Sleep Soundly Pajama Co. - MEMO RE: PRODUCT PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS
To: All Sleep Soundly Executive Employees
From: Dr. Anna Wolfe, CEO
Date: February 22, 2024
Subject: Problems Concerning Product Performance
We have been experiencing product performance issues related to our new line of pajamas. Unfortunately, these products have been falling short of our sales expectations, and the problem appears to be multifaceted:
- Lower than expected production
- Errors in manufacturing (mistakes on the production line)
- Accidents (employee safety issues on the factory floor)
- Quality problems (products being made that don’t meet our specifications)
- Low morale
- High levels of absenteeism
The mistakes are especially pronounced on the pet pajama line because the outfits are smaller so there is a narrower margin for error. In-seams are crooked, threading is loose, and overall production quality is poor. As a result, our sales of pet pajamas are plummeting. PetSmart and Best Friends Puppy Store, two of our biggest clients, are threatening to cancel their contracts with us if they receive another bad shipment and the Pet Supermarket demanded a refund for an order of 200 sub-standard units last week.
Manufacturing requires that employees consistently deliver a good product day after day on time. That’s not happening right now. So, in order to understand the full range of issues related to this production problem, I asked the Line Manager, Cassie, to report on possible personnel issues that could be contributing to our recent troubles.
As far as we can tell, the problems do not seem to be related to worker compensation. All line workers are paid the standard state minimum wage for hourly work and have access to all legally required benefits (e.g., workers’ compensation, insurance). Additionally, Sleep Soundly Pajama Company offers a competitive retirement program and supplemental pay for overtime work. As the Line Manager, Cassie represents worker grievances at management meetings but has not suggested concerns about pay or benefits to be a major discussion on the factory floor at this time.
Cassie did, however, mention a notable interpersonal conflict brewing in the Fabric Prep Department. One factory line employee, Jessica, is in the middle of a messy process of getting divorced from the son of another woman in the same department, Susan. So we have a woman and her mother-in-law working on the same piece of equipment but during two different shifts. According to company policy, all line workers are expected to complete a full debriefing about equipment issues, work disruptions, and goals for the day with the incoming workers between shifts. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that there is very little communication occurring between these two women during shift changes. Not only is information not flowing freely between these two employees during transitions from first to second shift, but most of the other employees working in this department have taken sides, which is creating hostility and tension among members of the working groups.
Please give these issues some serious thought and come to our February 27 senior executive meeting prepared to provide your analysis of the problem and to propose plans of action to save our company from financial ruin and employee discontent.
I’m counting on you.
Sleep Soundly Pajama Co. - Memo RE: INTRODUCTIONS
To: All Sleep Soundly Executive Employees
From: Dr. Anna Wolfe, CEO
Priority: LOW
Date: February 20, 2024
Subject: Introductions
From: Dr. Anna Wolfe, CEO
Priority: LOW
Date: February 20, 2024
Subject: Introductions
You are a senior executive at Sleep Soundly, a once-successful manufacturing company that is now facing a complex set of problems. Your CEO, and pajama tycoon, Dr. Wolfe has given you a challenge: Develop a set of proposed solutions to save our company from financial ruin and employee discontent. Proposed solutions will be discussed at our monthly senior executive meeting and a solution must be reached.
In order to better learn to apply the different theoretical perspectives on organizing that we covered in the first part of this course, you will have the opportunity to engage in a perspectives discussion. The project will take the form of a boardroom discussion where members of this class will take on the role of one of the senior executives and argue for their solution to an organizational problem. The coordination of the actual boardroom discussion will take some coordination and imagination.
As mentioned above, your organization is facing challenges. Your job, as a group, is to analyze the organization’s problem and develop a set of solutions from the theoretical perspective of the senior executive you represent. You will then bring your analysis and plan to the boardroom meeting where you will discuss with other senior executives who have their own ideas about solving the problem based on their theoretical perspective.
See "Meeting Requests" for more information on the monthly senior executive meeting to be held on Tuesday, February 27 at 11:10 a.m.
In order to better learn to apply the different theoretical perspectives on organizing that we covered in the first part of this course, you will have the opportunity to engage in a perspectives discussion. The project will take the form of a boardroom discussion where members of this class will take on the role of one of the senior executives and argue for their solution to an organizational problem. The coordination of the actual boardroom discussion will take some coordination and imagination.
As mentioned above, your organization is facing challenges. Your job, as a group, is to analyze the organization’s problem and develop a set of solutions from the theoretical perspective of the senior executive you represent. You will then bring your analysis and plan to the boardroom meeting where you will discuss with other senior executives who have their own ideas about solving the problem based on their theoretical perspective.
See "Meeting Requests" for more information on the monthly senior executive meeting to be held on Tuesday, February 27 at 11:10 a.m.