Paul Sanchez is the production manager for Echo Electronics which distribute communications equipment. Paul's direct sobordinates are the supervisors of the four production departments in the company's manufacturing plant. 6 months ago the engineering manager proposed a plan to install new computerized workstations to increase productivity in the plant. Paul thought it was a good idea and welcomed the change and the new equipment was installed immediately. Three months later Paul was surprised and disappointed to find that the expected increase in productivity did not occur. Productivity and quality decreased. Te marketing manager told Paul their best customers complained about recieving defective equipment.. Paul does not believ that the problem lies with the with the new workstation. Paul spoke to someone with another company that uses the same workstations and they told them that it was a success.. Paul shared his concerns with four production supervisors but they did not agree about the cause of the problem. Reasons given for the decline in performance included poor design of the workstation, inadequate training of production workers who operate them and lack of financial incentives for increasing productivity. Morale declined and two employees quit because they were upset about the changes. Paul recieved a phone call from the CEO who recieved the production fugures for last month which wanted to express his concern. The CEO indicated that the problem was Pauls to solve but he must take immediate steps to deal with it. The CEO wanted to know by next week what steps paul will take to reverse the decline in productivity and pruct quality.
The purpose of this case is to provide a better understanding of the potential benefits of participative leadership. Students are asked to read a case describing a decision for which an autocratic decision was unsuccessful. The mistakes made by the manager in this case demonstrate the importance of consultation in making decisions that have important implications both for subordinates and the organization.
Analyze the case study and discuss the following
1. The role of team in the formulation and implementing the project.
2. What are the likely cause of project failure and how the team and the project manager are responsible for these failures?
3. What options were available to team with regard to decision making to initiate a successful project?
4. How the effectiveness of the team could have been improved?
5. What actions could Paul have taken to prevent the problem?
6. What steps should Paul take now to deal with the problem?
7. What challenges project team now faces to be effective?