Case Study Analysis (Final Milestone Project):
Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad
Tiffani Brown
Southern New Hampshire University
Abstract
In Milestone One, I have developed an explanation of the organizational issues
within the case study. I have also outlined a direction for the case study analysis of the
Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant.
Introduction
Engstrom Auto Mirror is a privately owned business, located in Richmond, Indiana.
that manufactures mirrors for automobiles of all sizes. With roughly 209 employees to
account for, there tend to be some rocky times. After sales had begun to drastically
decline, the plant manager, Ron Bent, was strained to release 20 percent of his workforce.
"Plant productivity was dropping, employee morale was low, and product-quality issues
had begun to surface. Relationships with key customers were at risk? (Beer & Collins,
2008).
As these downturns were no stranger to the business, the institution reinstated the
Scanlon Plan, a company-wide incentive program. Joseph Scanlon industrialized the
Scanlon Plan in the 1930's to encourage participative management. The three key plan
components are as follows:
: The submission of suggestions for improvement by employees at all levels
- The structure of the company committees that evaluate the suggestions
- Then the sharing of the fruits of increased productivity through monthly
bonuses
The Scanlon Plan did exactly as hoped. Employee productivity increased, morale
was at an all time high, and product quality was better than expected. For numerous
years, workers had received consistent Scanlon pay bonuses, and started to group the
bonus in with their regular paycheck as though it was no longer a reward but instead
owed to them. The bonuses were not going to come forever, and there needed to be a plan
to get Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant back on track.