Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant Case Study Summary

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

Haley had been doing his part to communicate with workers, but Bent had stopped doing that (Beer & Collins, 2008). Bent’s pessimistic forecast (a result of the economic downturn and troubling company numbers) had descended over the entire organization, as had his lack of hope in the future of it. In this case, if Bent felt he cannot handle turning the organization around again, he should step aside and allow Joe Haley to do what he does best; communicate and make the workers feel valued and listened to. Once communication has been established, according to Peter Senge’s systems theory, the flow of an organization should follow, tying all parts and positively influencing all stages of production to make the organization better than it was before. In other words, once communication, openness, and transparency are restored to Engstrom, productivity, increased revenue, and employee happiness should all follow