...COLLINS Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad There had been several rough quarters at the Engstrom Auto Mirror plant in Richmond, Indiana, a privately owned business that manufactured mirrors for trucks and automobiles and employed 209 people. For more than a year, plant manager Ron Bent and his assistant, Joe Haley, had focused their Friday meetings on the troubling numbers, but the tenor of their May 14, 2007, meeting was different. Both men sensed that they now faced a crisis at the plant. Bent was talking animatedly to Haley: “This is the third productivity problem in, what, two weeks? We can’t climb out of this downturn with performance like that.” He scowled as he signed the authorization to air-freight a large order to the Toyota plant where Sam Martinez managed the assembly line. The difference in cost was astronomical, and it had been necessitated by the slow pace of productivity at Engstrom, which meant in this case that a job due for completion on Monday wasn’t completed until Thursday. But Bent couldn’t afford to make a late delivery to Martinez; he was a prized but demanding customer who had designated Engstrom as a certified supplier one year earlier. Only one other supplier for Martinez’s plant had achieved certified supplier status—a recognition of both extraordinary reliability and quality. The worry lines on Bent’s face deepened. Certified status meant that Martinez had personally authorized Engstrom products to be used on the auto lines...
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...University Final Project Submission Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant and Work Analysis Case Study Abstract 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 questions. 1. Should he remove the Scalon Plan and try another? 2. What is the root cause of employee morale declining? 3. Should there be revisions to the Scalon Plan and who oversees it? In order to answer these questions, it is suggested that Ron Bent and the other management team work together with employees to identify the root cause to their issue of low morale and work productivity and come with a possible solution to fix the issue. Introduction Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant is a privately owned business that manufactures mirrors for trucks and automobiles in Richmond, Indiana. The mirror manufacturing plant employed over 209 people. Engstrom Auto Mirror has operated since 1948 and has seen many years of success. In the late 1990’s, the plant started to see a drop in profits. Without...
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...Problem Statement The Engstrom Auto Mirror plant is a small privately owned business that supplies mirrors for trucks and cars. The plant had suffered several years of downturn before Robert Benton introduced the Scalon plan. The Scalon plan, an employee incentive program, was created to boost employee morale, increase productivity, produce quality inventory and lead the plant to a turn around. Now, the plant manager, Robert Benton, must figure out how to get the plant back on track in order to stop the plant from experiencing another year of downturn. Hypothesis 1: It may be that the organization has not met the employee’s expectations When an employee enters an organization they have certain expectations. According to the article, ‘Note on managing a psychological contract,’ it states, “A psychological contract is made, which may defined as the mutual expectations of the individual and the organization as articulated by its managers.” Employees and organizations expect to receive certain things in exchange for participation. Employees at the Engstrom plant expected to get their bonuses while Robert Benton, the plant manager, expected an increase in productivity and the quality of the plants inventory. When one side of the contract is being met, this can effect the relationship and the fulfillment of their needs. However, the Engstrom Auto Mirror plant was not meeting their end of the contract. The employees of the plant were no longer seeing the benefits of the bonus...
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...Final Project Milestone 1: Introduction Organizational Issues at the Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant October 11, 2015 Final Project Milestone 1: Introduction, Organizational Issues at the Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant My review of the Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad case study allows me to identify certain organizational issues within the company. There is an older incentive (Scanlon) plan put in place which worked very well for this company and its employees, helping them to rise up from an unproductive state in the 1990’s. Now that it has been in place for quite some time, it is getting stale. No bonuses have been given in months. The employees are not satisfied with the management of the company and overall efficiencies have decreased. There is a lack of leadership including social and emotional intelligence and this is now leading to very low employee morale. The management doesn’t seem to be motivating their staff. Also the employee suggestions which worked well in the past have now been declining. The suggestion rates from employees have dropped to just 50 a year, showing that employees no longer feel like they are contributing successfully to the plant (Collins and Beer, 2008, p. 5). It seems that there has been no management feedback, which is crucial for employees to realize their potential and become more motivated. Thus, the employees are no longer taking an active interest in the company. My suggestions for steering...
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...Case Study Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant, in Richmond, Indiana, a privately owned company that has been in existence since 1948. Engstrom was largely successful until the late 1990’s at which time the plant struggled to make a profit. During this period the plant was updating its production lines by adding new technology. This change did not go smoothly which caused delays in production resulting in a loss of customers. The plant manager did not have the knowledge of the new technology to find solutions to the decreased production and could not communicated effectively with the worker’s union. This lead to his eventual resignation in 1998. At this time Ron Bent was hired. Bent determined that the average productivity at 40% of expectation. Bent believed in the power of worker incentive programs and felt that the best option would be a company-wide program. Bent felt that a Scanlon Plan would be the best option. The Scanlon Plan was developed by Joseph Scanlon with the concept that employees, the employer and the union have much in common and that every employee can contribute to making improvements. These improvements would help the company’s position in the marketplace and provide increased job security and provide bonus earnings to employees for any improvements. (Hess 1976, pg.141). Bent communicated the Scanlon concept in multiple ways to the employees and engaged them in the process to develop the Scanlon Plan for...
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...2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Ron Bent, the plant manager, is ultimately responsible for solving the problem of declining employee motivation at Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant. Over the past two years, productivity, employee morale, quality of work, and sales have all declined. These are the results of the larger issues of employee motivation and communication within an organization. Things like productivity, quality of work, and sales are relatively short-term problems. Up until two years ago, they had been at exceptional levels ever since the implementation of an employee incentive program known as the Scanlon Plan in 1999. The plan was extremely effective in turning around the productivity and attitudes of many employees, as is evident by the employee feedback that management received. The case study presented by Beer and Collins offers workers’ praise for the new program such as, “I’m getting rewarded for thinking, not just for performing the same tasks every day”(Lutz, p.5) and, “People see themselves as a more cooperative workforce— Engstrom is now a better place to work than it was before we brought in Scanlon”(Andrews, p.5). Employee morale and motivation is a long-term problem for many organizations and that includes Engstrom. Before the Scanlon Plan was introduced, productivity was poor and tensions were high. In hindsight, Engstrom learned that its employees didn’t feel valued by management because they were not involved in changes that had large impacts on...
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...Milestone 2 Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Root Cause Case Study Analysis Sharon McClain SNHU 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 the employees input?” From the beginning of the Scanlon plan, the employees were happy when production was good and they were receiving the bonuses. When the profits and sales decreased, so did the bonuses which led to disgruntled employees. It seems the employees were agreeable with the plan at the beginning even though they did not fully understand the concept of how the bonuses were calculated. So is it the Scanlon plan the root cause or the employees? As explained earlier, the Scanlon plan was put into place in 1999. It worked for many years then the company started facing issues with productions, profits, bonuses and employees. To answer the questions of the root cause, it is all stakeholders. First, in order to receive a bonus...
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...Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant Case Motivating in Good Times and Bad Prepared by: Lily Yuan, Vicky Pan, James Xu, Kate Li, Issakson Wang, Ariel Cao, Vivian Fu 9 November 2013 Contents Introduction to Engstrom Scanlon Plan Scanlon Adoption Plan at Engstrom Problems and Solutions? 2 Introduction to Engstrom (I) A privately owned business manufacturing mirrors for trucks and automobiles Located in Richmond, Indiana 209 employees Use Scanlon Plan as an incentive for staff 3 Introduction to Engstrom (II) Creation 1948 late 1990s Troubles:unprofitability,production delays Ron Bent hired 1998 Dec.1999 Scanlon plan is voted by 81% workers Downturn in industry 2005 46 employees lay off June 2006 Need a new solution! May 2007 Economical Context 1948 1990s 1999 2005 2007 Contents Introduction to Engstrom Scanlon Plan Scanlon Adoption Plan at Engstrom Problems and Solutions? 5 Scanlon Plan Developed in 1930s by Joseph Scanlon, a cost accountant by training and a steelworkers’ union official at a steel mill facing bankruptcy. The heart of the plan is the concept of participative management. The three plan components: • the submission of suggestions for improvement by employees at all levels • the structure of the company committees that evaluate the suggestions • then the sharing of the fruits of increased productivity through monthly bonuses Ideally work together to drive big changes in behavior and attitudes! 6 Contents...
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...ENGSTROM AUTO MIRROR PLANT MOTIVATING IN GOOD TIMES AND BAD CASE STUDY REVIEW 1) Other than the Scanlon, what are some common types of employee incentive plans? Provide a brief overview of what they are and how they work. My research found that basically there are four types of programs classified as gainsharing. These include: the Scanlon Plan, the Rucker Plan, Improshare and Custom plans. These gainsharing plans are all similar. The differences appear in the way they calculate bonus and the level of employee involvement required to support the plan. The Scanlon Plan appears to be the oldest and most widely used type of gainsharing plan. As was shown in the case study: Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad, the Scanlon Plan is based on the historical ratio of labor cost to sales value of production (Beer & Collins, 2008). Because it rewards labor savings, it is most appropriate for assembly line companies. The Rucker Plan is based on the idea that the ratio of labor costs to production value (actual net sales plus or minus inventory changes, minus outside purchased materials and services) is historically stable in the manufacturing industry (Recardo & Pricone, 1996). This principle became the fundamental guideline of the Rucker Plan, which tracks the value added to a product as a measure of productivity. Because this plan utilizes a multi-cost formula, it is most appropriate for organizations that want to improve other variables...
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...Abstract The Engstrom Auto Mirrors plant is a small supplier factory based in the state of Indiana who is currently facing a crisis. They are in a drastic downturn in production and finance. The Engstrom plant has been experiencing damaging blows in their sales and morale. Ron Bent, plant manager, had to lay off more than 15% percent of the work force. The productivity was severely hit in a negative way. Employee morale suffered, and the quality of the product was sub-par. Customers of the plant was losing faith in their product. Downturns wasn’t a new occurrence at the plant. When the plant had reached a similar time they introduced the Scanlon Plan which was an incentive plan aim to increase the morale of the workers, increase the productivity and quality. But when the bonuses stopped, Ron Bent was at a cross road to figure out how to get the plant back on track for success. Should the plan be revised or should a new plan be instituted? Introduction The Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant experienced a decrease in productivity over a period of time coupled with the fact of proven employee dissatisfaction from the decline in success of the firm’s Scanlon Plan. Employees expressed doubt about bonus calculations and Assistant Manager Joe Haley conducted inventory reports and conversations with employees which indicated possible stealing of inventory. Irritation and suspicion where emotions the employees felt when their bonuses were taking away. Ron Bent who is the plant manager failed...
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...including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE 3. DATES COVERED 2. REPORT TYPE 01 NOV 2009 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 00-00-2009 to 00-00-2009 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 2009 Report to Congress of the U.S-China Economic and Security Review Commission 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission,Washington,DC 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND...
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