Case Study Analysis
(Title Page)
Case Study案例代写The analysis discusses the case study, “Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad”.
Abstract Case Study案例代写
The analysis discusses the case study, “Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad”. Milestone One develops an in-depth description of the organization issues within the company. The section also outlines a clear path for the analysis of the company. Milestone Two identifies and investigates the major root causes or key organizational issues from a perspective of human behavior. The section validates the investigation with supportive research proof, talks about the influence of weakly administered and poorly managed human behavior theories at the company, while explaining the theory of human behavior.
Milestone Three offers potential solutions to the issues at the company. This incorporates issues of the company by the use theories that validate the research analysis. The recommendations offered will create a more proactive environment at the company. Milestone Four reveals personal workplace issues at the company, uses human behavior perspective to analyze the root causes and presented supportive evidence to validate the analysis. The section also discusses my personal experience as an on-campus employee and relates it to the condition at Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant. Milestone Five gathers and summarizes the analysis and insights and discusses how they are related to the application of theories and concepts of human behavior as seen from the behavioral point of view inside a workplace.
Table of Contents Case Study案例代写
Milestone One: Introduction………………………………………………………………………………4
Milestone Two: Root Cause Case Study Analysis………………………………………………….6
Milestone Three: Solutions Development……………………………………………………………8
Milestone Four: Workplace Analysis………………………………………………………………….11
Milestone Five: Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….15
References………………………………………………………………………………………………………17
Milestone One: Introduction
Located in Richmond, Indiana, Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant is a private company that manufactures automobile mirrors. With a workforce of 209 workers, the company has had its share of good and bad times. After a drastic decline of sales, Ron Bent, the manager of the company, was forced to emancipate 20% of his employees. The productivity of the company dropped, morale of the employees lowered, and product-quality issues surfaced, threatening key company-customer relationships (Beer and Collins, 2008).
The downturn strained the plant to put Scanlon Plan back to power. Scanlon Plan was a full-fledge incentive program industrialized by Joseph Scanlon in 1930s. The major objective of the plan was to boost participative management. The three basic components of the plan include:
- Employees at all levels are open to submit improvement suggestions,
- The suggestions are evaluated by the key committees of the company,
- The fruits of improved productivity are shared through bonuses between employees.
The reinstatement of Scanlon Plan enhanced employee productivity, boosted their morale, and increased the quality of products.
Workers began to receive consistent Scanlon bonuses for numerous years. The company even grouped the bonuses with monthly paychecks. Scanlon bonuses were no longer prize money but were owed to the employees. But they were not a long-term solution, and the company needed to craft a creative plan to get them back on track. Case Study案例代写
When analyzing the scenario at Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant, Rob Bent has a plenty of roads ahead, but the identification of the road he should take for the mutual benefit of the company and its employees is the complex part. Perhaps he could devise a strategy where employees could still win a reward, but they have to work for it. Thus, bonus could become a symbol of effort at the company, so employees at all levels would no longer get them on a silver platter, rather they will have an equal opportunity to earn it.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs rank basic human needs on a five-tier pyramid.
The first-tier represents physiological needs like water, food, rest and warmth. The second-tier includes the need for security and safety. The third-tier is the need for relationships and friendship, love and belongingness. The fourth-tier take in the need for a sense of accomplishment and self-esteem. The fifth-tier shows a need for self-fulfillment and self-actualization.
Every person has the ability and desire to reach a higher level of self-actualization. However, failure to meet the needs at a lower level disrupts the progress towards the top-tier. Certain life experiences like the loss of a job or failure of a marriage cause people to fluctuate between the lower and higher pyramids. Thus, every person does not follow a unidirectional path towards achievement, but may continuously move back and forth between numerous needs (Mcleod, 2016).
On the basis of Saul Mcleod’s theory, it appears that Maslow Hierarchy of Needs can explain the behavior of employees at Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant. The bonuses make company’s employees believe they have reached the highest level in the pyramid, they feel like they have the potential to work towards the betterment, they enjoy a sense of self-accomplishment. The loss of that bonus would take that away from them, and make the feel like they moved downwards on the pyramid. In short, the employees have raised their standards towards a certain way of life. Unfortunately, they will have to make up for that loss now and learn to survive without that bonus money.
Milestone Two: Root Cause Case Study Analysis
Over the years, employee motivation and productivity at Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant has reduced due to company’s detrimental organizational issues. It is important to acknowledge these issues and identify their root cause from human behavioral perspective. Investigating these issues and causes ensures the development of effective preventive steps for a better future.
The organizational issues at Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant arose when the “Scanlon Bonus Program” crashed (Beer and Collins, 2008). The system of reward was first reinstated with a goal to motivate employees so that they exceed the work standard normally expected of them. The program began as an incentive scheme, but with the passage of time, it became a norm. Employees started to expect rewards for doing the iota of required effort. As the Scanlon Bonus Program deteriorated, strong distrust grew between employers and employees. The employers demonstrated the personalities of Theory Y, whereas the employees were found to have the characteristic of Theory X. Not only that, other key aspects of the company’s healthy work culture also diminished, such as leadership, employee motivation and workplace morale.
The production at Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant begin to compromise greatly as the employees were no longer motivated to put effort into their daily tasks.
They key to the success of a company is to ensure that its employees are motivated. Motivation is a psychological force of distinct complexes that either attract the employees to put their best in work or disengage them. When employees are monetarily remunerated or verbally recognized, they feel a sense of satisfaction, and it is wise to repeat the action that produced the desired outcome. They major drivers are power, achievement motivation and affiliation motivation (Newstrom, 2015). Case Study案例代写
Leadership styles vary greatly. Mostly, they are categorized by the perceptions of a leader for workforce and human behavior. Douglas McGregor introduced Theory X and Theory Y in 1957 to explain the diverging assumptions about the functions of a company. The theories serve as beliefs or set of propositions about basic human nature. Theory X explores the conventional stance about people, while Theory Y is a set of supportive and humanistic strategies to deal with people (Newstrom, 2015). So, when Theory X believes that people hate work, are irresponsible, intrinsically lazy and should be forced to perform the needed work; Theory Y suggests that work is a norm, people are not born lazy, they have the ability to do better, and they are creative enough to not view work as a burden.
It appears that the plant manager, Ron Bent, perceives employees through the lens of Theory X ever since the incentive plan, the Scanlon Bonus Plan, began to deteriorate. Employees are viewed as naturally lazy, lacking the ability to perform the required work, having no ambition or motivation, and truly irresponsible. They are looked down upon as self-centered people, indifferent to the needs of the company, and forces against change. The provision of ordinary rewards is not an efficient solution to make employees like work. So, the managers have started to control, force, or even threaten the employees to achieve satisfactory results (Newstrom, 2015). Although management does not agree with this allegation, their actions demonstrate their point of view.
Milestone Three: Solutions Development
For a company to operate like a well-oiled apparatus, employee empowerment is a necessity. The Scanlon Bonus Program appeared a quick fix at first, but it was not a permanent solution. Empowerment must give your employees a sense of trust and independence through well-balanced guidance, instruction and control of the situations in the ways they see it best (Newstrom, 2015).
Once it was clear that Scanlon Bonus Program was no longer functional, and the employees were deprived of the bonus money they became accustomed to, the upper management needed to schedule an immediate manager-employee meeting to win the trust of employees. Of course, the employees would not be glad to receive lower wages without knowing what the future has in store for them. The managers should have come up with another manageable incentive plan where employees could earn a reward for completing certain milestones. So, every one of them would have the opportunity to get a monetary reward, but only when they truly worked for it.
Employee empowerment is not achieved by a quick fix, it can only be obtained through a serious change in the way a company is being operated (Marquet, 2015).
Once employees see a key change to organizational structure or function, they feel a sense of control and power that affects their performance at work. Employees should be motivated to meet the needs of the company, and compensated for when they fulfill their obligations. Consistent employee empowerment and motivation is the key to tremendous achievement for Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant. Case Study案例代写
The use of Rensis Likert’s supportive model could enable employers to feel a sense of importance and personal worth that leads to increased work ethic. When employees feel a sense of content with their employers, know that they are supportive, understandable and communicable, they will strive to accomplish the tasks of the company despite their initial discontent. To boost that effect, the collegial model can be applied as an extension of the supportive model, to build the relationship between managers and employees. The employees complete the required tasks because they feel a sense of responsibility towards them, not because they are scared or threatened by the punishments if they do not. This creates job satisfaction and a sense of self-discipline in the company (Kashyap, 2015).
Empowered employees are able to deal with work situations better than those who are not.
So, when the feeling of usefulness develops among the employees, they begin to feel more autonomous. As a consequence, their actions and attitudes become positive towards the company. They start to see work tasks in a bright light. They are more committed and helpful to company’s success rather than their own (Newstrom, 2015). The Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant is required to lay a strong base for the employees to feel a sense of inspiration and appreciation so they could give their best at work.
The supportive and collegial models vary greatly from the autocratic model due to the fact that it is a strict and methodical behavior model to push employees to refocus on work. A company that follows the autocratic model is authority-oriented and employee-obedient. The top-tier managers have the supreme authority to hire and fire employees as they desire. This model works in situations where lazy employees tend to skim their work. Generally, the managers threaten the employees by withholding their wages or bonuses in cases where they do not complete the task or obey the authorities.
The autocratic model also has its weaknesses, this is where the need for the custodial model comes in.
Employees under an autocratic work environment often feel frustrated and insecure with the management. To soften that anger for harsh and strict employers, the custodial model is used to develop employer-employee connection. Progressive managers often apply this model to put emphasis to monetary benefits and rewards.
Even small things would make a huge difference to the employees. For instance; managers often use the technique of ‘Employee of The Month’ where the employee who completed every task successfully receives an extra 75$, or a group competition where the group who performs the best gets a gift card to a nice restaurant after one month. Such tactics would take the attention of the employees away from a reduce paycheck, and distract them for the time being so they could focus their energy into performing better for the company in hopes of getting a pat on the back.
Milestone Four: Workplace Analysis Case Study案例代写
I took an on-campus job when I first got admitted for my Bachelor’s degree. I worked there for four years to meet my expenses. I remember that two semesters in, the management of the department changed. They new managers decided to start ‘Student Employee of The Month’ program. At first, the students laughed it off, even joked about it. No one took it seriously until they announced the reward; that was, 30$ Starbucks gift card and a 30$ bookstore card.
Now, that may not sound like a huge deal, but as a freshman, it was like a dream come true. I did not have enough to buy coffee every day, or purchase books. So, I decided to put my game face on to earn those rewards. When the desires or needs of people are at stake, they are motivated to work hard for them. Motivation is driven by internal and external factors, but the motivation of employees at workplace is the key to the success of a company (Newstrom, 2015).
Each one of us was at our best behavior for one month. We went over the moon to fulfill our job responsibilities, and were extremely polite to the management.
The behaviors were so good that each one of us could easily win the title, but there could only be one winner. So, we tried even hard. But alas! We were defeated by that one person who did not only receive the prize, but the management office put up his smiling picture on the bulletin board for the entire month. The steak we all craved for was ripped away from us, and we were no longer interested to work hard after we felt a sense of unappreciation for our best efforts.
Employers need to be careful when devising a motivational plan for the employees. They need to consider the side-effects of the program. We all fit to the criteria of Theory Y before the start of the reward plan. We were not lazy, worked hard and completed our duties at work. But then work turned into a competition, and each one of us strive hard to be the winner. When we did not win the program, we turned into Theory X employees; we felt unmotivated, lazy and defeated. We did not even want to put in bare minimum effort. The incentive program that was supposed to be a motivation and support eventually came out as two-edged sword. The manager at work could have avoided the situation by acknowledging each one of us for our efforts, and although we understood he could not offer us all a gift card, he could have just distributed chocolates among us to encourage good behavior in the future.
Such situations require the leader-member exchange theory to come into play.
The theory emphasizes on constructive experiences of the employees and boosts the effectiveness of the company to lay the foundation of a great relationship between managers and sub-ordinates. The theory states that leaders build an exchange with the employees, and the nature of that exchange can influence the responsibility of employees, their performance, decisions and access to company’s resources.
The process of motivating the employees in unpredictable and unique due to the affect of distinct extent of motivational characteristics on certain task performers, miscellaneous levels of affect of these characteristics on the results of activity, and assorted affect of similar motives on different employees. Thus, the process of motivation is complicated and uncertain (Halushchak an Halushchak, 2016). Let’s suppose our case, we demonstrated a high level of performance, but we did not receive the same level of monetary reward. This fluctuation is truly showed between the levels in the pyramid of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Case Study案例代写
Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant also has the same organizational issues.
They cannot choose the right system of rewards. The principle of behavior modification (Newstrom, 2015) suggests that the application of a contingent reward system is disagreeable, since the instrumental rule leaves employees insecure and dissatisfied about their position and performance, that leads them to hate the reward system.
Organizational behavior specifically looks at the attitudes or employees at their company both as individual workers and team mates (Newstrom, 2015). Organizational behavior is equipped with the tools and techniques that help recognize the influence of human behavior on the goals, objectives and success of the company. Organization behavior is required at Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant to create harmony. Everyone at the company has become used to getting rewards and bonuses on the silver platters, they no longer know the true purpose behind working for a company that deals with loyal and satisfied clients who look forward to quality products.
The key here is to remember that the company should be refueled to get it back on track and working. An important factor to consider here is to raise employee drive. The 2012 Gallup’s State of the American Workplace Report referred to a declining workforce trend. About 70% employees were lazy and did not want to actively engage in any tasks, which led to a huge loss of nearly $500 billion to employers per year. Not only that, it caused a loss of time, work and resources, that did not only affect large businesses but startups as well (Tolman and Wiker, 2014). It is a fact that employees who are used to compensation checks will cause great harm to the company when the company fails to afford extra monetary rewards. These employees lead the company to lose copious sum of money, loyal customer and market reputation, in turn, the company becomes unable to support them.
The social systems in our society are applicable to workplace.
A successful social system offers the prospect of achieving the goals (Newstrom, 2015). It is a known fact that employees who have responsibilities at home do not put their job at risk just because they feel like they are entitled to a reward. In fact, they encourage their colleagues to strive for success and feel thankful since the company enables them to earn a respectable sum of money. The employees who put their job on the stake and demand continuous bonuses are those who have extra jobs, financial help from members of the family or they simply do not care enough and wish to join a new company. But the situation of the economy suggests that work is hard to find, which is why employees are Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant should reevaluate the compensation situation. Case Study案例代写
At Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant, the employees seek stability and security, where non-ecological model could be applied. So, when ecological model accepts the ever-changing stature of the environment, non-ecological model assumes a consistent environment. Here, employees need assurance and financial consistency so they are not deprived of the pay raises or compensations in the future.
Milestone Five: Conclusion Case Study案例代写
Throughout the assignment, I analyzed the case of unproductivity at Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant and related it to behavioral issues in the company. The major objective of the analysis was to demonstrate the significance of human behavior theories at the company, why it was significant for them to be consistent with the values of the company, and apply these theories to create a strategic set of recommendations that eventually leads Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant to a better future.
Environment shapes a workplace – especially the interaction with employees, employers, groups, clients, agencies and companies (Miles et al., 1974). When Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant faced a drastic sales decline, the plant manager sent 20% employees back home. The downturns led the company to apply the company-wide Scanlon Plan, to encourage the participation of employees.
The plan worked; employee motivation and morale boosted; product quality increased. But the company needed a long-term plan, as Scanlon Plan was a mere distraction that would not always benefit the employees. Ron Bent needed to take a lot of actions to gain the confidence of employees and out the company back on track, but he failed to do so. Instead, the hatred of employees towards the management developed to a level they stopped putting in the required effort.
Due to this immense hatred for company, the management needs to control or even threaten Theory X employees so they start doing work.
Rob Bent needs to identify these employees as Theory X and compensate them accordingly. There needs to be another plan to motivate and reward these employees so they can transform their hatred into positive work energy. Empirical and normative models be applied hand-in-hand to achieve the desired outcome, as empirical model deals with the behavior and attitudes of employees to determine their performance, whereas normative model tends to find the right path for the management to get best results (Kashyap, 2015).
Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant needs to hone in an efficient work structure, a manageable and reasonable compensation system and secure, communicable and agreeable employee-employer relations to get back in a place of quality production and consumer satisfaction.
References Case Study案例代写
Beer, M. & Collins, E. (2018). “Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad.” Harvard Business School Brief Case 082-175.
Halushchak, O. & Halushchak, M. (2016). The Causes of Appearance and Ways of Staff’s Demotivation Solving in Organizations. 1st ed. Academy of Social Management.
Kashyap, D. (2015). “Top 5 Models of Organizational Behavior” YourArticleLibrary.com: The Next Generation Library.
Marquet, D. (2015). “6 Myths About Empowering Employees.” Harvard Business Review.
McGregor, D. “Human Relations Contributors.” Theory X Theory Y Employee Motivation Theory.
McLeod, S. (2016). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Miles, R., Snow, C., & Pfeffer. J. (1974). “Organization‐Environment: Concepts and Issues.” Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society.
Tolman & Wiker. (2014). “Why Employee Engagement Has a Direct Impact on Your Business Bottom Line.” Tolman & Wiker Insurance Services, LLC.
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