Pulse Report Paper

7/26/2019 Pulse Report Paper

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12/8/2009

Phils Fab FourKelli Bastien, Sandy Kue, Katie Stilp, and Erin Youn

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Contents

E.eutie Suary--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*ase !erie3----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

$ssuptions------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 44

Proble $nalysis------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 55

Stated Proble------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------55

nstated Proble/ !erall Proble-----------------------------------------------------------------------55

Syptos------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 88

#oals o6 the *ase------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1111

$udiene $nalysis-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------117

K-&-S-S- *harts----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------117

*hane Plannin *hart--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1815

+yers Bris------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2121

Stratey, (atis, "ationale------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2222

"eeted &deas------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2825

*onlusion------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2825

*ontinuous &proeent-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2928

$ppendi. $: 100 Fats------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7029

$ppendi. B: Pulse "eport------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7875

$ppendi. *: ;uantitatie Pulse "eport $nalysis---------------------------------------------------10

$ppendi.


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+!%(> !%E------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------54

+!%(> (@!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------=2=1

"e6erene Pae-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------==7

Executive Summary

Our paper consists of an in-depth analysis of Case 11.1, which deals with an auto parts

manufacturing company and its CEO seeking help with its communication strategy. As

communication experts, we have analyed the company!s culture, employees, and operations

along with the auto parts manufacturing industry to find the pro"lems within the company that

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prevented effective communication. #e will present a case overview with the facts we received

as well as our assumptions we made during the case that provided a "asic context for our

decisions. $ollowing that, we will present a pro"lem analysis descri"ing the stated and unstated

pro"lems we found from analying the company!s %ulse &eport,and then propose our

communication goals along with the "usiness goals. 'ext, we will analye our audience with

(.).*.*. charts and an organiational change chart. $rom our audience analysis, we will

recommend strategies to solve the pro"lems presented in the case, with tactics that can "e

implemented, and our rationale for why we think these strategies and tactics will work. #e also

will provide a roll-out schedule for the implementation of these strategies and tactics "efore

concluding with our re+ected ideas and our continuous improvement ideas.

Case Overview

ost of us can remem"er he elephone ame from when we were young. A group of

kids would stand in a line or a circle and the first person would whisper a sentence or two into

the ear of the next person. hat person would repeat it to the next person in line and the next until

it reached the last person. he last person would then announce what they heard, which was

always never close to the original message. Although it was a funny game as a child, many

people don!t realie that the same game is essentially /played0 in the workplace as well. One

person tells a second that there are going to "e /a few layoffs.0 he second person tells the third

a variant of the first person!s comments and the communication continues going in people!s ears

throughout the company. efore you know it the /few layoffs0 turn into every"ody hearing that

the whole plant is shutting down and everyone is losing their +o"s. his type of /telephone game0

usually "egins with rumors as a direct result of a lack of communication "etween employees and

managers. his common issue was one of the pro"lems identified in our case.


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o "egin our case, we identified and analyed what the pro"lems were and the o"+ectives

we were assigned to achieve. Our case involved *uanne Edwards, a new CEO of an auto parts

manufacturing firm that has over 1,222 employees. After spending the first six months of the +o"

/righting the financial ship0, s. Edwards needed us to develop a communication strategy that

would address the concerns presented in the company!s monthly %ulse &eport. A %ulse &eport is

a part of the %ulse %rocess, which, according to Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness"y

%hillip . Clampitt, has three main o"+ectives. he first o"+ective is to /identify employee

concerns and reactions to ongoing initiatives in a timely, relia"le, and economical manner.0 he

second o"+ective is to /respond to these concerns0 and lastly, /cultivate a productive dialogue

"etween executives and employees.0

he %ulse %rocess "egins "y administering a short survey that includes several close-

ended statements in which respondents rate their agreement on a scale of 1 to 3, with 1

representing /strongly disagree0 and 3 representing /strongly agree.0 )n our %ulse *urvey 4see

Appendix 5, 6uestions asked included /) know how ) contri"ute to the %lant!s growth,0 /) have

an important role in the %lant!s success,0 /y immediate supervisor provides routine updates on

%lant issues,0 and /) understand how ma+or decisions are made in the %lant,0 among other

6uestions. he %ulse *urvey also asks one or more open-ended 6uestions. )n our case, only one

6uestion was asked7 /)f you could ask the plant manager one 6uestion, what would it "e80 he

%ulse &eport results will "e analyed later in this paper in AppendixesC and 9, as this was one

of the o"+ectives of our case that s. Edwards re6uested.

:pon analying the pro"lem, we determined that the purpose of our case was to learn

how to analye assessment data and develop a strategic plan. o achieve this, we "egan

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developing a list of assumptions to "ase our decisions on, analying our pro"lemsand goals for

the case, and identifying communication and "usiness goals.

Assumptions)n our analysis of the case, we made several assumptions to provide a "asic context for

our decisions. One of our assumptions was the CEO had not "uilt a rapport with her employees.

#e made this assumption "ecause she is relatively new on the +o" and our case situation

explained that /she has devoted most of her time to ;righting the financial ship.!0 *he also

explained that she was /far more comforta"le with *ix *igma initiatives than & alchemy.0 *ix *igma is a data driven approach and methodology that companies use for

eliminating defects in any process. Companies use *ix *igma to increase profits "y eliminating

varia"ility, defects, and waste that undermine customer loyalty 4)*ix*sigma, ?22@5.

Another assumption was that there was only one plant manager and several lower- level

managers, with employees underneath them. #e came to this assumption after researching the

hierarchy in auto manufacturing firms and from the 6uestion used in the %ulse *urvey, which

asked, /)f you could ask the plant manager one 6uestion, what would it "e80 he %ulse *urvey

also had a close-ended statement that said /y immediate supervisor provides routine updates

on %lant issues.0

A third assumption we formed was that the implementation of the strategy would "e over

a long period of time. his goes along with another assumption that there haven!t "een any ma+or

improvements from the %ulse &eports in the last @ months. #e made this assumption "ecause in

the case situation it said this month!s %ulse &eport has comments and responses that were /fairly

typical of other reports she has received in her first six months on the +o".0 his shows that the

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pro"lems that are arising in the company have "een around for an extended period of time and

will not "e easily fixed. Employees will need time to get used to the changes and determine if

they are satisfied with the changes presented in the communication strategy.

Problem Analysis

Stated Problem

he o"vious,or stated pro"lem, of our case was that the CEO needed us to develop a

communication strategy to address the concerns raised in the %ulse &eports in order to /keep the

crew pointed in the right direction.0 he CEO felt that this pro"lem was an >& pro"lem. &esults

from the current %ulse &eport were not new and as a new CEO, she wanted to try to solve these

pro"lems.

Unstated Problem/ Overall Problem

ased on the compiled results of the %ulse &eport 4see AppendixesC and 95 we noticed

that there was an unstated pro"lem that needed to "e addressed. #e learned from the %ulse

&eport that the overall pro"lem was that there was a manager and employee disconnect.

Employees and managers were not sharing information and "ottom- up communication was

ignored. Although some of the feed"ack we received from the %ulse &eport was positive, a large

portion of the 6ualitative data that we analyed was negative. #e knew that there was an

underlying pro"lem that needed to "e addressed due to the large num"er of negative responses.

*ome responses provided suggestions for corrective action, while others were not very

constructive. #e further analyed the %ulse &eport to gather more specific details a"out the

pro"lems in the company.

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)n our analysis of the %ulse &eport data we identified and classified the employees!

responses using a micro approach "ecause of the need to filter the numerous varied responses.

#e found three ma+or types of concerns,which included an issue a"out the hierarchy of the

plant, incongruent goals "etween different levels or departments, and the lack of information that

was "eing shared in the company. $rom those three concerns, we concluded that they were all a

result of the overall pro"lem of a manager and employee disconnect"ecause of the many

organiational "oundaries that existed within the plant.

he hierarchy classification was used to identify concerns related to the fact that the plant

was too top heavy. his represented a total of 1@ percent of our su" pro"lems. 'ext, ?@ percent

of the responses were related to the fact that information was not "eing shared. his could mean

that the information was not "eing shared at all, or not effectivelyshared,andor notshared in a

timely manner. astly, B percent of the responses were related to incongruent goals, or the fact

that the goals of the employees and the goals of the plant or upper management conflicted with

each other.

Symptoms

#ith this company, the pro"lems were so rampant that with our analysis it was difficult to

determine whether something was a symptom or a pro"lem. any of the managers were trying

to appease the symptoms of the employees without actually solving the pro"lem. #e have

identified some key symptoms found in the company and will "riefly explain how it relates to the

pro"lem at hand.

$irst, lower-level employees do not understand how ma+or decisions are made in the

plant. his can "e linked to the fact that the plant is too top heavy and employees do not feel that

they are important in the success of the company. )t can also "e linked to the pro"lem that there

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are incongruent goals. )f the employees don!t understand how ma+or decisions are made,

credi"ility of the upper management is lost and the employees start feeling unimportant. )t is

hard for employees to relate to these ma+or decisions and understand how they might ultimately

"e affected "y the decisions. his symptom also ties into the pro"lem that information is not

"eing shared. #hen decisions are "eing made, the decision makers are not informing others

a"out how that decision was made. herefore, employees have a harder time going through the

acceptance stage, according to the (u"ler-&oss odel. 9ecisions are were"eing implemented

with apparent dissatisfaction and without the proper knowledge.

*econdly, lower-level employees do not know where the plant is heading for the future. )f

they feel that they do not know how ma+or decisions are made and don!t know the plant!s plans

for the future, the employees are going to have a hard time trusting the overall credi"ility of the

plant and upper management. his symptom can also relate "ack to all three of our negative su"

pro"lems. $or example, upper management is not sharing information, or not sharing

information in a timely and effective manner a"out future plans. ecause of the num"er of levels

within the company, top- down communication is "eing made "ut not reaching to the lower-level

employees. Employees that are uninformed a"out the direction in which the plant is headed

might not understand how their role affects the company and how they might "e a"le to add

value to the company. his can result in incongruent goals. he "usiness goals of the company

might not "e effectively communicated in order for the lower-level employees to understand,

relate and contri"ute to change, and maintain the overall success of the plant.

hirdly, lower-level employees feel unsatisfied and want more sta"ility and security. )f

the plant is "eing run from the top- down and there is no concern for informing the lower-level

employees a"out ma+or decisions and future of the plant, the employees are going to feel

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insecure. he uninformed employees are going to "ase their thoughts on the current state of the

entire auto industry, which is unsta"le at the moment. his is also an example of incongruent

goals. he employees! goal is to maintain sta"ility and security, and "ecause upper management

is not taking the time to communicate this with their employees, it appears that they do not care

a"out their employees. )t can also appear that upper management is trying to hide the possi"ility

that the plant is unsta"le.

Additionally, there is a lack of employee engagement. he employees do not feel like

they are a part of the overall success of the plant due to the fact that there is a lack of

communication and information is not "eing shared. )n addition, they also feel that upper

management does not value them and they do not share the same goals of the company!s success.

)f the employees do not feel valued and are unmotivated, they are less likely to "e productive.

astly,as a result of incongruent goals, the company may "e too concerned with

financials and not with employees. #hile the financial well-"eing of the auto manufacturing

industry as a whole is unsta"le, the plant itself needs to find a "alance with valuing the

employees while maintaining financial sta"ility. )f more emphasis is put on trying to value the

employees then it might actually improve the financial state of the company.

Goals of the Case

After looking at our overall stated and unstated pro"lems as well as our symptoms we can

more easily identify and specify our goals, while still keeping in mind the case!s o"+ectives of7

415 %rovide an analysis of the %ulse data.

4?5 9evelop a strategy that fits with s. Edward!s style.

4D5 *uggest some sample tactics that she could use to implement the strategy.

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Our overall goal of the case was to develop and implement an effective communication

strategy to address the concerns raised in the %ulse &eports.

#hile developing and implementing an effective communication strategy we needed to

"e a"le match our strategy to fit the management style and re6uests. )n order to do this we

needed to identify the personality and management style, and ad+ust accordingly. After

identifying and analying s. Edwards!s personality and management style we needed to also

ad+ust how we communicated with s. Edwards.

)n addition to identifying and analying s. Edward!s personality and management style,

we also needed to also assess the current communication channels. After doing this, we then

could develop new communication channels that could "e used in our plan "ased on the needs of

the organiation and the communication pro"lems. hen we would implement the strategic

communication plan, taking into consideration the audiences and how they are affected "y the

change.

efore developing our communication strategy to address the concerns found in the %ulse

&eport, we first had to assess and analye what those concerns were. After doing so we identified

our overall pro"lem,which was a manager and employee disconnect. #hile taking a closer

analytical look we classified the types of concerns relating to our overall pro"lem,which was

related to information not "eing shared, the plant "eing too top-heavy and incongruent goals. o

address these concerns in our communication strategy, we decided that it would "e "est to

identify, clarify and re-esta"lish what the organiation!s goals were as well as the roles of each

employee. )n order to accomplish this, we had to take a look at the goals of each the employees,

management, and the plant. he plant!s goals were those valued "y management, "ut were not

clearly stated and communicated to her employees. ased on the CEO!s management style

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4which will "e later addressed in the audience analysis section5 and the trends in the auto-

manufacturing industry, we constructed our "usiness and communication goals.

Our Business Goals:

Increase production

Increase profitability

Reduce costs

Increase innovativeness

Achieve greater operating efficiency

Create a safer work environment

essen employee turnover

!stablish a value system

Our Communication Goals:

Increase communication and knowledge sharing between upper management and

employees"

Create a sense strong and healthy of culture

Increase emphasis on employee importance to the company

#otivate$ engage employees

Our goals are related to our employees% concerns and our C!O%s values" Overall ,the

companywewanted to make a profit& find cost savings& improve our culture and build

relationships" In doing this there was a need for our our communication goals to help

inspire& motivate& inform& employees and have the CEO relateto her employees to help

accomplish the company!s "usiness goals"

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All of our symptoms were linked to the fact that there were either incongruent goals& or

a lack of information" All of this hadhistied into the hierarchy issue and the manager and

employee disconnect" In order to address these problems and symptoms we clarified our

goals and developed strategies and tactics to carry out our goals and communicate them

effectively"hese goals provided the foundation for our strategy and tactics that we will descri"e

later after our audience analysis.

Our goals are aimed to not only alleviate some of the symptoms of the pro"lems "ut to solve

them. #e wanted to try to solve some of the relational and informational pro"lems present in the

company with our communication goals of relating and informing. $ocusing on "uilding a

stronger culture would encourage teamwork,which would in turn,minimie tension "etween

upper management and lower-level employees. y motivating employees, employees could get

on "oard with some of the managers! goals that conflicted with their own goals. Each employee

would "ecome less individualistic and think more a"out the organiation overall and its goals.

astly, the goal of increasing knowledge sharing helps solve the pro"lem of information

hoarding that was present "etween upper management and the lower-level employees.

Audience Analysis

K.I.S.S. Charts

)n order to "etter address the needs and styles of each group involved in the case, we did

an in-depth audience analysis. #e "egan with a (.).*.*. chart pertaining to the CEO of the

automotive parts manufacturing firm 4s*ee Appendix E5. #e know that this CEO is new to the

firm "ecause she has only "een at the company for six months. #hat we can infer from this is

that she did not have the opportunity to "uild a rapport with her employees. eing new to a +o"

re6uires much of her time for other things, therefore not giving her the availa"ility to meet the

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people that work for her. #hat we recommend she do to help "uild a rapport is to demonstrate

her credi"ility. *he needs to show these employees that she is good at what she does, without

coming off as arrogant or pushy. One thing that the CEO needs to realie is that change can "e

difficult for some people. Once people get into a routine of leadership it may "e hard for them to

adapt to change. #ays for her to try and start warming up to these employees is "y#A or

management "y walking around4#A5. y doing this, she gets a chance to meet with the

employees that are working for her, and therefore start to "uild that rapport. #e suggested shefor

hernot to make drastic changes unless a"solutely necessary. his may give the employees a "ad

impression of her if she tries to implement these too soon. *he needs to understand that not

everyone will "e accepting of the change. *he shouldn!t have to worry a"out this if she maintains

communication with the managers and lower-level employees of the plant. )f she decided to lock

herself up in her office and not communicate with anyone "ecause she wasn!t getting the

response she wanted, pro"lems will arise among employees and "etween employees and her.

#e also know that she has seen past %ulse &eports that had the same kinds of pro"lems in

them. herefore, we can infer that these kinds of pro"lems are not new to her. One of the

suggestions we had for her to do was to present a rollout schedule to her employees to "etter

explain any changes that may take place in the future, and so they can o"serve any improvements

over time. Another thing we suggest would "e to try and understand the receiver!s needs. *he

should try and put herself into their position and see how they would feel during a time of

change. #e suggested she should not ignore the receiver!s needs. #e also do not want her to

"lame the receivers for the pro"lems that are apparent in the %ulse &eport or for other issues

within the company.

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#e also know that the CEOshehasda financial "ackground. )n our case we are told that

she had devoted much of her time to /righting the financial ship.0 $rom this, we can infer that

she is an Arrow manager. Arrow managers tend to focus on clear expression, and "elieve that

words convey meaning. #e suggest that she "e perceptive while o"serving employees and "e

more aware of communication rules and patterns. A task we would like for her to accomplish is

harvesting the dissent in order to anticipate resistance. #hile she does have a "ackground in

finance, we do not want her to overwhelm her employees with information they may not need to

know, or that they may not necessarily understand. 9etails are great "ut when the pro"lem or

information are not necessarily things that the employees need to know, it!s "est not to give them

too much information, thus causing information overload.

#e also did a (.).*.*. chart for the employees of the automotive parts manufacturing

firm 4see Appendix $5. he first, and most important, thing we know a"out the employees is that

there are over 1,222 of them. #ith that num"er of employees, we can infer they are very diverse.

hey all have their own skills which they "ring to the company. hereyare many different levels

in the company. *ome are veterans while some may "e newer on the ranking. #hen you have

that large of a group of people you are trying to communicate with, there is "ound to "e many

different levels of communication "reakdown and communication misinterpretation due to the

law of large num"ers. ecause of this we need to use the divide and con6uer approach to identify

who the lions and opinion leaders are within the firm. )n figuring out who the lions of the

departments are, it will help the company figure out a "etter way of communicating to such a

large num"er of people. >ere again, we would like upper management to work on harvesting the

dissent "ecause with such a large population,rumors are "ound to happen. he "est way for the

CEO and the company to avoid these pro"lems is to avoid using lean channels only. Even though

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lean channels may "e convenient to use, there are so many diverse people that there will "e many

different communication preferences among the employees. here could also "e communication

"reakdown if everyone does not understand the message as it was intended.

#e know that there is most likely a union within this plant since according to the

9epartment of a"or, one out of four automo"ile workers are part of a union 4?225. #e can

infer that there is some sort of division "etween the employees. he employees that are part of

this union may have different concerns than those employees that are not. #e can even infer that

those employees that are part of this union have more power than those who are not in the union.

#hat upper management needs to do is realie the differences "etween the two groups. he

employees that are in the union may have different concerns a"out change than those who are

non-unionied. #e also need to make sure that union guidelines are followed when

communicating messages. here would clearly "e conse6uences if upper management were to

"reak these guidelines. One thing we want to "e aware of is making sure that upper management

does not favor one group over the other. his will +ust cause a greater division amongst the

employees.

One of the most o"vious things that we know a"out these employees is that they are all

employed at an automo"ile parts manufacturing company. *ince we do know this, we can infer

that they all may not necessarily "e highly educated. o work in an auto parts manufacturer, a

"achelor!s degree is not re6uired for the ma+ority of the +o"s. >owever, that does not mean that

none of them have higher education. )t would "e helpful to provide these employees with direct

and relata"le examples to help them in any information that we give them. Another inference that

we can make is that this factory is a strict and fast-paced environment. Auto parts manufacturers

need to keep going at a fast pace to make as much as they can in their work shift due to 6uotas.

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*ince we can infer time is a concern to them, we would want to make sure that upper

management presents employees with any changes or ideas in a timely manner. One thing that

upper management wants to "e careful of is using too much CEO lingo. *ince some of the

employees might not "e as educated as others we need to "e careful how technical we get when

explaining things to these workers. *ince we have already esta"lished that they would like

information in a timely manner, we need to "e careful not to over communicate with the

employees. Over communication is much like information overload. #e especially do not want

to throw them lengthy and time consuming messages. ike we said "efore, this is a fast-paced

work environment and we do not want to hinder that.

Change Planning Chart

he next item we created was a change planning chart 4see Appendix 5. his chart was

created to pick up on the communication o"+ectives for each audience that we wanted to identify.

)t is a chart tailored in response to the improved %ulse &eports and the new initiatives that will "e

taking place. #e used this chart to summarie the audience analysis and to "egin thinking a"out

the strategy-making phase.

he first audience we looked at was the CEO of the firm. #e know that once the changes

have taken place that her overall responsi"ility will increase. *he has the ultimate responsi"ility

if something "ad or good would occur. #e determined that she would "e the lion of this

audience. #e realie that as the CEO of a company, the most effective kind of communication

that can "e given and received is face to face communication. )t is the richest form of

communication and one that will give and receive the most feed"ack. CEOs are typically in

charge of "eing accounta"le for any results coming from changes in the firm. *he also thinks she

knows all of the pro"lems that are happening within the company. he CEO may have some

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concerns or resistance points to changes made in the firm. he idea of time and cost are two

driving factors that may lessen the enthusiasm of change happening. ime is precious in the

current environment. Cost is another factor, especially in the economic times we are currently

in. #e need to make sure that any changes that are made are efficient along with "eing a"le to

save money. Another concern the CEO might have would "e her +o" and its sta"ility. )f a change

is made that affects her performance or the reputation of the company itself, she may fear for her

+o", especially since she is relatively new with only "eing there for six months. #ith this in

mind, the communication o"+ectives of the CEO include developing strategies for the company

along with understanding and interpreting the measura"le improvements.

he second audience that we looked at was the plant manager. he plant manager would

"e affected "y having to increase communication among different levels of the company. he

plant manager would also have to "e more aware of what is going on inside the plant. #hen

looking at the audience, we determined that the plant manager himself would "e the lion. he

"est form of communication for him to use is face to face "ecause of the amount of immediate

feed"ack. he plant manager, as a lion, knows the pro"lems within the plant, most of them

operational pro"lems. >owever, he too has concerns a"out change within the plant. uch like

the CEO, the plant manager is concerned a"out his +o" sta"ility and costs associated with the

changes. he plant manager could also "e concerned a"out 6uotas, and whether or not they can

"e met. One of his main communication o"+ectives includes letting the CEO know a"out relevant

pro"lems or concerns within the company. he plant manager also needs to plan on executing

any strategies that the CEO may come up with.

he third audience that we looked at was the lower-level managers. uch like the plant

manager, after the implementation of these changes, these managers need to "e more aware of

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the communication challenges within the plant. he lions of this group would "e considered the

veteran managers, along with the charismatic and knowledgea"le managers. *ince these people

do have a "etter handle on the company!s ideas and policies, they prefer face to face

communication with meetings and written communication with memos. hey know more a"out

the actual pro"lems that are happening within the plant. Even though they have "een there longer

than the other managers, they stillhey alsohave concerns regarding change. Fust like the CEO

and the plant manager, the lower-level managers are concerned a"out their +o" sta"ility and the

wages they are currently receiving. hey too will "e concerned a"out 6uotas. As a

communication o"+ective, the lower-level managers need to "e a"le to relay concerns from

lower-level employees to the upper management. Also, much like the plant manager, they need

to work on executing any of the CEO!s strategies.

he fourth audience that we looked at was the skilled employees of the firm. #ith any

changes that will "e implemented, these workers will "e taking on more duties and

responsi"ilities such as more cross-training and other culture-"uilding activities. #e consider the

lions of this audience to "e the veteran workers as well as the charismatic and knowledgea"le

workers. *ince some of these employees have "een with the company for a while, they too are

aware of the daily routines and operations. One can take this into consideration and realie these

workers would like face to face communication as well as written communication for something

more tangi"le. he main idea and concepts that these workers know are the special skills that

pertain to their own +o"s. Fust like every other audience, these workers will "e concerned a"out

their +o" sta"ility as well as their wages. hey may feel more at risk since they do sit lower on

the totem pole of the hierarchy. he main communication o"+ectives that these workers need to

focus on,are meeting the goals set upon them "y upper management, as well as participating in

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"ottom- up communication. hey need to realie that they are lower on hierarchy and may not

get their voices heard straight to the CEO.

he last audience that we looked at in completing this change planning chart was the

support staff. #e consider secretaries, sales, accounting, and other administrative personnel in

this group. uch like the skilled employees, they too would "e taking on more duties and

responsi"ilities related to the %ulse &eport and other administrative tasks. Also, like the skilled

employees and lower-level managers, the lions of this audience would "e considered the veteran

support staff as well as the charismatic and knowledgea"le staff. uch like the other audiences,

they prefer face to face communication as well as written. #hat sets this audience apart from the

others is the fact they sometimes prefer email as a means of communication. *ince many of the

staff in this audience is office workers, they are usually around computers more than the skilled

employees whothatare working on the line. his audience, much like the skilled employees,

knows their +o" skills. hey also tend to know the context of the pro"lems that arise in the

company. Once again, the audience will "e concerned with their +o" sta"ility and wages. *ince

this audience does more of the office work, one of their main communication o"+ectives is to

relay information interdepartmentally. hey, +ust like the skilled employees, need to also meet

the goals set upon them "y upper management.

Myers Briggs

#e also did a yers riggs assessment for "oth the CEO and of the employees at the

company. #hile it was fairly simple for us to figure out what the CEO was, it is tough to

determine what the employees were since there are so many of them. here will "e so much

diversity amongst the employees, so not all employees are going to fall into this category.

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$irst we looked at the CEO. #hen looking at whether she was an introvert or an extrovert

we determined her to "e an extrovert. #ithin our case she had no trou"le "ringing us in and

"eing candid a"out the pro"lems she had with the company. CEOs need to "e a"le to

communicate easily with other workers in the company, a characteristic of someone who is an

extrovert. #e then looked at whether she is an intuitor or a sensor. *ince the CEO asked us for

help, and,therefore is open to change,we consider her an intuitor. Also, intuitors look into

further development of an idea and are open to new things. 'ext, we needed to determine

whether the CEO was a thinker or a feeler. *ince she is a "usiness woman and usually CEOs

need to have a long term view a"out the company, we consider her to "e a thinker. hinkers need

to "e logical, o"+ective, and need to "e a"le to look at a prolonged schedule. astly, we needed to

figure out if the CEO was a +udger or a perceiver. *ince the CEO refers to her office as her

/*partan 6uarters0 we could assume she likes control. %eople who like and are in control are

+udgers. herefore,the final result of our analysis is that the CEO is an E'F.

#e then took a look at the general overview of employees whothatwork at the firm.

#hen deciding whether they were introverted or extroverted, we looked at the kind of +o" they

did. *ince most likely they work on their own in their specialties, we assumed they were 6uieter.

#ith the ma+ority of the employees working on a line, they don!t talk to each other unless

necessary. herefore,we categoried the workers as introverts. 'ext we were looking at whether

these employees were sensors or intuitors. $rom %hillipClampitt!sCommunicating for

Managerial Effectiveness, we know that lower-level employees want the "ig picture view of

things, rather than +ust focusing on the present 4?225. $rom this, we typed them as "eing

intuitors. #e also had to decide if the workers were thinkers or feelers. *ince they are logical and

emphasie practicality when working on the line, we inferred them to "e thinkers. astly, we

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needed to decide if they were +udgers or perceivers. #e concluded that the employees are +udgers

since the +o" in which they are working is very structured. #hen these people work in such a

structured environment, they need to have organiation and someone in control. he final result

of our analysis of the employees is that they are )'F.

Strategy, actics, ! "ationale

#e crafted our strategy after setting our goals and conducting a careful analysis of our

pro"lems and audiences. Our goals of inspiring, educating, and motivating are accomplished

within each strategy as we try to foster a stronger and more informed culture. Our strategy is

aimed to cater to the context of the pro"lem and the audiences involved. #ith such a large

num"er of employees, we ultimately made trade-offs in the process. #e also tried to harvest the

dissent as much as possi"le with our audience analysis. Our chart with strategy, tactics, and

rationale is listed in Appendix >.

$or our strategies, we felt that we needed to provide a theme during implementation in

order to provide some sort of framework for the employees. o tie within the auto parts industry,

we decided our theme would "e /One %.A.&.. of the whole0. he acronym %.A.&.. means

/%ushing Achievement through &ewards and eamwork0. his theme emphasied the

importance of teamwork and would help "uild a culture focused on the company overall and its

goals. )t would also motivate employees to achieve these goals through the emphasis on rewards

and teamwork.

Our first strategy is to motivate employees, one of the ma+or communication goals we

had. any of the pro"lems derived from the lack of change and improvement seen in the

company. he same pro"lems kept on re-surfacing on the %ulse &eports. his could "e due to

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many reasons "ut as a result of these pro"lems not "eing solved, employees! morale and

motivation were at an all-time low. #e "elieve we had to tackle this pro"lem first for employees

to "e more receptive to strategies and tactics that we propose for other pro"lems. )n the %ulse

*urveys, employees were giving discussion-terminating retorts out of frustration. o prevent

these, we had to first motivate employees to achieve the organiation!s goals. *ome tactics we

suggested are for managers to reward goal-achieving "ehavior with a mix of extrinsic and

intrinsic rewards, and inspire employees with story-telling, shared values, and management "y

walking around. #e used the concepts of motivation as our rationale to craft our strategy and

tactics. #e knew that unmotivated and disengaged employees could affect the company!s

culture and financials. #e also used the notions of culture and realied the company!s culture

was not healthy and needed to "e fixed in order to have the company performing at its highest

level.

Our next strategy is to emphasie the overall impact of the employees! individual duties

to the "ottom linethrough the goal of emphasiing the value of the company!s employees. *ome

employees were unmotivated "ecause they did not know a"out the overall goals and how they

impacted them. According to their yers-riggs score, the employees wanted to see the "ig

picture and they weren!t getting it. actics to com"at this pro"lem include informing employees

with updates on goals in monthly newsletters and weekly meetings. :sing the *C& model as

our rationale, we wanted to use a rich and lean channel to cater to the diverse needs of our

audience. onthly newsletters are lean "ut allow for introverted employees to contemplate

6uestions. hese monthly newsletters would have feed"ack from the %ulse &eport team and the

CEO, employee recognition, and updates on ma+or decisions. A weekly meeting allows for a rich

channel of communication for ample feed"ack from those introverts and also provides a forum

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for the extroverts to speak out. hese weekly meetings would not only "e informational "ut

motivational with senders setting expectations and goals for receivers. #ith "oth of the channels,

we wanted to use the underscore and explore strategy with our messages to ensure we were not

under- or over-communicating. Each channel could provide reinforcement of our messages

without redundancy. #e "elieve if we kept the messages simple and powerful, we could

eliminate information overload and encourage action.

Another strategy we recommend is for the CEO to esta"lish more rapport with the lower-

level employees"ased on the goal of relating to her employees. #e feel this strategy would

encourage "ottom-up communication and would allow the organiation to "e less top heavy

without eliminating positions, which could contri"ute to the employees! fears of insta"ility.

Certain tactics for management "y walking around include /12 for 12,0 in which the CEO would

promise to her employees that she would take at least 12 minutes of her day to meet 12 new

people within the organiation. After reading TheOne Minute Manager"y (enneth lanchard

and *pencer Fohnson, we "elieve this would "e enough time for the CEO to make an impact and

inspire her employees. As lanchard and Fohnson states, it only takes one minute to inspire and

motivate employees. his strategy was critical in order to "uild a culture focused on teamwork

and colla"oration.

#e also would have /Eating with Edwards,0 a specific intrinsic reward thatwhich

includes a monthly lunch in the cafeteria with a group of employees from all departments

whothathave had exceptional performance for the month. his would give employees the chance

to get to know the CEO in a less formal way and allow knowledge sharing among different

departments. Another uni6ue "enefit would "e the motivation for other employees to try to "e

those /employees of the month.0 >aving this lunch in the cafeteria allow co-workers to

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acknowledge their peers and "e inspired from them. According to the *C&model, using a

face to face channel with this tactic allows for the CEO to accomplish her goal of inspiringeand

motivatingetheemployees. #ith our knowledge a"out the strength of culture and the concepts of

motivation as our rationale, we "elieve this strategy must "e implemented in order for the

company to "e successful.

Our fourth strategy was to communicate to all employees how ma+or decisions were

"eing made in the plant. his strategy was tied to our goals of educating our employees to "e

"etter-rounded and informed employees. he organiation can implement this strategy when

they focus on the goal of educating their employees. #e "elieve using the divide and con6uer

approach and then selecting key lions within those groups to communicate across organiational

"oundaries would "e ideal. As a large automotive parts manufacturer, decisions need to "e made

6uickly. #ith this approach, we could allow decisions to "e made 6uickly and have key lions

help other groups that were not involved in the decision making to transition into the acceptance

stage. hese lions would try to prevent "ad decision downloading. According to (u"ler-&oss!s

stages, the decision makers needed to not only "e cheerleaders "ut teachers to others a"out the

decisions they made. #e could use key lions,who would "e veteran employees or opinion

leaders,to "e presenters in forums held among shifts. Of course, these key lions would have to

"e very knowledgea"le. hese small forums held among shifts would allow for ample feed"ack

and encourage knowledge sharing. #e "elieve "ased on the *C&modelthat using these

forums are necessary. #ith this face to face interaction, it would allow senders to educate the

employees who felt they did not know how decisions were "eing made or what the future plans

were for the company.

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he next strategy was to analye and implement solutions to concerns found in the %ulse

&eport. #e "elieve the %ulse &eport needs to "e more of a "eneficial tool in the company. ased

on the 9-)-(-A model, the company had a lot of data and information with its many %ulse

&eports "ut "arely any knowledge or action "eing implemented. #e "elieve the %ulse &eport

should still "e done monthly with a group of random people "ut, to help the %ulse &eport "e

more impactful and encourage knowledge and action, we would enlist a group of key lions

among different departments to "rainstorm solutions to concerns in the %ulse &eport. he group

would do so after analying the results of the current %ulse &eport. his cross-functional team

would not "e paid "ut would "e given a "onus if the %ulse &eport for the following month

showed improvements. he amount of the "onus and how much improvement would "e needed

to get that "onus would "e determined "y an o"+ective person who would "e the director of the

team. his strategy could allow pro"lems found in the %ulse &eport to "e addressed and

prevented "efore it affects the company!s culture and financials.

Our last strategy was to show follow-through. his was a pro"lem in the company

"ecause many employees were getting discouraged "y the lack of improvement they saw,

especially in response to the %ulse &eports. #e wanted to have the CEO present a rollout

schedule to her employees that includedofthe new changes that would occur in the workplace.

#e have included a rollout schedule for the implementation of our tactics in Appendix ). #e

wanted to ensure that according to the yers-riggs score of the employees who were +udgers

were a"le to "e aware and o"serve the changes "eing made over time. he receivers wanted to "e

informed of these new changes and the "est channel for that was written or face to face,

according to the *C& model. his written rollout schedule could "e used as a reference for the

receivers to prepare them for the new changes and ensure them that things were getting done to

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improve the workplace. his rollout schedule could also "e a stepping stone to foster a more

informed culture.

"e#ected $deashrough our decision making process, we had many re+ected ideas. #e did not want to

use the ma+ority rule approach. his approach would "e convenient and cost effective for the

CEO and upper management "ut it would not cater to the diverse audiences in the plant. >aving

a "ig meeting would not "e ideal as well. )ntroverts would "e unwilling to share their input out

loud. y using smaller meetings among shifts, people feel more included within the discussion.

#e also wanted to have the CEO "e more involved with these meetings, "ut we felt that the CEO

should focus on more strategy issues and she would not have enough time to attend all the

meetings. #e also felt that the lions within each groups could lead these meetings +ust as well as

the CEO so we re+ected the idea of having the CEO in these meetings. #e also thought a"out not

improving the %ulse &eport. #e finally decided to improve the structure of the %ulse &eport to

include more 6ualitative 6uestions to get more specific answers.

Conclusion

$rom the words of >enry $ord7 /Coming together is a "eginning. (eeping together is

progress. #orking together is success.0 #e needed to get this company working together. )ts

departmentalied company had made it so focused on achieving departmental goals that the

company was ignoring the organiation!s goals and how it affects the company!s culture. #e

wanted to get the company "ack on track. #ith our communication strategy, we wanted the CEO

to "uild rapport with her employees, encourage "oundary spanning to increase communication

and knowledge sharing "etween levels of the company, and in the end have a stronger culture

with more motivated and engaged employees.

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Continuous $mprovement

)n general,there seemed to "e some controversy amongst the feed"ack we received.

*ome people seemed to think that the organiation of the presentation including the %ower%oint

slides, color, layout, and information included was good and some thought that it was "ad. *ome

people said that the presentation was too long and some said that it was too short. *ome people

said that we included +ust the right amount of information and some said we had too much info

and needed to save it for the paper. Although we cannot go "ack in time to change how we would

present, nor can we change for our next class presentation "ecause the semester is at an end, we

can take this knowledge and use it in the future and try to tie it into our paper. )t was difficult to

see what exactly needed to "e changed due to this polariation of feed"ack. )n addition,the

feed"ack also seemed very vague and not specific.

As for the content of our presentation, our feed"ack indicated that we did a good +o"

tying our strategies, tactics, and rationale together with the chart we provided. *ome of our peers

thought we should include our references for more credi"ility "ut noted that it was nice that we

used an outside source for our rationale. hey felt we needed to clarify what a"out the %ulse

&eport process and %rofessor Clampitthilsuggested weus totie our goals to our pro"lems. >e

also suggested a theme. #e have included those suggestions within our paper. Overall, they felt

our presentation was informative and thorough.

Appendix A% &'' (acts

1. *ix *igma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects

4driving towards six standard deviations "etween the mean and the nearest specification

limit5 in any process -- from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service.

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?. he goal of *ix *igma is to increase profits "y eliminating varia"ility, defects and waste

that undermine customer loyalty.

D. o achieve *ix *igma, a process must not produce more than D.B defects per million

opportunities

B. A *ix *igma defect is defined as anything outside of customer specifications.

3. A *ix *igma opportunity is then the total 6uantity of chances for a defect.

@. he fundamental o"+ective of the *ix *igma methodology is the implementation of a

measurement-"ased strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction

through the application of *ix *igma improvement pro+ects.

. his is accomplished through the use of two *ix *igma su"-methodologies7 9A)C and

9A9G.

H. he *ix *igma 9A)C process 4define, measure, analye, improve, control5 is an

improvement system for existing processes falling "elow specification and looking for

incremental improvement.

. he *ix *igma 9A9G process 4define, measure, analye, design, verify5 is an

improvement system used to develop new processes or products at *ix *igma 6uality

levels.

12. he *ix *igma 99G can also "e employed if a current process re6uires more than +ust

incremental improvement.

11. oth *ix *igma processes are executed "y *ix *igma reen elts and *ix *igma lack

elts, and are overseen "y *ix *igma aster lack elts.

1?. According to the *ix *igma Academy, lack elts save companies approximately

I?D2,222 per pro+ect and can complete four to @ pro+ects per year.

1D. eneral Electric, one of the most successful companies implementing *ix *igma, has

estimated "enefits on the order of I12 "illion during the first five years of

implementation.

1B. E first "egan *ix *igma in 13 after otorola and Allied *ignal "laed the *ix *igmatrail.

13. Countless studies continue to tell us the ma+ority of our workforce is not engaged.

1@. Engaged employees are more productive, more profita"le, more customer-focused, safer,

and less likely to leave their employer.

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1. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic a"out, his or

her work.

1H. Engaged employees work with passion and are connected to their companies.

1. #hen studies are conducted to find out what employees value in a +o", careeropportunities and development always appears among the top three items, typically

"efore the expected answers of pay and "enefits.

?2. #hat employees really want is a relationship with their managers where"y they can have

open, honest, two-way conversations a"out their a"ilities, interests, and options. hey

want managers to listen to their perspectives, offer their points of view, and provide

encouragement.

?1. o engage employees, the manager must use a variety of familiar management skills and

apply them to the career context.

??. o engage employees, fre6uent discussions with staff mem"ers a"out what they do "est

and what they want to do should "e routine.

?D. Ongoing dialogue enhances productivity and results in a partnership that aids the

employee match positions or pro+ects that maximie their talents.

?B. he managerJs role includes7

K %roviding time for development discussions

K %roviding timely performance feed"ack

K )dentifying an employeeJs potential

K %roviding training and growth opportunities consistent with "oth individual and

organiational goals

K Communicating formal and informal advice and information on the organiation

K inking employees with appropriate resources and people

?3. he employeesJ role includes7

K aking responsi"ility for their own development

K Engaging in self-assessment and soliciting feed"ack

K )nitiating development discussions with their managers

K *etting multiple career goals

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K Advocating their own cause

K aking use of a variety of development opportunities

K Creating and communicating their development plan

?@. >istorically, :.*. auto manufacturers had /$ordist0 organiational practices such as

"ureaucracy, tall organiational structures, command and control management systems,

and seniority "ased compensation.

?. #ith new competition from Fapan, domestic auto manufacturers have "een trying to

implement Fapanese practices like team work, few +o" classifications, an active

continuous improvement culture 4(aien5, outsourcing, +ust-in-time inventory

management, 6uality circles, and lean manufacturing.

?H. here is considera"le evidence in the industrial relations literature that the traditional

adversarial relationship of :nited Automo"ile #orkers is "eing gradually replaced "y amore cooperative relationship in response to glo"aliation, the enforcement of

government regulations, capital mo"ility and the increasing difficulty union!s face in

organiing new mem"ers.

?. Auto parts manufacturers can "e ier 1 4lead vendor5, ier ?, or ier D suppliers for the

ma+or manufacturers.

D2. he key driver of profita"ility for auto parts companies, going forward, hinges on their

a"ility to continuously reduce costs and achieve greater operating efficiency, with secure

and sta"le orders from auto makers "eing crucial.

D1. Companies strong in the area of capacity utiliation L plant flexi"ility, geographic

positioningMmarket reach, cost protection in relation to commodity price movements and

product development efficiency should exhi"it resilience in profita"ility, and earn good

ratings.

D?. he automotive parts manufacturing industry is heavily integrated "etween the :.*. and

Canada. oday, every vehicle assem"led in 'orth America contains nearly I1,?32 worth

of parts manufactured in Canada. here is a high concentration of these firms in the state

of ichigan and the %rovince of Ontario, Canada.

DD. ecause of lost "usiness, more than ?22 auto suppliers in the I12 million-I322 million

revenue "racket are in financial trou"le.

DB. Auto industry faces a num"er of pro"lems including over"urdening health-care costs,

union strife, over-capacity, exposure to high steel prices, and competition from a"road.

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D3. Although approximately 1 out of 3 +o"s are located in ichigan, especially the 9etroit

area, an increasing num"er are located in other parts of the country, particularly the south.

D@. Average earnings are very high compared with those in other industries.

D. Overtime is especially common during periods of peak demand. ost employees,however, usually work an H-hour shift7 either from a.m. to D7D2 p.m. or from B p.m. to

1?7D2 a.m. A third shift often is reserved for maintenance and cleanup.

DH. >eat, fumes, noise, and repetition are not uncommon in this industry. )n addition, many

workers come into contact with oil and grease and may have to lift and fit heavy o"+ects,

although hydraulic lifts and other e6uipment have eliminated much of the heavy lifting.

Employees also may operate powerful, high-speed machines that can "e dangerous.

D. )n ?22@, motor vehicle manufacturing, on average, sustained 11.B cases of work-related

in+ury and illness per 122 full-time workers, 1D.? in motor vehicle "ody and trailer

manufacturing, and . in motor vehicle parts manufacturingNcompared with @.2 in all

manufacturing industries and B.B in the entire private sector.

B2.Industrial production managersoverseefirst-line supervisors and managers of

production and operating workers. hese supervisors oversee inspectors, precision

workers, machine setters and operators, assem"lers, fa"ricators, and plant and system

operators. hey coordinate a variety of manufacturing processes and production

activities, including scheduling, staffing, e6uipment, 6uality control, and inventory

control.

B1.Assemblers and fabricatorsand metal workers and plastic workersput together variousparts to form su"assem"lies, and then put the su"assem"lies together to "uild a complete

motor vehicle. ost assem"lers in this industry are team assemblers, who work in teams

and perform a variety of tasks.

B?. )n ?22@, a"out 1 out of B workers in motor vehicle and parts production were union

mem"ers or were covered "y union contracts, more than dou"le the proportion of workers

in all manufacturing industries and all workers in the private sector.

BD. he primary union in the industry is the :nited Automo"ile, Aerospace, and Agricultural

)mplement #orkers of America, also known as the :nited Auto #orkers 4:A#5.

BB. $or example, oyota and many of its suppliers expect all employees to show potential for

leadership, to participate in teams, to develop the skills and flexi"ility necessary for

multiple +o"s, and to focus on safety and "uilt-in 6uality. he automaker also seeks and

develops employees with a structured approach to thinking, pro"lem-solving, and

improvement.

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B3. he :.*. auto parts manufacturing industry consists of a"out B,322 companies with

com"ined annual revenue of a"out I??3 "illion.

B@. arge companies include Arvineritor, 9ana, 9elphi, ear, Gisteon, and the automotive

division of Fohnson Controls.

B. he industry is very concentrated.

BH. ier 1 suppliers, of which there are roughly 1,222, usually concentrate in one or two

distinct industry segments such as axles, power trains, "rakes, exhaust systems,

suspensions, electrical components, seating, engine parts, or accessories.

B. /ost of these supplier companies are family-owned,0 said 9aniel uria, research

director of the ichigan anufacturing &esearch Center in Ann Ar"or. /And in a period

when the families can!t sell, the decision is to preserve the companies as future streams of

revenue for the next generation.0

32. *ome plants have institutionalied pay-for-skill, a pay system in which, employees

receive additional pay for each new skill they learn.

31. oyalty and gift exchange appeared to motivate employees in several cases. $or example

at )ndustrial *trainer, workers contri"uted on average half a suggestion per year each,

even though there was no explicit reward for doing so. #hen asked why, several workers

said, )tJs a good place to work, "ecause of a"ove average wages 4I1? per hour rather

than the I12 prevailing in the area5. One worker added that an additional motivation was,

anagement--at least some of them--cares a"out you.0

3?. #hen conducting a communication audit, the first step is to determine who should

conduct the assessment.

3D. he next step to take into consideration is to select the proper method4s5 or tool4s5.

3B. A variety of methods, such as 6uestionnaires, interviews, focus groups, communication

logs, and network analysis, can "e used to conduct an annual or "iannual communication

audit.

33. Pou want to make sure that all employees know their comments will remain confidential

when conducting a communication audit.

3@. Pou want to make sure that you garner top management!s full support of the assessment.

3. $inally, you want to carefully interpret your findings.

3H. )f the organiation does not plan to respond to the findings, then the data should not "e

collected in the first place.

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3. Even if the organiation plans on responding to the audit results, the timelines of the

response presents one of the most trou"lesome potential draw"acks.

@2. he first ma+or o"+ective of the %ulse process is to identify employee concerns and

reactions to ongoing initiatives in a timely, relia"le, and economical manner.

@1. he second ma+or o"+ective of the %ulse process is to respond to these concerns.

@?. he third ma+or o"+ective of the %ulse process is to cultivate a productive dialogue

"etween executives and employees.

@D. A short %ulse survey 412-13 6uestions5, is routinely administered to a rotating sample of

employees on a "iweekly or monthly "asis.

@B. he %ulse &eport is a one-page summary of the findings, presenting 6uantitative data for

the numerically rated 6uestions and ma+or themes for the open 6uestions.

@3. An Executive &esponse outlines senior management reactions to the issues highlighted

from the current %ulse &eport.

@@. he %ulse &eport provides the organiation with a timely and accurate record of the

current working climate.

@. he %ulse %rocess re6uires a degree of attentiveness to procedural concerns similar to

that of a communication audit.

@H. Employees need to have a clear understanding of how the process will work, including

the pro+ected timeta"le for the report and executive responses.

@. Communication strategy can "e "roadly defined as the macro-level communication

choices we make "ased on organiational goals and +udgments a"out others! reactions,

which serves as a "asis for action.

2. *trategy involves a macro-level orientation that can "e distinguished from tactical

concerns.

1. *trategy involves implicit or explicit choices resulting in trade-offs.

?. *trategy involves goal setting.

D. *trategy involves anticipating others! reactions.

B. he dance "etween the initiative and the response and then the su"se6uent ad+ustment

creates the dialogue that determines the success of the strategy.

3. hat dance differs greatly from one "ased on a theme of /learning to avoid mistakes.0

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@. *trategy naturally serves as the "asis for action.

. *uanne Edwards is the new CEO of an automotive parts manufacturing firm.

H. *he recently read the company!s communication %ulse &eport.

. %ulse &eports are market research data.

H2. *he has "een in the position for at least @ months.

H1. he firm for which she works has over 1,222 employees.

H?. *he has a "ackground in finance.

HD. here were 1,B? respondents to the %ulse report.

HB. he %ulse &eport was from the month of April.

H3. &espondents were asked to respond on scale of 1-37 1 representing that they *&O'P

9)*A&EE and 3 representing that they *&O'P 9)*A&EE.

H@. Only BB percent of the employees responded to the %ulse report.

H. here was an increase from the cumulative norm to the current month norm of .B percent

with people thinking that they have an important role in the %lant!s success.

HH. he current month norms seemed to "e fairly close to the current month norm.

H. Out of those that responded to the 6uestions only percent of the people strongly

disagreed that safety is a high priority in their department and B1 percent disagreed, and

percent were undecided, which means over 32 percent of the people felt safety was an

issue.

2. 'o one strongly agreed that they understood where the %lant is headed.

1. 'o one strongly agreed that the plant was moving in the right direction and only

percent agreed that the plant was moving in the right direction.

?. $ifty percent of the people who responded were either undecided or agreed to some

degree that they understood how decisions were made.

D. he 6uestions the plant manager was asked all varied.

B. *ome of the 6uestions posed "y the employees were dou"le "arreled 6uestions.

3. )t was unclear if people knew how they contri"uted to the plant!s growth- D percent

agreed, 1B percent undecided ?B percent agreed, and ?D percent strongly agreed.

7=


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@. $orty-six percent of the people who responded said that they and their co-workers were

focused on controlling costs.

. he employees were allowed to ask the plant manager one 6uestion.

H. he 6uestions from the employees who responded indicate that the employee!s feel thereis not good communication.

. he 6uestions from the employees who responded indicate that the employees feel their

concerns are not of importance to the CEO.

122. he employees asked loaded 6uestions which may indicate they need an a"undance of

information.

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Appendix )% Pulse "eport

Pulse "eport

April

&ating is on a /1Q30 scaleR 1 representing /strongly disagree 4*95,0 3 representing /strongly

agree 4*A5.0

Qestions arranged in order o! most agreement to least

agreement !or the "rrent month#s reading

Qestion Cumulative

*ormCurrent

+onth

*orm

S

-&.

/ A SA

-0.

& Ano3 ho3 & ontribute to the

Plants ro3th-

-= 12' 79 1 2 27

+y o?3orAers and & are

6oused on ontrollin osts-

-2 324 4 18 9 25

Sa6ety is a hih priority in ydepartent- 7-8 325 9 1 9 29 12

& hae an iportant role in the

Plants suess-

7-1 320 15 27 7 8 18

@e ontinue to eet ustoer

needs 3hile ontrollin osts-

7-1 627 20 2 70 1 12

+y iediate superisor

proides routine updates on

Plant issues-

7-0 624 18 70 70 11 11

(he Plant is oin in the riht

diretion-

2-9 628 =9 72 9

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& understand 3here the Plant is

headed in the ne.t Cuarter-

2-5 621 =2 22 22

& understand ho3 aor

deisions are ade in the

Plant-

2- 626 28 22 74 9 =

% D%uber o6 "espondents

154 Do6

7882

66 -of

11.

"esponse "ate

0'9

I! yo "old as$ the plant manager one %estion& 'hat 'old it be(

S #hat new products are on the horion8

S here is a significant amount of work "eing done to keep the plant operating at its current high

level for our existing products. iven this, it seems there should "e a little less emphasis on

getting all the transformation training done this year. *ure the training is important, "ut let!s

"e smart as we prioritie activities. Comments8

S he key to our competitiveness in the future will "e totally engaged employees. Employees

always looking for improvement opportunities and a way to reduce waste. )t is employees

utiliing their time wisely every day. his is a different mentality than punching a clock and

putting in your time. *ome of our people really do utilie their time effectively. y 6uestion

is, do you think the union mem"ership 4in general5 truly understands the urgency of this8 9o

they understand coming into the plant and working on whatever needs attention, safely of

course. )t has to "e significantly different in the future than it is today.

S #e have trained a large num"er of people to do our +o" "ecause of flex issues. %eople who

have done the +o" for nearly ? years are still having occasional pro"lems with parts of the +o",

and they trained for over a month at the "eginning. 'ow we are training other flex people on

this +o" so they can help out at timesR they are receiving D or B days of training each. >ow

much help do you think they will "e8

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S #hen are we going to get some"ody in the maintenance dept who is a person who will work

with the people and not for the puppet master that controls him8 9o you have to have a

graduate degree to get promoted in the maintenance dept 4"uddy system58

S hanks for taking on the challenge of "eing plant manager at this time of transition.

S ) really appreciate the work that is "eing done to clean up the plant. )t is looking nice. o help

keep it clean, how do we get people to 6uit throwing used earplugs, coffee cups, etc., on the

floor8 hey wouldn!t do this at homeR at least ) don!t think they would.

S Could you please give me three specific examples of /flexi"ility0 that you would like to see

and some explanation of why that shouldn!t scare the shTT out of me8

S #hy don!t you let the plant employees make some decisions on what new policies to enact

instead of management making all the decisions8

S Are we getting any feed"ack from our customers8 >ave orders gone up8

S )n the past year, ) have noticed our products sitting on the loading docks with />O0 stickers

on it due to no availa"ility of outside carrier trailers andMor late due dates. #hat do you plan

on doing a"out it and how are we compensating our customers for late shipments with over

the road carriers and scheduling8 >ave we thought a"out our own trucking line 4which we

already have5 to run loads "ack and forth8

S #hy do we pay so much attention to the whiners and not the winners8

S'othing that is worthy of your time

S #hat has happened to our employee communication8

S his may not seem that important, "ut ) can!t understand why ) do not ever receive my pay stu"

on hursdays. ) get it on $ridays and several times ) will get it on *aturday.

S hanks for a great +o" in a tough situationU

S Pou don!t see too many cars here on nights and weekendsU ) know corp and salary stick

together "ut until you look in a mirror and truly "e honest with yourself, you will realie that

we are indeed too top heavy.

S #hy is it when new "usiness development gets good ideas the execs throw them out8 ) don!t

think they follow through with ideas well enough. #hen they do, and someone comes up

with something, they don!t get anything for it. #hat a knife in the "ack to those who deserve

more than they got. ), for one, am glad ) will not "e one of those peopleU

S 9o you not hear the frustration in these 6uestions month after month after month8 #here do

you think this comes from8 And how do you think the negativity affects people after this

amount of time8 )t!s not fair to keep putting more frosting on. ood people with good

attitudes work here, "ut constant frustration does take its toll on even good people and wear

down a person. And please don!t suggest looking for another +o" anymore. #e want and

79


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appreciate our +o"s here. #e +ust want more sta"ility and some security and ) don!t think

that!s too much to ask for.

Appendix C% :uantitative Pulse "eport Analysis

>ighest to owest

Cumulative- *ee sheet

Current onth- *ee sheet

9ifference "etween Cumulative and Current onth 4April5 'orm

'(")*) have an important role in the %lant!s success.

'+",**afety is a high priority in my department.

'+"-*#e continue to meet customer needs while controlling cost.

y immediate supervisor provides routine updates on %lant issues.

) understand how ma+or decisions are made in the plant.

'+".*he plant is moving in the right direction.

) understand where the %lant is headed in the next 6uarter.

'+")*y co-workers and ) are focused on controlling costs.

'+"/*) know how ) contri"ute to the %lant!s growth.

*ome Answers %rovided on &eport #e ay #ant to ook )nto

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4DV 9)*A&EE5 ) know how ) contri"ute to the %lant!s growth.

4B@V 9)*A&EE5 y co-workers and ) are focused on controlling costs.

4B1V 9)*A&EE5 *afety is a high priority in my department.

43?V 9)*A&EE5 ) understand where the %lant is headed in the next 6uarter.

43V 9)*A&EE5 he %lant is moving in the right direction.

4O'P V A&EE5 he %lant is moving in the right direction.

Also, a large num"er of the respondents are undecided on whether they feel they have an

important role in the %lant!s success.

&esponse rate was up @V this month compared to Cumulative norm.

Appendix % :ualitative Pulse "eport Analysis

1 comments to /)f you could ask the plant manager one 6uestion, what would it "e80

$ive out of 1 responses suggested a specific improvement

Overall %ro"lem7 anager and Employee 9isconnect 4135 4V5

*u"-pro"lems7

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>ierarchy 4D5 41@V5

)ncongruent goals 45 4DV5

)nformation not shared 435 4?V5

%ositive comments recogniing transition "eing tough 4?5 412V5

Appendix E% ;2$2S2S2 Chart for CEO

01O2 I13!R 4O 25A6 6O 7O 4O 25A6 1O6 6O

7O

-new to the +o"4only @ months5

-she hasn!t "uilt arapport with theemployees

-demonstrate credi"ility-realie change!s effecton employees-#A

-don!t make drasticchanges unless needed-don!t assume everyoneunderstands change-lack of communication

-she has seenother %ulse&eports

-pro"lems are notnew to her

-present rolloutschedule-focus on receivers!needs

-ignore receivers! needs-"lame receivers

-she has afinancial"ackground

-she!s an Arrowmanager

-"e perceptive whileo"serving employees4harvest the dissent5

-Overwhelm them withdetails 4informationoverload5

2


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Appendix (% ;2$2S2S2 Chart for Employees

01O2 I13!R 4O 25A6 6O 7O 4O 25A6 1O6

6O 7O

-Over 1,222

employees

-hey!re diverse

-here are differentlevels

-Communication will

"e misinterpreted "y

some

-:se divide and con6uer

approach and identify

the lionsMopinion leaders

->arvest the dissent

-Only use lean

channels

-here!s a union -here is division

"etween employees

->ave more power

compared to non-

unionied workers

-&ealie the differences

"etween the two groups

-$ollow :nion

guidelines

-9on!t favor one

group over the

other

-Auto parts

manufacturing

firm

-'ot re6uired to have a

"achelor!s degree

-*trict and fast paced

environment

-%rovide direct and

relata"le examples

-imely messages

-9on!t use CEO

lingo

-Over

communicate

7


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Appendix G% Change Planning ChartAudiences 5ow group

will be

effected

2ho are the

lions8

2hat are the

channel

preferences8

2hat do

group

members

know or

think they

know8

Concerns

or

resistance

points8

Communication

Ob9ectives

CEO Overallresponsi"ility

CEO $ace to face Accounta"le%ro"lems

imeCostFo"sta"ility

9evelopingstrategyeasurea"leimprovements

%lantanager

ore comm.andawareness

%lant manager $ace to face %ro"lems Fo"sta"ilityCostWuotas

Executingstrategy%rovide relevantconcerns to CEO

ower-evelanagers

ore comm.andawareness

GeteransCharismatic(nowledgea"le

$ace to face#ritten

%ro"lems Fo"sta"ility#agesWuotas

Executingstrategy&elay concerns toupper

management

*killedEmployees

ore dutiesandresponsi"ility


$ace to face#ritten

Fo" skills Fo"sta"ility#ages

eeting goals%articipate in

"ottom-up comm.

*upport*taff

ore dutiesandresponsi"ility


$ace to face#rittenEmail

Fo" skillsContext of

pro"lems

Fo"sta"ility#ages

eeting goals&elay info inter-departmentally


45/54

=


46/54

Appendix


47/54

Appendix $% "oll=out Schedule

MO)*+ O),

- WEEK ONE-

9AP O'E7

eeting with CEO to present and explain our communication plan 4including the need

for %ulse &eport improvement5

ake necessary changes "ased on feed"ack received from CEO

9AP #O7

)ndividual meetings to explain the new communication plan with

o op executives, plant manager and department heads

o ower-level managers and shift supervisorsMlions of each departmentMshift

9AP >&EE7

eeting with CEO, top executives, plant manager, department heads, shift supervisors,

ower-level anagers, and lions to review the new communication plan and receive

feed"ack.

9AP $O:&7


lower-level managers and lions to7

5


48/54

o &eview the new communication plan

o Address feed"ack concerns

o o over results of %ulse &eport.

o ake changes to %ulse *urvey for next month.

9AP $)GE7


ower-level anagers, and lions to7

o Answer any additional 6uestions

o Address feed"ack and concerns

o &eview next week!s schedule

-WEEK TWO-

9AP O'E7

CEO!s /12 for 120 starts

#eekly department meetings held 4for each shift5, where7

o 'ew communication plan is introduced to employees

o entative rollout schedule is presented to employees

o %ulse &eport and executive response is presented to employees

8


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o $eed"ack is received

9AP #O7

#A, /12 for 120

$irst /official0 forum held to7

o &eview new communication plan

o o over %ulse &eport results and new %ulse *urvey for next month.

$irst /official0 knowledge sharing team meeting held

o &eview new communication plan

o o over %ulse &eport results and new %ulse *urvey for next month.

9AP >&EE7

#A, /12 for 120

onthly newsletter is developed.

9AP $O:&7

#A, /12 for 120

ast changes to monthly newsletter "efore print

9AP $)GE7

9


50/54

#A, /12 for 120

onthly newsletter distri"uted to all employees

-WEEK THREE-

9AP O'E7

#A, /12 for 120

#eekly department meetings held

9AP #O7

#A, /12 for 120

*econd /unofficial0 forum held 4since usually only once a month5

9AP >&EE7

#A, /12 for 120

*econd /unofficial0 knowledge sharing team meeting held 4since usually only once a

month5

9AP $O:&7

#A, /12 for 120

eeting with CEO to give update on progress of new communication plan and the plant.

9AP $)GE7

=0


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#A, /12 for 120

- WEEK FOUR -

9AP O'E7

#eekly department meetings held

#A, /12 for 120

9AP #O7

Explain 4what it is, why it!s important and how info will "e used5 and distri"ute %ulse

*urvey

#A, /12 for 120

9AP >&EE7

Calculate results of %ulse *urvey

#A, /12 for 120

9AP $O:&7

#A, /12 for 120

eeting with CEO, plant manager, and top executives to7

o o over %ulse &eport results

o $orm executive response

=1


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o 9iscussMdevelop next month!s %ulse *urvey 6uestions

9AP $)GE7

#A, /12 for 120

Eating with Edwards

MO)*+ *-O

'#B2A $ C!O%s ,; for ,;< done daily*

- WEEK ONE-

9AP O'E7 #eekly departmentMshift meetings- executive response given from last month!s %ulse

&eport

9AP #O- (nowledge sharing teams meet to address %ulse &eport concerns

9AP >&EE- ions present feed"ack of knowledge sharing teams to CEO and management

9AP $O:&- anagement meetings 4where CEO is present5

9AP $)GE- )nformation is collected for the monthly newsletter

- WEEK TWO -

9AP O'E7 #eekly departmentMshift meetings

9AP #O7 'ewsletter pu"lished 4with last month!s information and this month!s needed to

know information5

=2


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9AP >&EE7 $orums held and lions pr

Documents

Pulse Report Paper