Solutions Development
Southern New Hampshire University
OL 500-X2049: Human Behavior Organization
Root Causes: Case Study Analysis
Organizational Issues
Diving deep into the Engstrom Auto Plant case study, it is easy to see how organizational
issues can arise and create turmoil within a business. The issues that they faced cause
productivity issues, low morale, communication and trust issues to name a few. Having served in
the military over the past 16 years, I can personally attest to the different organizational issues
that can happen and how detrimental they can be on the organization itself and how quickly
things can spiral out of control if not addressed immediately. Just as I have stated in my case
study analysis of Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant, the organizational the plant faced in my opinion
are a chain reaction of events and behaviors that led to company finding itself on the verge of yet
another downfall.
Being in the military, I have had the pleasure of working with diverse individuals and
skillsets. I must say that over the years, there has been a decline in independent leadership and
accountability that has had a major influence on my current organization, causing a lack of
consistency, motivation. Every year there is an influx of Sailors checking in and out, varying in
Rank. This mixes experience with Sailors that are new to the fleet and keeps things neutral as far
as skillsets and the diversity aspect. With the COVID virus outbreak beginning in early 2020, it
put a hold on anyone transferring in to replace the experienced Sailors. We ended up losing 6 of
our middle management leaders and 1 senior leader with no replacements. Things began to
decline quickly and it showed in the quality of food and customer service feedback being
received daily.
Within the military structure, being able to lead is one of the most important leadership
traits a person needs to have in order to be successful. A leader must be able to train
Root Causes
The root causes that plagued the Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant were a continuation
of the Scanlon Plan not being sustainable long term. When the plant experienced its first crisis.
its turnaround had been based solely on the incentives that Bent implemented after studying two
other plants and their success using the Scanlon Plan (Beer & Collins, 2008 p. 1). Bent wanted to
employ this concept so that employees would be highly motivated, find job satisfaction and high
morale knowing that there would be a bonus incentive monthly. The more that they produced, the
more money they could earn. He did not address the underlying root of the problem which was
the overall culture that was causing the employees to be unhappy and lacking morale.
Poor Productivity at the Engstrom plant was prevalent and a major area of concern for
Bent as he expressed his concerns to Haley about the reoccurring productivity problems they
were having (Beer & Collins, 2008 p. 1). There was a lack of motivation on the