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In January 1995, Rubico n Ass ociates,Brian Swain and Jeff Martin, launched atwo-tiered, m ulti-com pany rst linemanagem ent programm e with fourchem ical companies in the North East:Perstorp Ferguson, Chem son Ltd, Syn-pac Pharmaceuticals and Union Cam pChem icals, who are mem bers of theNorth East Chem ical Industry TrainingOrganization (CITO). This cas e studydescribes its programm e.

T he case study successfully merges ind ivid-ual management development an d organiza-tional development in the context of anindustr y specic, multi-company trainingprogramme with the commercial objectivesof the comp anies involved and is dr iven bywork-based learning and improvementprojects.

Programme rationale

In Septem ber 1994, Ru bicon were asked topresent their award winning Black & D eckermod el of a two-tiered, m ulti-company rstline manager (FL M) d evelopmentprogramm e at a mon thly meeting of trainingmanagers from the Nor th East Chem ical

Indu stries Training Organization.T he North East CIT O group was aware of

the excellent results gained at two of its mem -ber com panies Hydro Po lymer s and WavinIndu strial Prod ucts when FLMprogramm es were run t here by RubiconAssociates. A numb er of other CIT O comp a-nies in t he area had expressed interest in t heFLM programme. N one of them, however,had a sufcient n um ber of rst line managersavailable for a stand -alone programm e. T hey

wanted, therefore, to hear about the two-tiered, multi-comp any FL M m odel thatRubicon had d eveloped with the Cou ntyDu rham T EC, Black & Decker, and ve of their supp lier comp anies and for whichBlack & D ecker won a National TrainingAward.

Subsequent t o that presentation, fourCI T O compan ies Perstorp Ferguson,Ch emson Ltd, Synpac Pharm aceuticals andUn ion C amp Ch emicals joined forces withRubicon Associates to undertake a year-longFLM training and development programmefor supervisors and m iddle man agers follow-ing Rub icons two-tiered, m ulti-companymodel.

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Management Development ReviewVolume 8 Number 6 1995 pp. 1822

MCB University Press ISSN 0962-2519

Case studyA chemical industrymult i-company work-

based managementdevelopmentprogramme

Brian S wain and Jeff M artin

The authorsBrian Swain and Jeff Mart in are partners at RubiconAssociates, Ashurst Wood, West Sussex, tel: 01342 824740

Abstract

Describes a tw o-tiered, mult i-company, rst line manage-ment programme involving four chemical companies in t heNorth East of England. Highlights the benets of theprogramme, claiming that it successfully merges individualmanagement development and organizational develop-ment with the commercial objectives of the companiesinvolved.Claims that investment in development is goodbusiness when it comes to developing supervisors intomodern team leaders/managers, in light of specic indus-try requirements.

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Although th ere were, and are, many devel-opm ent in itiatives taking place within a ll thesecompanies on a day-to-day basis, the att rac-tion of the FL M p rogramm e was that itappeared t o offer an integrated developmen tapproach which met many of their presentdevelopment needs: is well managed; can be easily evaluated over a signicant

period of time; has the essential benet of business-

focused improvement projects; creates an effective development frame-

work for cont inuous imp rovement.

T he specic attraction of development at therst line level of management is the str ategicrequirement shared by all of these comp aniesto transform t he old supervisor role into t hatof the mod ern, lean production, team leaderrole. Also impor tant was the recognition thatthe individuals chosen for the programm ewere absolutely key to their com panies, interm s of implementing improvement s inquality and p rodu ctivity, for th e future.

T he FLM programm e allows these compa-nies to add ress clear, agreed objectives in thecontext of a work-based, project-driven,competence-focused, N VQ level 4 m anage-

ment d evelopment programme. T he pro-gramme is run with a mu lti-company group of FL Ms (two or three from each company)meeting to learn together while initiatingimprovemen ts. Additionally, a group of seniormanagers from each of the par ticipatingcomp anies meets regularly as a policy steeringgroup. T heir role is to ensure that th e out-comes of the program me will be: properly supported; well managed; and effectively integrated into day-to-day busi-

ness activities.

T he steering group is also a developmentgroup focusing on improving ment oring andcoaching skills which are being practised withthe FLM s throughout the programme.

T his approach also facilitates the m eetingof these companies in ord er to share bestpract ices as a direct result of the d etailedanalysis of operating systems which the F LMprogramm e requires of the par ticipants and

also to deepen th eir relationships in pract icaland person al ways at these levels of organization.

T he overall, guiding ob jectives of the par-ticipating com panies are as follows.

Chemso n LtdT he overall aim of this company is to bu ild onthe F LM s skills so as to allow him to con -tribu te to ach ieving the com panys goals.

Objectives

Widen perspective of business as an enter-prise. Develop leadership skills and personal

competence so as to enhance th e perfor-man ce of the team.

Ensure that departmental goals align with,and contribute to, the organizational objec-tives.

Gain an understanding of managerialcompetences.

Build planning skills so as to move fromre ghting to re prevention.

T he programme to be a valuable compo-nent of the NVQ pilot study programme.

T he project to be seen as a resoundingsuccess in ter ms of: payback; enhancing the image of the department

and team. Un derpin the overall training strategy.

SynpacObjectives Increase the capabilities and condence of

the FL Ms throughout the course so thatthey are able to make more decisions atwork which are curren tly taken by theirimmediate m anager. T his will in tur n allowtheir immediate man ager to d eal with morebusiness-oriented matters.

T he FLMs must become agents forchange, constan tly challenging existingnor ms at Synpac and put ting forwardimprovement s. Synpac in tur n mu st beopen to this change and suppor t any viable

improvements suggested. After the course, the FLM s must have a

broader view of Synpac as a bu siness andmu st no lon ger see themselves only interms of their own discipline.

T he multi-company nature of the courseshould allow the FL Ms to share best prac-tice with ot her comp anies and again whereviable improvements are identied theyshall be implement ed.

Perstorp FergusonCompany objectives Provide FLMs with the skills needed to

meet t heir developing roles and respon si-bilities in a changing, atter organ ization.

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Enhance relationships and improve meth-ods of comm unication between bot h inter-nal and external customers and suppliers.

Full the companys commitment to devel-op, edu cate and t rain individuals for thefuture.

Individual objectives Enjoy the learning process. Achieve a formal nationally recognized

man agement qualication. Become a more effective supervisor and

team m ember as a result of the course. Gain insight and greater understanding of

a managers role and responsibilities. Make presentations with effect and

condence. Apply newly acquired skills and knowledge

directly to the workplace. Become a more educated and aware

manager.

Union Camp Chem icalsObjectives of the programme for supervisors Develop a broader understanding of the

business as a whole so that they are in aposition rst, to und erstand th e decisionsmad e by the senior management an d thereasons behind those decisions, and sec-ond, t o be able to comm unicate this to theworkforce in the m ost appropr iate manner.

Understand and appreciate the need tochange their current style of super visionfrom that of an autocratic style to on ewhich is more of a support er, mentor an dcoach of the employees, and act ively topor tray this new style in their dailyactivities.

Understand and appreciate the need todevelop a teamworking relationship with

everyone, par ticularly across disciplines,and actively to port ray this philosophy intheir daily activities.

Develop their role and be seen as thepeople who get things done th rough theinvolvement of others and not just th emessage carriers.

Description of training programme

T he training is a two-tiered, work-based, openlearning programme involving four compa-nies engaged in the chem ical industr y in th eNor th East. T he programme u ses the Henleyrst line m anagement d evelopmentprogramm e which is designed to generate the

requ isite evidence for an N VQ level 4 inmanagement . T he programme encompasses aplann ing stage (which took place in late1994), th e main modu le work (started inJanuar y 1995) and nal project presentations(December 1995).

T he two-tier structure was required anddesired for its dynamic potent ial to integrateand sup port organizational, personal andcomm ercial development, and to enhan cecomm unication and sharing of best practicebetween companies of the same industry. T heFL M grou p of ten participants meets on afortnightly basis throughou t th e course of theprogramm e, reviewing the work they havecovered in th e open learning m odules andbeing tutored and coached by a Rubicon

adviser in th e content of the p rogramm e,group activities, work-based action an d pro-

jects. T he steering group o f senior m anagerswith a Rubicon facilitator acts as a policybody, meeting bi-mont hly. T he group guidesand supports the programme through themu lti-company developm ent p rocess, andindividually acts as coaches and m entors tothe FLMs.

T he content of the programm e was chosenspecically for its focus on tota l quality man -agement, continuou s imp rovement and itswork-focused, project-based, action learningmethod ology. T he fact that the program mewas directly linked to com peten ce-basedmanagement d evelopment throu gh the NVQlevel 4 assessment process, gave it a clear,nationally recognized management develop-ment con text. T he learning modu les lead theFL M s through the management of resources,the con trolling of processes and the creationof the right social conditions for team work-ing, as well as self-man agement and develop-

ment. T he 12-month length of theprogramm e, although at rst daun ting, is seento be an essential part of any in-depth, p er-sonal and organizational developmentprocess.

T he programm e began with the steeringgroup going through a team -building andobjective-setting process. T hese objectiveswere then comm unicated and agreed with theFL M s in an open session, with th e individualcomp anies developing a set of specic objec-

tives in the light of the overall programm eobjectives.A continu ous process of evaluat ion takes

place throu ghout the programm e, but it wasnot un til the FL M s presented their project

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proposals to a joint FL M/steering groupmeeting in Septemb er 1995 that the pro-gramme uncovered its tr ue p otential: all of theprojects identied d ened impr ovementswhich m atched the objectives set ou t at t heprogrammes initiation.

Benets of the programme

At this poin t it is already possible to assessemerging benets of the programme. In orderto do this, it is necessary to look at the pro-gramm e from a nu mb er of points of view.Fir st, as the aggregate whole: how is the pro -gramme succeeding in its or iginal m acroobjectives for the pa rt icipating compan ies?Equ ally, the pro gramme m ust be looked at in

term s of operational benets for each companyand in term s of the development of the FLM sthem selves, both as individuals and as mem-bers of their companies.

On the m acro level, the course is meetingthe objectives of helping to establish clearlysupport ed developmen t cultures. T his is seenin two cases, as both Synpac and U nionCam p are launching major internal develop-ment processes as a direct consequence of their involvement in the FL M programme;Synpac Pharm aceuticals has added a com-plete team leader development program me totheir reorganization and expansion plans andUn ion Cam p is entering a major total qualitymanagement reorganization with t eams, teamleaders and quality improvement t eams. Bothof these developments are directly supportedby the F LM s. On the individual level, thecondence and capability shown by the FL Msat this point, as comp ared with the initialprogramm e meetings, is impressive to see. Onan operational level, in direct relationship to

the ob jectives set by the steering group at t hebeginning of the program me, th e ten projectsspeak for them selves.

Work-based actions

T he FLM programme is designed to producework-based action. T he fth modu le, Initiat-ing Change, establishes the goal of the p ro-gramm e which is to develop managers whowill cont inuou sly develop all aspects of their

organizations. All aspects of the program medirect th e learner towards ident ifying specicdevelopments in line with the overall manage-ment objectives of the compan ies. T heseactions fall into two categories, a major

project comp leted by the end of theprogramm e and many smaller actions, identi-ed and completed throughout theprogramme.

Projects

T he FL M imp rovement projects were asfollows.

Production departments Introduce an ongoing multi-skilling train

plan for operators in conjunction with anew grading stru cture designed to incorpo-rate incen tives to u p-skill.

` Develop and install a new, automated raw

mat erials loading system to rep lace a man -ual one in order to redu ce batch times,eliminate wastage of product and packag-ing and enh ance working environm ent.(Two FLM s have identied th is type of project; one to replace the m anual hand lingof bags, and the other for dru ms.)

Dene and develop procedures for greatercontrol of interm ediate product, increaseoperator involvement and u nder standing of the process, and introdu ce SPC into theprocess area in order to imp rove quality of nished product and cu stomer satisfaction.

Design and install a new waste materialsholding and reprocessing system to rep lacepresent one involving the rent al of roadtankers in order to reduce the cost of removal of efuen t waste from site.

Educate and train all production personnelin new operating and docu ment cont rolprocedures, redesigned in ord er to comp lywith recent legislation and thus ensuring allstages of prod uction rem ain within

compliance.

Engineering departments Identify and install a radio transmission

comm unications system t o link-up t heprodu ction, engineering and securitydepart ments in order to facilitate comm u-nication and reduce customer comp laints,especially outside ofce hou rs.

Design and install new tool store room andcalibration workshop in ord er to maintainbetter control and document ation of instrum ents, tools and equ ipment whichat presen t are kept in various locations allover the site.

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A department Signicantly reduce frequency of resam-

ples and retests and optim ize sample fre-quency and sam ple size throu gh investiga-tion and imp rovement of procedures,techniques and t raining.

IT department Design and implement an electronic docu-

men t man agement system which will allowcont rol to be exercised over all proced uraldocum ents on site.

Focus for action

As the FLM s work through th e work-basedactivities in th e open learn ing mod ules, th ey

are required to take hund reds of small actionsfor improvement . T hese have involved actionsso far in areas of: training needs analysis and upskilling

initiatives; enhancement of communication between

produ ction and sales depart ment s; signicant reduction of raw materials and

energy wastage; time savings through co-ordination of

views and aims across depar tmen ts;

implementation of new software systems; increase of production batch sizes; decrease of production cycle times; reduction of offsite equipment replace-

ment s and maintenan ce throu gh enhan cedcomm unication with custom ers.

The effect of the training on future plans

T his training is already justifying the sub stan-tial inpu t of both time and mon ey so clearlythat Ru bicon, at the request of the participat-ing companies, have initiated a meeting inDecember 1995 with the North East CIT Omem bership in order to present the idea of anew group of multi-company FLM s begin-

ning the programm e in Januar y 1996 withman y of the com pan ies present ly involved anda nu mber of new ones. T his decision is basedon t he qu alitative and quan titative outcom esthe program me h as seen to date as well as thetremend ous enthu siasm of all the par tici-pants. It is abundan tly clear that investment indevelopment is good bu siness when it comesto th e development of supervisors into mod -ern t eam leaders/managers in light of specicindustr y requirements.

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