INCIDENT $1$ Is Flextime the Way Forward?

When the management of ToKu, a Malaysian timber manufactur$-$

ing company, decided to implement flextime for its production

staff, Ann, the shift supervisor, pondered on that decision. Her

boss, Mr$.$ Tan, had hinted that he was willing to invest in moving

the company forward and was particularly interested in increas$-$

ing the morale of all its employees. For a time, she saw a boost

in the employee morale, but productivity did not show much

improvement.

"Sales are down and there are problems meeting customer orders.

Call for a meeting immediatelyl" Mr$.$ Tan exclaimed. His reaction was due

to customer complaints about important delivery dates being missed.

"All right, l$\text{'}$ll set the meeting for tomorrow afternoon," said Ann. She

made phone calls and sent e$-$mails but didn't get many responses.

On the following day only one employee, David, out of $20$ was

available for the meeting. Another employee, Susan, mentioned that

she had some errands, other employees were out of town, and some

employees did not respond. Mr$.$ Tan was furious. "That's it$!$ I$\text{'}$m getting

rid of flextime and restoring the old schedulest Ann, please inform all

the employees to report back to work as usual next week at $9$ a$.$m$.$ I

don't see how flextime can work here, because the employees are tak$-$

ing advantage of it$.$ Please send warning letters to those absent from

today's meeting." said Mr$.$ Tan, as he stormed out of the meeting room.

Questions

$10-17.$ Why was the implementation of flextime a negative experi$-$

ence for the management at ToKu?

$10-18.$ What are the advantages and disadvantages of flextime?

$10-19.$ How would you propose that flextime should have been

implemented at ToKu?