Week 02 Application Assignment – Case Study 2 Timely Assignment Help
Week 02 Application Assignment – Case Study 2 Timely Assignment Help
Applied Sciences online homework marketplace
Read the case study “Consolidated Products” at the end of Chapter 3 and answer the questions at the end of the reading.Consolidated Products is a medium-sized manu-facturer of consumer products with nonunion-ized production workers. Ben Samuels was aplant manager for Consolidated Products for10 years,and he was well liked by the employ-ees.They were grateful for the fitness center hebuilt for employees, and they enjoyed the so-cial activities sponsored by the plant severaltimes a year, including company picnics andholiday parties. He knew most of the workersby name, and he spent part of each day walk-ing around the plant to visit with them and askabout their families or hobbies.Ben believed that it was important totreat employees properly so they wouldhave a sense of loyalty to the company. Hetried to avoid any layoffs when productiondemand was slack,figuring that the companycould not afford to lose skilled workers thatare so difficult to replace.The workers knewthat if they had a special problem, Benwould try to help them. For example, whensomeone was injured but wanted to continueworking, Ben found another job in the plantthat the person could do despite having adisability. Ben believed that if you treat peo-ple right, they will do a good job for youwithout close supervision or prodding. Benapplied the same principle to his supervisors,and he mostly left them alone to run theirdepartments as they saw fit. He did not setobjectives and standards for the plant, andhe never asked the supervisors to developplans for improving productivity and prod-uct quality.• high-high leader• initiating structure• Leader Behavior DescriptionQuestionnaire (LBDQ)• monitoring• Multifactor LeadershipQuestionnaire (MLQ)• participative leadership• peer leadership• planning• recognizing• relations-oriented behavior• supportive leadership• task-oriented behaviorUnder Ben, the plant had the lowestturnover among the company’s five plants,but the second worst record for costs andproduction levels. When the company wasacquired by another firm, Ben was asked totake early retirement, and Phil Jones wasbrought in to replace him.Phil had a growing reputation as a man-ager who could get things done,and he quicklybegan making changes. Costs were cut bytrimming a number of activities such as thefitness center at the plant, company picnicsand parties, and the human relations trainingprograms for supervisors. Phil believed thattraining supervisors to be supportive was awaste of time. His motto was: “If employeesdon’t want to do the work,get rid of them andfind somebody else who does.”Supervisors were instructed to establishhigh performance standards for their depart-ments and insist that people achieve them.Acomputer monitoring system was introducedso that the output of each worker could bechecked closely against the standards. Philtold his supervisors to give any worker whohad substandard performance one warning,then if performance did not improve withintwo weeks, to fire the person. Phil believedthat workers don’t respect a supervisor whois weak and passive. When Phil observed aworker wasting time or making a mistake,hewould reprimand the person right on thespot to set an example. Phil also checkedclosely on the performance of his supervi-sors.Demanding objectives were set for each Consolidated ProductsConsolidated Products is a medium-sized manu-facturer of consumer products with nonunion-ized production workers. Ben Samuels was aplant manager for Consolidated Products for10 years,and he was well liked by the employ-ees.They were grateful for the fitness center hebuilt for employees, and they enjoyed the so-cial activities sponsored by the plant severaltimes a year, including company picnics andholiday parties. He knew most of the workersby name, and he spent part of each day walk-ing around the plant to visit with them and askabout their families or hobbies.Ben believed that it was important totreat employees properly so they wouldhave a sense of loyalty to the company. Hetried to avoid any layoffs when productiondemand was slack,figuring that the companycould not afford to lose skilled workers thatare so difficult to replace.The workers knewthat if they had a special problem, Benwould try to help them. For example, whensomeone was injured but wanted to continueworking, Ben found another job in the plantthat the person could do despite having adisability. Ben believed that if you treat peo-ple right, they will do a good job for youwithout close supervision or prodding. Benapplied the same principle to his supervisors,and he mostly left them alone to run theirdepartments as they saw fit. He did not setobjectives and standards for the plant, andhe never asked the supervisors to developplans for improving productivity and prod-uct quality.• high-high leader• initiating structure• Leader Behavior DescriptionQuestionnaire (LBDQ)• monitoring• Multifactor LeadershipQuestionnaire (MLQ)• participative leadership• peer leadership• planning• recognizing• relations-oriented behavior• supportive leadership• task-oriented behaviorUnder Ben, the plant had the lowestturnover among the company’s five plants,but the second worst record for costs andproduction levels. When the company wasacquired by another firm, Ben was asked totake early retirement, and Phil Jones wasbrought in to replace him.Phil had a growing reputation as a man-ager who could get things done,and he quicklybegan making changes. Costs were cut bytrimming a number of activities such as thefitness center at the plant, company picnicsand parties, and the human relations trainingprograms for supervisors. Phil believed thattraining supervisors to be supportive was awaste of time. His motto was: “If employeesdon’t want to do the work,get rid of them andfind somebody else who does.”Supervisors were instructed to establishhigh performance standards for their depart-ments and insist that people achieve them.Acomputer monitoring system was introducedso that the output of each worker could bechecked closely against the standards. Philtold his supervisors to give any worker whohad substandard performance one warning,then if performance did not improve withintwo weeks, to fire the person. Phil believedthat workers don’t respect a supervisor whois weak and passive. When Phil observed aworker wasting time or making a mistake,hewould reprimand the person right on thespot to set an example. Phil also checkedclosely on the performance of his supervi-sors.Demanding objectives were set for each Consolidated ProductsConsolidated Products is a medium-sized manu-facturer of consumer products with nonunion-ized production workers. Ben Samuels was aplant manager for Consolidated Products for10 years,and he was well liked by the employ-ees.They were grateful for the fitness center hebuilt for employees, and they enjoyed the so-cial activities sponsored by the plant severaltimes a year, including company picnics andholiday parties. He knew most of the workersby name, and he spent part of each day walk-ing around the plant to visit with them and askabout their families or hobbies.Ben believed that it was important totreat employees properly so they wouldhave a sense of loyalty to the company. Hetried to avoid any layoffs when productiondemand was slack,figuring that the companycould not afford to lose skilled workers thatare so difficult to replace.The workers knewthat if they had a special problem, Benwould try to help them. For example, whensomeone was injured but wanted to continueworking, Ben found another job in the plantthat the person could do despite having adisability. Ben believed that if you treat peo-ple right, they will do a good job for youwithout close supervision or prodding. Benapplied the same principle to his supervisors,and he mostly left them alone to run theirdepartments as they saw fit. He did not setobjectives and standards for the plant, andhe never asked the supervisors to developplans for improving productivity and prod-uct quality.• high-high leader• initiating structure• Leader Behavior DescriptionQuestionnaire (LBDQ)• monitoring• Multifactor LeadershipQuestionnaire (MLQ)• participative leadership• peer leadership• planning• recognizing• relations-oriented behavior• supportive leadership• task-oriented behaviorUnder Ben, the plant had the lowestturnover among the company’s five plants,but the second worst record for costs andproduction levels. When the company wasacquired by another firm, Ben was asked totake early retirement, and Phil Jones wasbrought in to replace him.Phil had a growing reputation as a man-ager who could get things done,and he quicklybegan making changes. Costs were cut bytrimming a number of activities such as thefitness center at the plant, company picnicsand parties, and the human relations trainingprograms for supervisors. Phil believed thattraining supervisors to be supportive was awaste of time. His motto was: “If employeesdon’t want to do the work,get rid of them andfind somebody else who does.”Supervisors were instructed to establishhigh performance standards for their depart-ments and insist that people achieve them.Acomputer monitoring system was introducedso that the output of each worker could bechecked closely against the standards. Philtold his supervisors to give any worker whohad substandard performance one warning,then if performance did not improve withintwo weeks, to fire the person. Phil believedthat workers don’t respect a supervisor whois weak and passive. When Phil observed aworker wasting time or making a mistake,hewould reprimand the person right on thespot to set an example. Phil also checkedclosely on the performance of his supervi-sors.Demanding objectives were set for each department, and weekly meetings were heldwith each supervisor to review departmentperformance. Finally, Phil insisted that su-pervisors check with him first before takingany significant actions that deviated from es-tablished plans and policies.As another cost-cutting move, Phil re-duced the frequency of equipment mainte-nance, which required machines to be idledwhen they could be productive. Because themachines had a good record of reliable oper-ation, Phil believed that the current mainte-nance schedule was excessive and was cuttinginto production. Finally, when business wasslow for one of the product lines,Phil laid off workers rather than finding something elsefor them to do.By the end of Phil’s first year as plantmanager,production costs were reduced by20 percent and production output was upby 10 percent. However, three of his sevensupervisors left to take other jobs, andturnover was also high among the machineoperators. Some of the turnover was due toworkers who were fired, but competentmachine operators were also quitting, andit was becoming increasingly difficult tofind any replacements for them. Finally,talk of unionizing was increasing amongthe workers. ■QUESTIONS1. Describe and compare the managerial behavior of Ben and Phil.To what extent doeseach manager display specific relations behaviors (supporting,developing,recogniz-ing) and specific task behaviors (clarifying,planning,monitoring)? To what extentdoes each manager use participative or inspirational leadership?2. Compare Ben and Phil in terms of their influence on employee attitudes,short-term per-formance,and long-term plant performance,and explain the reasons for the differences.3. If you were selected to be the manager of this plant,what would you do to achieveboth high employee satisfaction and performance?
Have trouble solving the various types of essays? Don’t worry. Our team of brilliant essay writers will help you with your requirements. We understand that working on more than one type of essay can be a bit hectic as well as confusing when each type of essay has its own set of guidelines. However, that is not a problem for our extraordinary essay writing helpers. They can provide the necessary essay writing help, irrespective of the intricacy of the topic or the essay type. If you are wondering what types of essays are covered by our essay writers, here’s your answer.