LIU XU-014201900253

Case

W
hen Paul Sims got Aker's managerial position at the Lexington plant in Kentucky,
he was really excited. Although Sims was very happy in the managerial position
of a small metal press and medium voltage plant under the reason of a company,
after all, it is a rare opportunity to be a plant manager at this leading metal
products company, although the Lexington plant is located in Aker The company’s
15 factories are the smallest, but this is very rare for Sims’ career
development.
After arriving in Lexington, Sims' first feeling was that the relationship
between employees and management was very tense. Using the knowledge he
learned from a recent managerial seminar on building trust in the workplace, he
removed all the clocks in the factory, which means that the factory believes in
employees and will do their best to work. He believes that this symbolic move
will establish one This kind of trust can strengthen the relationship between
management and employees.
In the beginning, the 250 production workers in the Lexington plant liked
this freedom very much. They felt the respect and thought it was a sign of
positive change from the new manager. However, two months later, problems
began to appear. Some people started to arrive late, leave early, or take a long
lunch break. Although only about 5% of people do this, others think it is unfair.
Moreover, the excessively high rate of inactivity has begun to obviously affect
the productivity of the factory. This problem needs to be solved.
Sims asks supervisors to observe and record when employees go to work and
when they leave work. Well, I have to discuss attendance issues with those
employees who have exploited the loopholes. These supervisors have no previous
experience in recording attendance rates, and many of them are lack of
discussing this issue with subordinates. Employees also hate such interpersonal
skills, so they and employees are getting worse. This additional responsibility for
recording attendance also prevents supervisors from completing other tasks. A
few months later, Aker discovered the need to increase supervisor positions and
reduce the number of employees responsible for each supervisor. But the
problem has not been solved. Without the clock, the salary department cannot
deduct wages based on the employee's lateness. On the contrary, they also have
to add a reprimand letter to the employee's personnel file, and this requires the
supervisor to spend more time and more skillful. The employees certainly do not
want these letters to become permanent records, so they submit to the union In
lawsuits, the number of complaints has almost doubled in the past six months,
and union leaders and supervisors have to spend more time dealing with these
disputes.
Nine months after removing the clocks, Sims met with union leaders who
thought it might be better to put these clocks back. At this time, the
relationship between employees and management has deteriorated, and the
situation is worse than when Sims first arrived. The supervisors are overloaded.
In addition, due to poor attendance and excessive management workload,
productivity declines.

Case background:
Sims became the manager of Aker. In order to improve the tension between
employees and management, he withdrew from the factory by using the
knowledge he had recently participated in a manager seminar on building trust in
the workplace. The clock shows respect and trust for employees. But a few
months later, this move caused a series of problems, which eventually led to a
decline in the company's productivity and further deterioration of the
relationship between management and employees.

Problems:
1. The deterioration of the relationship between employees and
management, and the situation is worse than before Sims came;
2. The company's attendance rate is too poor, the management is
overloaded, and productivity declines.

Analysis:
#1. In order to gain the trust of employees, Sims withdrew all the clocks in

the factory, which generated a signal among the employees that the company is
about to change. After a few months, everything went as usual. A small part of
the employees became dissatisfied and appeared late , Leaving early or taking a
long lunch break.

Reason analysis: Sims’s “trust” raises expectations of change for

employees, and there is no follow-up of relevant measures, which arouses

dissatisfaction among employees, and problems begin to appear.

#2.The behavior of about 5% of employees did not attract the attention of

the management, but it had an adverse effect on the employees. Others

considered this to be unfair, which resulted in excessive absenteeism and
decreased productivity.

Reason analysis: A small number of dissatisfied employees in the

organization will look for problems in the formulation itself. In addition,

they did not attract the attention of the management at the initial stage,

which has an adverse impact in the organization, resulting in a group

effect, leading to the expansion of the problem.

The secondary questions that arise:

#1. Sims will begin to ask the supervisor to record the attendance of the

employees and discuss the attendance with the employees who are exploiting the
loopholes.

Reason analysis: The top management lacks strong decision-making

ability, does not understand the nature of the absenteeism problem, and

only manages the surface of the problem will only get half the result with

half the effort.

#2. The salary department deducts wages based on the employee's absence,
and also requires the supervisor to add a letter of reprimand and bring it into
the personnel file.

Reason analysis: In order to cope with the high absentee rate, the

salary department will increase the weight of employee attendance in the

salary appraisal. At the same time, it will increase the penalties for

employees with high absenteeism. This will not improve the behavior of

employees. Will cause more dissatisfaction among employees.

*Suggestions*

1. Re-assess the abilities of managers and strengthen the assessment of

interpersonal skills and organization and coordination capabilities;

2. Re-compile work instructions and train managers in interpersonal

communication and organization and coordination;

3. Reduce the scope of management and strengthen the guidance and

effectiveness of superiors to subordinates;

4. Pay attention to the views and opinions of employees, listen to their views on
decision-making, and get timely feedback on their opinions;

5. Strengthen employees' participation in the formulation of various systems of

the company, encourage employees to understand and recognize the various
systems and measures of the organization, and strengthen their sense of
identity;

6. Pay attention to employees' work attitude, work relationship, daily life and
social interaction;