Shaneika Newell

1. Discuss how the principles of job design and reinforcement theory apply to the performance problems at the Hovey and Beard Company.
Hovey and Beard Company was a production company where painters were experiencing the various problems. New painters learned at a slower pace (making the other painters lose money on rewards per piece) the assembly line hooks moved too fast, and painters blamed management were some principals of job design exhibited at the Hovey and Beard Company. Incentive pay wasn’t adequate for workers and it was too hot working so close to the drying ovens. One painter, who worked with the company the longest, was appointed by other painters to address their concerns with the supervisor. The supervisor listened and worked closely with painters to address their concerns, he also worked well and incorporated the goal setting theory with the painters. Changing the work design of the painters work station, and management, used a positive reinforcement theory to make the painters part of the solution. Management installed fans, a timer on the hook device: fast, medium and slow, allowing the workers to choose the time of day to change the speed. Managers kept the incentives going with the learning bonus and the per piece reward. Also, there were updated meetings being held to keep everyone on the same page. Production was 50% higher, other employees felt the inequity in the company. They were skilled labors and not making as much money as the painters with this management stopped all incentives for the painters and everything went back to the original work environment. This resulted because management felt the negative reinforcement towards the skilled labors. Management should have looked into a more effective process. The supervisor, who managed the painters (equity theory), left the company to seek other employment 2.