Problems Identified and Their Symptoms at Littleton Manufacturing - Term Paper Example

? Littleton Manufacturing Case Study Situated in rural Minnesota, Littleton Manufacturing was established in 1925. At that time, Littleton just manufactured custom-made and precision-machined products from singular metals for a range of industries. Nevertheless, in 1942, Littleton was bought by Brooks industries. On further business purchases by Brooks, Littleton conventional manufacturing activity was reformed. New enterprise premises and dealings were added to the company’s old firm. The corporation old premises were considerably transformed to a production part whilst the new plants formed the constituent side of the firm. These transformations alongside growing rivalry in the market had crucial impact on Littleton manufacturing via Brooks industries declining financial performance. In order to articulate the issue, the management of Littleton manufacturing was worried with articulating the underlying challenges that affected the corporation. The corporation after a series of boardroom talks reached a decision that was aimed at computing a human resources process improvement team-PIT, to underline the issues and second a curative course of action (Whiteside, 1994). Problems identified and their symptoms Grievances at distinct levels of the corporations firm surfaced over the concern of bad institutional communication at the company. With this as a manifestation of the institutional bottlenecks at the corporation, the management of the company sought help from students at an adjacent institution to examine the institutional communication at Littleton. The PIT panel gathered the outcome from the students and carried out an in-house scrutiny that established six essential problem areas that the corporation was to deal with. The first problem established was the deficiency of institutional concord at Littleton. The evident deficiency of institutional concord was perceived through the anxiety displayed by the employee who held to the fact that the production side got ignored over the newer ingredients side. The components side had newer technology and machines whilst the production side had obsolete and redundant machines that needed regular servicing even they never got replaced. The employees also cited the strict working environment in the production side of the firm in contrast to the ingredients side. The employees perceived the management of the components side as overly strict where that of the components side seems elastic and at ease. The employees cited the fact that the two sides of the firm seemed to have distinct management techniques (Whiteside, 1994). The second problem was pitiable view of the monitor’s duty. All levels of the plant got worried about the duty of the supervisors. The directors felt tangential, underappreciated and overworked. The directors had an incredible amount of paperwork, and this restricted the amount of time they had to cover up their levels. This, they supposed, amounted to laxity amid various employees who understood when the directors would come to the level to monitor them. The directors felt nonessential when it came to decision making. They supposed they just got from their seniors when it came to the process of decision making and got criticized when such decisions failed to deliver their expectations. The controllers were as well on morale because of the little support and resources they received from the senior managers. They supposed the senior directors never would support then if they embarked on their own decisions (Whiteside, 1994). The deficiency of uniformity in the enforcement of policies and measures inside the distinct sides of the plant also got mentioned as a problem at Littleton. Grievances came up from the employees about the disparities inside the department and sides at the firm when imposing policies and measures. Proof of this occurred when the employees protested that various managers in the components side offered longer breaks in contrast to other managers in other departments. In the dreadfully ingredients side, various managers permitted employees to leave as early as twenty minutes before the allocated breaking time. Fickleness as got mentioned in terms of function of penalties. Fighting in the plant was prohibited, and if it took place it would amount to automatic dismissal. However, there were two separate occurrences where the victims were never punished. Numerous workers cited a certain occurrence where someone was caught smoking bhang inside the plant, but just received a written warning for such misconduct. A female worker also got suspension from work for three days for missing work because of doctor appointments for her kid. Nevertheless, a machinist received no punishment for shirking work frequently because of deferrals of drug or alcohol abuse. Another incident of variation concerning regulations and policies perceived through the absenteeism levels from either side of the firm. The production side had less than 1 percent absenteeism in contrast to the 2.2 percent documented in the ingredients side. Various employees directed this to the distinct in enforcement of regulations concerning malingering inside the plant (Whiteside, 1994). There was little concentration offered to Littleton’s preferences. Various workers supposed they did not comprehend what Littleton’s objectives were. Some put into the limelight the devotion of the plant to Littleton’s objectives. Senior directors seemed to comprehend the corporation’s goal but failed to reflect upon the subordinate workers. Various senior and middle managers did not comprehend the company headquarter long-standing objectives for Littleton. Numerous supervisors on the production line also queried the devotion of the company in view of the production business line. Directors however disagreed over the subsistence of Littleton’s own lasting objectives. Conversely, reports carried out on the corporation’s workers showed that stress on accomplishing target numbers at Littleton (Whiteside, 1994). There was pitiable organization of change at Littleton. For a long period of time, as the company side purchased more business and market share, a lot of transformation took place at Littleton. Workers perceived that many transformations occurred at the plant and this amounted to bewilderment at the plant. Transformations at the firm involved worker income, and the purchase of new manufacture and supply regulation mechanism. Grievances got voiced over the cumulative impact of such transformations. There was conviction that transformation got dismally communicated at the plant. The workers got uncertain over how long new agenda that got started would after everything else. The ultimate problem that go stressed was the deficiency of a organized methodology to coaching at Littleton. The corporation just well reported endeavors towards was achieved when the ingredients side of the plant got introduced. The corporation fell short of a clear training or career development strategies at the plan (Whiteside, 1994). After establishing the problems at Littleton, numerous plans could be implemented by the executive to rectify the condition. The tribulations at the corporation could be accredited to the lack of sufficient institutional communication, the organization technique at the corporation, and/or the deficiency of a stipulated management culture. Strategic transformation in organization communication; the corporation can look at making sure there is effectual and sufficient institutional communication at the firm. Institutional communication may assume the variety of emails, letters or conversations. Communication would assist the workers sustain, produce, and maintain institutional operations for Littleton. The organization at Littleton should invest in appropriate communication alternatives for the managers and workers. Appropriate communication would make sure that the workers are properly responsive to their duties at a greatest. Communication would assist to sustain the institutional procedure at greatest. The downside to communications is that some workers may utilize it to dispute with the administration or other workers. This may amount to disagreement and anxiety at the headquarters disrupting work functions. Transformation in supervision technique; a shift in the management technique at Littleton can assist avert the crisis encumbering the corporation. Various workers got to protest about the distinct management styles at the distinct parts of the plant. Leadership at the corporation should look to make sure that the supervisors have proper qualifications to tackle particular problems and challenges at each of the part of the plant. The quality of supervision determines the culture at the institution, the productivity of the workers, and the final failure or success of the company (Whiteside, 1994). References Whiteside, D. E. (1994).Littleton Manufacturing Case Research Journal, 1-23. Read More