$1.$ What symptoms in this case suggest that something has gone wrong?

$2.$ Explain the causes for these symptoms using your knowledge of perception and perceptual errors?

 

 

I am hired by AEC as the manager of customer service group which looked after customers, logistics$,$ and few raw material purchasing. My superior George was the vice$-$president of AEC. AEC manufactured most of its products from aluminum. Management held daily meetings to discuss various production issues,No one from shop floor was invited to the meeting, unless there was a specific problem. Management had separate washrooms, separate lunchrooms, as well as other perks that floor employees did not have. Most of the floor employees felt that management, did not really feel they had anything to learn from floor employees. John, who worked on the aluminum slitter, a crucial operation required before any other operations could commence had a number of unpleasant encounters with George. As a result George usually sent written memos to the floor in order to avoid a direct confrontation with John. Because the directions in the memos were complex, & more than two pages in length. As I was walking around I noticed that John was very upset. Feeling that perhaps there was something I could do$,$ From the looks of the situation and John's body language I felt that he was willing to talk but John knew that this was not the way things were done at AEC. John complained that the office guys only cared about schedules not about the people down on the floor. 

I just looked at him and said that I only began working here last week and thought that I could address some of their issues. Lesley, a recently hired engineer approached me and pointed out that the employees were not accustomed to management talking to them. Management only issued orders and made demands. Lesley asked me why I was not eating in the office lunch room. I replied that if I was going to understand how AEC worked, I had to get to know all the people better. In the lunchroom the other workers were amazed to see me there, commenting that I was just new and had not learned the ropes yet. After lunch when I asked George about his recent confrontation with John, George was surprised that John got upset and exclaimed, "I just wanted John to know that he did a great job, and as a result, we will be able to ship on time one large order to the West Coast. In fact, I thought I was complimenting him." Earlier, Lesley had indicated that certain behaviour was expected from management and therefore from me$.$ I reasoned that I do not think that this behaviour works and besides it is not what I believe or how I care to behave. For the next couple of months I simply walked around the floor and took every opportunity to talk to the shop floor employees. Often when the employees related specific information about their workplaces I felt that it went over my head. I decided to listen them, identify where they were coming from and understand them. I needed to keep my mind open to new ideas. Because the shop employees expected me to make requests and demands. Soon the employees became friendly and started to accept me as one of their own or at least as a different type of a management person. 

During my third month the employees showed me how to improve the scheduling of jobs especially those on the aluminum slitter. In fact the greatest contribution was made by John who demonstrated better ways to combine the most common slitting sizes, and reduce waste by retaining some of the "common$-$sized" material for new orders. Seeing the opportunity I programmed a spreadsheet to calculate and track inventory. This in addition to better planning and forecasting allowed us to reduce our new order turnarounds from four to five weeks to in$-$by$-10$ am$,$ out$-$by$-5$ pm on the same day. Increasingly I became the messenger for the office$-$to$-$floor shop communication. One morning George complimented me on the levels of customer service and the improvements that have been achieved. I mentioned that we could not have done it without John's help. $"$He really knows his stuff, and he is good". I suggested that we consider him a promotion. Also I hoped that this would be a positive gesture that would improve the communication between the office and shop floor. George turned and pulled a flyer out of his desk; "Here is a management skills seminar. Do you think we should send John to it$?"$ "That is a great idea," I exclaimed, "Perhaps it would be good if he were to receive the news from you directly, George." George agreed. That afternoon John came into my office upset and ready to quit. "After all my effort and work you guys are sending me for training seminars. So am I not good enough for you.

 

 

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Based on the information provided we can extract several issues from the case 1 Symptoms That Suggest Something Has Gone Wrong i Communication Issues ... View the full answer