MBA Case

Ones pay was strictly linked with ones performance (Jests, 2006). Though there are many great aspects to piecework such as productivity and motivation to earn more money by working faster there are also drawbacks. Workers have been known to work slower on orders to force management to pay them more to work faster so that the order would not be late. Thus, in order for piecework to be beneficial for the company, management must understand what motivates majority of their workers.

Since piecework is based on performance, then it is important that employees are motivated to work at a cent pace so that the company is not put In Jeopardy with a late shipment. As with every situation, there are always positives and negatives.

Piecework employees are under a great deal of stress during seasonal production and the company is at risk for many organizational consequences. One way to help counter the stress of piecework would be to offer a base pay which would incorporate about 50 percent of their pay instead of 10 percent.

This would allow workers more stability in their pay and possibly relieve some of the stress of making sure that they made enough garments every day. Workers In the Sheehan garment industry were willing to work overtime during the peak season, and the average workday was more than 1 2 hours. The workers rested for only one or two days each month during the six-month peak season because they were able to work only four to five hours per day, if at all, during the slow season (Jests, 2006).

These hours combined with the fact that 95 percent of the workers in the city were peasants with out a permanent addresses eliminating them from welfare or labor protection creates a lot of stress for employees and employers. From an organizational standpoint, stress can create a decline in reference, poor attitudes among employees, as well as absenteeism and turnover. Employees under these conditions may begin to care very little about the organization, thus putting the quality of production and work at risk and potentially costing the company a great deal of money.

In order for the Sheehan factory to have happy workers, Mr..

Lou must implore a system that motivates his employees to work harder. If I were in Mr.. Loss position I would develop the company based on the dual-structure theory. The dual-structure theory Identifies motivation factors, which effect satisfaction, and hygiene factors, which determine dissatisfaction (Griffin and Moorhens, 2014).

This may be in the form of ensuring that everyone has access to drinking water, lockers for personal affects, more flexible hours and a few days off.

These simple things would instill a sense of loyalty to the company because they would know that the company actually cares about its employees. To further this it is essential that the voice of employees be heard and taken into consideration for if he wishes to increase productivity and keep his skilled workers. Setting up a core roof of workers nominated by everyone to communicate concerns and ideas with management would be the best way to incorporate everyone. This way Mr..

Lou can create a two way communication system in which he can also share data on productivity and communicate where certain lines might be falling short.

Mr.. Lour could also work to create goals with his core group for the company to achieve and do little forms of incentives to get his employees onboard with these goals. These goals and incentives might be meeting a deadline and receiving a bit of extra money on the last day of production for that order.

These changes are related to Job enrichment based on the dual-structure theory that employees can be motivated through positive work related experiences. To address the immediate issue of making the shipment time for Mr..

Loss current project he could incentive his employees through breakfast the next morning if they make the shipment. Though he would be losing money on breakfast, he would be losing less than if the shipment time is not made which could possibly force him to sell the company. This would also be a great start to the changes that Mr.

. Lou needs to make in order to create a company with reliable employees. These changes and incentives should instill higher employee moral, lower turnover, higher productivity and increase employee satisfaction.