Problem 3: Improved Productivity with Improved Attitude?

Background

Employee morale directly impacts employee engagement, which ties straight into their level of productivity. According to one Gallup report, disengaged employees cost US businesses up to $550 billion a year from lost productivity. Many research studies have been conducted across various locations, industries, and demographics to discover if there is a link between employee morale and productivity. Several studies indicate that morale can be directly tied to productivity.

Problem Details

Alex Weber, president of Wedoitbest Manufacturing, has received reports that an attempt to improve worker attitudes is necessary. The managers of the four plants believe productivity is suffering due to low worker morale. Alex scheduled a meeting with the managers on the following Monday morning to see if they could arrive at a plan to address the situation. By Monday, each plant manager had compiled a list of ideas, including a four-day work week and interplant competitions of various kinds. After considerable discussion, Alex and the plant managers agreed to implement a weekly contest called the MIP (Most Impressive Plant) of the Week in an effort to improve morale and production.

The MIP contest would be structured such that the plant that produced the most each week would be considered the MIP of the Week winner and would receive 15 points. The second-place plant would receive 10 points, and the third- and fourth-place plants would receive 5 points and 0 points, respectively. The contest would last 26 weeks. At the end of that period, a $250,000 bonus would be divided amount the employees in the four plants proportional to the total points accumulated by each plant.

The announcement of the contest created a lot of excitement and enthusiasm at the four plants. No one complained about the rules because the four plants were designed and staffed to produce equally. At the close of the contest, Alex called the managers to a meeting, at which time she asked for data to determine whether the contest had significantly improved productivity. She would need this support in order to authorize a second contest. The supervisors, expecting this request, had put together the following data:

Units Produced (4 Plants Combined)	Before-Contest Frequency	During-Contest Frequency
0 2,500	11	0
2,501 8,000	23	20
8,001 15,000	56	83
15,001 20,000	15	52
	105 days	155 days

Alex examined the data and indicated that the contest looked to be a success, but said, Surely there must be some way to statistically test the whether productivity is truly related to this contest in a positive way.

Requirements (See Rubric on page #9 for more detail)

Complete the necessary analysis/analyses that the plant supervisors need to address Alexs request for statistical validation, including post hoc investigation if warranted.

Design your test to control the Type I Error rate at 0.01.

Prepare a recommendation regarding the value of a second contest.

Use the PLAN-DO-REPORT format to summarize the problem, your work, and your findings.

Total

PLAN

Briefly summarize the objective of the analysis, important variable(s), data collection and characteristics. This should be written as though the reader has no prior knowledge of the problem specifics, but it cannot simply be a Copy and Paste of the case problem.

Identify analysis type (method) for any statistical analysis you need.

State the null and alternative hypotheses

State and check required data conditions for any and all statistical methods used. Include all graphs and numerical summary used in this process.

DO

Complete the relevant statistical analysis utilizing Excel and/or the pre-programmed statistical software, StatCrunch. Should you need to manipulate the data or do intermediate calculations to be able to use prepared statistical routines, those calculations and results must be included in the Do section.

No further detail can be provided at this juncture without telling you what to do. Well answer specific questions once your team has thought this through enough to frame a specific question.

If you feel the need to include any manual calculations, they must be processed with the Equation Builder/Editor. Failure to do so will result in a deduction from the FORMAT points. If you are not familiar with the Equation Builder/Editor in Word, ask us.

REPORT

Use the Memo format as shown in the Lecture Demonstration Examples.

Your report must begin with a brief summary of the purpose of the analysis and report.

Write a brief but comprehensive summary of your findings and conclusion. Include specific numerical information to connect the statistical results with your conclusions, including any concerns you have, if any, regarding the analysis done.