2. Question one:
Do the original goals of the team management system
used at Marshall’s comport more with the philosophy
of human relations or human resources management?
The goals of the team management system at Marshall’s
comport more with human relations management, because
management maintained the right to make the final
decisions. Essentially, this program is a form of maintenance
communication. The intentions of management are unlike
those of the human resources style of management because
management is not truly taking the ideas of the workers into
consideration.
3. How would the theorists
discussed in this chapter
(Maslow, McGregor,
Likert, and Blake and
Mouton) analyze the
current situation at
Marshall’s?
Abraham Maslow would say that
the program is not working
because the workers’ self esteem
needs are not being met (because
management is not valuing their
opinions) and therefore, the
workers are unable to move up in
the hierarchy of needs to reach
self-actualization and achieve their
full potential.
4. How would the theorists
discussed in this chapter
(Maslow, McGregor,
Likert, and Blake and
Mouton) analyze the
current situation at
Marshall’s?
McGregor would observe that the
managers want to be Theory Y
managers, who believe that workers
desire responsibility and to be able
to fully utilize their intellect, but
they are not having success with
this. If they want to be true Theory
Y managers, they must put full
trust in their workers.
5. How would the theorists
discussed in this chapter
(Maslow, McGregor,
Likert, and Blake and
Mouton) analyze the
current situation at
Marshall’s?
Blake and Mouton, using their
Managerial Grid as the model, would
note that the managers are using
“Middle of the Road” management,
because although they are moderately
concerned with production and with
people, they are not reaching full
potential. “Team Management” is the
goal of the managers at Marshall’s,
and they can get there by satisfying the
workers, which will increase
productivity in turn.
6. How would the theorists
discussed in this chapter
(Maslow, McGregor,
Likert, and Blake and
Mouton) analyze the
current situation at
Marshall’s?
Likert would think that the
“climate” of the organization is
consultative (System III):
although there is a high level of
vertical communication and the
views of the employees are taken
into consideration, decisions are
still made at the top and control
still rests primarily at the upper
levels of the hierarchy.
7. Question two:
•
Employees identified three reasons for not participating in the program at
Marshall’s. How would you deal with each of these problems? Is it possible (or
desirable) to satisfy all groups of employees and achieve full participation? Would
human relations and human resources theorists have different ideas about the
importance of these various reasons for not participating in the team management
system?
• The human relations approach would
It is very desirable to satisfy all groups of employees within
not see an issue with the program
the company, because satisfied workers may work harder. It
because management is doing their
is possible to do this by studying and addressing the concerns
of each group individually. For the first group, concerned
best to create maintenance
with the extra “busywork,” the meetings should be short,
communication. Human resources,
concise, and optional. The team should send out newsletters
however, would see an issue because
or “minutes” detailing discussion at the meetings, as well as
the employees are not being used for
opening up discussion through email, so as to not waste
what they are: assets. The company is
anyone’s time. For the second group, who felt that these
therefore missing out on valuable ideas
things should be in the hands of management, we suggest
that a manager be present at each meeting in order to
thus management would need to
mediate discussion. For the final group, concerned that their
undergo training workshops in order
views were not actually being considered, the employees
to understand how they should be
should come up with multiple solutions/ideas that work for
utilizing employee ideas and helping to
them, and then allow management to make the final decision
stimulate new ones.
among those choices. This method satisfies group two also,
because management would have to be highly involved.
8. Question Three:
What changes would you make in the team management system at Marshall’s
that would increase participation? What changes would you make to enhance
the effective use of human resources at Marshall’s? How would you institute
these changes and communication them to employees?
In order to increase participation, management must begin
to actually value and utilize the ideas of the employees. This
will renew the employees’ faith in the program.
Management must be involved in the program, but still leave
the control in the hands of the employees. In order to
transition to a human resources approach, management
must allow employees to come up with ideas and make
decisions as a team in regards to those ideas. The work
teams must be allowed to collectively make decisions for the
plant. These changes in turn should be announced
throughout the plant to renew the interest of employee
participation within the work teams. Thus, increasing
morale in this way will in turn increase production, the
main goal of implementing this program.
