A Report

on
Case Study 10: Optima Door Company
Course Name: Performance Management
Course Code: HRM – 521

Submitted to
Dr. Md. Serajul Islam
Professor
Department of Management
Faculty of Business Studies
University of Dhaka

Submitted by
Sl. No. Name ID No.
1 Md. Mahabur Alam 240
2 Md. Obaidur Rahman 247
3 Sanjida Sultana 248
4 Abdullah Al Mahmud Khan (Group Leader) 249
5 Shafayat Uz Zaman 267
6 S.M. Kamrul Islam 273
7 Md. Sanan Bin Al Chowdhury 287

Date of Submission: 01 April, 2019

The summary of the case

Optima Door Company manufactured large sliding door and Mr. Pandey was the founder of the
company. The company had grown rapidly because it was the only company on that time. Recently
many company entered into the market. So Mr. Pandey told his assistant Mr. Pujari to increase
efficiency and cut production cost. Before the cost reduction programs were instituted there existed
a very good working environment .Several employees worked overtime regularly. Rakesh the son
of Mr. Pandey has joined as the new production manager. Most of the employees are not satisfied.
In shortly Mr. Pandey stressed the need to reduce waste and increase production. So Mr. Pujari
called the supervisors that they would be responsible for stricter discipline among workers. And
no pay increase if any supervisor would fail to reduce the waste and improve production in his
department. But the workers did not change their work habit because of the pressure put on them.
This created a conflict between the workers and supervisors. Next Mr. Pujari stated that there
would be no more unsupervised overtime. As a result it created so much anti company sentiment
among the workers. As a result of that Rakesh was so unpopular and many workers had quit. Now
Mr. Pujari wanted to find another problem solving steps because cost reduction efficiency efforts
caused resentment among the workers. By this time waste and cost had increased and shipment
decreased.
Question 1: What would you advise Mr. Pujari to do in order to correct the situation?

Answer:

Ways to improve employee satisfaction

Ask employees about their personal motivations: Need and desires of employees are varies
from person to person it basically depends on the business situation. So asking employees about
their personal motivation could be a unique way to fill the needs and of demand of employees. It
can be arranged as asking them, face to face conversation or it can be done through a survey of
employees.

Reduce micro-management: Micromanagement is a management style whereby

a manager closely observes or controls the subordinates or employees. Reduced micro-
management will make employees feel trusted and the trusted employees are more committed to
the organization.

Provide a positive working environment: The Business environment is considered as the prior
condition for creating a high productive organization. By the by the positive environment can be
created through transparent and open communication as well as focusing on training and
development.

Employee recognition: It means recognizing or honoring employees for reaching particular and
employee recognition encourages employees to do future efficiently and effectively. An owner of
the organization can simply share praises in verbal recognition, acknowledging their presence,
providing financial and non-financial incentive.

Ensuring employee participation: Involving employee in decision making and making sure there
is no biasness of evaluating the employee. Overall adopting a participative leadership may
influence employee’s performance.

Put everyone in the right role: Getting the right people on the job and make sure they are in the
right roles is very important. This means that all talent acquisition and retention strategies have to
be aligned with meeting company goals. So, Mr. Pujari should put everyone at the right place. It
will help reducing cost and increase employee efficiency.
Give them the training: No manager or leader can expect to build a culture of trust and
accountability — and much less improve engagement — without setting the team up for success.
This means Mr. Pujari should provide the proper training and development tools while removing
obstacles. Trained employees might help the organization to reduce the shipment time of a product.

Evaluate and measure job satisfaction: Evaluation is a nonstop activity that includes a specific
cycle of steps. The primary purpose of evaluation is to measure progress and determine what
needs improving. Continuous evaluation includes, but is not limited to, the measurement of
attitudes, morale, and motivation of the workforce. It includes the identification of problem areas
needing improvement and the design and implementation of an improvement plan. Good
organizations conduct a job satisfaction survey at least once a year. So, Mr. Pujari should also
conduct job satisfaction survey annually. By doing that, he will be able to understand the job
satisfaction level of his employees.

Businesses have searched far and wide for the competitive advantage, the best equipment, robotics,
or the latest business technique. These devices provide only temporary solutions. The true
competitive advantage is trained and motivated people proudly working together, contributing
their vitality and energy toward the goals of the enterprise.

Mentoring and coaching: These are two different things, and both have their merits. Mentoring
is being able to chat to a senior manager about all kinds of things. Coaching is more specific, and
targeted to improving skills in various areas, rather than employee wellbeing. A good manager
should consider introducing both, in a formal way, for those who want it. So, Mr. Pujari should
work as a mentor to his employees, motivate them and make arrangements for coaching of those
employees who lack any particular skill.

Develop good benefit packages: Good benefit packages increase employee satisfaction and
employee engagement. In this case, Mr. Pujari needs to develop a good benefit package to increase
productivity of the employees. It may include basic pay, festival bonus, performance bonus, cash
award, annual increment, weekly holiday, annual holiday, sick leave, maternity leave, paternity
leave, accidental leave, compulsory leave, gratuity, provident fund, health insurance scheme, life
insurance scheme etc.
Question 2: What intervention would you implement if you are hired organizational
development change agent?

Answer:

There was an attempt to increase organizational efficiency and cutting production costs by the
owner and Mr. Pujari. The process resulted in several problems due to implementation issues. If
one were to be hired as an organizational development change agent he/she would need to take
some managerial actions make the company progress towards Mr. Pandey’s (owner) goal. Some
of these actions are shown below.

Implement waste tracking and recycling system: A big part of Mr. Pujari’s stresses were to
reduce waste. Tracking waste would be the first step. It can be done through a simple ‘waste audit’
every month to see how much materials were wasted or scrapped and then show whether it is at
an acceptable rate. There are many applications for tracking and managing industrial waste that
may work for those who cannot do such audits.

Since Optima is a door manufacturing company, most of its industrial materials are metal and
wood. A Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) can be used to reuse the wood scraps to make
more doors. Wood scraps can be sent to wood recycling companies to be sorted and given back to
the company to make new doors. That way Mr. Pujari can reduce waste and increase efficiency by
making more doors per cubic meter of wood shipped in. The same goes for other industrial wastes
that can be recycled.

Set up a proper overtime scheduling system: A problem with the new overtime policy is that
the workers now require the approval of the production manager, Mr. Rakesh Pandey. Handling
all the overtime procedures is not possible for one person without much lagging, which is what
happened. Setting a simpler overtime policy where workers can get overtime by giving note to
their respective supervisors would be a faster option. Workers may also have the option to work
overtime on their own accord and then notify the supervisors later, in special cases.

They also have the option to schedule a maximum number of overtime workers for a period. They
would need to set the maximum value for overtime one worker can get within a period of time
bearing in mind, the maximum overtime hours is 48 hours per four weeks or 50 hours per calendar
month. It is also limited to 200 hours per calendar year in India.
Set clear goals for supervisors and workers and do orientation: Telling supervisors that they
will be replaced or won’t receive pay increases unless they improve production isn’t productive or
helpful. As an organizational development change agent, one would need to set up clear goals for
each supervisor and their departments. And for disciplining employees stricter, the agent needs to
make new instructions that are clear, concise and simple for the employees to follow.

The change agent would need to set up orientation programs for the new policies under
implementation so that all the involved parties understand the situation, how they affect it, and
what they should do to progress towards the organizational goals. If employees require new
training programs for the new waste reduction, cost cutting, and efficiency measures then they
need to be given such opportunities.

Hire new employees for new and vacant positions: The leaving of several employees has made
the company become more inefficient and the production cost has increased. They are behind
shipments as well. To solve that new positions need to be made in the production, scheduling and
shipping department. Mr. Rakesh Pandey alone cannot handle all the production line including the
overtime procedure. Other employees could take up positions for handling overtime and employee
grievances. The scheduling department can make up new positions such as Scheduling Software
Operator who helps in scheduling and overtime decisions. The shipping department needs to be
interconnected with the scheduling department to make sure they don’t lag behind on shipping.
They also need to hire new manpower to fill up the already lost positions. So creating new positions
and recruitment can help them.
Question 3: What results would you expect this intervention to yield?

Answer:

In the answer of the Question No.2 we have seen the actions and now it is the time for results-

1. Solution of wastage problem: Implementing waste tracking and recycling system can
solve the waste reduction problem. This can boost up the efforts of management to increase
efficiency.
2. End of overtime problem: Setting up a proper overtime scheduling system can end the
overtime problem. It can also terminate the resentment of the workers.
3. Reducing the growing antagonism: Setting clear goals for supervisors and workers can
reduce the growing spirit of antagonism between the workers and supervisors. Orientation
program boost up the process.
4. Meeting consumer demand: Optima Door Company can achieve the ability to respond to
shifting demand without having to take on new workers or expand.
5. Competitiveness: The company can boost the level of competition in the market.
6. Profitability: Increasing productivity helps the company make more products without
increasing costs. The company can make profit to keep it's door's open in the long run.
7. Business growth: Increasing productivity give the opportunity to grow.