Management Essay Example: Solutions to Engstrom Problems

Introduction

Organization productivity and efficiency depend mainly on their human resource. Human resources in an organization further determine the organizational behavior of that particular company. In any organization and industry, it is the human personnel in the organization who carry out the vital and essential work activities of the company. As a result, the overall productivity or unproductivity of the company can be determined by the human personnel in the organization. With this in mind, many managers and HR professionals strive to organize the people in a way that they will perform more efficiently while still creating a favorable environment for the other employees in the organization. However, in Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant several organizational issues made the human resources in the organization to be unproductivity (Miner, 2015). The main organizational issues at Engstrom plant were: the plant production, product quality issues, moral issues and complaints with the plant bonus plan.

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The Plant Production

Engstrom is a small organization but has been in operation for several years. In those years that the company has been in operation, it has been enjoying relatively substantial quantities of products. However, in 2005 the company experienced a downturn which resulted in reduced production by the plant. Engstrom sales started to decline in 2005 and continued for the next two years. This resulted in low income by the plant hence the then manager opted to lay off more than 20 percent of the workforce. Following the layoff of a massive chunk of their employees, the plant productivity began dropping (Beer & Collins, 2008). The drop in plant productivity by Engstrom was because of the few employees remaining in the plant. Any organization needs to have sufficient employees so that each employee can be able to attend to their area efficiently. The shortage of employees in the plant can be curb by hiring or rehiring back the laid off employees so that the number of employees can be enough to deal with the production process in the plant hence ensuring the plant production increase.

Furthermore, laying off of other employees by the plant may have had a negative effect on the remaining employees. The employees may have considered this act by the plant manager as a threat to them for the declining plant productivity (Beer & Collins, 2008). As a result, the morale of the remaining employees may have dropped because they felt like they would be the next bunch to be laid off from the plant. The lack of morale among employees makes them not to be concerned about their work productivity which then translates to the general productivity of the plant (Adler & Gundersen, 2007). Therefore, Engstrom plant managers need to devise new ways that will ensure that the employees of the plant are motivated for them to increase their productivity.

Product Quality Issues

Following the laying off of 46 employees from the then 255 employees in the plant, there was a shortage of employees in the plant. This was followed by surfacing issues of poor product quality. The poor product quality was causing issues in the relationship between the plant and its key customers (Beer & Collins, 2008). The poor product quality in the plant can be associated with both employee shortage in the plant and lack of morale among the employees. The solution to this problem is for the company to increase the number of employees so that there will be sufficient employees for the various production process. This will ensure that there are specific employees for every step of the process resulting in improved quality products by the plant. Additionally, the plant may improve the working conditions of the employees available so that they could have an improved morale to ensure that the plant products are of high quality (Newstrom, 2015).

Morale Issues

Another major issue facing Engstrom plant was the low morale among the employees. Several reasons may make the morale of the employees to drop in an organization. As earlier stated human resources are a vital part of any organization productivity. The work productivity of an employee translates to the general productivity of the organization (Adler & Gundersen, 2007). Following the drop in morale among the employee in Engstrom plant issues started developing with regards to the productivity of the plant hence it is important for the plant to ensure that they improve the morale of its employees. The plant may create an incentive for its employees which will make them have morale for their work. For instance, the Scanlon pay bonus in the plant was motivating the employees however after going for seven months without receiving their regular bonuses the employees felt like their incentive had been scrapped hence they dropped their morale (Newstrom, 2015). Therefore, the plant should reintroduce the Scanlon bonus plan or introduce a new incentive plan for their employees.

Complaints with the Plant Bonus Plan

Lastly, the plant faced issues regarding its bonus plan. Following the first downturn that the plant faced, the management decided to introduce the Scanlon pay bonus for its employees. However, the employee had expressed concern following the stopping of the plan in 2006. The complaint by the employees about the plant bonus plan was an indication of their frustrations by the plant hence the poor morale, product quality and production issues faced by the plant (Newstrom, 2015). Therefore, the plant manager should reintroduce the bonus pay plan. For instance, the Scanlon plan was introduced when the plant was at a downturn and had been critical in improving product quality, building morale and increasing productivity. Therefore, the plant manager should consider reintroducing the Scanlon pay bonus plan for the employees.

References

Adler, N. J. & Gundersen, A. (2007). International dimensions of organizational behavior. Cengage Learning.

Beer, M., & Collins, E. (2008). "Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in good time and bad." Organizational behavior at work (14th ed.), edited by John Newstrom, McGraw-Hill, 2015, pp. 536-543.

Miner, J. B. (2015). Organizational Behavior 1: Essential Theories of motivation and leadership. Routledge.

Newstrom, J. (2015). Organizational Behavior: Human behavior at work (14th Ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.