Oxford Plastics Company
Oxford Plastics Company deals with the production of plastic of the highest quality. It residence that these plastics into a variety of products. These products range from patio furniture, automobiles, and ornaments (Nystrom & Starbuck, 1981). The firm is located in Beatty, which is a town in the Southeastern state. The town’s population is approximately 45,000 people.
On the other hand, the company possesses an approximate of 3000 workers. It is evident that the company plays a key role in the development and the entire economic growth of the area. It is for a reason of the availability of factories in the state who offer only a few well paying jobs (May & Mumby, 2005). In the year 2004, Oxford Plastics Company was notified from Beatty since the manager had a plan to increase the company’s size. The aim of the expansion was to create colour lab and paint shop; its aim was to ensure fast match of colours to the customers in respect to their needs.
Another important thing about the shop is that it gives the company an increased competitive advantage in respect to the growing global market in plastics. Also, it will comply with the environmental agency regulations in the U.S. (Nash, 1983). This case analysis aims at examining the features of the colour shop that Oxford plans to build.
The case study also focuses on the challenges that faced these plans. For example, the biggest task was to identify a good location for the shop. Oxford incurred additional costs, as it had to purchase some extra 75 acre of the land in order to supplement the one that was in the factory campus. The problems and issues that are in this case study based on the following issues. It is clear that the land that was available in the factory campus was not enough for the needed expansion. Therefore, disputes rose on what should be done in order to create more space for the establishment of a colour shop (Shafritz & Ott, 1992).
Therefore, purchase of extra land that was adjacent to the factory premises would not have been favourable. The reason attributed to this was the fact that it was outside of the industry-zoning boundary. In addition, this would have led to the destruction of 400-500 years of the old beech trees. According to the regulations of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, destruction of these trees could have acted as a violation of these rules. It is clear that Oxford was operating on a tight schedule. Moreover, it is obvious that the old process that the company used according to the EAP rules and regulation was reliable to closure. Furthermore, this would cause the closure of the entire factory. The governor stated that the project was boged as well as was thwarted by different interest groups. The main problem was on extending beyond the industry zoning area.
It is clear that, although the governor urged the Oxford management to seek support from the state it was hard for him to offer any assistance that would have helped the company to push through the rezoning (Lant & Shapira, 2000). The reason behind this was that he had a terrific support from the public on environmental causes. This would have meant going against the environmental agency rules and regulation. Another challenge was to find agencies that were in full support of the project.The theories that can be associated with this form of organization issue are the Classical Organization Theory and Neoclassical organizational theory.
The Classical theory evolved in the first half of the century. It is a composition of the scientific management and the bureaucratic as well as the administrative theory. For example, the scientific management theory is based on four principles. These principles include coming up with the best way that match each worker in an organization to the task. Finally, it influences the management task, which aim is to plan and control.
Initially, the developed theory was successful in the improving of the production of goods and services (Miner, 2005). This was contributed to receiving the better people as well as equipment and having a close and clear scrutiny of every aspect in the production process. In the process of analyzing the individual task, it was easy to come up with the right factors to combine in order to have the highest production yield possible. Thus, this theory worked well in the absolute industrialized companies as compare to the modern ones. There was considerable emphasis on the production firstly, and people that lead to the decline in the production.
Later there was an expansion in the theory whereby the need to reduce ambiguity and diversity in the organizations was stressed. This called for specialization and division of the labour. The only theory shortcoming was because it attempted to explain the motivation towards work as the only function of the economic reward. The other theory that explains situation in the Oxford Plastics Company is the Neoclassical organization theory. This theory emphasizes on organization over conformity and rigidity in its operations (Jang, Ott & Shafritz, 2010). This results into creativity, individual growth as well as motivation.
Generally, this theory stresses on a genuine concern of the human needs. Concerning an experiment conducted in respect to this theory it was clear that nearly every aspect had a positive imppact on the productivity. Therefore, paying the relevant attention to essential matters in the company resulted into an increased output. The implication of this case is that any action of intelligence delivers results. It is obvious that an organization might be involved in fads arising from the latest management leading to the Hawthorne effects.
As a result, there are erroneous conclusions that are drawn from misinterpreted and manipulative actions of these companies to the powerless. According to this theory, organizations are regarded as coordinated activities. Therefore, the company’s executive has a role to play in ensuring an atmosphere where there is the attainment of a value coherence purpose (Hughes, 1965). An organization leader has a role to play in the success of these organizations by creating a cohesive environment.Furthermore, all the stakeholders should play a part in the success of the colour shop. That will ensure that the president of the local union is in a strong favour of the colour shop.
It is for a reason that there will be an increased potential for the rise of more jobs (Cartwright & Centre for Creative Leadership, 2007). Also, they should ensure that work closely with the governor who has so much influence on the local supporters; moreover it is easy for him to convince them to be in favour of it. It is also beneficial to capture the interest of environmental campaigners. This is a key strategy that will consider the importance of the project in respect to the environmental defects that will be caused by the project. Thus, the direct environmental effect will fall on the destruction of the beech trees.
It is clear that one of the organizations in order to save the environment has helped a development project like the one Oxford pass (Curtis, 1994). Therefore, by collaborating with such an organization it is a clear indication that this project will face a success. Oxford Plastics Company aim to work or collaborate closely with influential people and organization in the town; moreover, it is a crucial strategy for them. This will change the organizational structure from the current state into a more modernized. Oxford Plastics Company is at a risk of being closed by the environmental agency because of the processing unit they are using.
Therefore, they aim to build a better processing unit. Currently Oxford Plastics Inc. is a small organization, but with the construction of colour shop, it will expand and will be able to create more job opportunities for the local people (Bryson, 1995). It will also have an increased effect on the economic growth. This strategic move will generally improve the company’s performance.
