Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad

Case Study “ Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad’’

INTRODUCTION:

Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant was a private –owned company, which opened in 1948 in Richmond, Indiana. The company manufactured mirrors for trucks and automobiles with 209 employees on board. There were various issues that arose over the years in the company which led to a productivity crisis for the company. Engstrom Auto Mirror has operated smoothly with considerably success for much of it’s lifetime throughout into the late 1990’s were it started to decline towards the end of the decade. In 1998, the consequences of redesigning its production lines to incorporate new technology became apparent. The transition was not smooth and proved rather difficult resulting in production delays which was irritating and alienating customers.(Collins & Beer, 2008). Due to lack of finding appropriate solution to increase productivity, the previous manager was unable to handle his role properly to help move the organization in the right, he resigned.

Ron Bent was brought onboard as the new Plant Manager to succeed the role, in an attempt to turnaround the present situation facing Engstrom, with his past experience,Bent knew he could implementing incentivized program can improve productivity and motivate employees. For seven years business was going in the right direction, sales was at its best under his supervision. In 2005, company took a downturn again that led to the lay off the following year of 46 employees out of 255 employed. (Collins & Beer, 2008). Motivation began to diminish from the employees which led to decrease in productivity that for seven months employees had not received paid bonuses, leading Ron to find a solution to the company’s downturn and employee dissatisfaction.

Problems at Engstrom:

There were quite a few organizational issues that were surrounding Engstrom, leading to it’s possible downfall. Newstrom(2015) defines Organizational behavior as the systematic study and careful application of knowledge