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Case Study Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant

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Case Study Analysis: Case Study of Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant and [Workplace]

Sierra J. Campbell
Southern New Hampshire University
OL 500: Human Behavior in Organizations
Dr. Denisia Dunmore
July 16th, 2023

Introduction of Case Study Analysis
Organizational Issues The case study of the Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad presents an irrefutable examination of the organizational issues affecting employee motivation and productivity in this business. By analyzing the obstacles faced by the auto mirror plant, one can begin to unveil the critical factors contributing to the decline in motivation and propose effective solutions. By understanding the complexities of motivating employees in both good and challenging times, …show more content…

Employees felt uninformed about important decisions and lacked clarity on their roles and expectations. For example, when there were changes in work processes. The study shows that there were changes in Engstrom yet, these changes were not effectively communicated to the employees. As a result, employees found themselves unaware of the revisions and found it difficult to adapt to the new procedures. This lack of information sharing caused disruptions in their workflow (Beer & Collins, 2008). Another issue found in the company would be their product quality issues. The case study suggests that there was an evident lack of accountability amidst employees for ensuring product quality. When employees do not feel responsible or invested in maintaining high standards of production, it is displayed through an overall decline in product quality (Beer & Collins, …show more content…

The participative model of organizational behavior emphasizes the involvement of employees in the process of making decisions and encourages their continuous participation in crafting the organization's direction. This model recognizes the value of employee input, thoughts, and perspectives in achieving organizational goals and fostering a positive work environment (Newstrom, 2015). In the Engstrom study, the Scanlon Plan is described as a tool to foster teamwork and communication. Constant meetings were conducted where employees would share their suggestions, concerns, and new ideas. This participative approach would allow employees to have a voice in shaping the organization and would contribute to a sense of shared responsibility for achieving performance targets. It also aimed to supply shared rewards based on improved productivity and performance (Beer & Collins, 2008). This participative model ensures that employees take a partnership in the organization's success, as they benefit from the gains made through their collective efforts giving an “all for one mentality” amongst the

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The Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant was a privately owned business that manufactured mirrors for automobiles and trucks, which was located in Richmond, Indiana. The company employed more than 200 employees in the manufacturing plant. In December 1999, the Scanlon Bonus Plan was offered to the employees of the Auto Mirror Plant; the benefit of the Scanlon Bonus Plan was to pay a percentage of the labor savings each month, which lead the employees of the plant to become motivated by the bonuses that were issued to increase their morale and productivity (Beer & Collins, 2008, p.1-6). That later helped the business in increasing its profits and success in meeting the production goals for nearly seven years or so.

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728 Words | 3 Pages

The Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant was a privately owned business that manufactured mirrors for automobiles and trucks, which was located in Richmond, Indiana. The company employed more than 200 employees in the manufacturing plant. In December 1999, the Scanlon Bonus Plan was offered to the employees of the Auto Mirror Plant; the benefit of the Scanlon Bonus Plan was to pay a percentage of the labor savings each month, which lead the employees of the plant to become motivated by the bonuses that were issued to increase their morale and productivity (Beer & Collins, 2008, p.1-6). That later helped the business in increasing its profits and success in meeting the production goals for nearly seven years or so.

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Organizational Behavior Issues in Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant Organizational issues Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant faces multiple quandaries associated with human behavior. Workers feel unappreciated as an integral part of the company, disposable and insignificant. Suspicion about bonus calculations, lack of transparency, job insecurity, and perceptions of inequitableness in the payment scheme have instigated uncertainty and open rebellion against the company. One of the core problems at the organization is low productivity.

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In his book, Drive, Daniel H. Pink, takes reader on a thought-provoking analytical exploration of motivation. Ultimately, he compares motivation to a computer operating system and just like computers need upgrades along the way so does our perception of motivates people to thrive boldly. He has organized what scientist, psychologist, and forward, out-of-the-box thinkers have to support a newer way of thinking regarding motivation in the workplace. The author begins the book describing what he calls Motivation 1.0, the basic biological drive to survive which leads to an upgrade to Motivation 2.0, which is the era of rewards and punishments or carrots and sticks which seemed to work for the 20th century.

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Ron Bent and Joe Haley, the management team at Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant, must change the way they view the low-productivity problems the plant is having. Bent and Haley’s Scanlon Plan needs a major overhaul, and communication and trust should be immediately returned to the United Auto Workers’ union and the employees who make the auto mirror products. Several concerns need to be addressed: first, whether there was a better business and production plan than the Scanlon plan; second, improving productivity; and third, restoring communication and mutual trust to the organization. Ron Bent’s negative attitude and voiced opinions have cast a pall over all of the issues in the organization (Beer & Collins, 2008). His wavering belief in the company, his leadership, and his employees’ dedication is having the

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There are four phases to a Total Reward Program. The process begins with assessment where data is collected to evaluate the organisation’s total reward system. In the design stage, reward strategies are being identified and analysed. The total reward strategies are then put into operation and lastly this system will be evaluated for its

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In short, employees are exhausted by the mandate, via company policy, that all employees must be constantly keep their counterparts, supervisors, and co-workers knowledgeable of their current work status. This practice is known as “lateral communication” (Newstrom, 2015) and has been adopted by the executives of the company long before I arrived. The belief is that if everyone is aware of what is occurring in all aspect of the company, then miscommunication and mistakes are unlikely to occur (Skovholt, 2006); it is an admirable ideology that is considerable easier stated than executed. Ironically, this particular business practice was initially meant to ease employee dealings and relations with one another, but in actuality, it has just overwhelmed everyone involved. I truly believe that the only means in correcting this is to amend the current policy in place and to begin only releasing information on a need-to-know basis; unfortunately, this proposed practice also yields several downfalls.

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Although motivating employees can be a challenge, a number of theories about motivation at work can be used as a basis for creating practices, procedures and processes to affect employee

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Furthermore, a leader can play a significant role in terms of judging and decision making in a more complex changed phenomenon. According to Cummings and Vorley (2007) to clarify and shift IBM’s culture, it needed to change its approach. Participative Approach The Participative approach, is often called the democratic leadership style as participative leadership values the input of team members and peers in general, but the responsibility of making the final decision relies with the participative leader. Participative leadership increases employee morale as employees make contributions to the decision-making process. It shows the employees and tends to make them feel as if their opinions do really matter.

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Employees are asked to think how they can grow in their present roles and go for an open dialogue to discuss their future roles. More importance to the process…not to the

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As mentioned earlier, communication and information provision help reduce employee’s resistance to change and hence create an organizational culture that values change. According to Gill (2002), communication is the ‘blood’ of organizations and ‘oxygen’ of change implementation. Poor communication between leaders and the individual staff, on the other hand, could impede change programs (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2001, cited in Burnes, 2003). Frahm and Brown (2005) identify three communication channels, namely strategic information provision by top management, operational information provision by direct supervisors and conversations between peers (cited in Peus et al., 2009). During strategic information provision, top executives explain why changes are necessary and define their expectations from these changes projects, whereas during operational information provision, direct supervisors clarify roles and responsibilities during change processes and new requirements, if any, after the change and answer questions.

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Hence, the quality of communication is a critical aspect of successful change (Hayes, 2007). One form of effective communication strategy that PAT should adopt is “Underscore and Explore” which involves two-ways communication. This strategy allows managers to focus on the core issues related to the change. Employees are also given the opportunity to raise their concerns and feedbacks (Campitt, Dekoch and Cashman, 2000). Feedbacks in the form of surveys can be collected from the employees to improve in the change processes (Ford and Ford, 2010; Young and Post,

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According to Wegge (2000), the term “participation” is defined as a process in which influence is shared between leaders and followers. In line with that, Yukl (2010) highlighted the four advantages of employee participation. They are: improved decision quality, greater rate of decision acceptance by participants, increased satisfaction with the decision process, and more evolvement in decision-making skills. That is not all, Mohrman and Lawler (2012) declared that through participation, employees are able to decide on the work that they do, understand their performance level and comprehend the outcomes of the task instead of solely relying on the organisation to guide them in these areas. Consequently, the behaviour of the leader that promotes

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Devising company policies to reward, train and incentivize workers universally would be essential towards having an engaged workforce, which will translate to greater customer satisfaction and company returns in the long

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These can be achieved by developing a high-engagement culture in an organisation. This can be achieved by setting-up a meaningful purpose of an organisation where the line-managers are involved in the decision making and the contribution of the employees at all levels are equally recognised and rewarded. A culture of mutual-inclusion with intrinsic motivation can be built by holding trainings on intrinsic motivation and focusing upon the need for employee engagement. It is important to understand that a company fosters the values of intrinsic motivation more, if it understands the fundamentals of it and hence it is necessary to hold trainings on the importance of intrinsic motivation and hence develop an innovative and cohesive culture within an

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