This is a two part question for two different case. I am currently focusing on case 5

Case 4: Time for some Maintenance on Maintenance?

(consider: Chapters 6 & 7)

Date: February 19, 2012; 9:00 AM

It was a Sunday morning, and Patrick decided to make a quick visit to the plant. He knew that several people were working overtime that day, and the plant would be running at full speedand that is was important for the hourly employees to see him there, too (for the sake of morale). Too, earlier in the week Patrick had overheard some supervisors complaining about Maintenance; they were not keeping up and many of the machines were not workinghe wanted to check it out for himself.

Patrick knew that the Maintenance Department is one of the most important departments in the factory. Lets face it, he thought. No maintenance; no machines. No machines; no product. No product; no company. He knew that the Maintenance Department had to be operating effectively for the rest of the plant, and the company, to succeed.

As soon as Patrick entered, it was clear there was a problem. It was 10:00 AM (the middle of a shift), and yet there were at least 20 hourly employees milling around a machineand it was not running. He asked the hourly employees what was going on. One employee responded: It is down. Again. Maintenance says they need a work order, or they wont work on it. We put one in already today. And yesterday. And the day before. Maintenance never seems to be around. Machine #8 was known to have problems, and it was often downbut unfortunately, it was key to the production process, and no grills could be made unless Machine #8 was working.

Upon further inspection, he noticed that there were several machines that were not running. With so many machines down, Patrick knew he was in for a bumpy ridehis productivity numbers would be in the tank unless someone did something fast. He walked past the Maintained office, and noticed several people huddled in a circle, talking. As he started to walk toward them, they scatteredapparently they were not interested in talking to him. He saw them again 20 minutes later in the break room. 40 minutes after that, they were taking smoke breaks. Machine #8 was still not working, and a member of maintenance had not arrived. He sent the whole shift homewith Machine #8 not working there was nothing for them to do. Patrick left too. Only maintenance workers were left there to work on the machinces. Patrick hoped they would accomplish something.

The following day, Patrick called a meeting with the Operations and Quality Managers, Janet and Jose. Before the meeting, he briefed them about what he had seen the day before, and then asked that they call in Troy to discuss the matter. Patrick wanted Janet and Jose to lead the meeting, and discuss the issues with Troy. Patrick believed that Troy might be more willing to buy-in to a problem if he was hearing it from his direct boss (see organization chart in case 1). Patrick would simply watch. Within hour, Janet, Jose, Troy and Patrick were in a conference room, ready to talk. The meeting started with a little light joking, then they got down to business.

Janet: Troy, I am having some serious concerns on the Operations side that too many machines are down. I am very worried that our productivity numbers will do down.

Troy (interrupting): What do you expect me to do about it? I need more maintenance guys.

Jose: As Janet was saying, from the quality side, we cant expect the hourly employees to make good products when their equipment is out of orderwhen the equipment is running, they have it at full speed, just to catch up. Too many defective parts get misses, and are shipped to the customer.

Troy: Well, if you expect anything to change, you are crazy. This equipment is all old, and you should expect it to break down.

That statement seemed to satisfy Janet and Jose, so the meeting was adjourned. Patrick was still not satisfied.

Key Players:

Janet: Operations manager. New on the job, she started just a week before Patrick. She is adjusting to the norms and culture at Bills. She is under tremendous pressure to improve productivity.

Jose: Quality manager. He has been at Bills for 5 years, starting as a quality engineer, and working his way up. When he was first hired, he had high ideals for how Bills should run. But, after a few years, he realized that none of his hard work seemed to matter, so he just kind of gave up. As long as Bills wasnt sued for a major quality problem or some type of liability issue, he would just go with the flow. Troy: Maintenance Manager. He was one of the original employees at Bills, and had risen from the ranks within Bills, starting on the production line and working his way up. He had just taking on the role of Maintenance Manager a year before.

1. What is your gut reaction to this scenario?
2. What portions of chapters 6 and 7 help to describe attitude and behavior at the individual level?
3. List at least 2 areas that help to explain the attitudes and behaviors of the following: Troy, Janet, Jose, the maintenance employees, the hourly employees on Machine # 8. Hint: Look at the key terms from each chapter for clues.

Case 5: Time for some maintenance on Maintenance?

(consider viewing Chapters 8 and 9)

Date: February 19, 2012; 4:00 AM

**Please review Part 4 of the Bills Grills case before attempting this case.

After another exhausting day, Patrick has a few minutes to reflect back upon the exchange between Troy, Janet and Jose. Since that time, he has received two more reports of machines that have been down for more than 48 hours. Yet, Troy seems unable or unwilling to acknowledge his responsibility for the problem. Worse, Janet and Jose, who should be holding Troy accountable, seem to accept it.

Things took on an even worse turn when Patrick received a visit from the union representative. The employees from Machine #8 were angry because Patrick sent them home early Sunday, and they were threatening a work slowdown because of it. In being sent home, they lost a large portion of their earnings for the weekSunday pays double-time, and an 8 hour shift means a lot of money to them. Yet, Patrick was stuckhe couldnt afford to pay them to work on a machine that was out of order; nor could he afford to have them carry out a work slowdownwhen Machine 8 was running, he needed them at their best. Now, the union was asking questions, and Patrick needed to answer them fast, before this issue got out of control.

1. What do you think are the root causes of the problems that Patrick faces today?

2. Do you think that there are motivation problems at Bills? Who is affected?

3. What would you do to motivate Troy? The employees of Machine 8? Janet and Jose?

4. Use the text to identify several options for Patrick. Be sure to refer to information from chapters 8 and 9. And remembernot all people are motivated by the same things, and in the same ways.