Improving Productivity Recommendations, Essay Example

The manufacturing industry has utilize Just-In-Time(JIT) processes to solving the problem of production work flows that have delayed finished products to the suppliers to the customers. The manufacturing industry has used other management philosophies such as Total Quality Management (TQM) however, JIT has yielded the best results (IFM Management Technology Policy, 2015). Thesis statement: The manufactures will have a higher rate of success using proven JIT management philosophies, quality controls, continuous improvement and waste elimination methods.

Global Sources shoe manufacturer and shoe supplier is a global company that has manufacturing plants in North American, South America, Europe and Asia. Global Sources has a reputation of being reliable, dependable, and quality products that can be delivered globally on time (Global Sources. (2015).  The consulting team will present to the management team some recommendations based on research concerning the best way for Global Sources to improved group productivity in the factory. The adoption of sound management philosophies like Total Quality Management (TQM) will prevent a lack of group productivity, product defects, untimely deliveries, poor quality, customer complaints and a decrease in company’s revenue streams (Leonard, McAdam& Reid, 2002). One of the major issues that can prevent organizations from improving group productivity is not addresses workflow issues that are stressing out employees (Yao, Guo & Li, 2014). The best example is the manufacturer is not using state of art machinery that cuts down the amount time to make the product. However, manufactures sometimes tend to just look at the number of widgets they make and how much profit. The primary goal of the consultants will be to present some recommendations to the president and upper management on making recommendations to improve group productivity in the organization.

Potential Impact Productivity

The poor quality problem could cause Global Sources to lose suppliers because they have inferior products and the end customer we utilize other vendors. The best example is Global Sources deliver high-end models and dancing shoes to supplier in New York. The supplier provides shoes for the Allen Alley Dance Theater including dancing shoes for all the dancers. The suppliers receives complaints from the dance school that the Global Sources shoes are flimsy and lack quality. In addition, the dance company indicated they have wait months to receive dancing shoes on backorder. As a result, they cancel orders from the supplier and the supplier cancel all orders from Global Sources.  The lack of quality can be a snowball effect causing disruption within the Global Sources factories that lead to losing valued suppliers and a loss of revenues (Tannock&Saelem, 2007). This example is a clear problem with group dynamics at the factory can impact the group’s productivity and ability to deliver a quality product to the suppliers on time. The bottom line a production and quality disruption indicate the Global Sources will lose revenue as a result from poor quality performance in manufacturing.

Group productivity is a complex issue to resolve because in the manufacturing environment each member has different skill sets and different goals. The machinist goal is to ensure the equipment is working properly. The front line worker is concerned with making the quote of shoes processed and the fork lift driver is concerned with organizing and storing the shoe materials. There are occasions when each of these team members must work together to meet production goals. A late shipment arrived therefore each person from all different departments had to assist with overtime to complete the late order. The entire factory must be trained on working in groups with conflict and learn to succeed with group assignments.  The continued problems with a lack of group unity to accomplish a task otherwise failure is for sure.

Group Productivity

The lack of group productivity at Global Sources can present a number of problems such as the working climate. A negative work environment can become contagious resulting in the lack of a quality product delivered at the end of the manufacturing shoe process. The employees can become disgruntled causing valued employees seeking other employee because they have a wanted skill set. As a result, Global Sources could lose their most experienced machinist to ta competitor because of a poor working environment. The best example of how the Global Sources experience staffed can be depleted very quickly is one value and experience worker leaves Global Sources to work for a shoe competitor. The shoe competitor now understands what is important to the Global Sources workers who by word of mouth hear about the improved benefits, better paying salaries and quality working environment. In a short period of time, the competitor has depleted the Global Sources workforce.  The group productivity is not a task that will happen without training, reinforcement and ongoing productivity training models that promote group productivity. The factory workers need to learn to appreciate the success of the group versus the individual.

Quality Controls

The lack of quality controls puts the company at risk for several different exposures such as customer complaints because existing and new customers are not satisfied with the final product. This could lead to less orders from vendors because the reputation has been tarnished as a manufactured that cares about quantity but not quality. The most important issues is alienating  customers will developed into a lack of customer satisfaction that will lead to a  change in their buying habits(Lo,2012).  The best example is the existing customer purchases a refrigerator from Global Sources however, the customer has constant complaints about the ice maker or the refrigerator does not get cold enough. As result, the Global Sources longtime customer begins to shop with the competitor because they do not believe in the product. Once the customers trust and confidence is lost it will show in the loss revenues column for Global Sources. The bad habits can lead to poor quality habits of different groups such as assembly line, front line and machinist that are responsible for producing a quality product.

Management Philosophies

The important of management philosophies can mean the difference between losing customers and running an effective plant. The Global Sources can utilize an integrated approach using Total Quality Management(TQM) and Just-in-Time methodologies to ensure there management and employees have a solid foundation and new tools to prevent the company from closing down because of poor quality and disgruntled employees/customers. The management philosophy can help the organization concentrate on the success of the organization as a whole instead the success of one individual. The best example is the Global Sources wants to create a new climate of success within the factory to improve group productivity. However, the current management methods are outdated therefore any change will be difficult unless management philosophies are changed. TQM is a great tool to help the Global Sources to implement and deliver a positive changes to the work climate. The end result will be the group activity will improve while enhancing the company’s ability to deliver quality products to customers. TQM getting’s the employees involved in the process and decision making. In addition, TQM teachers the managers to collaborate with individual and teams soliciting any feedback that will improve the company’s overall operations. TQM is not a fix all solution but the foundation of TQM can help an organization create a new empowerment environment.

Role conflicts within groups

The roles within a group that are undefined traditionally cause problems because members of the group are positioning for a place of power. The employees that may be in management positions naturally gravitate to a leadership position while other members may be intimidated because of their skill level. Most group members do not want to be assigned a task that is not in line with their skill set. In order to prevent role conflicts with groups, the company’s needs to assign a leader of the group, secretary who records the meetings and identification of what each person is expected to do within the group(Cahn & Abigail,2011).

The conflict is caused when employee or team members do not understand their role in the group dynamics. Consequently, some employees may not have worked in a group environment with the understanding that disagreement with another group member does not constitute negative conflict. In addition, the group could be experiencing data conflicts which happens when the group lack the necessary information to make a group decision. The group is misinformed because they do not have enough information to resolve the dispute or conflict.  The group member that does not understand their role may not intentionally cause conflict within the group.

The best example of group conflict is the team is responsible for completing a corporate PowerPoint presentation on soft skills. One of the group members was told she was assigned to the group because of her excellent PowerPoint skills. However, the group has assigned the PowerPoint specialist to another writing task. The group member’s strength is not writing but putting together a quality PowerPoint. As result, the group member is only trying to clarifying and share that her expertise is not writing but PowerPoint. The group has interpreted this as the group member being difficult causing group conflict.

Communication problems among group members

The communication problems among group members is an overall problem for the company. The employees may communicate on a small level within their department, however, when they are assigned to a group with different members they are exposed for their lack of communication skills. The organization is responsible for ensuring all employees recovered soft skills training and communication models to help them communication with employees.  A problem with communication skills at the group level could indicate the employees have communication problems with the customers. There are other reasons for communication problems among group members in the workplace such as language barriers such as backgrounds, age groups, or different levels of experience in the industry. These group issues with communication problems in the workplace can hurt the company’s bottom line and productivity. The success of a company can be based on how well they communicate and exchange information that is essential to overall success of the company. It is important to understand the critical importance of workplace communication. Another reason for inadequate communication is the poor leadership communication skills from management that has impacted the company’s growth. In many cases, the relationship between the leadership and employees started to become a detriment to the company because the leadership did not support open communication. The employees were not empowered to participate and communicate their concerns.  The leadership must be open for communication whenever, the team makes suggestions about a project or workplace improvements.

The leadership team that is responsible for the group communication does not communicate with the group during very difficult projects. The upper management determines the times, dates, deadlines and tools needed to complete the project. However, they do not consult the group members responsible for completing the project. In addition, the leadership team does not collaborate or include anyone within the group on project changes.  The leadership’s lack of communication causes unwanted group conflict because they do not have any open channels of communication that promotes empowerment or feedback

Excessive intergroup conflict

One of the major reasons for the problems with excessive intergroup conflict is just the traditional dynamics of a group. The group members that are leaders will try to take over control and direction while the more reserved quiet employees will not assert aggression until group assignments are established. In addition, group’s members have different goals, different skill set and different perceptions about the overall goals of the group. Another reason, for excessive intergroup conflict is the different department and backgrounds of the group. The mixture of the group may be IT department, Human Resources, Accounting department and Mailroom. These different employees from different departments will have excessive intergroup conflictwhich should expected. However, the company must set policies and procedures of intergroup conflict explaining there is healthy conflict and negative intergroup conflict. The employees must learn that positive conflict is just a different of opinions but with the mind set to accomplish a specific task by the group. In contrast, negative and excessive intergroup conflict with no resolution or no group success of accomplish the task is unhealthy for the group and company.

Recommendations

The problem of solving the customer complaints can be resolved by implementing a survey after every call to get the customers feedback. The survey must be very short and non-evasive to the customer. There are some surveys that take too much time and alienate the customer from engaging with the survey. There are other ways to address customer’s complaint with an automatic phone call requesting feedback on the last phone call to Global Sources. Most customers after having a bad experience will take the time to rate Global Sources. The company can implement discounts for customers that complete surveys after receiving a service call or visit from Global Sources. The goal is to encourage the customer to interact with Global Sources allow proactive measures to address problems or customer complaints before they lose the customer to competitors.

The second recommendation is the management team needs to be trained on properly on the different soft training techniques for the entire organization. The soft skill training modules are designed to help employees learn how to deal with conflict and develop stellar people skills. The soft training should include role playing to practice handling conflict and group diversity training. The soft skills training should be mandatory for all new employees so they learn the proper way to communication with co-workers and customers. .

Conclusion/Summary

A companywide training program should be implemented for best practice for group productivity in orientation and ongoing training models to continuously reinforce group interactions and successful resolutions. It is clear that the development of conflict training, communication training and group conflict training can only improve the business climate and productivity. The use of Total Quality management (TQM) and Just-in-Time methods can both improve group productivity and the organizations bottom line. The company should invest in ongoing training allowing employees to learn how to deal with positive and negative conflict.

References

Cahn, D. D., & Abigail, R. A. (2011). The paradox of intragroup conflict: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(2), 360-390. Retrieved from Ebscohost database.

Global Sources.(2015).About: Services and products. Retrieved www.globalsources.com

IFM Management Technology Policy. (2015).Decision support tools: JIT Just-in-Time manufacturing. Retrieved from http://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/dstools/jit-just-in-time-manufacturing/

Leonard, D., McAdam, R., & Reid, R. (2002). A grounded multi-model framework for TQM dynamics. The International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 19(6), 710-736. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197651481?accountid=34899

Lo, S.C. (2012). A study of relationship marketing on customer satisfaction. Journal of Social  Sciences, 8(1), 91-94. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1288079072?accountid=34899

Tannock, J., &Saelem, S. (2007). Manufacturing disruption costs due to quality loss. The  International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 24(3), 263-278. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02656710710730861

Yao, Y., Fan, Y., Guo, Y., & Li, Y. (2014). Leadership, work stress and employee behavior. Chinese Management Studies, 8(1), 109. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1658154044?accountid=34899