Vesuvius is located in Ayrshire in Scotland and is part of the Cookson group, a large diversified conglomerate with plants located in 21 countries, that that makes specialist ceramics and other components for the steel industry.
Realising the competitive nature of life as part of a multinational conglomerate, Vesuvius wanted to be seen as a high performer in the group. Thus, in the early 1990s, it reviewed its operational policies and procedures and, in particular, those concerning the use of human resources. In the mid-1990s it embarked on a change programme built around the business excellence model derived by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EPQM). This involved building a culture in which production staff were to be grouped into self-managing teams, who would take full responsibility for improving performance in all the tasks they undertake. The chosen vehicle for this initiative was the adoption of 'teamworking' and to facilitate this there was a radical break with the past, in which many barriers needed to be overcome. For example:
Across a three year period the diverse wage rates for different production activities were replaced with a simplified single wage structure that effectively resulted in a salaried workforce
Multi-skilling was introduced to give labour-flexibility across all jobs and production workers were re-trained to enable them to do all jobs within their respective teams
Teams took responsibility for all the tasks they undertook, from materials used, problem solving and quantity and quality of output
Two-way communication meetings between management and workers were instituted and although this gave rise to initial apprehensions on the part of trade unions, these eventually subsided when it was made clear that there would be no job losses
Foremen, who had hitherto performed a first-line supervisory role, were initially apprehensive about job security and also needed to be re-trained to become 'facilitators' rather than overseers.
While these changes all took time to implement, the management of Vesuvius is well pleased with the outcomes. For example, enthusiasm, job satisfaction and satisfaction with health and safety, as measured by employee opinion surveys, has increased significantly. Financial turnover has also increased by nearly 50 per cent over a five year period, market share has grown, the number of customer complaints has decreased and costs have been lowered.
Indeed, so convinced is the management of Vesuvius that these outcomes are the result of the
introduction of teamworking, that it has been extended to all other functions and departments
in the company.
Source: Adapted from Arkin, A. (1999a) Peak practice, People Management, 11 November: pp 57-59
1. After reading the above case material, to what extent do you feel that the decision to adopt teamworking at Vesuvius was an appropriate one?
2. What do you feel was the main factor that prompted the managers at Vesuvius to pursue this initiative?
3. What of the outcomes of the initiative; in your view, have the outcomes been worthwhile in view of the considerable disruption and expenditure that was likely to have been incurred?
4. From whose perspective, the company and its managers, or the employees who had to adopt the changes, have you answered questions 1, 2 and 3?
5. Now answer the questions again, but this time answering them from the perspective of the party you ignored the first time through.