Case: Communication Competency
Xographics
Part A
Xographics is a division of a large telecommunications company. Ellen Bohn, the vice president of production, had recently moved to Xographics from a firm where she had been the manager of a large office staff. The three managers reporting to Bohn at her new job all had 20 or more years of experience with Xographics. They had seen it go from an effective production division to one that was badly troubled with problem workers and poor performance.
Shortly after her arrival, while talking with one of the managers, Bohn learned that many of them were upset because of the previous vice president's insistence that employees report any machine breakdown to him or one of his assistants within 15 minutes of the breakdown. They felt that this didn't give the employees the opportunity to repair the machine themselves. The manager told Bohn that the word was that once an employee had five breakdown reports, he or she was taken off the machine and given a lower paying job.
Questions
1. What should Bohn do?
2. What other problems (unidentified by Bohn) might be present?
3. What additional steps might the managers take?
Part B
One of the major problems that Bohn faced was that only about 40 percent of the jobs listed for scheduled maintenance shutdowns were ever performed. During an informal conversation with Ken Viet, Xographics' human resources manager, Bohn learned that the maintenance department was operating at about 60 percent efficiency. Viet said that the maintenance employees had recently staged a slowdown in order to force the company to increase their wages. Viet also told Bohn that maintenance employees usually quit about an hour early in order to wash up.
The head of the maintenance department had worked his way up through the ranks. He started with Xographics immediately after graduation from high school and had been with the company for 25 years. His reason for the "inefficiency" was the lack of qualified maintenance people in the area, with the personnel department sending him individuals not qualified to maintain the mill's machines. He didn't have the time to train each newly hired employee, assigning this responsibility to other employees who had been around for a while.
Questions (continued)
4. How might Bohn approach the head of maintenance?
5. Who else should Bohn talk to?
Part C
Two months after Bohn joined Xographics, the company held its annual picnic at a Six Flags park. Most of the employees and their families were there. Bohn saw Viet at the picnic and handed him a soft drink. The following conversation then took place
Viet: Hey, Ellen [Bohn], got a minute?
Bohn: Sure, what's up?
Viet: Well, I was talking with one of your managers that I know pretty well. You know, an off-the-record chat about the company
Bohn: Yeah?
Viet: He told me that the company's management style is the mushroom style: Keep them in the dark and feed 'em a lot of manure. He said that nobody knew you were hired until you showed up at the plant. We heard that the guard didn't even know who you were
Bohn: Yeah, I guess that's so.
Viet: This manager said that he has been doing his job for ten years and has never received any performance appraisal. His raises are just added into his check. No one has pointed out his strong and weak points.
Bohn: Yeah, I guess that's so. But, I'm not totally sure. You know that I've been here only a few months myself.
Viet: Yeah, I know that, but listen to this. Tom Kerr, the new manager of industrial engineering, hasn't talked to or even been introduced to anybody in the paper-machine area, and Tom has been on the job for three months.
Bohn: Ken [Viet], how widespread do you think this feeling is about the mushroom style of management?
Viet: I don't know, Ellen, but I think you ought to find out if you want this place to produce.
Questions (continued)
6. What steps can Bohn take?
7. What barriers to communication may exist?
8. What role has the company's informal communication network played in this situation?