Do not offer solutions! Write about how you mightapproach the intervention.
1. Research and identify appropriate interventions,strategies for implementation, and methods for evaluation toresolve organizational problems and take advantage ofopportunities.
2. Apply management principlesto support organizational transformation and change.
Pigs R Us is a second generation, family-ownedRichmond-based company with about 400 employees. It slaughters,manufactures, and sells pork food products. Pigs R Us (PRU) is alow-tech, hands-on, “bricks and mortar†type of company with solidbrand recognition, an impeccable reputation for high quality andethical standards. The processes used in manufacturing are with thehighest ISO20002 standards, and the plant is maintainedimmaculately. The personnel are comprised of an older work force(average employee age is late 40s). There is little staff turnover,though lately there have been a diverse group of younger workersjoining the company. There has been an impressive record of speedystate and federal new-product approvals, and solid workingrelationships with their large and small customers.
The company prides itself on the close \"southern family,\"culture of the business. The company logo features a pig with asmile on its face surrounded by small pictures of some of itsoldest serving employees. The organization's structure is“old-fashionedâ€. It is hierarchical with rigid management divisionsand reporting policies. Research, manufacturing, and sales andmarketing operate in traditional fashion, with employees reportingto supervisors or mid-level managers. By the 1990s, sales anddistribution grew from Richmond into a regional market,establishing a competitive advantage throughout the US South.Despite downward economic times in the US and the South, the porkbusiness does well. This is due largely to the fact that Pork isone of the cheaper meat products and there is a variety of ways itcan be prepared.
Owned by the Morris family for the last 60 years, Pigs R Usis a key player in the Richmond based food industry. Various Morrisfamily members sit on the board of charities throughout the cityand it is not unusual to see the name at society events. Further,the Company sponsors its own Little League Team and has built arecreation center and assisted living facility for the elderly,guaranteeing space for all former 20+ year veteran workers of thecompany for free. So, it was no surprise, that the whole communitywas devastated when it was announced by the Morris family thatVance Morris the CEO of Pigs R Us was killed while driving backfrom a Pigs R US board meeting. The plant closed for a week to showrespect and to determine how it would function until the familycould make its succession decisions.
Vance Morris was the only son of James and Kathleen Morris.Vance took over the business 10 years before when his father had aheart attack and died. Fresh out of graduate school when his fatherdied. He took over the business that he had known well much to thepleasure and keen eye of the workers. Vance made some marketingchanges that allowed for the growth of the company and with thehelp of the employees brought the plant into its current state.Vance had just gotten married the year before to a young Richmondartist he had met at one of his charity benefits. He had no heirsand no plans for succession as he was in his mid-thirties and hadjust gotten married. While Vance had cousins in the area they wereall professional people who knew nothing about business or pork.The workers could only surmise that the company would be sold, butspeculation as to whom it might be did not include someone from outof the city.
Before the deal was announced publicly, John’s widow,Arleen, reported to the workers that a Chinese company, Shanghou(SHU), would be buying Pigs R US. Mrs. Morris assured the workersthat the SHU promised not to cut workers' wages and benefits, andto keep the current management team in place. She said that SHUalso promised to keep Pork R US headquarters in Richmond. Arleenassured the workers that SHU promised that there would be nochanges for the first year and that almost everything would remainthe same. From her talks with SHU, Arleen is a bit worried aboutfuture changes that SHU may implement.
SHU is a large manufacturer and distributor of food andbeverages with, headquarters in Hong Kong. Manufacturing plantsoperate in mainland China, and the company has additional officesin Europe and Australia. By acquiring the smaller, well-respectedPork R US, SHU aims to diversify and expand its consumer base byincluding tailor-made pork products globally to meet marketprojections of a customer upsurge in sustainable, non-beef meats inthe next decade. Given SHU’s current availability oftelecommunications software and hardware, the deployment of thePigs R US refrigeration trucks should not be an insurmountableissue.
Many PRU employees, especially the older workers and some ofthe older managers, are dispirited about the acquisition, andanxious about working for foreigners, downsizing, less face-to-faceinteraction, language differences, and more electronic systems thatare to be put in place. Some of the of the more experienced workersare considering to move or consider an early retirement due to theongoing rumors about the acquisition. To make matters worse, recentnews media have printed stories about tainted food made by othercompanies in China. Employees fear loss of product quality anddamage to PRU’s reputation as well as the loss of the familysouthern culture that was their pride and joy.
SHU has told PRU workers that for now, most employees willbe retained. However, all employees will be evaluated, andreassigned to teams as the new flat structure is put in place. Thenew CEO is Harvard-educated Daniel Chinn. He supports increasingthe company's competitive edge by discovering and developingexisting individual potential through group collaboration and teamsynergy. Ever since his days as a brilliant, hard-driving MBAstudent; he has been known to be an enthusiastic supporter of jobtraining and career growth. Like many of SHU’s employees, David isin his early thirties. He speaks four languages and is ambitious,self-directed, tech-savvy, accustomed to working remotely, andexperienced with a culturally diverse staff. David is eager to makehis newest acquisition a success. He wants to move forward on theintegration of \"Pork R US’ workers into SHU because Chinn believesthey are the “greatest asset have a rich knowledge base andexperience can be tapped into to bring the company success.\" Chinnis concerned about the mix of culture and how his ideas ofincorporating artificial intelligence and more robotics into themanufacturing processes will be received by management and theworkers at the newly acquired plant.
Scenario
The student will use the following situation that hasevolved because of the buy out to complete each section of theproject. Additional facts will be added to phase two and three ofthe project to allow students to complete a typical OD processanalysis.
Daniel Chinn is anxious to keep the “southern familyâ€culture of Pigs R Us but at the same time wants to use the mostmodern of manufacturing techniques. He decided that the best way todo this was to start a pilot change operation in the packaging areato demonstrate to the workers the effectiveness of technology. Hebought and set up for use 3D printers in the packaging room. Theprinters were able to create reusable shipping materials andoperate in conjunction with the product conveyor for fast and easy.packaging. He brought in two trained 3D printer operators fromChina to handle the work along with two robots that would move thepackage material and create shrink-wrapped pallets for loading onto the trucks.
The current packaging department employs 5 workers on dayshift and 3 newer workers on the night shift. All day shift workersare in their early fifties and have been working for Pigs R Us alltheir lives. John Mellon, the lead line man, exemplifies the group.He is 53 years old. He has a family of three children most all aregrown. One works in the business with him as the manager ofaccounting department having gotten a college degree unlike hisfather. John rarely travels out of state and has never been abroad.He is not terribly familiar with technology. He has a Smart TV buthis children have set it up for him to use Netflix.
When the new employees arrived, the packaging staff tried toget to know them but had little in common and found it hard tocommunicate with them. The new workers ate together at lunch andalways with food they brought with them despite offers of foodbrought in by the older employees to show their “southern rootsâ€.Things are strained between the groups because the older employeesthought they were being snubbed and many are uncertain as to thecustoms and language unable to communicate their real feelings.This all operated to create a schism among the workers whichescalated into job performance and employment commitment issueswhen the six-month results from the 3D/Robot pilot showed thefollowing success in favor of new technology.
Measurable Factors Day Shift | Standard | 3D Printing |
Cost | 5.56 | 5.01 |
Time | 2.36 | 2.69 |
Quality Control Problem Ratio (per 500 units) | 1 | 8.75 |
Training Time (per hour) | 30 | 25 |
Shipping Problems/Damage (per 10,000 units) | 1 | 0.4 |
Production Problems (per 10,000 units) | 0.2 | 0.4 |
Total Number of Pieces Produced per year | 375,000 | 525,000 |
Measurable Factors Night Shift | Standard | 3D Printing |
Cost | 5.56 | 4.98 |
Time | 2.36 | 2.27 |
Quality Control Problem Ratio (per 500 units) | 1 | 5.75 |
Training Time (per hour) | 30 | 25 |
Shipping Problems/Damage (per 10,000 units) | 1 | 0.35 |
Production Problems (per 10,000 units) | 0.2 | 0.23.5 |
Total Number of Pieces Produced per year | 375,000 | 645,000 |
The results showed such a marked process improvement with theadded benefit of creating materials that were sustainable. Theimmediate reaction among the older workers was fear for their jobs.The new workers suddenly were the enemy. Chinn was pleased with thenew process and indicated that the 3D printing approach would becontinued. The word of the decision spread among the families inthe company and the “southern family†culture was now closing rankson the newcomers both in the packaging room and in the otherdepartments thus confirming their fears when news of the buyoutsurfaced.
