The Slade Plating Department - Term Paper Example

HERE YOUR HERE HERE HERE The Slade Plating Department DEFINING THE ISSUE There are many different negative issues that plague the Slade Plating Department, involving potential breach of policy and also the socialization methodology that varied distinctly between the different work groups. In some areas of production, there was a very high level of affiliation between group members, while in others there were obvious exclusionary tactics that continued to disrupt social attitudes and sometimes the quality of work. The business is operating in a top-down, vertical hierarchy with many different layers of supervision and other management. In a typical business, a more horizontal structure is usually required in order to gain total work group commitment and satisfy motivational goals for productivity. However, at Slade Plating, this structure brings forward a great deal of management presence that can oftentimes create negativity between high producing employee groups. Furthermore, the relatively low pay that is experienced in the production and operational departments is another problem at Slade Plating, despite the ongoing presence of overtime. There are some work groups at the facility that value overtime and consider it a blessing for lifestyle and needs fulfillment, while other work groups expressed dissatisfaction over the high workload with minimal pay. This division of unity that is occurring at the company continues to erode total work group effectiveness when considering how inter-dependent the production teams are with one another in order to get the job done effectively. At the same time, a far-too-flexible production schedule that continues to become more and more unpredictable due to customer demand angers some less-productive work groups that leads to some level of job dissatisfaction. In terms of the environmental conditions, they are less than favorable for some of the plating room work members. They are forced to work in hazardous environments that are uncomfortable due to design and temperature. As Herman in Sarto’s group identified, it is considerably hard work and there is division between employees in this work group that only serves to complicate social attitudes and also productivity in the long-term. Attitudes regarding Herman by other members of his team clearly impacted his sense of belonging and self-esteem, despite his efforts to at least try to fit in with this in-group having strong social attachments. IMPARTIAL EVALUATION Under Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, there is a strong generalized human need for affiliation and belonging. It is only when the need for affiliation has been satisfied that a person can begin to develop a stronger sense of self-esteem and personal recognition that produces higher levels of confidence and control (Gambrel & Cianci, 144). In Tony’s group, several members who have been excluded from engaging in more rewarding socialization continue to drive a rift between productivity and the social environment. It is affecting self-esteem, especially in Herman, who seems to have a strong need for socialization which was apparent by his ongoing presence in many different social activities such as singing, fishing, and athletics. What this has done is created a standoffish attitude where he is psychologically convincing himself that he would rather stay isolated from the group when clearly a need exists for belonging and affiliation. Management theory indicates a phenomenon related to personality and human behavior that involves what is referred to as the locus of control. Essentially, under this theory, there are some who believe they are the masters of their own fate and do not blame the external social environment for why they cannot or do not succeed at their goals. They believe they control their own destiny (Treven & Potocan, 642). Those with an external locus of control feel as though they are controlled through outside forces and tend to be more defensive as a result (Treven & Potocan, 643). Pearson seems to have a high internalized locus of control as he is consistently a hard worker despite the social shunning that is occurring between himself and the group members. Unfortunately, the reason behind why Pearson is excluded does not have a rational answer since he contributes highly to group productivity. Herman, however, acts much like the odd man out in his work group, always behaving in a way that goes outside of the social norm, causing him obvious problems with his self-esteem development. There is no gainsharing or profitsharing occurring as a means to motivate higher productivity, however this should be expected considering that budgets regarding labor payments are strained. This is why new hires are not considered, rather options for overtime working is offered to the low-paying staff. This could well be another reason why there is animosity about workload and the environmental conditions by some members of all production groups that leads to supposed policy breaches related to time clock stamping even when workers are not present on the job. However, despite knowledge of this situation, nothing is being done about it and therefore the practice continues while some work groups believe it is fair compensation considering the low pay and high work volume that remains unpredictable due to demand. EVALUATION There is not much discussed in the case study about the competitive position of the company, however the low pay designed to satisfy budgets would seem to suggest that it is not a large-scale profit-generating company, despite the high volume of employees. However, there are clearly periods of higher demand, thus this is clearly a competitive company capable of operating effectively in the manufacturing competitive environment. The concerns over high labor-related payments would seem to suggest that the company does not have significant resources after considering payment toward liabilities that occur in this type of production environment. However, all in all, the competitive position of the company does not seem to impact the work groups other than the fluctuating overtime based on demand that continues to produce high work expectations for all work teams. Innovation is not a key characteristic in this environment since the facility has specific job roles that must occur that are relatively static and capable of being performed by unskilled or low-skilled labor teams. A recent survey asked a large sample of managers in different industries whether innovation was important to their organization. Eighty percent responded that it was vital to business success (Bambacas & Bordia, 226). Under Maslow’s model, belonging and self-esteem (as identified) are important for an individual to achieve self-actualization or the pinnacle of their success capabilities. This environment, by structural design, does not afford much opportunity to express creativity and innovation, which could be part of the problem as to why many employees seem unmotivated or dissatisfied with their job roles and place within Slade Plating. “Individuals need to feel useful and also feel that they have some affect on their environment” in order to be wholly satisfied (Gambrel & Cianci, 145). The needs of employees seem to find innovation in other ways, such as devoting more time to developing a social network both within work and outside of the production plant. This is a basic human need to express their ingenuity and creativity, however the workplace does not allow for fulfillment of this through Maslow’s self-esteem tier in his model of motivation. Tony’s group prized inventiveness as part of the social order to be considered a belonging member of the group, again reinforcing that innovation is important to many people at the workplace in order to get full cooperation and motivation to achieve expected corporate goals. The structure of the different teams also differs in this environment, which could be causing problems with how the different work groups function together in this inter-dependent environment. In Sarto’s group, there is considerable resentment from some about the high volume of work in a difficult environment as well as toward individuals who do not seem to be pulling the same type of quality work as others devoted to the social order set up within their groups. One expert in management theory identifies clearly that miscommunication in a team environment can lead to poor performance rather quickly (Ventrice, 1). There should be encouragement of a free system of communication that moves in both directions where everyone in the team has a voice and opportunity to express their opinion (Ventrice). This is present in Tony’s group where fitting is and performing a top quality job is valued, therefore there is much less conflict between group members who actually function well as a team. However, also in Tony’s group, there is considerable animosity about the integrity and quality of work produced by members like Herman that disrupts the satisfaction levels required to perform a top quality job. These problems, however, are aimed directly at individuals and it does not break the productivity and unity that makes this a superior team. In a work team, “the group’s needs and goals are of little concern until members come to identify with the group” (Bushe & Coetzer, 187). Without this identification and sense of affiliation, many group members will not sacrifice their own needs in favor of bettering the group as a whole (Bushe & Coetzer). This is clearly present in Tony’s group, especially related to Herman, who disrupts nominal flow of productivity and creates dissent between group members. Herman shows little regard, in support of Bushe & Coetzer’s viewpoint, about the needs of the group and continues to perform inferior work in order to sustain his own needs far ahead of those of the work group. There is clearly a psychological issue pertaining to Herman and how he performs his work that is directly related to his lack of affiliation and therefore creates considerable negative emotional responses to the company and its workload. Again, in reference to the locus of control theory, it is all about individual personality and perceptions in regards to how an individual views their role in a group environment like Slade Plating. Those who believe external forces absolutely impact their destiny will manifest stress and hold onto the perception that they are being manipulated or otherwise negatively affected by the external environment. Herman is a genuine problem in terms of meeting productivity goals and this growing animosity about his poor performance impacts the personality and responses of his team members. Since they do not seem to be receiving management support about Herman, they choose to take a passive stance and try harder to hold onto their needs for group affiliation in the process. PERSONAL OPINION WITH SUPPORTING ARGUMENT Slade Plating is definitely an environment with considerable work load and a difficult, strenuous work atmosphere. Despite these problems, many of the team members function well together as they manage to sustain a quality social network that extends out of the workplace. There is, however, a disconnect between management presence in helping to iron out these problems and the method by which group members simply exclude others who do not meet their quality and socialization standards. There is no adequate system in place that gives employees a larger voice in relation to management that is often necessary to bring satisfaction. It is recommended that Slade Plating consider developing an attitude survey and distributing this process among the different work groups periodically to help identify with their frustrations and concerns. “Regular surveys can reduce gaps between what managers think employees feel and what they really feel. Employees love giving their opinions…it gives them a voice and they’re heard” (Robbins & Judge, 88). Clearly, as identified by the literature, job attitudes are important on motivation and productivity outcomes and there does not seem to be adequate management intervention in assisting to create a more harmonious job environment. In fact, they seem unaware about the policy breaches (or show little concern) related to the time clock fraud occurring, which again shows how little they really understand about the social dimensions of the groups. Development of a regular survey can take this top-down structure and make it more horizontal so that everyone in the production environment has a voice and feel more important to the organization. A needs analysis or the development of a 360-degree feedback system that takes into consideration the opinion of all members of the business, not just management, is recommended to strengthen the relationships between management and within each individual group. The development of many multiple assessment tools can increase validity in how people are led by supervision and also reliability about what is actually occurring in all dimensions of production and operations (Morgeson, Mumford & Campion, 198). These are common human resources tools that often give managers a much clearer picture of their work environments and assist in identifying what employees actually need in relation to work, job role, and their social/team environments. This is part of transformational design where managers concern themselves with harmony and good works, using self-modeled behaviors to drive higher performance and motivation. It was identified that there is a generic human need for belonging and, despite a few exceptions, the social and team environment is an effective one at the business. The work groups have a system of exclusion that prevents others from being affected far too negatively in the face of a few low performers. In virtually every way, except for this handful of complicated individuals, Slade Plating has an effective team system. Individual decision-making is less important than the collectivist group set of values and beliefs, and for the most part it seems that the majority is content with the social structure guiding each work group. It is largely pay-related issues that create discontent, however the business providing higher overtime seems to compensate for these negative feelings so that productivity is not impacted substantially. This is important for a business with an unpredictable production schedule that changes based on new demand schedules. In relation to the punch-out breach of policy occurring, most work groups find this unthinkable, especially Tony’s more productive and quality-focused group. Managers simply need to be more authoritative and use the recommended tools designed to give employees an opinion to express their concerns or innovations in order to put a stop to this activity. Employees caught sleeping after supervision has left can be taken care of effectively by having supervision drop-in unexpectedly after their work shift periodically to document breaches of policy so that individuals causing problems can be eliminated from the workforce. It is just a matter of being more visible in off hours and documented each occurrence for legal and liability purposes. CONCLUSION Overall, the environment at Slade Plating is an effective one that is built strongly on team methodology: a necessity considering the nature of the inter-dependent work structure. The problems occurring are at the social level that impacts motivation, however minimally based on the willingness of group members to sacrifice their own needs in favor of group affiliation and group satisfaction. This is not something that all industries can boast and therefore should be considered effective. Management simply requires new and inexpensive systems to identify needs through analysis or other feedback systems so that animosities can be identified and dealt with effectively. Low pay is simply a reality of a lower profit-generating business and is not likely to change, and management compensates effectively for it through overtime options that seem to satisfy the broad majority of workers. Many elements of Slade Plating could be benchmarked especially in relation to team coordination. References Bambacas, Mary & Prashant Bordia. “Predicting Different Commitment Components: The Relative Effects of How Career Development HRM Practices are Perceived”, Journal of Management and Organization. Vol. 15, Iss. 2, 2009. Bushe, Gervase & Graeme H. Coetzer. “Group Development and Team Effectiveness: Using Cognitive Representations to Measure Group Development and Predict Task Performance and Group Viability”, The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. Vol. 43, Iss. 2, 2007. Gambrel, Patrick A. & Rebecca Cianci. “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Does it Apply in a Collectivist Culture?”, Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship. Vol. 8, Iss. 2, 2003. Morgeson, F.P., T.V. Mumford & M.A. Campion. “Coming Full Circle Using Research and Practice to Address 27 Questions about 360-degree Feedback Programs”, Consulting Psychology Journal. Vol. 57, Iss. 3, 2005. Robbins, S.P. & T. Judge. Organizational Behavior, 14th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2010. Treven, Sonja & Vojko Potocan. “Training Programs for Stress Management in Small Business”, Education and Training. Vol. 47, Iss. 8/9, 2005. Ventrice, Cindy. “Increasing Employee Effectiveness”, 2009. Viewed June 9, 2011 at Read More