In this case, there were many problems within the Treadway Tire Lima factory plant. All of the problems were caused by the inefficient system that was in place. Most of the lower level leaders within the company were either under trained or not trained at all. Three things that could have been done to fix the system would be an organized training system within Treadway Tire, less pressure on the foreman and supervisors for immediate results on things that were outside their control, and shorter shifts.
If Treadway Tire implements an organized training program, the supervisors and managers won’t have to come up with everything on their own. It will eliminate the sink or swim mentality forced on the foreman and supervisors. The training should have the following important aspects:
1. Plant operations
2. Interactions between Treadway Tire employees and Union Workers
3. Proper disciplinary actions for employees
4. Areas for personal management education and advancement
In starting an organized training program, the initial training would have to happen right away for all management from foreman to managers. The initial training would help all of the leaders to be on the same page. After the initial training, it would be important to have a refresher training course every six months to a year so that the leaders would know what they could and couldn’t do. As the training program continued, the foreman and supervisors would be asked for feedback and the training program could be further developed to meet the needs of the organization. The training would help to empower the leaders to be able to make the proper decisions.
In addition to the training, it would be important to put less pressure on the foreman and supervisors for things that are outside their control. They were seeing an increase in pressure each year and the increase in pressure was reducing the quality of the performance due to stress. If Treadway Tire continues to add more and more pressure to the foreman and supervisors with out providing the necessary resources, the company as a whole will fail because there will be higher turnover rates and the production will decrease. Pressure for results should only be applied when the employees are given the proper resources to succeed. Upper management can increase pressure when there are inefficiencies within the system, but they should not increase the pressure without additional resources once the system has reached a high level of efficiency because it will lead to failure.
I am not an expert in the manufacturing processes that occur at Treadway Tires, but I don know that natural fatigue occurs after a period of time. The current length of time for each shift could be reduced so that it causes less stress on the individuals. People can work strong for a time, but once they reach fatigue, they begin to make more mistakes and they’re more irritable.
By implementing a few of the changes mentioned, Treadway Tire will see an increase in the morale of the employees and a better relationship with the unions. In addition, the stress on the foreman and supervisors will be reduced. With the reduced stress, the company will see less turnover and higher production.