Analysis Of Frink Electronics

"Analysis of Frink Electronics Incorporated

By BISAR Consulting"

Submitted to:

December 1, 2005

Submitted by:

Table of Contents:

Introduction 1

Statement of Problems and Issues 2

Problem 1: Providing guidelines to the self-managed teams. 3

Problem 2: Facilitators without the proper training. 4

Problem 3: Communication within the organization. 5

Problem 4: Different management styles. 6

Problem 5: Empowerment without responsibility. 7

Proposal of and Assessment of Alternatives: 8

Implementation of Recommended Alternatives: 10

Appendix 11

Introduction:

This corporate analysis of Frink Electronics Incorporated, completed by BISAR Consulting, will study its operations and make concrete recommendations for improved success. We will clearly outline five major problems and the issues that cause these problems. After we have outlined the major problems, we will work to address a set of concrete solutions to address the problems. Through a solutions analysis, we will choose one solution and discuss the steps that Frink Electronic Incorporated should take to solve the problem effectively.

Statement of the Problems and Issues:

Problem 1: Providing guidelines to the self-managed teams.

The overlying problem in this case is that the restructuring into self-managed teams was never done properly. The self-managed teams, as far as our consulting firm was told, were never given proper guidelines on how to function properly as a team. The teams are made up, for the most part, from front line assembly workers who are used to performing one task repeatedly. However, with the new team structure, employees are expected to handle every aspect of production on their own. While this sort of responsibility can be empowering, without proper guidance it can lead to problems. It is evident that the team members were never given training on how to handle these new responsibilities, or how to solve any problems that may arise from working as a team.

The problem with the team structure is that there is a great amount of mutual adjustment and a lack of standardization. In addition, with the decentralization of power, there are fewer figures of authority to keep all of the teams on the right track.

The employees were offered a motivating, empowering environment, only to see it taken away by electing a team leader who made it more of a dictatorship than a democracy. This caused employee morale to drop and employees began to adopt a 'Cover Your own Ass' mentality. Conflict within the teams makes people dread coming into work and leads to increased absenteeism and eventually a higher turnover rate.

Problem 2: Facilitators without the proper training.

The facilitators are in need of assistance in order to do their jobs properly. They are used to being the ones telling employees how to do things and are now in a position in which they need to listen to employees and advise them on the best course of action they can take to resolve problems. The restructuring changed the nature of their positions, which is something that they were unprepared for, as they were not provided with adequate training. They are unable to assist the teams with most of their problems, which is embarrassing. This leads to lack of facilitator involvement and the inability to spread company information and best practices. Consequently, their ability to monitor how things are going is hindered.

Problem 3: Communication within the organization.

Further analysis of Frink Electronics Incorporated leads us to believe that there is a problem with the overall organization communication, specifically between the president and the facilitators. The teams that were created after the restructuring in August 2004 felt that the facilitators were not helpful when a team issue arose. As noted earlier, the facilitators were not trained in issue management. When discussed with Frink, he said that the facilitators reported to him weekly and informed him things within the teams were going well. This leads to incorrect team information being directed to the president. If the facilitators are not relaying the correct information, how will Frink ever know what is truly going on in the team environment?

In some teams, there is also a poor relationship between team members and their corresponding team leaders. The election of team leaders was not done in a professional manner and caused team members to take sides, creating division within the team. This leads to poor team communication because members do not want to take orders from someone who they did not vote for.

Problem 4: Different management styles.

Another issue is that Frink's management style is Theory Y, while some team leaders use the opposite theory (Theory X). There is no consistency in the fact that the organization uses two different theories to manage the same people.

Frink decided to implement a dominant corporate culture of self-managed teams, but the teams were so concentrated on their own issues that they forgot the global culture. Negative team subcultures were created which then overrode the company culture, causing employees to lose focus on the common goal of reducing costs and increasing productivity.

Problem 5: Empowerment without responsibility.

The creation of the self-managed teams within Frink Electronics Incorporated gave employees a sense of empowerment, as they were now in charge of almost every aspect of the production. However, because no team leaders were assigned, the members