Case Study #1: Coping With Problems Joe is a little nervous. He has just been tr
ID: 351123 • Letter: C
Question
Case Study #1: Coping With Problems Joe is a little nervous. He has just been transferred from another plant to take over a production line. Production is down and there is a serious problem with absenteeism. To make matters worse, the line has the worst safety record of any of the company’s operations. Joe is relatively inexperienced and isn’t sure why he got the assignment but he suspects no one else wanted it. You’re Joe’s new manager and you’ve offered to help him with any problems he might have. You’re concerned that his inexperience will get him into trouble. Joe says thanks but he is sure he can handle it. He thinks that all he needs is a firm hand. On his first day on the job, Joe holds a meeting to announce some changes. He doesn’t want his employees to think he is an easy mark, so he decides to “lay down the law from day one.” Joe opens the meeting by announcing the following changes: The day shift is overstaffed, but there is a shortage of employees on some of the other shifts. He’s decided to move four employees from the day shift to the graveyard shift. Depending on how this works out, he may move additional people to second shift. Line speed will increase. Production will increase. Anyone not wearing safety glasses, or other personal protective equipment, will receive a written warning. The safety record must improve. Employees disagreeing with the proposed changes can see Joe later in his office for a private talk. He’ll be there all day catching up on some paperwork and, besides, he believes in an “open door.” Within two weeks of Joe’s meeting, it looks like your concerns were well placed. Of 83 employees (on three shifts), 22 have requested transfers and the three people he transferred to the graveyard shift just quit. One employee said he was quitting because he got a better job on days with another company. Production is up slightly but so is re-work. Also, reported incidents involving safety have increased, especially on the graveyard shift. Absenteeism is up, and the number of people reporting late is at an all-time high. As Joe’s manager, you have decided to take action, and soon. Transferring him to another job won’t work: he was the only supervisor who would take the job in the first place. Besides, he has a good record and you know he’s a hard worker who is willing to take direction. You’ve decided to have a talk with Joe and see if you and he can develop a plan to improve the situation on the production line.
1. How would you describe Joe’s management style? Should he change it? If so, how?
2.How would you evaluate the shift reassignments? What might Joe have done to make the changes less disruptive?
3.What might the high rate of absenteeism and tardiness mean? What can Joe do?
4.What is wrong with Joe’s “open door” policy?
5.Provide an outline of your plan for improving the current situation.
Explanation / Answer
1. Joe's management style can be considered autocratic. He does not take into account the decisions and needs of his workers and makes the decision without consulting them in order to improve the work output and increase in the production line. he should change it and should develop a management style that is democratic in nature. here, the decisions are made by him while taking into account the complaints and the needs of his workers all the while;e maintaining a balance and allowing for a better solution to be easily created.
2. According to Joe, the shift rearrangements were necessary to allow the production and work output to increase. what he failed to realize was that arbitrarily arranging people based on his own calculations could be ineffective for the people as there are a lot of variables at work in this situation. Joe should have asked the employees who could actually manage to do the shifts and therefore, made an informed decision which would have allowed him to be able to make a better decision which would not have resulted in the outcome that was received.
3. The high rate of absenteeism and tardiness could have been caused by the lack of oversight. Since, nobody else wanted to take the job of managing all the worker in that p[lant, it must have been a challenge to keep an eye on their performance and attendance and therefore, it has become a habit rather than a problem in its own regard. He could have, instead of expecting everything to change because of his decision, should have sat with the employees personally and should have come up with the real problem that is causing this situation and came up with a better solution.
4. There is nothing wrong with Joe's open door poliucy. But, the fact that he does not take the decisions of his workers into account makes the policy and the efforts worthless. Even if people came to him with their problems, Unless he changes his management style and understands the need o the people it would prove no good.
5. to improve the situation in the plant I will create a better policy and management style where the workers are given a chance to raise their opinions while their decisions and needs are taken into account. Absolute decisions are never made unless the need is and especially in the case of a radical change, the impact that it will have on the situation and the workforce should be taken into account.