ABC Box Company is in the process of major restructuring of middle management, following a study revealing numerous problems·production, personnel, machine maintenance, theft, training, absenteeism, and inefficiency. Six general foremen at each of the three plant locations have been terminated, and sales are somewhat lower than expected for each of the three divisions·cabinetry, shoeboxes, and caskets. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the changes required for the company with reference to professional literature in the field of management.
This kind of drastic change in a company, the firing of key well-known people, causes dramatic emotional ripples throughout the firm. There is a kind of managerial mystique, a mindset that values "process, structure, formal roles, and indirect communication over people, ideas, and feelings" (Buono, 1992, p.1). When employees hear gossip about structural changes in the company, shudders of discomfort move throughout the firm. "Fundamental change in personnel strategy, organizational identity, or established work roles and interests often triggers intense emotions," and these strong feelings determine how individuals and groups behave as they cope (Huy, 2002, p.2).
The owners of the company work with the human resources department to strengthen the employee assistance arm of benefits, offering stress counseling and change management seminars to foster communication and smooth the drastic changes occurring in the company. The onus of counseling only for the troubled is discouraged, and everyone is encouraged to participate with time off during working hours and refreshments offered at the sessions. Middle managers are often structurally closer to the workers and can sense that distress pervades the company, somewhat more than the higher executives.
It is suggested that ABC Box Company restructure its entire thinking, philosophy, and power structure. In Japan it has been f...