Creative Toys Company

Case 3: Creative Toys Company

The role of social system in the case was highly important because in the organization, The Creative Toys Company, all the people in it and their relationships to one another are mutually interdependent. This was evident in the case wherein in the transportation department, the eight members divided their work among themselves in order produce more toys. Thus, at the beginning, their department surpassed all other departments in production for 12 months.

The impact on productivity is that the employees had a dysfunctional effect on the organization because they were unwilling to use their talents and were resistant to to organizational changes. This was based on the case wherein the physical layout of the department did not facilitate efficient traffic flow to and from the other departments hence the plant manager decided to call in consultants to determine a way production could be increased without physical expansion and the suggestion was for the rearrangement of the work areas in the transportation department. Two months after the change was implemented, the department’s productivity was declining hence it seemed they didn’t want to do good with their job because they were unsatisfied with the organizational change.

In terms of the organization’s communication, it seems that the organization was not able to convey the key elements of the firm’s culture and vividly reinforce the values of the organization. This was based on the case wherein the plant manager tried to convey to Mr. Wilson the problem of the department but instead of keeping an open mind and listening to the needs of his employees, he just disregarded it. By not listening to his employees, Mr. Wilson did not give them the chance to have individualization which led the employees to rebel since they didn’t have a strong impact or influence on the organization.

An informal organization is defined as a network of personal and social relationships (alliances, cliques, friendships) that arise as people associate with other people in a work environment. In the case, this informal organization caused the issue that Mr. Wilson was trying to figure out. A system could be considered as the heart of an organization that makes its different departments function well just like organs, but it should never be forgotten that it is still the humans that run the system. Without humans, the system of a company or an organization, no matter how technologically advanced it is, will be useless. As shown in the case, Mr. Wilson even hired special consultants to analyse and change the business process but in the end, they found out that the problem they were looking for was not in the system but actually in the people running the system, which were the employees. This is because the employees had an informal organization brought about by a single reason which is salary related. The informal organization is their way of voicing out their concern to the management and making their presence felt. Their somehow rebellious act caused a dysfunctional effect to the company that forced the management to look for the current issue affecting the company’s performance.

There are a lot of factors that motivate people. Some motivations are just because of a deadline, some because of the rewards they get for doing a great job, or just the self fulfilment involved in the whole process of doing the job. Motivation also contributes a lot in the quality of output or work and plays a good role in maximizing a person’s potential. Making a person feel important, and giving him the proper respect and value as a person will make him feel motivated to do better and maintain this image that you have of him especially if you are the boss. Although, giving a person a reason not to get motivated can have its toll on you as a leader and as part of an organization that is output oriented. Lack of motivation will transform a person’s point of view towards work, lack of motivation will turn every task into a burden instead of an opportunity to strive and do better. In the case, Mr. Wilson probably was a nice boss due to the fact that his workers has stayed with him for at least 2 years. The problem comes in when there is an issue involving all workers that affect their motivation to work, which is their low salary. No matter how much changes to the system Mr. Wilson does, the results stayed the same because this one issue has caused the workers to not strive to do better anymore. They lacked the motivation to prove their worth to Mr. Wilson by actually trying to do more than what is expected of them.