The Nogo RailroadCase-study

Akanksha Gupta PG - 17

Amruta Ayya PG - 10

Ashwin Govindankutty MMS - 05

Mayuri Rajak PG - 51

Suraj Karra MMS - 18

Introduction

• Alan Yates, a manager of the Nogo Railroad Company has decided to promote Dave Keller to communications manager

• Dave Keller was responsible for two groups within the

communications department; telegraph operators and clerks

• His operating territory was consist of Washington, Idaho, and

Montana

• Dave Keller has discovered that between each group there are problems that have cause an increase in expenses and a lack of employees’ acceptance within his own department

• The challenge for Keller was to resolve these problems without harming his own job and building up the moral in the company

Problems

Macro• Organization culture• High employee expenses• Low employee• No HR as a strategic function • Badly negotiated Union Contracts• No established recruitment processes• No job descriptions to measure job output and performance• History of organized resistance by the Union and train crews

Micro

• Nepotism and Featherbedding• No upper management “buy-In”• Obsolete HR policies, practices and procedures• Internal Politics• Bad contract language• Burdensome expenses• Inadequate manpower planning

Causes• Unionized work force• No Professional HR resources• Excess workforce• Policies that allow nepotism, featherbedding, and other

inappropriate procedures• Scapegoat tactics• Lack of upper management support

Systems affected

• Structural

• Psychosocial

– Current culture unwilling to change

– The practice of featherbedding to actively provide job for family members

– Low employee morale created by biased recruitment process

– Reduction in expenses would decrease annual income

• Technical

– To keep the large amount of relative employed with the company, employees were not working to their highest level of potential

– Clerks replacing Clerks, Telegraph operators replacing telephone operators

– Removal of fireman position from engine of the train will lead to organized slowdown of work

– Women were not to be sent beyond 30 miles for assignments from home place will lead to overabundance of clerks with no work to do

Alternatives• Understanding ‘CHANGE’ is the tool of success

• Perform detailed job analysis to define job description, job specification like authority, responsibility, pay scale

• Implement formal leadership training and development programs

• Human resource planning and forecasting

• HR department must have a planned recruitment policy

• Standard Performance appraisal system

Recommendations• Negotiate with key people

• Avoid Nepotism

• New and Advanced Technology should be used

• Job rotation

• Work area can be broadened

• Organization development has to be taken into account because it is all about managing changes in work processes, structures, norms

• OD helps people understand, lead and support change

Actions• Diagnostic Activities

• Team Building Activities

• Inter Group Activities

• Survey Feedback Activities

• Education and Training Activities

• Techno-Structural or Structural Activities

• Life and career planning Activities

Outcome of Actions

• Feedback

• Awareness of changing social-cultural norms

• Increased interaction and communication

• Confrontation

• Increased awareness and participation

• Increased accountability

THANK YOU