Case Study Engstrom Auto Mirror

In order to appropriately recommend an incentive plan, one must first identify the main issues with operation at Howe 2 ski. Howe 2 Ski has experience increased competition resulting in a decreased market share. Smaller market share increases the negative impact a lack of productivity and customer dissatisfaction has on Howe 2 Ski’s profits. The decreased production of both the molders and Sales-Persons result in increased inventory and higher cost of production. Furthermore, Howe has attempted to establish an incentive pay program that has served to be ineffective and has fostered low morale within the organization.

Our task for the Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant case analysis was to identify the main problems of the company as well as it’s managers’ decisions and to find reasonable solutions by taking into account roots from where they have been appearing. This case is extremely relevant because it looks at organizational behavior everyday problems and analyses issues of building relationships with employees. All our assumption will be based on Organizational Behavior theoretical background in order to find solutions and alternatives for the particular company’s case. The main aim was to figure out how to increase company’s productivity, employees’ motivation and management strategy.

It is clearly that the company is experiencing some growth; however, the management needs to find a solution to solve the arising issue where their employees are lacking of motivation in their job. However, the executive team’s decision to raise pay rates for its customer service staff and the vested profit-sharing plan does not improve the employees’ work performance or customers’ satisfaction.

Developing work attitudes is by reducing imprudence that was between the hourly workers and their mangers and increasing job satisfaction and organizational commitment. It is clear that workers at this motor company have the lowest job satisfaction in order of various negative influences that impact their life. First, mangers at this company did not treat their employees as a human, they treat them as machines, that should rich the demand by the end of the day, and called them by numbers not their name. Second, workers have intrinsic value, extrinsic value, and ethical values that ford would not respect. Third, Stressful work without any reward and the work environment that was not save, clean, or regulated at the plant. Finally, week bonds between mangers and workers that create week work energy and losing trust between employees as results the work has turned down frequently. In addition, at Ford Motor Company the physical and psychological

In May 2007, the Engstrom Auto Mirrors plant was facing the crisis. The business was doing badly and the sales had started to decline in 2005. Thus, there was a steep reduction in plant productivity and employee morale was all time low. The company used Scanlon Plan as an incentive for staff. The core element or foundation of the plan was concept of participative management, where management and staff together will decide the bonuses based on revenues for that year.

Most of us like to be valued as an employee and a person. This plan did not allow the employees to feel this way. As the morale dropped, so did production and from there, the bonuses dwindled. Instead of looking at themselves for the lack of bonuses, they blamed management. Their lack of understanding on the rate changes did not help the process. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy, the employees’ needs were not met and frustration created tension, which created low to no production. The company faced major decisions and needed this situation to be resolved quickly. The managers faced a crisis and needed a solution before the plant was forced to close its doors and have to lay off the employees.

The Scanlon Plan can be used as a major catalyst to turnaround the plant by emphasizing more on productivity. The more they work the faster they roll towards their bonuses; this magical spell is a win-win situation for both the employees and the management. The management can cruise steadily over the wave of bonus motivated productivity and the employees can reap the benefits from the high production rate in terms of bonuses. The plan can be redrawn and a slight change can be made by making the entire plan revolve around the concept of productivity. When productivity assumes a prime position in the plan, employees will strive hard

Production line workers are the employees who are usually doing their work by hand or in this day and age, running the machine or equipment to make the products. In this particular case, Canada Chemicals Corporation utilizes their production employees by producing industrial chemicals. These production worker’s jobs are a lot more complete then other production level workers employees as they usually have plenty of skill, knowledge and experience, and have high educational background. In order to reverse recent challenges with production and sales, I have composed a compensation package for these employees that will motivate them intrinsically, and focus on rewards that are extrinsic.

During May 2007, the Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant faces a low employee morale issue. The newly appointed manager, Ron Bent, sees a decline in work place productivity and culture throughout his recent years of working at the plant. When Bent joined the company, it was facing a similar issue of low morale. He then decided to introduce the Scalon Plan, an incentive program for the employees, to raise morale. The program was successful when it was first introduced but ran into problems time after. Bent was faced with many challenges with the Scalon Plan that caused him to ask many

One of the valued but demanding customer, who had considered Engstrom as a certified supplier, was requesting a large order but Engstrom was unable to deliver on time due to the low productivity problem. The plant manager along with his assistant were already dealing with the troubling numbers when this happened. While the task was a tough bone and not easy to tackle, and there were a lot of factors needed to be taken in to consideration. The leadership started to analyze and break down the main causations other than the overall economic trend that dragged the company into the turmoil, as it turned out, it was the low, frustrated employee morale and diminished work satisfaction.

The manager’s retaliatory approach to lower the loss percentage was not a motivational factor for the employees at all when he changed the number of hours employees had to work to receive free food from 6 hours a day to 12 hours. Evidently the employees did not respect his authority as the change did not seem to have an effect on them nor did it give them any motivation to do better. These jobs where minimum pay jobs

In analyzing the brief case study Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in the Good times and Bad”, it was brought to light that the root of the organizational issues was that of productivity, motivation and employer dissatisfaction following the decline of the Scanlon Plan. The Scanlon Plan was an incentive system that provided bonuses to employees for their increased productivity within the plant. In the early 2000’s employee satisfaction, morale and productivity rapidly declined following the layoff of nearly 50 employees and the employees who remained were then expecting the bonuses that were incorporated into the plan without doing the

Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant is facing an internal crisis which primarily is a motivational problem. Ron Bent, the manager, and Joe Haley the assistant has seen workplace culture and productivity decline over the years. Ron joined the company when it was going through a similar issue in the past. He came and implemented an employee incentive program which is general across the United States. The incentive program called Scanlon Plan was originally very effective in employee motivation and increasing productivity at Engstrom, but it is now failing.

There is an older incentive (Scanlon) plan put in place which worked very well for this company and its employees, helping them to rise up from an unproductive state in the 1990’s. Now that it has been in place for quite some time, it is getting stale. No bonuses have been given in months. The employees are not satisfied with the management of the

Low morale among employees in any company eventually leads to decreased profits with other factors of the business decreasing along the way. “And US Airways employees, who have seen their pay cut by more than 20 percent and their health insurance and pension plans shrink, are certainly an unhappy lot” (Claudia H. Deutsch). In order to increase profits, the airline has decreased pay and took away some of the earned vacation. “Company executives say they are taking steps that will improve working conditions and profitability” (Claudia H. Deutsch). Many employees were calling in sick which the company believed would eventually lead to poor customer service.