A large manufacturing organisation employing some 600 full time
staff, part - timers and regular agency staff, who were bought in
as demand required. Staff morale was low and a culture of blame
had developed that led to some conflict and resentment.
The site needed more capital investment as equipment was old and
breaking down. However, in order to get the investment the site
had to meet performance targets. The MD and his team felt under
pressure to deliver on daily and weekly targets. The more the targets
were not met the greater the pressure from head office.
Meetings were disorganised and tended to end up with unresolved
conflict. Decision-making was operating at the wrong level and supervisors
and shop floor employees felt that management didn't know what it
was doing. Historically poor performance was not dealt with and
feedback was critical and unsupportive.
Laying off staff and redundancies were becoming more frequent, people
feared for their jobs and tended to hide when the pressure was on.
All the top team were interviewed on a confidential 1:1 basis, problems
and possible solutions were identified. The team spent sometime
away from the work place and began to tackle the issues facing them,
particularly the problems facing them as a team. A climate of openness
and trust was developed and action plans developed for the team
and individuals.
Similar workshops were held at all levels of management and supervision
in their working teams. Again the issues they faced, at their level,
were confronted and possible solutions were identified. These were
presented to their immediate line manager and then the whole team
worked on joint problem solving.
Follow up meetings were held at regular intervals to check on progress
and further development needs were actioned by the teams involved.
Within 12 months of the intervention the performance of the organisation
had made huge improvements. The management team made time for strategic
as well as operational meetings.
As a result of an emphasis on the strategic the MD, with the help
of his team, successfully won some capital investment. Additionally,
morale improved as did decision making and dealing with performance
issues.
A greater emphasis was given to training and development, which
helped to build the capabilities of the workforce. New communication
channels were opened which helped to involve the staff in future
changes and as new product lines were introduced the fear of job
losses was reduced.
Productive collaboration across business
units
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