The Atlantis Rubber Company

John smith, the founder of Atlantis Rubber Company, started his business of tire-mounting patent in 1900, with total assets of $2000. At its initials he earned $110,000 by selling the tires of another company but later he purchased a building in 1902 to start manufacturing its own tires, by hiring twelve employees at this place. In 1960s the company has been voted as one of the best among the ten team-managed companies of the United States.

The company was organizationally very strong because of its good management which is very important for the success of the organization and there able to survive at the time 1930 when there was a disastrous economic crises for many American firms.

The company is now the world leading manufacturer of tires, by having market of 3000 different sizes of tires and more than 10,000 other products of plastic and rubber and many more. There are more than 75,000 employees including men and women working in almost 24 countries of the world. Along with this, the company owned a network of more than 750 stores in the United States.

This case revolves around the young man of twenty seven years, Ken Bonner, who worked as an accountant at the home office of the company. The company had its own college for training the engineers, accountants, chemists and many more. The purpose of this training was to make the employees get aware of the history and business of the company in the morning sessions and to make them more practical in the work they have to do by dividing them in groups. The training session was about of eight weeks and devotion to achieve the goals of the organization was stressed on every employee. The company had great expectations from the individuals who once became the member of the college training.

The college training session made every member to realize that they are elite members and their future with the company is bright. When Ken received his first assignment, he gets really disappointed and he started thinking whether his future is bright or he just became a part of the small business of his town, but later on with the passage of time, he desired to be a part of the company.

Problem statement:

The company was more task-oriented and very restrict to his rules and regulations. They follow the conservative behavior approach to avoid any loss in the business. This was the reason that even when the manager of the Accounts Payable felt the need of more staff in the department, he didn’t go for it. Promotions were given only to the employees who were the members of the college training program and the rest of the people had nothing to do with this benefit. There was the lack of coordination among the departments as the employees of one department don’t know the employees of other department. There was no concept of employee relationship and employees were made only to achieve the goal of the organization. Although conservative management has its benefits but it’s not preferable in the organizations at its growing stage. The management of the company was not up to date with the technological changes in the environment. The company was at its best in management in early 1960’s but it didn’t make changes in its management with the passage of time. The employees were not allowed to talk with each other or to visit to doctor during the working hours. Through this company can achieve its goals but never be able to retain its employees. The case revolves around one man Ken Barron, who moved to different departments, during his job in Atlantis Rubber Company. Ken experience in one department was totally different than in the other department.

Issues, Discussion & Recommendations

Issues

Discussion and Recommendation

In the first ten to fifteen years of the job, there were some set patterns for job promotions and job titles through which every manager and executive has to pass. Promotion was only given to the employees who were the member of the training college.

The competent employees need to be encouraged in promotion whether they are or not the member of the training colleges. This will make them to give more benefit to their organization in achieving their short and long term goals. If the company gives promotions on the basis of their membership it will discourage others employees working in the company and they definitely leave the organization. The management needs to better understand the best promotion practices in order to improve the level satisfaction of the employees (Hooi, 2012).

Conservative Management approach was used in achieving the targeted goals.

The company was not innovative and no changes were made by the management in its strict rules and regulations with the passage of the time. The company needs to be more relationship oriented. In this way it doesn’t only achieve its targeted goals but can make its employees more satisfy with their job. Relationship oriented management practices n the organization results in better outcomes (Toles & Anderson, 2011). They need to revise their strict rules of working only so that employee will not even thin about to leave the organization.

No extra pay was given to employees for the extra work they used to do in Saturday.

If the employee had to work on Saturday because of workload, the company never paid him for the extra work. This only discourages the employee and de-motivates them from doing further work for the company. The company should need to give some incentives to their employees in order to retain them. The management trust and rewards are found to be the predictors of employee satisfaction, which in turn influence the extra role behavior of employees (Reychav & Sharkie, 2010).

Staff was insufficient for the required work.

The manager of the company seems to be reluctant in hiring the new staff because he doesn’t want to endure his own record of the single job, by the poor performance of the employee. Every employee was given the independent task and he has to complete it. This cause stress in the employees and quality of work is also disturbed. The work should be divided among the individual employees so that they perform their task in an efficient way.

Break was insufficient and talking to each other was not tolerated during the work.

The working environment of one department differs from the other department of the company. When Ken was in Accounts Payable department, he was not allowed to talk to other employees and the break time also was insufficient for relaxation. But when he moved to the other department, he found the environment bit different. The company needs to provide equal working environment for all the departments. By giving priority to one department can only de-motivate the employees of the other departments. The working environment or strict rules of the organization are the source of stress in the employees (Jung & Yoon, 2013).

If someone gets ill he was not allowed to visit the doctor.

This seems to be really awkward that someone is ill and he wasn’t allowed to see a doctor during work. The company should need to have flexible rules regarding health issues. Even though the company should appoint his own medical officer within the company so that it provide immediate health treatment, if someone is ill during the work.

The clerk employee had to come for extra work on Saturday without giving extra pay, and he didn’t even told that what he had to do actually.

The employees at lower level were not even told that what they need to do actually. They just had to do all work by their selves. If there were any load of work in the department, the clerk had to come on the Saturday and he was not given the extra pay for that work. This results in the dissatisfaction of the employee from their seniors. The company needs to give incentives and benefits to the employees for the extra work they do. Although they don’t leave the organization but the quality of work will be affected. The study has shown that extra work on weekdays or more working hours only lead to dissatisfaction of the employees which in turn increase the intention to leave the organization (Nabe-Nielsen, et al., 2010).

There was a Communication gap between the departments of the company.

The employee of one department was unaware of the other employees of the other department. Secondly, the employees were not provided with the sufficient information for the work they had to do. The company needs to communicate all the tasks; this will motivate the employees to do the work effectively and efficiently. The employees need to be well communicated about the tasks, this will not only enhance their motivation but the productivity can also be increase (Tohidi, 2011).

The working environment was not friendly and few of the departments were equipped with the working facilities.

The cost accounting department had only the facility of telephone. The employees were giving the opportunity to have friendly working environment. The rules were not so strictly followed there. But the rest of the departments don’t have any friendly environment or direct connection with their managers or supervisors. Ken worked in different departments and he was very satisfied in the department, where the environment was friendly and cooperative. This increases his motivation satisfaction towards his job. Manger support and cooperation is very important for the employees, this will keep them motivated and can reduce the turnover rate. The studies has shown that supervisor support can reduce the turnover rate if he fully understand the needs of the employees, and provide them equal opportunities for career (Yang, et al., 2012).

There was no concept of training, workshops for the new work and it was up to the employee to perform and did his task.

The employees were not provided with the training facility, if they assigned a new work by the supervisor. It was totally up to the employees that how they had to do the work because the seniors were only concerned with the outcomes. The company should need to give training to the employees in order t improve the productivity and quality of the work. Training will simply add more profit to the company.

There was no concept of job analysis.

The employees were not told about their responsibilities at the workplace. They had to figure it out by their selves that what they need to do to achieve the targeted goals of the organization. Job analysis is very important because through job specifications, employees get to know about their duties for a certain position.

Conclusion

The Herzberg motivation theory reveals that there are certain factors which make employees satisfy or dissatisfy at the workplace (Herzberg, 1959). The company policy, rule or regulations, working conditions, relationships with the seniors are some of the dissatisfaction factor for the employees, which make them to leave the company. Lack of support and trust, stress from overwork can also be the reasons of dissatisfaction. Although Fred was happy with the company but he left the organization when he got attractive job offer from the other company. The research has shown that motivation at work place and retention both are linked to each other, if the employee is motivated he will be satisfied to his job and career advancement which leads to his retention (Maka & Sockelb, 2008). Good culture, organizational environment and the most important is recognition all play an important role in retaining the employees. If the company wants to retain its employees he has to make a proper plan or retention strategies. Training, mentoring, incentives are some of the very good retention strategies at workplace. The employees will be more satisfy and retain with the organization if they have provided with the opportunity of training for new skills (Costena & Salazarb, 2011). Communicating the things effectively at the workplace will encourage the employees to perform their effectively and efficiently. The only thing now the company has to do is to be employee oriented rather than business oriented. If the needs of the employees are fulfilled they will remain satisfied and will give more benefit to the company.