CASE STUDY : The Treadway Tire Company

The Treadway Tire company plant in Lima, Ohio is the companys one of the biggest plants and most important. It has been plagued with high employee turnover at the foreman level resulting in low productivity. Ashley Wall, the HR Director of the plant is faced with the task of investigating the problems and presenting her recommendations to Brandon Bellingham, the plant manager.

1. CASE STUDY ANALYSIS : The Treadway Tire Company Tanya

2. BACKGROUND OF THE CASE STUDY CONTEXT To identify the root causes of the problem, which is the turnover and other one is creating job dissatisfaction among all employees. COMPANY The Treadway Tire Co. is a supplier of tires to major car companies like Ford, GM, Chrysler. They have almost 9,000 employees in North America. Treadway Tire Company only has one current operating manufacturing plant in North America Located in Lima, Ohio. There was a second plant in Greenville, SC which closed in 2006 due to financial reasons PROBLEM High turnover rate and high employee dissatisfaction is bad for the company. Out of a total of 50 foreman, 23 had turnover in 2007 Turnover rate was higher at the Lima plant than any other plant in the division Rising cost of raw materials Price of oil went from $25/barrel in 2003 to $92 in 2007 Raw materials represent 55% of the cost to produce a tire Damien

3. SWOT OF THE COMPANY STRENGTH • Cost efficient • Modernized equipment • Big production capacities • Working 24/7 • One of the biggest tire producers WEAKNESS • Foremen high turnover • No official training • Internal communication problems • Very dependent on raw material price • 12 hour shift OPPORTUNITY • Become most efficient plant • Improved recruitment process • Training programs • Support from superiors • Foremen can make direct impact THREAT • Demoralization • Foremen position viewed unattractively • Problems infect the entire plant • Unions • Loss of cost effectiveness • Increasing raw material costs

4. Problems Lack of communication Not enough power to get done what is needed No room for advancemen Lack of training No room for advancement Not enough power to get done what is needed

5. Solution (a) MBO-Management by Objectives (b) Recruitment process (c) Introduction of formal training/mentoring programs (d) Reduce shift hours for hourly workers (e) Conflict resolution methods (f) Performance Goals for line foreman (g) Use of the correct motivational methods (h) Introduce proper communication channels (i) Improve interpersonal relations

6. INCLUDES THEORIES BY : Maslow's and Herzberg's theories

7. CONCLUSION In a nutshell to solve this situation,leadership needs to take an initiative in changing the motivational structure of the organization.As highly motivated employees who can see the goals of the organization and share the same vision of the company can be productive. There should be Employee Recognition programs to boost the morale of the employees and foster healthy competition which would lead to improved productivity. Continuous surveys should be conducted to identify the morale level of employees and identify possible gaps in the company policies Establish a learning environment- encourage employees to take up initiatives, set up procedures for knowledge transfer and documentation and shift emphasis from production goals to identifying root causes of problems and trying to solve them. Job rotation and job sharing practices should also be followed. This will help break the monotony of jobs for the hourly workers. And it would also decrease the job dissatisfaction.