The following scenario is an opportunity to practice your management skills. It represents a need for change and a hierarchy usually seen in manufacturing. As future middle managers (BBA status), the implementation of the change will fall on the middle manager. The middle manager in this case has first-line (lower) managers to get on board so that the employees in the production lines are less resistant to changes. Flashback to your Principles of Management course, the hierarchy is illustrated below. Scenario You are the only middle manager of Company X, a large organization which has been in the production/manufacturing industry for 20 years. You have been with the organization eight years. Most of the employees in the production line have been with the company for at least 10 years and tend to stick together. Some have been with the company since they graduated from high school when the plant first opened. There are three first-line managers who supervise them. Two of them have been with the plant 12 years. The other first-line manager has been with the organization for five years. The industry has changed since Company X first opened. New technological advances within the industry have caused a significant drop in the company’s production orders. Competitors are slowly taking their market share. The CEO and Board of Directors have decided to change with the times and invest limited resources toward the purchase of an updated machinery and production process. The change includes slight to drastic changes in roles, responsibilities and relationships among the lower level employees. Although the change has yet to be implemented, the news has caused unrest and resistance to the change among the employees, including first-line managers. You have reviewed Exhibit 1.4 (Spector: p.10) and identified the majority of the employees, including the two first-line managers with the longest tenure, as passively and actively resisting the change. The third first-line manager is displaying an apathetic form of resistance. You are also aware that this individual, hired just five years ago, is also well liked and respected by all the company employees, including the two first-line managers who are resisting the change. However, he/she has not yet voiced or shown any signs of commitment, either.
What trigger event forced Company X to consider changing the way they produced their product for 20 years? Was the trigger event internal or external? Explain.