At Hartford Manufacturing Company, production workers in the Assembly Department are paid on the basis of productivity. The labor time standard for a unit of production is established through periodic time studies conducted by Time Management Consulting. In a time study, the actual time required to complete a specific task by a worker is observed. Allowances are then made for preparation time, rest periods, and clean-up time. Ron Price is one of several veterans in the Assembly Department.
Ron is informed by Time Management that he will be used in the time study for the assembly of a new product. The findings will be the basis for establishing the labor time standard for the next 6 months. During the test, Ron deliberately slows his normal work pace in an effort to obtain a labor time standard that will be easy to meet. Because it is a new product, the Time Management representative who conducted the test is unaware that Ron did not give the test his best effort.
Required:
Who are the stakeholders in this situation? Who is benefited and who is harmed?
Was Ron ethical in the way he performed the time study test?
What measures might the company take to obtain valid data for setting the labor time standard?