Sedalia Engine Plant (A)

In 1979, Danney Goble, the former director of assembly and testing took over Sedalia Engine Plant (SEP). Sedalia Engine Plant manufactures and assembles diesel engines in Sedalia, Minnesota since 1974. Formally, Donald St. Clair ran the entire SEP organization and had much success. In 1979, St. Clair moved with most of Sedalia’s top management. Goble offered a new unique and loud approach to the old managerial style of the Plant. However unique the managerial style Goble presented, transition period for SEP would cause many crucial problems that would resultantly shake the organization to its core. Since many of the top managerial staff left, the company was stuck with a massive rebuild program during a decline in the national economy. Goble needed to make adjustments quickly and effectively to keep Sedalia alive and prosperous.
Sedalia is broken down into two separate organizational structures; operating organization and governance structure. The Operating Organization is a hierarchy structure comprised of five levels. The top of the hierarchy is the plant manager who has responsibilities over all operations at SEP. The second level is comprised of the directors who maintain responsibilities for manufacturing and staff support functions. Business managers who are responsible for the seven assembly teams fall into the third level. Finally, the forth and fifth levels are comprised of the Team Advisors and the Team Members.
The Governance Structure was created after there was a need at Sedalia for a formal forum for workers to air grievances as well as participate in the shaping of management decisions. To organize and control the way that presented their opinions, a few committees were formed. First the Plant Operating Team, or POT was created with the goal of giving a general sense of direction to the plant. POT was responsible for