Case study:U haul's Performance problem
In Ontario, the HMIrmay Trigfr Aa has in place tough sanctions and fines that ipply to commercial vehicles. However, there is an exemption in the Act that some rkr to as a loophole. The exemption indicates that uudo rented for shot term >mond use are not commercial vehicles and arc therefore exempt from some of the sanctions and tough penalties. Tne exemption includes doit-yourself movers who are the target market for U-Haul. In fact. U-Haul is the market leader among do-it-yourself truck rental companies.
If police believe that the general maintenance on a commercial truck is poor, they can issue a 520.000 fine against the trucking company. However, a vehicle falling under th«xemption, such as a U-Haul truck is immune from fines and from having its safety violations recorded against the company's provincial Commercial Vehicle Operating Record (CVOR).
In July 2005, the Toronto Star conducted an investigation of the safety °Ill-Haul vehicles. One of their conclusions was that if you rent a U-Haul, you have a 50-50 chance of getting a truck that will not pass a road safety check. The Saw based is invesugarion on three sources.. Ontario Provincial Police data that show police failed 109 of 220 U-Ilaul vehicles during roadside safety checks between 2002 and 2004; an independent test conducted by the Ontario Safety League of foul U-Haul vehicles rented at random, in which all four failed a standard North American pro¬vincial and state commercial vehicle safety inspection that eves) truck must pass yearly to conunue operating; and U-Haul's driving record, accessed through the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, which thawed that 17 of 35 U-Haul vehicles failed safety inspections over a two-year penod.
Some of the violations found by the Ontario Safety League included holes on the floor on the driver's side. ark sealant leaking onto brake pads. one eat tire, one bulging tire, one tire with a nail in it. powersteenng-fluid leaks, coolant leaks, oil leaks, and a loose king pin on the front axle. In all the trudo there were peobkins with the lights and signals.
Upon hearing of the Ontario Safety League investigation, U-Haul pulled the four vehicles in question out of service and hind independent wed-arms to loot at them. U• Haul agreed that three of the four nocki had 'unaccepuIrk' flaw, should not have been rented. The nee president of U-Haul Ontario said the pany was dealing with the four locations that rented the tour vehicles and stated that 'Employees and dealers are responsinle for seeing that our equipment is in safe operating condition, scheduling repasts th•ughout the life of the vehicle.'
U-Haul says it run preventive maintenance inspections at 13000 lolomenes. 24 000 kilometres. and 48 000 kilometres that 'meet or exceed the federal spec., fications.• Poor to the rental of a vehicle, the employee Of dealer is requoi..! 17 failed. If not for the exemption, every OPP citation against U-Haul would be on record. During one weekend safety blur, U-Haul vehicles failed six of eight inspec¬tions and were pulled off the road until they are repaired.
At the time, Hatindec Takban Ontario's minister of transportation, said he would investigate closing the loophole in the Highway liafte Act. 'If we are having some evidence that there are safety concerns out there ... I will get a full report. I'm asking the ministry, what kind of problems did we find and if those problems are serious. I want to make sure the consumers are protected and safety is main¬tained on our highways' Police and the Ontario Safety League are calling for the loophole to be closed.
Following the Toronto Sc., investigation, the Ontario transportation ministry bunched a province-wide investigation of the truck rental industry, including sur¬prise spot checks of L'-Haul vehicles and other major truck rental companies, and determined that U-Haul had the poorest safety record. This resulted in high-level meetings among ministry, OPP, and U-Haul executives. U-Haul subsequently promised that it would clean up its act and begin removing older vehicles from service, and more thoroughly check vehicles before they are rented.
However, In December of 2005 a 43-year-old Peterborough man died after being thrown from a 11-Haul truck when it flipped over. And in September of 2006, the Ontano government told U-Haul that its licence would be suspended if it did not meet stringent safety benchmarks.
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With the help of given case study answer the following questions:
Q1. Assume that you have been hoed by U-Haul to conduct a needs analysis. How can the needs analysis process and each level of needs analysis help you understand the safety problem and whether training should be pan of the solution to solve at? Describe what you can learn from an orgammuonal, task, and person analysis.
Q2. If you were to conduct a needs analysis at U-Haul, what methods and sources would you use? Re specific about why you would or would not use a particular method and source.
Q3. Using the Mager and Pipe flowchart to Figure 4.2. determine some pos sible solutions to the safety Problem at U-Haul. trotthtn1
Q4. If the Ontario govcrrunent closes the loophole in the Highway Traffic Act, what effect do you think this will have on U-Haul? Will it have an effect on training? Explain your answer.
FLAS¦-IBACK OLIESTIOW:
Q1. Explain training at U-Haul. What fac-tors might affect the extent to which U-Haul provides training to its employees?
Q2. Describe how it could be used to design and deliver a training program for U-Haul employees. Be specific about training objectives, training content, and how you would evaluate the training program.
Q3. Do you think U-Haul is a learning organization? Refer to the material in Chapter 2 about learning organizations and perform an audit on U-Haul to determine whether it is a learning organization (refer to the material on the five disciplines, principles of learning organizations, key dimen¬sions, and learning culture). Based on your audit, what can you conclude about learning and training and development at U-Haul?
FLASH FORWARD QUESTION
Q1. If a training objective is a statement of what trainees are expected to be able to do after a training program, what would be the training objective of a training program for U-Haul employees? What content would you include in a training program for U-Haul employees?