Posted: September 27th, 2022

Ironically, it was the hardest workers in the plant who were beginning to be blamed for contributing to the recent downsizing of the plant, because they demonstrated that one person could handle a job that was meant for two.

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Your assignment is to read the following information and write an email from Mr. Platt to Mr. Saunders, explaining the problem and possible solutions. Make sure the email Mr. Platt sends addresses all of the issues and concerns that have been brought to his attention by the C-shift operators.
PLEASE STOP WORKING SO HARD!
How can I punish my hardest worker? Is it really right of me to say, “Please stop working so hard?” “Stop working?” “Just leave?” Matt Platt was recently hired as a production line supervisor to overlook one of the machining lines at a local automobile engine plant near his hometown. The line operated on three separate shifts (morning shift A, afternoon shift B and night shift C); each shift rotating on a weekly basis. Each shift had six machine operators, one team leader and one supervisor who overlooked the day-to-day shift operations. Platt was assigned as the C-shift supervisor, which was currently led by team leader Evan Saunders.
Platt was very young compared to everyone else on the line. As a recent university graduate, he had very little work experience; in fact, this job was Platt’s first position in management. Platt also had no prior knowledge or experience working in a manufacturing and production environment, yet he was assigned to supervise a group of employees who had been with the organization for at least 15 years. Platt spent countless hours on the production floor trying to accumulate as much knowledge as possible to better himself as a supervisor; however, as the newest member of the team, Platt had to rely heavily on team leader Saunders to guide him through the day-to-day operations, including assistance with decisions on labour and technical issues.
Saunders had worked at the plant for over 29 years, serving the last three years as a shift team leader. He had a reputation of being one of the most knowledgeable and hard-working people in the plant; Saunders was very well respected by the management staff. His diligent work ethic and his willingness to go the extra mile to help out others were duly noted and appreciated by prior supervisors.
As a self-proclaimed workaholic, Saunders would sometimes skip his designated breaks and lunch times to keep the production line moving; in fact, he would only take breaks if he knew that the production line was running smoothly. Saunders would often come in at least half an hour early and stay at least an hour past his shift time without any overtime pay. Truly, Saunders was every supervisor’s dream employee; Platt felt very fortunate to have him on his team. With Saunders by his side, Platt’s transition into his role as supervisor was extremely smooth.
Two months into his new job, Platt was faced with a difficult dilemma: what started out as a small rift between one of the C-shift operators and Saunders grew into a volatile situation. An operator named Sam Smith began to complain about Saunders. In one instance, Smith was not pleased when Saunders came to help him even though Smith did not ask for any help. Smith also said that he was beginning to experience increasing interpersonal conflicts and breakdowns in communication with Saunders. Smith expressed displeasure that Saunders — while he rarely took breaks — would take breaks on his own schedule, not in the union-established times; furthermore, Smith criticized Saunders for being absent from mandatory endof-shift meetings, which Saunders often missed because he was out on the line trying to ensure that everything was prepared for the subsequent shift. Smith felt that it was unfair that Saunders was given special permission to miss mandatory team meetings, and he also did not appreciate how Saunders overexerted himself each and every day at work. Smith feared that if people like Saunders worked too hard, then management would find ways to reduce the number of employees on the line or find ways to create more work for each operator.
Since the company had recently made cutbacks by laying off employees, the operators had become increasingly concerned about their job security. In the past year, the number of machine operators on the line decreased by two per shift; as a result, workload increased for every remaining operator, which led to lower morale. Ironically, it was the hardest workers in the plant who were beginning to be blamed for contributing to the recent downsizing of the plant, because they demonstrated that one person could handle a job that was meant for two.
The situation grew worse as Smith began to rally a group of individuals to support his stance. In support of Smith, other C-shift operators began to criticize Platt for treating everyone unequally, specifically in the way that he favoured Saunders over other operators. Even the operators and team leaders on the other shifts (A and B) began to express concerns over Saunders coming in too early and staying too late without any pay, even though it was his choice to do so.
Platt needed to take action before the situation escalated any further. He knew that if he told Saunders to stop working so late and to help out less, his advice would contradict the values of hard work and doing what is best for the company. Platt was worried that Saunders might lose his motivation and his work ethic if he asked him to “Please stop working so hard!” On the other hand, if Platt did not take action, he feared that the morale of the group would sink even lower, potentially causing detrimental consequences. Smith and his group had specifically told Platt that if he did not do anything to deal with the current situation, they would file a union grievance against both himself and Saunders. As the morale of the group continued to deteriorate, Platt wanted to confront Saunders about this unique quandary. Platt needed to figure out the best way to please Saunders and the other operators. Platt rested on his elbows and pondered, “What now?”

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