1.Summarize the key OB issues/concepts reflected in the case (at least 2 key issuesMUSTbe identified).

2.Clearly link the key issues in the case back to relevant and specific course material covered.

3.Makeat least onerecommendation(s) on howeach of the key issuesyou identified should be handled at the managerial level. Justify the merit of each of your recommendations and be sure to include your rationale for why you expect them to be effective in addressing the issues. Please note that these recommendations do not have to be to correct a problem; it could be a way to capitalize on or enhance an opportunity.

4.Propose at least one strategic/executive level intervention for anyoneof your key issues to recommend how upper management can also play a part in addressing that issue.This response should be different from any of the recommendations offered in #3.Be sure to clearly identify which OB issue your organization level/executive level intervention is meant to address and how the intervention would be of benefit.

Be sure to number your responses.

Case 1

Helen Bowers was stumped. Sitting in her office at the plant, she pondered the same questions she had been facing for months: how to get her company's employees to work harder and produce more. No matter what she did, it didn't seem to help much.

Helen had inherited the business three years ago when her father, Jake Bowers, passed away unexpectedly. Bowers Machine Parts was founded four decades ago by Jake and had grown into a moderate-size corporation. Bowers makes replacement parts for large-scale manufacturing machines such as lathes and mills. The firm is headquartered in Kansas City and has three plants scattered throughout Missouri.

Although Helen grew up in the family business, she never understood her father's approach. Jake had treated his employees like part of his family. In Helen's view, however, he paid them more than he had to, asked their advice far more often than he should have, and spent too much time listening to their ideas and complaints. When Helen took over, she vowed to change how things were done. In particular, she resolved to stop handling employees with kid gloves and to treat them like what they were: the hired help.

In addition to changing the way employees were treated, Helen had another goal for Bowers. She wanted to meet the challenge of international competition. Japanese firms had moved aggressively into the market for heavy industrial equipment. She saw this as both a threat and an opportunity. On the one hand, if she could get a toehold as a parts supplier to these firms, Bowers could grow rapidly. On the other, the lucrative parts market was also sure to attract more Japanese competitors. Helen had to make sure that Bowers could compete effectively with highly productive and profitable Japanese firms.

From the day Helen took over, she practiced an altogether different philosophy to achieve her goals. For one thing, she increased production quotas by 20 percent. She instructed her first-line supervisors to crack down on employees and eliminate all idle time. She also decided to shut down the company softball field her father had built. She thought the employees really didn't use it much, and she wanted the space for future expansion.

Helen also announced that future contributions to the firm's profit-sharing plan would be phased out. Employees were paid enough, she believed, and all profits were the rightful property of the ownerher. She also had private plans to cut future pay increases to bring average wages down to where she thought they belonged. Finally, Helen changed a number of operational procedures. In particular, she stopped asking other people for their advice. She reasoned that she was the boss and knew what was best. If she asked for advice and then didn't take it, it would only stir up resentment.

All in all, Helen thought, things should be going much better. Output should be up and costs should be way down. Her strategy should be resulting in much higher levels of productivity and profits.

But that was not happening. Whenever Helen walked through one of the plants, she sensed that people weren't doing their best. Performance reports indicated that output was only marginally higher than before but scrap rates had soared. Payroll costs were indeed lower, but other personnel costs were up. It seemed that turnover had increased substantially and training costs had gone up as a result.

In desperation, Helen finally had hired a consultant. After carefully researching the history of the organization and Helen's recent changes, the consultant made some remarkable suggestions. The bottom line, Helen felt, was that the consultant thought she should go back to that "humanistic nonsense" her father had used. No matter how she turned it, though, she just couldn't see the wisdom in this. People worked to make a buck and didn't want all that participation stuff.

Suddenly, Helen knew just what to do: She would announce that all employees who failed to increase their productivity by 10 percent would suffer an equal pay cut. She sighed in relief, feeling confident that she had finally figured out the answer.

Case 2

Pat Riverer is vice president of manufacturing and operations of a medium-size pharmaceutical firm in the Midwest. Pat has a Ph.D. in chemistry but has notbeen directly involved in research and new-product development for 20 years. From the "school of hard knocks" when it comes to managing operations, Pat runs a "tight ship." The company does not have a turnover problem, but it isobvious to Pat and other key management personnel that the hourly people are putting in only their eight hours a day. They are not working anywherenear their full potential. Pat is very upset with the situation because, with rising costs, the only way that the company can continue to prosper is to increase the productivity of its hourly people.

Pat called the human resources manager, Carmen Lopez, and laid it on the line: "What is it with our people, anyway? Your wage surveys show that we pay near the top in this region, our conditions are tremendous, and our fringes chokea horse. Yet these people still are not motivated. What in the world do they want?" Carmen replied: "I have told you and the president time after time that money, conditions, and benefits are not enough. Employees also need other things to motivate them. Also, I have been conducting some random confidential interviews with some of our hourly people, and they tell me that they are very discouraged because, no matter how hard they work, they get the same pay and opportunities for advancement as their coworkers who are just scraping by." Pat then replied: "Okay, you are the motivation expert; what do we about it?We have to increase their performance."