Week 2 Case 6.1 (P.166)

Week 2 Case 6.1 (p.166)

The Hovey and Beard Company Case

1. Discuss how the principles of job design and reinforcement theory apply to the performance problems at the Hovey and Beard Company.

The Hovey and Beard Company created wooden toys, the company was growing, and their supplies were being demanded at a higher volume than before. The company managers decided to change a few things. The painting department’s jobs were redesigned. The superintendent dictated that the manager of the painting department to set up and assembly line mass production with an endless chain of hooks. The management focused on objective outcomes with continuous reinforcement schedule. The engineers studied and established a standard for acceptable quality. The employees were promised a group bonus if they exceeded the production standard set by the engineers. They also received a learning bonus that diminished with a constant amount each month for the first six months. No one likes change and the painters were discontent with the new process. They responded by going through the motion. The production obviously decreased during the first months of the change. They were also unhappy because they could not control the speed of the hooks and they were hot and uncomfortable at work. Due to the frustration of the situation, two employees had very low levels of job satisfaction and quit (Ivancevich, Konopaske, Matteson, 129). Their job had a low range and low depth because they had few tasks, and no control over their situation (Ivancevich, 147).

When the consultant was hired, job design came to play again as the supervisor indentified the needs of his employees and removed the “obstacles”, the heat and the speed of the hooks, that were creating problems in the department (Ivancevich, 171). His actions improved his relationship with his employees. The installation of the fans and the receipt of the controller for the hooks created increased their job range and an...