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Sudhir Lanka
Varun Kaundinya
Srivardhan Kurly
Veerendra Pappoppula
From the case, we can notice that the Lima plant of the Tread way tire company had many issues
within the organization. The plant at Greenville, South Carolina was shut down because of the
outdated equipment and the produce was shifted to the Lima plant which has resulted in even
more problems created among the workers and the management. Other challenges being faced by
the company included high raw material costs and the competition from other companies. The
main cause for the turnover among the line foremen was the job dissatisfaction which had to be
resolved in order to gain a better output. Almost 46% of the foremen were leaving the company
voluntarily and few of them were asked to resign due to their inefficiency at the job.
The line foremen had a very difficult daily task to be performed, and they were not
rewarded nor recognized for the amount of effort they put in daily at their duties.
The foremen were expected to satisfy the needs of both the management and the union,
They had many responsibilities but not enough authority to get the job done. In times of a
conflict with an hourly employee the foremen did not have any disciplinary power and
the employee had to raise a grievance for the issue to be solved with the employee union.
They did not get much support from the superiors and had to take care of every issue
themselves. The supervisors did not provide any sort of training to the foremen and
expected them to perform their daily task to their complete satisfaction. Most of the
foremen did not have any college degrees, so they lacked the ability to face the
managerial issues.
Reducing the number of shifts from three 8hr to two-12hr shifts resulted in the hourly
employees not showing up for work at time regularly and the foremen had to find a
suitable replacement spontaneously. Increasing the shift timings has reduced the number
of workers and in turn has decreased the cost of labor, but this has become one of the
major reasons for the huge turnover among the line foremen as their job had become
harder to manage.
The relationship between the foremen and union workers was very fragile. The foremen
were kept in dark about the grievances raised by the hourly employees and they had no
Line foremen had a daily goal to be met and the supervisors had nothing to ask other than
why the task has not been completed. The supervisors and area managers were very
demanding if the forecasted output was not met and the foremen received a poor
performance review.
The foremen candidate pool consisted of 80% internal hires, 16% were young college
graduates and 4% were experienced transferred foremen from other plants. The young
graduates and internal hires were not clear about their responsibilities and they were put
The hired foremen need to have proper guidance and receive proper support from their
superiors on how the job needs to be done and how the goals need to be met. The
company should be able to see the long term benefits of the training program rather than
thinking about the present budget and deciding not to have any training which has proved
There is a huge communication gap between the employees and management. Different
kinds of sessions have to be arranged in order that the employees can raise their
objections and requirements. This kind of environment can be very beneficial for the
company in the long term. The superiors need to encourage the employees to take their
jobs seriously and help identify any existing problems and rectify them. They should co-
ordinate with the foremen on a daily or weekly basis to discuss and learn the issues being
supervisors so that they can perform up to their full capacity. Adding more resources to
the foremen or dividing their responsibilities among other individuals would be helpful so
that the foremen can focus more on the issues that affect the productivity. The
management cannot expect the foremen to perform to their full capacity without
providing them with the adequate resources. Building up the pressure on the foremen in
such situations can result in high turnover rates and inturn resulting losses for the
management.
Long shift timings have posed a serious threat, wherein the hourly workers skipped the
work which causes the foremen to search for a substitute immediately. Shift time needs to
be reduced to 8 hours per day so that the employees will be able to lead a healthy work
style and produce better results. The number of employees who show up late to the work
can be reduced by implementing this policy which simplifies the foremens job.
As mentioned in the case line foremen do not have much authority over hourly
employees and their work schedule. The upper management should make sure that
foremen know about their rights so that they will be able to perform their duties
effectively.
As suggested by Ashley Wall the hiring policy should be revised so that there will be
60% internal hires, 30% college graduates and 10% experienced company transfers.
Having a good composition of different people with different backgrounds will provide a
better environment for foremen to discuss their work issues with other people, gain
Area managers should be able to gauge the attitude of foremen and supervisors and
should make necessary changes to make sure that they are satisfied with their jobs. This
will help the management in understanding the issues being faced by the foremen and
provide better support to them. It will develop a healthy relationship between upper and
lower levels which in turn will reduce the number of foremen leaving the company
voluntarily. This will boost the morale among the foremen which will help increase the
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