Treadway Tire Company: Gaining a Deeper Understanding

Dundon et al. (2004) claimed that employee voice is a form of contribution to decision-making, an articulation of individual satisfaction or dissatisfaction and a demonstration of collective organisation. Another way of saying, employee voice is the process of employees communicating their thoughts, ideas to employers to provide feedbacks and make improvements. Bryson (2004) described employee voice as a two-way communication between management and employees. This two-way communication between senior managers and employees enables them to exchange ideas. To be more specific, it brings different and new perspectives from employees, give them a sense of ownership towards the decision-making process with relatively higher level of effort and reduced labour cost. Moreover, it has lower cost and reduce risk of disruption due to employee resistance. It is crucial for senior management to understand the importance of ‘employee voice’ since it plays a significant role in constructing a high-involvement working environment and has a crucial impact on organisational performance. There are various advantages of employee voice, however, too strong employee voice will inevitably cause negative impact in the organisation.

Harvard Business Review case, The Nuclear Tube Assembly Room, is an excellent example of how managing and leading a team effectively can make a substantial difference in terms of results and goals achieved, all the while creating new ambitious expectations for workers. This particular case revolves around Ralph Langley, general foreman of the process department at American Radiotronics Corporation. Within the first 24 months of being promoted to general foreman, Langley has swiftly changed the mentality and efficiency of the workers in the nuclear tube assembly room. He has changed their terrible reputation into one of the most

Human Resource plays a key role in designing the performance management framework. Human Resource role is manifold and each of these roles well played can be highly beneficial to the organization. However, as it is now, the people in the department do not seem up to par. In the article, "Why We Hate HR," written by Keith H. Hammond, the author portrayed a negative stance on the department. He listed four reasons describing what is wrong with the Human Resource people. Based on those four main criticisms, three individual interviews were conducted to see either Hammond’s point of view is agreeable or not. The interviewees also have given their personal experiences and opinions when comparing their

In the world of large organizations, Costco is one of the leaders in sales and strive to be a leader in employee satisfaction. Although there are many functions within the company, human resources functioning appears to provide direct impact of these goals. Costco has made changes to their employee performance management processes such as performance management and training that have resulted in changes to the employee’s career paths. Costco changed their process in performance reviews and training with hopes of cutting costs, however the changes have changed employees expectations of the company.

You have recently been hired as the HR manager responsible for two separate Ontario locations belonging to Wilson Brothers Limited. You have been asked by the HR Director at the head office in Brandon, Manitoba, to quickly provide a report on any initial HR issues related to Recruitment and Selection, Compensation and Benefits, Health and Safety, Training and Development and Labour and Employee Relations that are affecting or will affect the Cambridge operation and the new plant in Scarborough. The HR Director has made it very clear that Wilson Brothers would like both the Cambridge location and the new plant in Scarborough to remain union-free and are willing to offer very competitive wages and benefits

Hinrichs’s active management of change within the factory and focus on worker satisfaction and buy-in resulted in a lot of small victories that he used to win over the workforce’s trust and respect. In the process, Hinrichs transformed the plant from one that was resistant to change to one that embraced and was excited for change.

Engstrom should provide a space in which workforce can communicate by having managers listen to them and asking them questions. People generally know the right answers if they have the opportunity to produce them. For Engstrom creating teams and committees with members from each production department to management is important. A committee can help improve the line workers morale with ideas such as improvement for production, and meeting delivery deadlines. A committee of managers from each department within the plant who will work with plant line workers to make suggestions and improvements for employee morale and improvement. The teams formed should be from all functions and staffed with members whose talents match team tasks. Committees are

At Empire, Inc., the turnover rate is very high among assembly workers. Supervisors in the production department have indicated to the personnel department that they do not have time to conduct a supervisory interview with the large number of applicants that are processed to fill assembly-line openings. As a result, the personnel department’s employment specialists make the final hiring decisions.

I have been asked to provide a report that supports the retention of the HR function within our organisation. In this report I will explain how Human Resource activities support the organisations strategy and how HR professionals support line managers and their staff.

Throughout this case study, Gary, an employee at Brewster-Seaview Landscaping, goes into depth in explaining this business’ work dynamic. In the process of analyzing Gary’s description, we are able to extract various leadership styles which are exhibited by management. As we will see, Joe and the new supervisors’ leadership styles differ and definitely impact work outcomes.

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.

2. Leatherbarrow, C., Fletcher, J. & Currie, D. (2010) Introduction to Human Resource Management. 2nd Edition. London: CIPD

In the Romano Pitesti case, Tickton-Jones’ Management Team is faced with a situation that is not altogether uncommon in the business world, in that some employees feel that members of the Sales staff are being given “special” treatment by the company. Romano’s actions have probably not been as bad as what has been described to Management, but due to the fact that employees are still trying to find their place in the new, combined company, any hint of “unfairness” is immediately put under a microscope by other employees, and therefore, Management will have to take some sort of action, in order to show the other employees that their concerns are being taken seriously.

Treadway’s Lima Tire Plant, one of eight manufacturing plants operated by the company, has a workforce of 970 unionized hourly employees and 150 salaried employees. The plant underwent a $100 million expansion and modernization effort which increased capacity and utilized new manufacturing technology. As a result, the Lima plant had become one of Treadway’s top plants for productivity. However, it has faced a very high turnover rate and low employee morale in the position of line foreman.  It is believed that once the turnover and dissatisfaction problems are resolved, Treadway can increase productivity, and reduce overall costs. The organizational chart of key persons can be found in Exhibit 1.

He also likes to practice what he preaches. When asked what his subordinates would describe his management style and what they would say about him, he said he “I hope they would say that I treat people equally.” When Mr. Walker replied to the question, what aspects of your management role have you excelled within, he replied “I feel like I have become better at coaching and resolving conflicts among employees.” It is easy to respect Mr. Walker for taking this leadership approach, and it is commendable that the advice he gave in regards to the