Management 321, Faculty NSD

Case on Palm-toy
Inc.
By Tasmin Kazi Rinny, ID: 091 0316 030
Sec:12
Case on Palm-Toy Inc.

Palm-toy Inc is manufacturer of various kinds of electronic games. The

management of that company has planned the production process in a very
systematic and intended way. But still the employees had complained about the
production process and some of them had quit their job also. According to them
the hooks moved too fast, the job was too dirty and a messy one and the room
were hot and poorly ventilated. So the women, who were working there, were
learning slowly than had been anticipated. The company had also introduced the
“learning bonus” for the workers which they were suppose to get through their
learning process of “six month”. But as the company was not able to meet up
with their expected result, the engineers called that condition as “resistance”.

To get over from this condition supervisor called for meeting and discussed
about the workers problem with the workers. And according to the workers
demand the supervisor talked with the management and solved out their first
problem which was the poorly ventilated room. As the workers wanted, the
supervisor by the help of management set the fans for the ventilation and made
them satisfied. Then for dealing with the second problem which was the fast
movement of the hook the supervisor again accepted the workers demand and
give the authority to manage the speed of the hook. Getting all this facilities the
workers became very much satisfied and their speed of working had been raised
at 30 to 50 percent which was above the original expected level. Thus the
women were earning more for the “learning bonus” than the many skilled
workers of other sector of the plant. And as they were producing at a very high
scale the extra production was creating problem for other departments. So the
supervisor got over from this problem but got stuck with some other problem
again.

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Case on Palm-Toy Inc.

In this case, the term “motivation” is playing the most important role. They are
given below

Goal setting theory:

After solving the problem of the women of the fast moving hook the production
increased which started creating problem for the other department. And here the
main point is that, when the engineers designed the control dial mark for the
workers to control the speed, the speed of the belt was not the accurate one. In
the belt the average speed was the highest one. So in spite of doing that to
increase the production they should set the goal at a high point with feedback.
So the worker produced the adequate amount of product. According to the goal
setting theory, the specific and difficult goals with feedback lead to a higher
performance.

Equity theory:

When the workers started producing more than the original level, because of
the “learning bonus” they started to get a high payment than the other skilled
workers of the firm. Here the equity theory starts working. Because if the
skilled workers start comparing between the new comers and them, then the
plant may need to face a bad consequence. They may lose their skilled worker.
So in spite of giving them “learning bonus”, the plant should provide the
workers with goal fulfillment bonus. That means every group of worker will get
the bonus after finishing their assigned goal.

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Case on Palm-Toy Inc.

Job design theory:

Job design theory says that the design of a job increase or decrease
performance. In this job of this plant there is no scope for skill variety, task
identity or task significance. But after giving the power of controlling the speed
the workers got the autonomy. And that increased the production. But after
taking back the power the plant had to face the loss again. So the poor design of
the job was a reason behind that condition.

Reinforcement theory:

For producing more, in spite of giving them the “learning bonus”, the plant
should provide the workers with reinforcement. That means every group of
worker will get the bonus after finishing their assigned goal. According to the
theory, if any behavior immediately follows any response, the probability that
the behavior will be repeated increased. So to get the reward workers might
have worked more.

ERG Theory:

When the workers got the solution for their ventilation problem, they fulfilled
their existence need. Then when they got the power of controlling the speed
they met up with their relatedness need. Then they started producing at a high
rate than expected. So in this stage they were actually fulfilling their growth
need. They were trying for their self development.

For the extra production or for the inequity salary problem the management
took over all the facilities that had been provided. And for this reason they lost

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Case on Palm-Toy Inc.

six women and the production dropped. The supervisor also resigned. The
ventilation or hook speed controlling power was their need. So taking it out was
not a right decision. Management should handle it by using goal-setting or
equity theory to keep everything in control.