Overview
This case explains the problems NOGO RAILROAD faced when they tried to implement organizational change to increase their efficiency and stay afloat in their economy.
Problems
Macro:
1. One of the major issues NOGO faced was that workers did not accept the changes the organization was trying to implement on them. For example, assigning additional duties to workers so that they may not sit idle most of the time.
2. Another issue they faced was the financial cost of paying so many workers, even though most of them didn’t work at all. In other word there was an overabundance of clerks without enough work to keep them all busy.
Micro:
1. The clerks were mostly women and their contract stated that they could not be sent for more than 30 miles away from home for assignments. In rural districts, this led to having a large of clerks who could not cover for vacations and emergencies.
2. The telegraph operators could be sent anywhere, but could only replace telegraph operators. Clerks could only replace other clerks. It was not uncommon during major derailments for telegraph operators to be hundreds of miles from their home, on overtime, living on expenses paid by the railroad, yet working next to clerks having nothing to do.
Causes
1. The morale problem had been created by a recruitment process which traditionally favored the hiring of relatives, nepotism. Resistance to change this was high, especially when the cooperation could result in loss of employment for one or more family members.
2. Unionized employees made it hard for the cooperation to implement change, which in fact gave them an upper hand when it came to earn more and not doing any extra work.
Systems affected
Structural:
This systems includes the formal design , policies, and procedures. It is usually set forth by the organizational chart and includes the division of work and the patterns of authority. Due the unionization of workers the cooperation’s attempt to reduced the numbers of levels in their hierarchy failed from time to time. The workers union became more powerful than the cooperation itself.
Psychosocial:
This system includes the network of social relationships and behavioral patterns of members such as norms, roles and communications. In NOGO the clerks were predominantly women and their contract stated that they could not work directly with radio communications and train crews. Most workers in this cooperation were subject to nepotism.
Technical:
This includes the primary functions, activities, and operations, including the techniques and equipment used to produce the output of the system. In this Workers used their traditional equipment which included telegraph , radio, sound torpedoes etc and they were not willing to bring a change in their equipment, because it would have increased their work load.
Managerial:
This subsystem spans the entire organization by directing, organizing, and coordinating all activities towards the basic mission. In this case the cooperation was not run by its managers but was run by its workers. This is because the union was more powerful.
Goals and Values:
This includes the basic mission and vision of the organization. The main goals of NOGO were to survive in the economy.
Alternatives
Dave had one of the two alternatives. Either he could enforce the organizational change on the employees and put his job on the line in front of the union, or he could let things be as they are and just wait for the opportunity to get promoted as a senior member retires. On one hand he was aware of his jobs vulnerability, however on the other hand he had to keep his dignity and do what was write.
Recomendations
We would recommend that Dave would go on with the organizational change and let matters takes there course. In doing so Dave would feel satisfied that he did the right thing but would put his own job at stake.
One disadvantage is that he would lose his job and that his career would end in the railway business, but the news of this change would spread out and he would find tremendous oppurtunities in other fields as well.