Anirudh Agarwal
MANGT 531
November 10 2011
Dr. J Prince
Engstrom Auto Mirror Case
The main issue with the Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant was how to improve quality and
performance of its assembly line workers.
The plant manager determined the best way to do this
was to implement the Scanlon plan, which focuses on employee participation to identify ways to
increase productivity.
When the plan was proposed, it was widely accepted by employees (81%
voted for it.)
In the beginning, employees had many suggestions to improve productivity (305)
and management accepted almost all of them (276) despite the fact that only a few had a
meaningful impact on productivity.
Employees loved that communication between themselves
and managers was so strong, as evidenced from the statements from Jim Lutz and Dori Andrews.
Eventually, the employees became less satisfied with the way the Scanlon plan was
working.
At the same time, an industry downturn was leading to decreased sales, which began
to really affect the bonuses paid out to employees.
Things deteriorated so much that the plant
manager was forced to lay off 46 employees and no bonuses had been paid in seven months.
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- Spring '12
- Dr.JPrince
- Management, Scanlon
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