Question: 01.

What changes took place at Goodman, and what contributed to the difficulty in
implementing them?
Answer:

Changes took place at Goodman:

The president had recently hired a production analyst by the name of Ms. Ann Bennet in hopes to
obtain recommendations that would facilitate greater output throughout the organisation. Her
main intentions were to replace the existing process, which had entailed each employee to
complete each step within the process individually to job specialisation, where each employee
would be responsible for a specific function within the process. Although this seemed like a good
recommendation it proved not to be totally effective since output decreased on the first and
second shifts whilst the third shift was able to maintain their level of output.
Change in production:
Before hiring Ms.Bennet the entire production process is handled by each individual worker and
they are paid an hourly rate. But when Ms. Bennet want to go a mass production format she
assigned only one job for each worker and they will be compensated under a piece work system.
Changes In the first shift:
The quality and production dropped after the changes. Nobody in the first shift likes the changes.
Workers complained that products are not being readied properly for another process. They tried
to organize a union because they felt that the company looked down at their abilities when their
job is simplified. This leads to the proposal failure.
Changes In the second shift:
Norm is convinced that the dramatic decrease in the production on the second shift is a result of
Ms. Bennets program. She took Jim out of the regular production crew and resigned him as the
shift set-up man and mechanic because of his experience. Norm speculates that this move alone
accounts for a large decrease in production, since Jim out produced all the others on the shift and
used to make up any slack that the workers acquired by erring off. Norm had stayed on the
production floor all the time. He doesnt see anything basically wrong with the new program.
Changes In the third shift:
For the third shift, automation resulted to boredom because the only required skills were in the
maintenance of the machines and the knowledge necessary to make part changeovers. Boredom
could surely decrease the product quality of their shift so, Jackson set up an elaborate scoring
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system penalizing any group for defects. The entire process worked so well. His shift was
consistently over its production quotas and had out produced the other two shifts.
After thorough analysis of the Goodman case, we had identified many variables that would
suggest that the company was neither driven by positive and conducive work behaviour nor
guided by tactful and well-constructed policies. Moreover, the business practices presented
within the case concluded that the management of the Goodman Company had failed to design
an effective organisational structure that would have enabled them to properly deal with the
change in the production process. With this being said, it was fair to declare that this was the
core problem of the Company and as a result the business was unable to operate at its full
potential.

Difficulty in the implementation:

For change to be fostered and the new techniques successfully implemented, a modification of
the organisational structure would have been required.
The core problem of the entire implementation process was the ineffective structure employed by
the management of the Goodman Company on the basis of their poor leadership styles/skills
which then resulted in a breakdown in communication, a lack of motivation amongst employees
that caused them not to be satisfied with their jobs therefore influencing how they behave.

Question no : 02. What problems in communication, motivation, and leadership can you
identify?
Answer:
Problems in communication: We had first of all, identified communication which had broken
down throughout the business. As we know, communication is the transferring and
understanding of meaning and within organisations it serves four main functions which include
emotional expression, information, control and motivation. Therefore, it was managements job
to ensure that they communicated the guidelines of how the new process should be implemented,
not only to the supervisors but to employees as well since the change would impact on them
mostly.
Frankly, Mr. Goodman did not communicate effectively with his employees; he had a clear
vision of what he wanted but he failed to inform his employees what the change was, when it
was to occur, what was expected of them and how it would impact on their line of work.

Lack of communication lead to employees being less committed and therefore one of the
functions of communication, motivation, was not or could not be easily fostered.
Problems in Motivation : It should be acknowledged that motivation can either be extrinsic or
intrinsic and to ensure that the one chosen for a particular situation or worker is the best one,
individual factors should be taken into consideration.
In this instance, the organisation had failed to put measures in place that would facilitate both
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. However, in shift one intrinsic rewards are the ones that if
implemented would have most likely motivated employees since they include the opportunity to
use ones ability, receive appreciation either from supervisors or top management and there is a
sense of a challenge and achievement. Analysis showed that these employees did not feel
appreciated; they did not believe that they were fairly compensated and as a result they were not
motivated to embrace the change. Clearly, if upward communication had existed management
would have gotten feedback from employees about their feelings before and after the new
process. More importantly, if management did not limit downward communication intrinsic
motivation would have been facilitated and job satisfaction positively affected.
Shift one & two:
Evidently, the new production process was poorly implemented within the first and the second
shifts and employees, especially those on shift one, were resistant to the change because there
was little to no motivation and they were not satisfied with their jobs. As a result, each group
accepted and reacted to the change differently and those especially of the first shift, had
difficulties working in groups because that was not the norm and they did not understand what it
meant to have a shared purpose and the ability to act in a unitary manner.
Shift three:
Because shift three was well informed about the new process it was easier for them to become
more committed to their jobs. Not only that but the fact that they had supportive colleagues
added to their level of job satisfaction. Mr. Jackson was friendly and encouraged ideas which
made those employees develop a sense of belongingness therefore fostering motivation.
Employees who are involved in the decision making feel more appreciated especially if their
supervisor or management has considered their input for usage. If that be the case the job would
become more enjoyable therefore motivating the employee to carry on.
Problems in leadership: The activities of any group are associated with the process of
leadership and the style adopted by their supervisor i.e. the way in which the group reacted or
accepted the new process mainly depended on how they were supervised. Moreover, if the
supervisor is uneasy with change it becomes difficult to guide his/her fellow group members to
the accomplishment of organisational goals because the supervisor now becomes less committed
to the task and sometimes this tends to trickle down to members in the group. That is, there is a
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possibility that the group would also not want to accept the new process and with reference to the
case we noted this when Clev, the supervisor, was unhappy, then his subordinate Joe Bob formed
a union which was accepted by the other shift employees.
In the second shift, Norm as the supervisor had no real interaction with his fellow subordinates
and as a group leader it is necessary to interact continuously with group members as this is one
important characteristic of a group. When Norm was appointed supervisor the group did not
readily accept him and he did not socialise but rather believed that they should do their work.
What he failed to realise is that by not interacting with the group they adopted behaviour where
they were reluctant to speak to him on any problems that they encountered.
Question no:3 Discuss the role of informal groups in the Goodman Company.

Answer:
Evidently, there were many informal groups appeared in every shift. Because of
the lack of communication, every shift has created their own groups where they
socialize with their co-workers.
These informal groups did really helped in the production process in the case of
shift three. They had managed to create a good relationship while doing their
jobs.
The first and second shift doesnt have a strong bond between the supervisors
and their subordinates.
After the implementation of the new production process that group work became a
necessity and was the definite route to success since each employee no longer had to
perform the entire process.

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