Concepts in Organizational Behavior

Background

Green River and Aberdeen have very different designs of structures with in there respective business models.

Green River is a company that started in 1948 with a traditional management style that runs in a top down style and many levels of middle management. Green River has multiple worldwide service lines that are supported by it 1150 employees. The employees of Green River are part of the Steel Works of America Union "The union was a progressive one that yet labored under old standard job descriptions" (Clawson, 2005, pg 23). Green Rivers, employees are also separated into two large groups. 400 of the 1150 employees work in the underground mines, while the other 750 work the production lines above ground. Communicate does not flow freely through the ranks and employee are not encouraged to speak about changes and quality problems with senior management.

Aberdeen is a new start up company that is trying a new empowered employee management style. Aberdeen employs 100 employees with only one costumer. The employees of Aberdeen work in empowered teams that have appointed leaders, which are appointed by the members of the groups. Communicate is open in the Aberdeen facility with the senior manager holding meetings on Monday and Thursday weekly with all the staff to go through quality needs and product changes. Communication within Aberdeen is also encouraged between staff and management. Aberdeen staff do not have a union, and do many of the middle management roles such as schedules, reviews and pay raises. Aberdeen also try to get every employee cross-trained in every skill set of the job.

Situation Analysis

For Green River to understand and implement changes in its facility that would make it run closer to the Aberdeen system, Green River will have to go through large organizational development in many areas. The Areas of development that need to be understood for Green River to make an organizational change are:

* The Management of Ability

* Organizational Commitment

* Job Satisfaction

* Organizational Ethics

* Job Design and Goal Setting

* Performance Appraisal

* Pay

* Career Development

* Work Groups & Teams

* Differences in Leadership and Communication at both facilities

* Communication process differences between Green River and Aberdeen

* Organizational structure and culture

The management of ability for Aberdeen is very different from the management of ability in Green River. Aberdeen has a team-based environment where each employee is empower to take ownership. Each line is built into teams of between 3 to 16 employees. Each team will have a selected supply person, safety person, quality person, and a team lead. Each team has the ability to schedule there hours, purchase materials and tools, coordinate with other teams, and evaluate team members. The Aberdeen system uses Monday and Thursday morning meeting to open up communication between management and team members. Management does not micro-manage their staff at Aberdeen which helps build each employee's skill set. Each employee is placed into a team and can starting learning all the different tasks inside group. Aberdeen has set up the salary structure with inceptives based on the number of tasks a person can do inside a job set. As an employee learns more skills they can become certified in the skill and gain a levels in salary. This creates cross-trained employee who can then train other staff inside the team. Green River runs in a top down management style where the management directs the employee on what to do and uses many levels of middle management to handle scheduling, ordering, quality and coordinate between of employees. The Green River employees are in work silos and are used in the job they are hired to do. The entire Green River employee base is unionized which reduces the ability to cross training because the union has to approve a salary range for cross-trained employees. With all the difference both Aberdeen and Green River run under the same corporate guidelines and have the same corporate objectives.

Organizational Commitment for both Aberdeen and Green River has been good. Both companies have enjoyed growth. Aberdeen places the company in its employee hands while Green River uses many levels of middle management to run the company. Neither of these styles has created great turnover rates, which was shown from the Aberdeen data showing 5-10 percent annually turnover, which is not high or low. Additionally interest in working for each company is high which was apparent with the "over 300 applicants, from as far away as Colorado and Alaska" (Clawson, 2005, pg 22) that Green River had for just 10 opening. Both Aberdeen and Green River try to make the best for there employees with Aberdeen ability to gain salary through skills and Green Rivers high starting salaries. Aberdeen helps their employees learn many different skills since is has a flat structure and less stepped advancements so its employees can be well rounded. Green River on the other hands provides middle level advancement steps with the use of middle management positions.

Aberdeen and Green River have different styles of management, which will lead to different levels of job satisfaction for their employees. For Aberdeen, the management style that was created is built for the employee to enjoy the job they are doing and the people they are working with by creating teams and a sense of family. In addition, provide each employee with a sense of empowerment and the responsibility for each product that is produced. To keep morale up Aberdeen provides rewards for meeting goals, such as extra days off around a holiday. As the turnover rate suggests this system does not work for every employee some employees just want to show up and do what they are told and not have to take as much responsibility for the product that is produced. Employees that would not want to take as much responsibility for the product and want to be directed on what to do would be satisfied working at the Green River site. The Green River employee has a very diverse grouping of products that they product, so an employee can keep moving and working with different costumers so they are not burned out by working with the same costumer and product