exception.
A few days later the Personnel Director, the plant Manager, and the Sales Manager sat together at lunch. The Sales Manager reported that he was faced with the necessity of notifying one of their best customers that his order must be delayed because of the inability of one department to conform to schedule. The department in question was the one from which the two workers had been discharged. Not only had men to date, but disgruntlement over the incident had led to significant decline in the cooperation of other workers.
The Personnel Director and the Sales Manager took the position that the discharge of these two valuable men could have been avoided if there had been provision for considering the incident was costly to the company in the possible loss of a customer, in the dissatisfaction within the employee group, and in the time and money that would be involved in recruiting and training replacements.
The Plant Manager could not agree with this point of view.“ We must have rules if we are to have efficiency; and the rules are no good unless we enforce them. Further more, if we start considering all these variations in circumstances, we start considering all these variations in circumstances, we will find ourselves loaded down with everybody thinking he is an exception.” He admitted that the grievances were frequent but countered with the point that they could be of little consequence if the contract agreed to by the union was followed to the letter.
Questions
1 Place yourself in the position of the Personnel Director in this situation. Which of the following courses of the information which he has available at the time of the decision?
(a) Would you have discharged both men?
(b) Would you have discharged Bhola only?
(c) Would you have discharged Nathu only?
(d) Would you have discharged neither of them?
Justify your choice of decision.
2 What policy and procedural changes would you recommend for the handling of future cases of this type?
Case Study
Seth was surprised by both the information, and the proposal.
Kapil concluded his comments with, "Seth I am asking you to take Joshi. You can say 'No'. But then he gets fired. I have told Joshi this. Also, Joshi knows that if he goes with you he will take a pay cut. However, I think you can make use of him both to your own and his satisfaction. You are, anyway, carrying out an in-process quality control, and you might be able to make good use of Joshi in view ol his long technical experience of production work. Think it over, and let me know by tomorrow".
Seth thought over the matter.
ABC Company had bear a successful enterprise until March 1972 at which time it suffered a sharp decline of profits : sales had fallen off, and production costs had risen. The President adopted three measures which he hoped would improve the condition. First, by creating an Industrial Engineering department for establishing work standards on all production operations, to determine which manufacturing costs were out of line and where remedial action should be taken. Seth, 28 yeals old, who had been wiih the company for two years in the Purchasing department, was selected Seth had B.E. and M.B.A. degrees to his credit. What he lacked in his business experience he made up by his eagerness to learn. He was ambitious and liked by his associates. He wanted a translet from Purchasing to Production for better opportunities for advancement.
Secondly, he consulted a Management Consultation firm to make a study of the Production Department. They pointed out that the chain of command was too long from Production Manager through Plant Superintendent through Assistant Superintendent to Foremen. They recommended the elimination of the position of Assistant Superintendent.
Thirdly, he engaged an Industrial Psychologist to appraise all the Supevisory, Personnel.
Joshi had been with the Company for 20 years since its founding, and during this period had worked on every production operation, and his last 11 years had been in supervisory capacity. His manners were rough and aggressive, and he had little formal education. The Industrial Psychologists report about Joshi contained the following points:
(i) Evaluation for the position of Assistant Superintendent, Not good enough.
(ii) Capacity for good human relations in supervision: Will have friction frequently.
(iii) Need for development counseling: Counseling greatly needed.
(v) General evaluation: Joshi had a good ability profile. He suffers from a sense of inferiority. He does not like the responsibility of making decisions. His supervision is that of Autocratic type. Though he has the ability, as far as his personality make-up is concerned, he is out of place in the present position.
Questions :
(a) What is the core problem in the case ? Explain.
(b) Explain Joshi's behaviour and work experience vis-a-vis the psychologist's report.
(c) How do you see Kapil's suggestion to Seth ? Give reasons.
(d) What are Seth's considerations in taking a decision ? What should he do ? Explain.
Case Study
John was rapidly becoming the main topic of discussion for the workers on E-shift. For the past year, he had been working in the jeep-transportation department at a large manufacturing plant. His record of attendance was good and his work was considered far above average by his immediate supervisor. His supervisor also considered John the informal leader of the transportation department. This feeling was shared by the foreman and the other workers.
Finally, John was caught by the plant safety supervisor without his safety glasses on. This resulted in his being laid off without pay for five working days.
It was was the plant's policy that safety glasses must be to gain admittance to the plant and must be wom times in the plant. This policy was to ensure that no employee would lose his eye-sightfrom an accident or from a resulting fire.
This written policy stated that an employee who was caught not wearing his safety glasses would for the first offence get a five day lay-off and then for a second oflence get another five day suspension. After John returned to work, he was again observed not wearing his safety devices. Within a few days of his return, John was caught by the same safety supervisor without his safety glasses. The supervisor informed John in an angry voice, "l m getting tired of writing you up for stupid mistakes." At this point, John replied, "Why don't you go home and smash your head. " The supervisor then struck John, dt which point John proceeded to beat the supervisor unconscious.
John was laid off from work until the company could decide what action to take regarding the fight. After a brief meeting the next day, Mr. Prasad, the transportation supervisor, informed John that he was terminated. A union steward then asked Mr. Prasad about the fate of the supervisor. Mr. Prasad replied, "He will remain at work as far as I know. " The union steward immediately stepped to the telephone and called the union president. From the ensuing conversation, Mr. Prasad learnt that a wild cat strike might be ordered over the firing of John and not the supervisor.
Mr. Prasad knew that it was the company's stated policy that whoever started or was involved in a fight would be terminated immediately. Mr. Prasad was beginning to wonder whether the company had rnade a mistake in its decision and what should be done now.
Questions:
(a) What is the problem in the case?
(b) How do you see the behaviour of the safety supervisor? What would you do if you were the safety supervisor ?
(c) How do you see the change in John's behaviour from an informal leader to the one involved in a fight with a supervisor vis-a-vis the company's policy?
(d) Could Mr. Prasad and the safety supervisor have prevented John's case at the initial level?
Case Study
Roy, the president and founder of Electric Manufacturing Corporation (EMCORP) is wondering how he can follow the advice of his doctor, who had told him to take it easy after last year's coronary attack. EMCORP manufactures a full line of fractional horsepower electric motors sold to both original equipment manufacturers and distributors throughout the country. At present, the company employs approximately 1,000 people.
The manufacturing rising costs department shows a picture of, consistent failure to meet deliverv schedules, and an increasing number of quality complaints. John, Vice President Manufacturing, admits to poor performance, but says that the cost ligures from accounting are pure history and of no use since they do not reach manufacturing until the fifteenth of the month following the month in which the work is completed. He states that his failure to meet delivery schedules is due almost entirely to the fact that the sales department makes unrealistic promises, and does not bother to check manufacturing schedules. John attributes most of the quality problems to the incessant flow of engineering changes that come without warning and with no time to work out the production problems present in all new products. Roy admits to himself that he had asked Smyth, Vice President Engineering, to put all the approved changes into production immediately.
The vice president and general manager of sales, Rita, recognizes that she has no knowledge of the manufacturing schedules and realizes that she, too, is being criticized by Roy for many broken promises in regard to delivery dates. Howevgr, Rita's chief complaint at the present time is the result of having sold a large order of standard motors to a distributor having a supply of replacement parts in stock, and then discovering that engineering had changed specifications : a change that made all replacement parts in the field obsolete. Another irritant for Rita is the tightening of credit requirements instituted by the finance department without prior consultation with the sales department. Again, Roy admits to himself that it is the same engineering change which caused so much trouble in manufacturing that is causing trouble for the sales department and making obsolete the existing stock of replacement parts. He also realizes that at his request, due to an unusually short cash position, the finance department tightened up on credit requirement.
Questions
(a) Define the major problem of EMCORP's management.
(b) Will the formation of a committee be of any value in this situation? If a committee is needed, assign a title to the committee and indicate who should be members of the committee?
(c) In the event that Roy decides to retire, will the presence of a committee make it easier or more difficult for Roy's successor? Discuss
Case Study
The Vice President for Production at the AB Steel Plant was giving the Production Department Manager, Mr. Singh, a hard time for not doing anything about his wolk group which rwas perpetually coming late to work and was behind schedule in the performance quotas for several months now. The vice President's contention was that if the production' crew was consistently tardy, the production process was delayed by about 15 minutes on an average per member per day, and this was no way for the department to meet the assigned quotas. "They are losing about 6 to 8 hours of production time per member per month, and you don't seem one bit concerned about it," he yelled at the manager. He added that he was pretty upset about the 'lax management style' of the manager and very clearly stated that unless the manager did something about the tardiness problem, another manager who can manage the crew effectively' will have to be found.
Questions :
(a) What do you think is the real, problem in this case ?
(b) How do you perceive the stand of Mr. Singh? Analyze critically.
(c) What intervention should Mr. Singh use to rectify the type, of situation he is presently confronted with ? Discuss giving the reasons.
(d) Discuss the implications of effecting them with your recommendations.
