Assume for a moment that you are the owner – CEO of a small machine and tool com

Question

Assume for a moment that you are the owner – CEO of a small machine and tool company. You have 35 employees, most of whom are highly skilled machinists who belong to Local 999 of the International Brotherhood of Good Guys Union. Generally, you are an open manager with an abiding sense of fair play and ethics. For this reason, you have been able to attract workers who are skilled and committed to the company’s long-term success. In fact, labor relations are calm – even harmonious. For example, you have been paying your employees an incentive pay in order to increase productivity for the past 5 years. Two supervisors, with excessive self-confidence, in your company hired candidates who are likable, because they think likability will promote collaboration and effective teams on the assembly line. Now, however, you face a serious and unprecedented issue. Due to an economic downturn, business activity has taken a sharp decline with the expectation that things will get much worse. You have just met with your accountant who has informed you there is no other choice but to lay off people or reduce wages. Your initial meeting with the union representatives shocked you into reality since it was filled with divisiveness, arguing, name-calling, and even occasional profanity. After reading the articles Trust the Evidence, Not Your Instincts and Evidence based decision making builds the case for the preferred solution Outline how you would use evidence-based decision making to help in resolving this case?

Explanation / Answer

Almost each and every business organizations may have to go through a phase which is not that preferable but in order to sustain in the industry some decisions may become harsh for the organization and its employees but for the long run it actually helps the organization and the employees who wants to support the organization in their bad times. In this case it is visible that the organization needs to cut down on expense in order to survive and the statistics depict such information. As per the reports it is clear that there is no portion but to lay off in order to cut down cost but the union representatives are also not agreeing with the organization's requirement. In this case I will take decisions that will actually protect and safeguard the interest of the organization at present and also provide opportunity to grow in the future.

Cost cutting needs to be done and that can be done by layoffs, reduced wages, cutting down operating costs to a minimum, etc. I will focus on cutting don of operating costs of the business instead of bull layoff and this shoulder be communicated to the employees that the organization is going through a bad phase and support is required from the employees. The incentives given out to employees can be reduced for the time being and laying off employees will be the last resort as that is one of the harsh things to do. The union also needs to support the organization and there should not be any issues in this context, the financial crisis needs to be taken care of so that the organization can scope up with the change in situation and do better in the future as well. Laying off employees in bulk will affect the trust people have on the organization and in future the organization may not be able to generate this trust back so internal changes and internal management needs to be used to overcome such a situation.

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