INTRODUCTION

The Goodman Company is a manufacturing company that specialises in producing small rubber

automotive parts such as boots for floor-mounted automobiles and truck transmissions, boots for

brakes and clutch and accelerator pedals. The president of the Goodman Company is Mr. Robert

Goodman and directly under him is Mr. Joe Smith who is the production manager. The

organisation consists of three shifts, each of which is headed by a different supervisor. The three

shifts referred to in this case are shift one, supervised by Mr. Cleverson Anthony, shift two, Mr.

Norm Leonard and shift three, Mr. Bob Jackson.

The president had recently hired a production analyst by the name of Ms. Ann Bennet in

hopes to obtain recommendations that would facilitate greater output throughout the

organisation. Her main intentions were to replace the existing process, which had entailed each

employee to complete each step within the process individually to job specialisation, where each

employee would be responsible for a specific function within the process. Although this seemed

like a good recommendation it proved not to be totally effective since output decreased on the

first and second shifts whilst the third shift was able to maintain their level of output. But was

hiring Ms. Bennet the initial problem?

This led us to identify what we thought to be a concise and applicable problem statement

which states that “The core problem of the entire implementation process was the ineffective

structure employed by the management of the Goodman Company on the basis of their poor

leadership styles/skills which then resulted in a breakdown in communication, a lack of

motivation amongst employees that caused them not to be satisfied with their jobs therefore

influencing how they behave.”

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THE CORE PROBLEM AND ITS CAUSE

The Core Problem

After thorough analysis of the Goodman case, we had identified many variables that would

suggest that the company was neither driven by positive and conducive work behaviour nor

guided by tactful and well constructed policies. Moreover, the business practices presented

within the case concluded that the management of the Goodman Company had failed to design

an effective organisational structure that would have enabled them to properly deal with the

change in the production process. With this being said, it was fair to declare that this was the

core problem of the Company and as a result the business was unable to operate at its full

potential.

For change to be fostered and the new techniques successfully implemented, a

modification of the organisational structure would have been required. According to Laurie J.

Mullins (2005, p. 596) “structure is the pattern of relationships among positions in the

organization and among members of the organization. Structure makes it possible the application

of the process of management and creates a framework of order and command through which the

activities of the organization can be planned, organised, directed and controlled.”

From this definition, we gathered that structure is one of the core components of any

organisation as it facilitates the execution of all other functions (planning, controlling, leading,

organising). Nonetheless, before analysis it was conceptualised that the organisational structure

of the Goodman Company could not be classified as a recognised genre of structure, outlined by

early OB/management theorists, such as Max Weber’s theory of Bureaucracy. However, after

thorough analysis we closely identified this structure with that of a simple structure. It became

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further apparent that this structure lacked some of the key elements needed when designing an

effective structure. Those elements include span of control, work specialisation, chain of

command, centralisation and decentralisation, and formalisation.

There was span of control evident throughout the company as seen from the first shift to

the third shift but despite each supervisor having a small number of subordinates to direct, it was

not done efficiently and effectively. Moreover, the chain of command line was continuously

broken as seen in both the first and second shifts. This was illustrated on first shift when John

(Fireball) Malone would, on a daily basis, run up to Joe Smith, the Production Manager and

Robert Goodman, the President, giving them his suggestions on improving operations. When

defined, the chain of command states that authority extends from the top of the organisation to

the lowest rank and clarifies who reports to whom. Therefore, Fireball had broken the chain and

should have reported any suggestions to his supervisor, Cleverson (Clev) Anthony who would

then have the authority to report these matters to Joe Smith. The staff of the second shift had

intentionally broken the chain of command line because it was clear that Norm was the

appointed supervisor of this shift but his subordinates refused to report to him when they

encountered a problem. Rather, they reported to Jim Flask, who had no formal authority over the

shift.

Overall, the structure of the Goodman Company was neither well formalised nor

standardised since it lacked the necessary policies and procedures needed to guide both

employees and management in their daily operations. Instead of the organisation having a written

policy to guide supervisors actions and behaviours when implementing a change, each supervisor

was left responsible for implementation which resulted in each shift adopting a different work

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practice. Consequently, the different methodologies of each supervisor constituted for how the

employees accepted the change of their work roles.

What Mr. Goodman failed to understand was that structure should follow strategy.

Therefore, those elements of structure that would have been used before the introduction of the

new production process may not be applicable after its implementation since the employees’

roles, responsibilities and authority were subject to change within that new environment.

Cause of the Core Problem

Upon understanding what was said to be the core problem, we identified the cause as being that

of the poor leadership style and/or skills possessed by Mr. Goodman, President of the Goodman

Company.

We define a good leader not necessarily as someone in a managerial position but an

individual who is capable of getting others to do things willingly through motivation and

empowerment whilst creating a vision that others can identify with. Imperatively, what Mr.

Goodman failed to realise was that not all leaders are managers and not all managers are leaders.

Although holding such a vital position, Mr. Goodman does not possess the characteristics

of a good leader which include being able to communicate effectively with employees, make

effective decisions and design policies and procedures that would lead to job satisfaction

collectively empowering and motivating employees. It was the job of management to ensure that

they had communicated the guidelines and procedures associated with the implementation of the

new production process, to not only the supervisors but to all employees so as to ensure that the

process is standardised throughout the entire organisation. Furthermore, it is good to note that if

a manager lacked leadership qualities, his subordinates will still do their jobs, but they may do so

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ineffectually (inefficiently). For example, shift one employees are not happy with the changes

but continue to complete their tasks with products not being properly readied for the next step in

the process.

Can we deduce that Mr. Goodman only assessed the implementation of the production

process at the organisational level and not at the group or individual levels? Mr. Goodman’s

main purpose was to maximise productivity so as to meet the increasing demands of his

customers and he assumingly disregarded the individual differences, personalities, attitudes of

his employees and more so, what motivated them to be more productive workers. In general, Mr.

Goodman did not realise that his style of leadership affected the individual, as they were not

satisfied, the groups since there was no group commitment and the organisation since goals were

not accomplished. By taking into consideration, the personalities of your employees, managers

have the ability to design a structure which promotes employee involvement and commitment

and employees are more likely to accept the structure or the restructuring of the organisation.

This is justified even further because of the behaviours presented by his employees. If he

had assessed the implementation at an individual level then it would have been easy to predict

the upcoming behaviours of his employees and plans would have been put in place to give

immediate corrective actions.

In a nut shell, the President of the organisation lacked proper leadership skills which lead

to an ineffective change in structure that resulted in each shift not being well formalised.

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SATELLITE PROBLEMS

Mr. Goodman was seeking ways to increase efficiency of his products so as to expand

productions to meet the increasing demands of customers. Mr. Goodman, like any business

owner, anticipated great profits but he undermined the important role that the groups within his

organisation played in accomplishing those set goals. Management’s inability to adopt an

effective organisational structure as well as Mr Goodman’s poor leadership style both

contributed to the business having some satellite problems during the implementation of the new

production process. The case presented those problems which included communication,

motivation, job satisfaction, and group behaviour which were all connected and more so

influenced by each other.

We had first of all, identified communication which had broken down throughout the

business. As we know, communication is the transferring and understanding of meaning and

within organisations it serves four main functions which include emotional expression,

information, control and motivation. Therefore, it was management’s job to ensure that they

communicated the guidelines of how the new process should be implemented, not only to the

supervisors but to employees as well since the change would impact on them mostly. This would

further ensure the effectiveness of the implementation process as well as it being standardised

throughout the entire organisation. Frankly, Mr. Goodman did not communicate effectively with

his employees; he had a clear vision of what he wanted but he failed to inform his employees

what the change was, when it was to occur, what was expected of them and how it would impact

on their line of work. However, apart from shifts one and two, Bob Jackson, shift three’s

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supervisor, made sure that he notified his shift about the change by giving them a clear

understanding of the new objectives which provided them with direction which increased their

efforts towards those set objectives.

Lack of communication lead to employees being less committed and therefore one of the

functions of communication, motivation, was not or could not be easily fostered. First of all, in

order for workers to be motivated they must be driven towards something. ‘Something’ in this

case would be the goals communicated to them but as we know, this was not the case. When

defined, motivation is the set of internal and external forces that initiate work-related behaviour,

and determines its form, direction and intensity. It should be acknowledged that motivation can

either be extrinsic or intrinsic and to ensure that the one chosen for a particular situation or

worker is the best one, individual factors should be taken into consideration.

In this instance, the organisation had failed to put measures in place that would facilitate

both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. However, in shift one intrinsic rewards are the ones that

if implemented would have most likely motivated employees since they include the opportunity

to use one’s ability, receive appreciation either from supervisors or top management and there is

a sense of a challenge and achievement. Analysis showed that these employees did not feel

appreciated; they did not believe that they were fairly compensated and as a result they were not

motivated to embrace the change. Clearly, if upward communication had existed management

would have gotten feedback from employees about their feelings before and after the new

process. More importantly, if management did not limit downward communication intrinsic

motivation would have been facilitated and job satisfaction positively affected.

We thought that it was fair to assume that Norm Leonard, the shift supervisor, was not

entirely satisfied with his required job but he was motivated to carry on because his pension was

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not sufficient to live on and he needed the extra money to ease his transition from full

employment to full retirement. Note, that we believe a person who is ‘desperate’ for a job may

not be satisfied with it, but only ‘goes along with the flow’ because they are motivated by the

benefits involved. However, as time goes by it is likely that the person becomes satisfied.

Employees on shift one clearly were not motivated before the new process but were

satisfied with their jobs and after its implementation they still were not motivated and their job

satisfaction declined simply because there was no longer mentally challenging work. According

to one of the four factors conducive to high levels of employee job satisfaction, people prefer

jobs that give them opportunities to use their skills and abilities and offer a variety of tasks,

freedom and feedback on how well they are doing (communication). Obviously, those aged

employees in that shift had strongly valued what they did and for Clev it was even more difficult

to become satisfied since the case cited that “he looks and thinks just the same as he did when he

was first hired by Goodman back in 1955”. This proved that he was clearly not innovative and

change would always lead him to be not satisfied. Furthermore, the change made them believe

that the company did not think much of their abilities or else the job would not have been

simplified.

Mr. Goodman had not designed the necessary policies that would lead to job satisfaction;

those such as equitable rewards. Imperatively, since equitable rewards were non-existent these

employees could have never been satisfied let alone motivated. Those shift one employees

believed that they made the Company what it was and it would have only been fair that they

receive a share of the profits; they perceived this as being just and in line with their expectations.

These rewards can act as a means of communication since it can signal that the employee had

done a good job (acknowledges the employee) and in turn the employee becomes satisfied with

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their job and motivation is likely to increase because they get what they believe to be better in

this case.

Because shift three was well informed about the new process it was easier for them to

become more committed to their jobs. Not only that but the fact that they had supportive

colleagues added to their level of job satisfaction. Mr. Jackson was friendly and encouraged

ideas which made those employees develop a sense of belongingness therefore fostering

motivation. Employees who are involved in the decision making feel more appreciated especially

if their supervisor or management has considered their input for usage. If that be the case the job

would become more enjoyable therefore motivating the employee to carry on.

Evidently, the new production process was poorly implemented within the first and the

second shifts and employees, especially those on shift one, were resistant to the change because

there was little to no motivation and they were not satisfied with their jobs. As a result, each

group accepted and reacted to the change differently and those especially of the first shift, had

difficulties working in groups because that was not the norm and they did not understand what it

meant to have a shared purpose and the ability to act in a unitary manner.

When defined groups are “any number of people who interact with one another; are

psychologically aware of one another; and perceive themselves to be a group” (Laurie J. Mullins

2005). It is further stated that a group is a collection of people who share the following

characteristics: definable membership; group consciousness; a sense of shared purpose;

interdependence; interaction; and the ability to act in a unitary manner. Throughout the Goodman

Company, it was evident that after the implementation of the new production process that group

work became a necessity and was the definite route to success since each employee no longer

had to perform the entire process.

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The activities of any group are associated with the process of leadership and the style

adopted by their supervisor i.e. the way in which the group reacted or accepted the new process

mainly depended on how they were supervised. Moreover, if the supervisor is uneasy with

change it becomes difficult to guide his/her fellow group members to the accomplishment of

organisational goals because the supervisor now becomes less committed to the task and

sometimes this tends to ‘trickle’ down to members in the group. That is, there is a possibility that

the group would also not want to accept the new process and with reference to the case we noted

this when Clev, the supervisor, was unhappy, then his subordinate Joe Bob formed a union which

was accepted by the other shift employees.

In the second shift, Norm as the supervisor had no real interaction with his fellow

subordinates and as a group leader it is necessary to interact continuously with group members as

this is one important characteristic of a group. When Norm was appointed supervisor the group

did not readily accept him and he did not socialise but rather believed that they should do their

work. What he failed to realise is that by not interacting with the group they adopted behaviour

where they were reluctant to speak to him on any problems that they encountered.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Overall it could be said that goals are the foundation of any organisation. Goals provide direction

and guides employee’s behaviour so that effectiveness can be maximised. The Goodman

Company failed drastically to effectively communicate goals to employees and the structure

employed clearly did not foster employee commitment, motivated employees and the

enhancement of job performance. We realised that Mr. Goodman only wanted a recommendation

that would have made his company prosper but management is about getting things done through

people; therefore we have made the following recommendations that would be based not on

making profits but involving employees.

We recommend:

Employee Recognition Programs as the name suggests are concerned with managers

showing appreciation towards their employees i.e. employee of the month, promotions.

Those employees in shift one would enjoy such programs since they are more likely to be

motivated intrinsically and such programs would make them feel more important to the

business.

Management by Objectives (MBO) which involves the setting of objectives and targets

that each employee should meet and a continuous review and appraisal of results. More

over, MBO takes away from the boss setting all the goals and allows employees to

participate in choosing the goals and how they would be measured. Feedback becomes

continuous with MBO and employees would want to know how they are progressing.

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Kurt Lewin’s change theory which deals with unfreezing or dismantling the existing

behaviour of the employees towards the change, moving them to a new state of mind

lastly, refreezing, where the change is implemented and a new mind set is stabilised.

Create an employee selection criterion that would ensure person-job fit. That is, a fit

between an individual’s personality characteristics and his or her occupational

environment. This can be used as a good tool to ensure that there is a certain degree of

diversity among employees so that more heterogeneous groups could be formed.

Although each of the above recommendations is applicable, Mr. Goodman needs to

implement the one which is most effective. Therefore, after thorough analysis of each, we

concluded that our second recommendation which was that of Management by Objectives

(MBO) would be capable of providing corrective action since there would be participative

management, goal setting and objective feedback all of which were lacking in the Goodman

Company. Employees would become motivated and satisfied with their jobs which would be

beneficial to the business because productivity would increase. MBO also puts the

organisation in a state of equilibrium where there is fairness throughout. Furthermore, if

individuals are motivated and satisfied this would affect the way how they would work in

groups positively and so too affect the organisation positively since goals would be

accomplished.

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IMPLEMENTATION

For MBO to work effectively, it should be considered as top priority by management and should

therefore be a continuous process that works from the ‘top down’ as well as the ‘bottom up’

since objectives are to be linked at one level to those at the next level. Most importantly goals

should be S.M.A.R.T i.e. specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented and time bound. Goals

should be specific so that those involved understand what is expected; measurable, in terms of

assessing results; attainable since it makes no sense setting goals that are beyond the capabilities

of your employees; results-oriented ( ) and time bound since they should be a set date to

accomplish goals, if not, employees would become laid back because there was no deadline. In

general, we had identified what we considered that the best way to implement MBO was by

following our own seven step process.

Step 1. Organisational goals should be clearly clarified and communicated to all members

of the organisation. This way everyone involved would have a clear understanding of the

new goals, in terms of what the organisation wants to achieve, what is expected of them

and the importance of their involvement to accomplish them. There should be more

commitment and an increase in efforts towards the accomplishment of those set goals.

Step 2. The organisational structure must now be reviewed and designed so that it is

flexible and promotes effective communication, quick decision making and prompt

feedback. Frankly, the structure that the Goodman Company had employed before the

new process clearly could not work after the process was implemented since the structure

could not facilitate group work. Mr. Goodman would have to structure the groups in

terms of specifying roles, norms, status, size and the degree to which members are

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attracted to each other and are motivated to stay in the group. Moreover, Mr. Goodman

can also move around his employees so that groups become more heterogeneous since

there is a possibility that the personalities of those from shift three can influence those on

shift one to become more open-minded about change. The old men were so all alike that

none could turn to the other and say ‘let’s give it a chance’. In addition, management can

restructure the entire organisation by breaking the company’s long time tradition of

lifetime employment and fire those senior supervisors, such as Clev, so as to make room

for younger and more aggressive leaders who are diverse and easily accept change. The

younger generation are more accustomed to change and keep in touch with this fast paced

world.

Step 3. There should be a consensus between management’s and subordinates objectives

and targets. This would be a vehicle towards motivation since workers are driven to

achieve goals that they have collaboratively set. Clearly, if there is no consensus,

employees would obviously not be satisfied with their jobs since management did not

value their input and this could place the company back at ‘square one’, where there was

a neglect in production and other forces of resistance. Agreement is key at this stage.

Step 4. Management should now closely monitor how employees are performing, in

terms of increasing productivity and quality of the product all at the same time. This way

management would be ensuring that employees have been following guidelines so as to

achieve their objectives. Also, monitoring can sometimes show management that there

objectives were set to high or too low depending on the level of output being observed.

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Step 5. In such an instance, management and employees would have a chance to put in

place performance improvement plans that would correct any variances in the previously

set objective so as to keep performance level.

Step 6. Those objectives and targets that were previously set should be reviewed so as to

determine whether or not goals were met.

Step 7. Take a look at the overall performance of the organisation since the objectives

and targets were based upon the interests of the organisation. If performance was good

then management can conclude that they have reached their main goal - To maximise

productivity so as to meet the increasing demands of customers.

(Appendix B shows this graphically)

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