Case Study Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant

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.

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.

The Engstrom Auto Mirror plant is located in Richmond, Indiana and employs around 200 or more people. The plant has been going through some changes over the last few years and has seen a decline in employee motivation. The focus today will be to determine some of the root causes of the problems facing the plant from an organizational view and a human behavior issue. The bottom line is determining how to solve the issues the company is facing and move forward. Some of the questions that will need to be answered is, “why is motivation at an all-time low, is the Scanlon plan benefiting everyone in the company and can the plan be revamped with

Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant is experiencing productivity and quality problems arising from the organizational effects of the Scanlon Plan, an incentive plan that is tied to individual performance. As a consequence of the highly economic-centered nature of the Scanlon Plan, employees have already adapted to the custodial model of organizational behavior where the main basis is the use of economic resources, and the managerial orientation predominantly relies on money to improve performance. Consequently, employees are oriented around security and benefits which developed their dependence on the organization for their financial welfare. Though the Scanlon Plan has supportive model dimensions because as a form of upward communication, employees

The old Performance Management system was ineffective and did not lead to a fair incentive or salary raise for the employees of the company. Employees who worked hard and did well for the company received the same rating as low performing employees. There was frustration among the scientists for getting the

When the employees sweat out to reach the production targets, they give their best and the mind-set or the attitude of the employees towards the organization changes. The management should set up monthly workshops to interact with their employees, thus making the employees feel that the management is well within their reach and is ready to listen to their pleas. Organizing such workshops will stimulate the feedback process which will help the management to cut down on production and sales costs in turn maximising the returns (Arnolds & Boshoff, 2002). Organizing technical trips and field tours further improves the management employee relationship as this allows the two parties to work together in a different environment and gain better ideas. The concepts of the ERG (existence, relatedness, growth) Model can be applied by recognizing individual employees who attain the highest productivity and then rewarding them with various benefits such as growth. Growth is what employees look for in any organization as the more

In this portion of my case analysis, I will be showing ways for suggested solutions in order to help improve the situation at the Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant. I will be showing ways in which organizational improvement outcomes can directly help remedy some of the issues and recommend strategic actions that would lead the organization in a proactive production workforce. The recommendations are creating committees, rework how the Scanlon Plan bonus works, create or use their marketing and sales department to the full capacity, and to help empower the workforce work to achieve Corporate Social Responsibility. (CSR)

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

The next reason is Ron believes by laying off employees will help generate more profit for the company. That is not the cases though, He made things worse for the fact he only treated the symptoms. Observing this case at a human behavioral point of view. The company sales were declining. Because of the issues, the manager had to cut the work force in production. When that happened, the remaining employees became alarmed that their jobs were no longer stable. Affecting the employee’s ability in production. This can also lead to poor quality products, which could cost the loss of clientele. Ultimately by letting go of employee’s and getting rid of the Scanlon plan, he negatively impacted the employee’s production quality. Without reinforcement of good work behavior and the idea of an insecure job, the social behavior of the workforce is affected. (Newstrom 2016). This then

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.

To answer these questions, the recommendation is the Ron and management team work with employees to comprehend the underlying issues behind their dwindled productivity, identify likely solutions to the issues and make changes to the Scanlon Plan to enable the incentive plan effectively motivate the employees. It is important that employees are involved throughout the entire process and that any adjustments, no matter how small are presented honestly to the employees.

Engstorm Auto Mirror Plant : Motivating in Good Times and Bad This case study evaluates the impact of lack of communications can have in an organization. Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant is a private owned company with 209 employees. For several years, they have been giving their employees incentives as a great way to keep them motivated. They used the Scanlon Plans which is a plan that determine employees bonus using ratios.

Engstrom Auto Mirror plant, as a privately owned business, it manufactured mirrors for trucks and automobiles. The managers aimed to increase productivity for sustainable development of the company. Back in 1998, to pursue highly productivity, the plant was redesigning its production lines to incorporate new technology, however, the transition was not smooth, some problems had emerged, such as the staffs' moral and efficiency declining and the internal contradictions being intensified between the managers and employees. As the result of it, the previous manger resigned in 1998. After that, the new manager, Ron Bent believed in the power of worker incentive programs and wanted to establish one at Engstrom. Eventually, the plant adopted the

Regardless of whether the company manages to succeed in implementing the changes or not, staff should strive to maintain high morale. Senior management should put into practice work different motivational tools such as good working conditions, merit-based system of incentives and rewards, paid vacation, benefits and payment for medical services, the provision of loans to employees and others.