Consolidated Products Consolidated Products is a medium-sized manufacturer of co
ID: 358882 • Letter: C
Question
Consolidated Products Consolidated Products is a medium-sized manufacturer of consumer products with nonunionized production-workers Gaston Tremblay was a plant manager for Consolidated Products for 10 years, and he vas well liked by the employees. They were grateful for the fitness center he Cu activities sponsored by the plant several times a year yees, and they enjoyed the social including company picnics and holiday parties. He knew most of the workers by name, and he spent part of each day walking around the plant to visit with them and ask about their families or hobbiess Ben believed that it was important to treat employees properly so they would have a sense of loyalty to the company. He tried to avoid any layoffs when produc- Cases 513 tion demand was slack, figuring that the company coukd not afford to lose skilled workers that are so difficult to replace. The workers knew that if they had a speciak problem, Ben would try to help them. For example, when someone was injured but wanted to continue working, Ben found another job in the plant that the person coüld do despite having a disability. Ben believed that if you treat people right, they will do a good job for you without close supervision or prodding, Ben applied the same principle to his supervisors, and he mostly left them alone to run their departments as they saw fit, He did not set objectives and standards for the plant, and he never asked the supervisors to develop plans for itnproving productivity and product Under Ben, the plant had the lowest vacancies among the company's five plants, but the second worst record for costs and production levels. When the coinpany was acquired by another firm, Ben was asked to take early retirement, and Phil Jones was brought in to replace him. Phil had a growing reputation as a rnanager who could get things done, and he quickly began nyaking changes. Costs were cut bv trimoning a nurnber of activities such as the fitness center at the plant, cornpany picnics and parties, and the hunun relations training progranxs for supervisors. Phil believed t)'i'dt training supetvisors to be supponive was a waste of titne. His motto was: "If employees don't want to do the work, get rid of thefn and find somebody else who does.. Supervisors were instructed to establish high performance standards for their deparunents and insist that people achieve them, A con-iputer monitoring system was introduced so that the output of each worker could be checked closely against the standards bstandard perfonnance ore warning, then if perfonnance did not itnprove within two weeks, to fire the person. Phil believed that workers don't respect a supervisor who is weak and passive. When Phil observed a worker wasting time or making a mistake, he would reprimand the per son right on the spot to set held with each supervisor Phil told his supervisors to give any worker who had su an example. Phil also checked closely on the performance of his supervisors objectives were set for each department, and weekly meetings were to review department performance. Finally. Phil insisted that supe.n'isors check q, ith hizn before taking any significant actions that deviated from established plans and policies. As another cost-cutting nove, Phil reduced the frequency of equimnent maintenance. which required machines to be idled when they could be productive. Because the nyachines firstExplanation / Answer
1) Managerial behaviour can be described best in terms of individual managerial styles. While finding managers who fit accurately in one of the managerial style is difficult, dominant traits are used to describe individual managerial styles. Ben could be described as having AFFILIATIVE style where dominant traits are as follows:
a) people first, task second
b) focus is on keeping employees happy through personal relationships
c) conflicts are avoided
d) performance is secondary
AFFILIATIVE style works best in scenarios wherein routine tasks are involved, employees are self motivated and where counselling is required. The style does not works in crisis situation where orders are required to be followed and high performance standards are expected from lax employees.
Phil follows DIRECTIVE managerial style which believes in getting work done and places low importance on human relations. Such managers believe in givjng directions and expect immediate compliance from team. Such managers are highly effective in crisis situation which require immediate execution with great risk on deviation. Talented or self motivated employees can get frustated or feel stagnated under DIRECTIVE managerial style which does not allows them to function in their own way.
When it comes to specific relations behaviour, we have Ben displaying dominant traits of recognizing people, supporting them in situations of requirement (e.g. giving disabled alternate jobs) and creating facilities for employee well being. No such traits are displayed by Phil
Phil, on the other extreme, display task specific behavior which lays focus on getting things done. This has an immediate impact on plant production performance but it is negative on employee morale and retention.
Both leaders do not indulge into Participative or Inspirational style of leadership which involves consensus building and is more democratic style of leadership. On one extreme, Ben leaves everything to employees judgement while on other extreme Phil does not gives any regards to employee inputs.
2) When we take Ben's style of leadership we can see that his style of leadership is extremely effective in retaining talent in-house which is of utmost criticality when there is shortage of talent outside. However his style of no supervision and no target setting ensures that the plant and the workforce dont really know the direction in which they are moving. His style never brings out areas which could be improved as performance is never questioned. As long as supervisors are committed to work, the leadership style will deliver results. However it will become quite tricky to discipline an errant worker or supervisor under Ben's style of leadership.
Phil leadership style will deliver hard results driving performance and productivity as targets are set and the path to achieve them is dictated by the leader. While in short term this can bring up the figures but in long term extreme dictating on way of doing things can suppress creativity and new ideas to come up. This can hamper long term productivity gains. DIRECTIVE style of leadership can ruffle feathers and in short term can be an extremely effective tool to discipline errant workers and supervisors. But in long term constant micro managing can be nagging on self motivated or creative workers and would lead to higher attrition of skilled workforce.
3) In order to achieve both employee satisfaction and performance, a balanced style of leadership i.e. PARTICIAPTIVE/COACHING style. The leadership style would lay emphasis on performance measures and would ensure that all employee levels are trained and coached in achieving the required standards. This style would also allow individual development of employees by making them accountable for growth and performance of their units. A proper reward system would further help in setting the right expectations among employees.