Forrest Industries. Paul Simard was delighted when Forrest Industries. offered him the manager job at its Jonquiere, Quebec plant. Simard was happy enough managing a small metal stamping plant with another company. Still, the head-hunter's invitation to apply for the plant manager job at one of Canada's leading metal fabrication companies was irresistible. Although the Jonquiere plant was the smallest of Forrest Industries 15 operations across Canada, the plant manager position was a valuable first step in a promising career. One of Simard's first observations at Forrest Industries Jonquiere plant was that relations between employees and management were strained. Taking a page from a recent executive seminar that he attended on building trust in the workplace, Simard ordered the removal of all time clocks from the plant. Instead, the plant would assume employees had put in their entire shift. This symbolic gesture, he believed, would establish a new level of credibility and strengthen relations between management and employees at the site. Initially, the 250 production employees at the Jonquiere plant appreciated their new freedom. They felt respected and saw this gesture as a sign of positive change from the new plant manager. 

Two months later, however, problems started to appear. A few people began showing up late, leaving early, or taking extended lunch breaks. Although this represented only about five percent of the employees, others found the situation unfair. Moreover, the increased absenteeism levels were beginning to have a noticeable effect on plant productivity. The problem had to be managed. Simard asked supervisors to observe and record when the employees came or went and to discuss attendance problems with those abusing their privileges. However, the supervisors needed to gain experience keeping attendance, and many required more interpersonal skills to discuss the matter with subordinates. Employees resented the reprimands, so relations with supervisors deteriorated. The additional responsibility of keeping track of attendance also made it difficult for supervisors to complete their other duties. After just a few months, Forrest Industries found it necessary to add another supervisor position and reduce the number of employees assigned to each supervisor. But the problems did not end there. With time clocks, the payroll department could deduct pay for the time employees were late. Instead, a letter of reprimand was placed in the employee's personnel file. 

However, this required more Forrest Industries: time and additional skills from the supervisors. Employees did not want these letters to become a permanent record, so they filed grievances with their labor union. The number of grievances doubled over six months, which required even more time for both union officials and supervisors to handle these disputes. Nine months after removing the time clocks, Paul Simard met with union officials, who agreed that it would be better to put the time clocks back in. Employee-management relations had deteriorated below the level when Simard had started. Supervisors were burnt out from overwork. Productivity had dropped due to poorer attendance records and increased administrative workloads. A couple of months after the time clocks were put back in place, Simard attended an operations meeting at Forrest Industries headquarters in Toronto.

During lunch, Simard described the time clock incident to Liam Jackson, Forrest Industries plant manager in Northern British Columbia. Jackson looked surprised, then chuckled. Jackson explained that the previous BC plant manager had done something like that with similar consequences six or seven years ago. The previous manager had left some time ago, but Jackson heard about the BC time clock from a supervisor during the manager's retirement party two months ago. "I guess it's not quite like lightning striking the same place twice," said Simard to Jackson. "But it sure feels like it."   

Using the Ivey method of case analysis, analyze the Forrest Industries Case.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

The Ivey case analysis method involves several steps Identify the Problem Primary Issue Strained relations between management and employees due to the removal of time clocks leading to attendance issu... View the full answer