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Case Study 1
MBA 612
February 15, 2013
Problem Statement:
Jeiliang has altered her part of the production process. Marty Cole wonders if there is more untapped employee driven process improvements.
Hypothesis:
It could be that the leadership is not adequately mentoring their employees.
It could be that the employees are not motivated to input new ideas by the company's X-Theory style leadership.
It may be that the psychological contract between the leadership and employees do not mesh.
Analysis:
Mentoring
It could be that the leadership is not adequately mentoring their employees.
Mentoring and training in general fails on several fronts at this plant. Hiring “on the spot” without at least a minimal assessment test does not weed out potential problem employees; perhaps such as the Yellow Hat which derided Jieliang, or potential stars such as Jieliang. The case makes no mention that continuous improvement is ever brought up or explained to staff, it may have been or only spoken of in passing; nor is it expressed that operators know how or are encouraged to submit suggestions for the box.
If this incident is indicative of the organizational culture it is apparent a problem lies in front line managers not training and mentoring the operators. This less than productive dynamic may well appear further up the chain of command. The Yellow Hat exhibits behavior which if she was mentored properly would not be such a potential detriment to the company. Because the culture of the plant appears in the case to encourage groupthink it suggests they are hearing what they want and not what they need. They are not choosing the best players for their respective assignments, rather using some unknown to us metric for promotion.
Motivation
It could be that the employees are not motivated to input new ideas by the company's X-Theory style leadership.
Several factors may have contributed to the lack of motivation at the plant. Working in this
Case Study 1
MBA 612
February 15, 2013
Problem Statement:
Jeiliang has altered her part of the production process. Marty Cole wonders if there is more untapped employee driven process improvements.
Hypothesis:
It could be that the leadership is not adequately mentoring their employees.
It could be that the employees are not motivated to input new ideas by the company's X-Theory style leadership.
It may be that the psychological contract between the leadership and employees do not mesh.
Analysis:
Mentoring
It could be that the leadership is not adequately mentoring their employees.
Mentoring and training in general fails on several fronts at this plant. Hiring “on the spot” without at least a minimal assessment test does not weed out potential problem employees; perhaps such as the Yellow Hat which derided Jieliang, or potential stars such as Jieliang. The case makes no mention that continuous improvement is ever brought up or explained to staff, it may have been or only spoken of in passing; nor is it expressed that operators know how or are encouraged to submit suggestions for the box.
If this incident is indicative of the organizational culture it is apparent a problem lies in front line managers not training and mentoring the operators. This less than productive dynamic may well appear further up the chain of command. The Yellow Hat exhibits behavior which if she was mentored properly would not be such a potential detriment to the company. Because the culture of the plant appears in the case to encourage groupthink it suggests they are hearing what they want and not what they need. They are not choosing the best players for their respective assignments, rather using some unknown to us metric for promotion.
Motivation
It could be that the employees are not motivated to input new ideas by the company's X-Theory style leadership.
Several factors may have contributed to the lack of motivation at the plant. Working in this