12/8/2009

ORGANIZATI
ONAL
COMMUNICA
TION

AUTO PARTS MANUFACTURING

CASE 11.1

Phils Fab Four

Kelli Bastien, Sandy Kue, Katie Stilp, and Erin Young

Contents
Executive Summary.................................................................................................. 44
Case Overview.......................................................................................................... 44
Assumptions............................................................................................................. 66
Problem Analysis...................................................................................................... 77
Stated Problem...................................................................................................... 77
Unstated Problem/ Overall Problem.......................................................................77
Symptoms............................................................................................................. 88
Goals of the Case................................................................................................. 1111
Audience Analysis................................................................................................. 1413
K.I.S.S. Charts.................................................................................................... 1413
Change Planning Chart...................................................................................... 1817
Myers Briggs...................................................................................................... 2121
Strategy, Tactics, & Rationale...............................................................................2222
Rejected Ideas...................................................................................................... 2827
Conclusion............................................................................................................ 2827
Continuous Improvement..................................................................................... 2928
Appendix A: 100 Facts.......................................................................................... 3029
Appendix B: Pulse Report..................................................................................... 3837
Appendix C: Quantitative Pulse Report Analysis...................................................4140
Appendix D: Qualitative Pulse Report Analysis.....................................................4241
Appendix E: K.I.S.S. Chart for CEO........................................................................4342
Appendix F: K.I.S.S. Chart for Employees..............................................................4443
Appendix G: Change Planning Chart.....................................................................4544
Appendix H: Strategies, Tactics, & Rationale Chart..............................................4645
Appendix I: Roll-out Schedule............................................................................... 4746
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MONTH ONE...................................................................................................... 4746

MONTH TWO...................................................................................................... 5251
Reference Page..................................................................................................... 5453

Executive Summary
Our paper consists of an in-depth analysis of Case 11.1, which deals with an auto parts
manufacturing company and its CEO seeking help with its communication strategy. As
communication experts, we have analyzed the companys culture, employees, and operations
along with the auto parts manufacturing industry to find the problems within the company that
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prevented effective communication. We will present a case overview with the facts we received
as well as our assumptions we made during the case that provided a basic context for our
decisions. Following that, we will present a problem analysis describing the stated and unstated
problems we found from analyzing the companys Pulse Report, and then propose our
communication goals along with the business goals. Next, we will analyze our audience with
K.I.S.S. charts and an organizational change chart. From our audience analysis, we will
recommend strategies to solve the problems presented in the case, with tactics that can be
implemented, and our rationale for why we think these strategies and tactics will work. We also
will provide a roll-out schedule for the implementation of these strategies and tactics before
concluding with our rejected ideas and our continuous improvement ideas.

Case Overview
Most of us can remember The Telephone Game from when we were young. A group of
kids would stand in a line or a circle and the first person would whisper a sentence or two into
the ear of the next person. That person would repeat it to the next person in line and the next until
it reached the last person. The last person would then announce what they heard, which was
always never close to the original message. Although it was a funny game as a child, many
people dont realize that the same game is essentially played in the workplace as well. One
person tells a second that there are going to be a few layoffs. The second person tells the third
a variant of the first persons comments and the communication continues going in peoples ears
throughout the company. Before you know it the few layoffs turn into everybody hearing that
the whole plant is shutting down and everyone is losing their jobs. This type of telephone game
usually begins with rumors as a direct result of a lack of communication between employees and
managers. This common issue was one of the problems identified in our case.
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To begin our case, we identified and analyzed what the problems were and the objectives
we were assigned to achieve. Our case involved Suzanne Edwards, a new CEO of an auto parts
manufacturing firm that has over 1,000 employees. After spending the first six months of the job
righting the financial ship, Ms. Edwards needed us to develop a communication strategy that
would address the concerns presented in the companys monthly Pulse Report. A Pulse Report is
a part of the Pulse Process, which, according to Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness by
Phillip G. Clampitt, has three main objectives. The first objective is to identify employee
concerns and reactions to ongoing initiatives in a timely, reliable, and economical manner. The
second objective is to respond to these concerns and lastly, cultivate a productive dialogue
between executives and employees.
The Pulse Process begins by administering a short survey that includes several closeended statements in which respondents rate their agreement on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1
representing strongly disagree and 5 representing strongly agree. In our Pulse Survey (see
Appendix B), questions asked included I know how I contribute to the Plants growth, I have
an important role in the Plants success, My immediate supervisor provides routine updates on
Plant issues, and I understand how major decisions are made in the Plant, among other
questions. The Pulse Survey also asks one or more open-ended questions. In our case, only one
question was asked: If you could ask the plant manager one question, what would it be? The
Pulse Report results will be analyzed later in this paper in Appendixes C and D, as this was one
of the objectives of our case that Ms. Edwards requested.
Upon analyzing the problem, we determined that the purpose of our case was to learn
how to analyze assessment data and develop a strategic plan. To achieve this, we began

developing a list of assumptions to base our decisions on, analyzing our problems and goals for
the case, and identifying communication and business goals.

Assumptions
In our analysis of the case, we made several assumptions to provide a basic context for
our decisions. One of our assumptions was the CEO had not built a rapport with her employees.
We made this assumption because she is relatively new on the job and our case situation
explained that she has devoted most of her time to righting the financial ship. She also
explained that she was far more comfortable with Six Sigma initiatives than [she is] with any of
the HR alchemy. Six Sigma is a data driven approach and methodology that companies use for
eliminating defects in any process. Companies use Six Sigma to increase profits by eliminating
variability, defects, and waste that undermine customer loyalty (ISixSsigma, 2006).
Another assumption was that there was only one plant manager and several lower- level
managers, with employees underneath them. We came to this assumption after researching the
hierarchy in auto manufacturing firms and from the question used in the Pulse Survey, which
asked, If you could ask the plant manager one question, what would it be? The Pulse Survey
also had a close-ended statement that said My immediate supervisor provides routine updates
on Plant issues.
A third assumption we formed was that the implementation of the strategy would be over
a long period of time. This goes along with another assumption that there havent been any major
improvements from the Pulse Reports in the last 6 months. We made this assumption because in
the case situation it said this months Pulse Report has comments and responses that were fairly
typical of other reports she has received in her first six months on the job. This shows that the
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problems that are arising in the company have been around for an extended period of time and
will not be easily fixed. Employees will need time to get used to the changes and determine if
they are satisfied with the changes presented in the communication strategy.

Problem Analysis
Stated Problem
The obvious, or stated problem, of our case was that the CEO needed us to develop a
communication strategy to address the concerns raised in the Pulse Reports in order to keep the
crew pointed in the right direction. The CEO felt that this problem was an HR problem. Results
from the current Pulse Report were not new and as a new CEO, she wanted to try to solve these
problems.

Unstated Problem/ Overall Problem

Based on the compiled results of the Pulse Report (see Appendixes C and D) we noticed
that there was an unstated problem that needed to be addressed. We learned from the Pulse
Report that the overall problem was that there was a manager and employee disconnect.
Employees and managers were not sharing information and bottom- up communication was
ignored. Although some of the feedback we received from the Pulse Report was positive, a large
portion of the qualitative data that we analyzed was negative. We knew that there was an
underlying problem that needed to be addressed due to the large number of negative responses.
Some responses provided suggestions for corrective action, while others were not very
constructive. We further analyzed the Pulse Report to gather more specific details about the
problems in the company.

In our analysis of the Pulse Report data we identified and classified the employees
responses using a micro approach because of the need to filter the numerous varied responses.
We found three major types of concerns, which included an issue about the hierarchy of the
plant, incongruent goals between different levels or departments, and the lack of information that
was being shared in the company. From those three concerns, we concluded that they were all a
result of the overall problem of a manager and employee disconnect because of the many
organizational boundaries that existed within the plant.
The hierarchy classification was used to identify concerns related to the fact that the plant
was too top heavy. This represented a total of 16 percent of our sub problems. Next, 26 percent
of the responses were related to the fact that information was not being shared. This could mean
that the information was not being shared at all, or not effectively shared, andor not shared in a
timely manner. Lastly, 47 percent of the responses were related to incongruent goals, or the fact
that the goals of the employees and the goals of the plant or upper management conflicted with
each other.

Symptoms
With this company, the problems were so rampant that with our analysis it was difficult to
determine whether something was a symptom or a problem. Many of the managers were trying
to appease the symptoms of the employees without actually solving the problem. We have
identified some key symptoms found in the company and will briefly explain how it relates to the
problem at hand.
First, lower-level employees do not understand how major decisions are made in the
plant. This can be linked to the fact that the plant is too top heavy and employees do not feel that
they are important in the success of the company. It can also be linked to the problem that there
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are incongruent goals. If the employees dont understand how major decisions are made,
credibility of the upper management is lost and the employees start feeling unimportant. It is
hard for employees to relate to these major decisions and understand how they might ultimately
be affected by the decisions. This symptom also ties into the problem that information is not
being shared. When decisions are being made, the decision makers are not informing others
about how that decision was made. Therefore, employees have a harder time going through the
acceptance stage, according to the Kubler-Ross Model. Decisions are were being implemented
with apparent dissatisfaction and without the proper knowledge.
Secondly, lower-level employees do not know where the plant is heading for the future. If
they feel that they do not know how major decisions are made and dont know the plants plans
for the future, the employees are going to have a hard time trusting the overall credibility of the
plant and upper management. This symptom can also relate back to all three of our negative sub
problems. For example, upper management is not sharing information, or not sharing
information in a timely and effective manner about future plans. Because of the number of levels
within the company, top- down communication is being made but not reaching to the lower-level
employees. Employees that are uninformed about the direction in which the plant is headed
might not understand how their role affects the company and how they might be able to add
value to the company. This can result in incongruent goals. The business goals of the company
might not be effectively communicated in order for the lower-level employees to understand,
relate and contribute to change, and maintain the overall success of the plant.
Thirdly, lower-level employees feel unsatisfied and want more stability and security. If
the plant is being run from the top- down and there is no concern for informing the lower-level
employees about major decisions and future of the plant, the employees are going to feel
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insecure. The uninformed employees are going to base their thoughts on the current state of the
entire auto industry, which is unstable at the moment. This is also an example of incongruent
goals. The employees goal is to maintain stability and security, and because upper management
is not taking the time to communicate this with their employees, it appears that they do not care
about their employees. It can also appear that upper management is trying to hide the possibility
that the plant is unstable.
Additionally, there is a lack of employee engagement. The employees do not feel like
they are a part of the overall success of the plant due to the fact that there is a lack of
communication and information is not being shared. In addition, they also feel that upper
management does not value them and they do not share the same goals of the companys success.
If the employees do not feel valued and are unmotivated, they are less likely to be productive.
Lastly, as a result of incongruent goals, the company may be too concerned with
financials and not with employees. While the financial well-being of the auto manufacturing
industry as a whole is unstable, the plant itself needs to find a balance with valuing the
employees while maintaining financial stability. If more emphasis is put on trying to value the
employees then it might actually improve the financial state of the company.

Goals of the Case

After looking at our overall stated and unstated problems as well as our symptoms we can
more easily identify and specify our goals, while still keeping in mind the cases objectives of:
(1) Provide an analysis of the Pulse data.
(2) Develop a strategy that fits with Ms. Edwards style.
(3) Suggest some sample tactics that she could use to implement the strategy.

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Our overall goal of the case was to develop and implement an effective communication
strategy to address the concerns raised in the Pulse Reports.
While developing and implementing an effective communication strategy we needed to
be able match our strategy to fit the management style and requests. In order to do this we
needed to identify the personality and management style, and adjust accordingly. After
identifying and analyzing Ms. Edwardss personality and management style we needed to also
adjust how we communicated with Ms. Edwards.
In addition to identifying and analyzing Ms. Edwards personality and management style,
we also needed to also assess the current communication channels. After doing this, we then
could develop new communication channels that could be used in our plan based on the needs of
the organization and the communication problems. Then we would implement the strategic
communication plan, taking into consideration the audiences and how they are affected by the
change.
Before developing our communication strategy to address the concerns found in the Pulse
Report, we first had to assess and analyze what those concerns were. After doing so we identified
our overall problem, which was a manager and employee disconnect. While taking a closer
analytical look we classified the types of concerns relating to our overall problem, which was
related to information not being shared, the plant being too top-heavy and incongruent goals. To
address these concerns in our communication strategy, we decided that it would be best to
identify, clarify and re-establish what the organizations goals were as well as the roles of each
employee. In order to accomplish this, we had to take a look at the goals of each the employees,
management, and the plant. The plants goals were those valued by management, but were not
clearly stated and communicated to her employees. Based on the CEOs management style
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(which will be later addressed in the audience analysis section) and the trends in the automanufacturing industry, we constructed our business and communication goals.
Our Business Goals:

Increase production

Increase profitability

Reduce costs

Increase innovativeness

Achieve greater operating efficiency

Create a safer work environment

Lessen employee turnover

Establish a value system

Our Communication Goals:

Increase communication and knowledge sharing between upper management and

employees.

Create a sense strong and healthy of culture

Increase emphasis on employee importance to the company

Motivate/ engage employees

Our goals are related to our employees concerns and our CEOs values. Overall, the

companywe wanted to make a profit, find cost savings, improve our culture and build
relationships. In doing this there was a need for our our communication goals to help
inspire, motivate, inform, employees and have the CEO relate to her employees to help
accomplish the companys business goals.
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All of our symptoms were linked to the fact that there were either incongruent goals, or
a lack of information. All of this hadThis tied into the hierarchy issue and the manager and
employee disconnect. In order to address these problems and symptoms we clarified our
goals and developed strategies and tactics to carry out our goals and communicate them
effectively. These goals provided the foundation for our strategy and tactics that we will describe
later after our audience analysis.
Our goals are aimed to not only alleviate some of the symptoms of the problems but to solve
them. We wanted to try to solve some of the relational and informational problems present in the
company with our communication goals of relating and informing. Focusing on building a
stronger culture would encourage teamwork, which would in turn, minimize tension between
upper management and lower-level employees. By motivating employees, employees could get
on board with some of the managers goals that conflicted with their own goals. Each employee
would become less individualistic and think more about the organization overall and its goals.
Lastly, the goal of increasing knowledge sharing helps solve the problem of information
hoarding that was present between upper management and the lower-level employees.

Audience Analysis
K.I.S.S. Charts
In order to better address the needs and styles of each group involved in the case, we did
an in-depth audience analysis. We began with a K.I.S.S. chart pertaining to the CEO of the
automotive parts manufacturing firm (sSee Appendix E). We know that this CEO is new to the
firm because she has only been at the company for six months. What we can infer from this is
that she did not have the opportunity to build a rapport with her employees. Being new to a job
requires much of her time for other things, therefore not giving her the availability to meet the
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people that work for her. What we recommend she do to help build a rapport is to demonstrate
her credibility. She needs to show these employees that she is good at what she does, without
coming off as arrogant or pushy. One thing that the CEO needs to realize is that change can be
difficult for some people. Once people get into a routine of leadership it may be hard for them to
adapt to change. Ways for her to try and start warming up to these employees is by MBWA or
management by walking around (MBWA). By doing this, she gets a chance to meet with the
employees that are working for her, and therefore start to build that rapport. We suggested shefor
her not to make drastic changes unless absolutely necessary. This may give the employees a bad
impression of her if she tries to implement these too soon. She needs to understand that not
everyone will be accepting of the change. She shouldnt have to worry about this if she maintains
communication with the managers and lower-level employees of the plant. If she decided to lock
herself up in her office and not communicate with anyone because she wasnt getting the
response she wanted, problems will arise among employees and between employees and her.
We also know that she has seen past Pulse Reports that had the same kinds of problems in
them. Therefore, we can infer that these kinds of problems are not new to her. One of the
suggestions we had for her to do was to present a rollout schedule to her employees to better
explain any changes that may take place in the future, and so they can observe any improvements
over time. Another thing we suggest would be to try and understand the receivers needs. She
should try and put herself into their position and see how they would feel during a time of
change. We suggested she should not ignore the receivers needs. We also do not want her to
blame the receivers for the problems that are apparent in the Pulse Report or for other issues
within the company.

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We also know that the CEOshe hasd a financial background. In our case we are told that
she had devoted much of her time to righting the financial ship. From this, we can infer that
she is an Arrow manager. Arrow managers tend to focus on clear expression, and believe that
words convey meaning. We suggest that she be perceptive while observing employees and be
more aware of communication rules and patterns. A task we would like for her to accomplish is
harvesting the dissent in order to anticipate resistance. While she does have a background in
finance, we do not want her to overwhelm her employees with information they may not need to
know, or that they may not necessarily understand. Details are great but when the problem or
information are not necessarily things that the employees need to know, its best not to give them
too much information, thus causing information overload.
We also did a K.I.S.S. chart for the employees of the automotive parts manufacturing
firm (see Appendix F). The first, and most important, thing we know about the employees is that
there are over 1,000 of them. With that number of employees, we can infer they are very diverse.
They all have their own skills which they bring to the company. Therey are many different levels
in the company. Some are veterans while some may be newer on the ranking. When you have
that large of a group of people you are trying to communicate with, there is bound to be many
different levels of communication breakdown and communication misinterpretation due to the
law of large numbers. Because of this we need to use the divide and conquer approach to identify
who the lions and opinion leaders are within the firm. In figuring out who the lions of the
departments are, it will help the company figure out a better way of communicating to such a
large number of people. Here again, we would like upper management to work on harvesting the
dissent because with such a large population, rumors are bound to happen. The best way for the
CEO and the company to avoid these problems is to avoid using lean channels only. Even though
15

lean channels may be convenient to use, there are so many diverse people that there will be many
different communication preferences among the employees. There could also be communication
breakdown if everyone does not understand the message as it was intended.
We know that there is most likely a union within this plant since according to the
Department of Labor, one out of four automobile workers are part of a union (2009). We can
infer that there is some sort of division between the employees. The employees that are part of
this union may have different concerns than those employees that are not. We can even infer that
those employees that are part of this union have more power than those who are not in the union.
What upper management needs to do is realize the differences between the two groups. The
employees that are in the union may have different concerns about change than those who are
non-unionized. We also need to make sure that union guidelines are followed when
communicating messages. There would clearly be consequences if upper management were to
break these guidelines. One thing we want to be aware of is making sure that upper management
does not favor one group over the other. This will just cause a greater division amongst the
employees.
One of the most obvious things that we know about these employees is that they are all
employed at an automobile parts manufacturing company. Since we do know this, we can infer
that they all may not necessarily be highly educated. To work in an auto parts manufacturer, a
bachelors degree is not required for the majority of the jobs. However, that does not mean that
none of them have higher education. It would be helpful to provide these employees with direct
and relatable examples to help them in any information that we give them. Another inference that
we can make is that this factory is a strict and fast-paced environment. Auto parts manufacturers
need to keep going at a fast pace to make as much as they can in their work shift due to quotas.
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Since we can infer time is a concern to them, we would want to make sure that upper
management presents employees with any changes or ideas in a timely manner. One thing that
upper management wants to be careful of is using too much CEO lingo. Since some of the
employees might not be as educated as others we need to be careful how technical we get when
explaining things to these workers. Since we have already established that they would like
information in a timely manner, we need to be careful not to over communicate with the
employees. Over communication is much like information overload. We especially do not want
to throw them lengthy and time consuming messages. Like we said before, this is a fast-paced
work environment and we do not want to hinder that.

Change Planning Chart

The next item we created was a change planning chart (see Appendix G). This chart was
created to pick up on the communication objectives for each audience that we wanted to identify.
It is a chart tailored in response to the improved Pulse Reports and the new initiatives that will be
taking place. We used this chart to summarize the audience analysis and to begin thinking about
the strategy-making phase.
The first audience we looked at was the CEO of the firm. We know that once the changes
have taken place that her overall responsibility will increase. She has the ultimate responsibility
if something bad or good would occur. We determined that she would be the lion of this
audience. We realize that as the CEO of a company, the most effective kind of communication
that can be given and received is face to face communication. It is the richest form of
communication and one that will give and receive the most feedback. CEOs are typically in
charge of being accountable for any results coming from changes in the firm. She also thinks she
knows all of the problems that are happening within the company. The CEO may have some
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concerns or resistance points to changes made in the firm. The idea of time and cost are two
driving factors that may lessen the enthusiasm of change happening. Time is precious in the
current environment. Cost is another factor, especially in the economic times we are currently
in. We need to make sure that any changes that are made are efficient along with being able to
save money. Another concern the CEO might have would be her job and its stability. If a change
is made that affects her performance or the reputation of the company itself, she may fear for her
job, especially since she is relatively new with only being there for six months. With this in
mind, the communication objectives of the CEO include developing strategies for the company
along with understanding and interpreting the measurable improvements.
The second audience that we looked at was the plant manager. The plant manager would
be affected by having to increase communication among different levels of the company. The
plant manager would also have to be more aware of what is going on inside the plant. When
looking at the audience, we determined that the plant manager himself would be the lion. The
best form of communication for him to use is face to face because of the amount of immediate
feedback. The plant manager, as a lion, knows the problems within the plant, most of them
operational problems. However, he too has concerns about change within the plant. Much like
the CEO, the plant manager is concerned about his job stability and costs associated with the
changes. The plant manager could also be concerned about quotas, and whether or not they can
be met. One of his main communication objectives includes letting the CEO know about relevant
problems or concerns within the company. The plant manager also needs to plan on executing
any strategies that the CEO may come up with.
The third audience that we looked at was the lower-level managers. Much like the plant
manager, after the implementation of these changes, these managers need to be more aware of
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the communication challenges within the plant. The lions of this group would be considered the
veteran managers, along with the charismatic and knowledgeable managers. Since these people
do have a better handle on the companys ideas and policies, they prefer face to face
communication with meetings and written communication with memos. They know more about
the actual problems that are happening within the plant. Even though they have been there longer
than the other managers, they stillThey also have concerns regarding change. Just like the CEO
and the plant manager, the lower-level managers are concerned about their job stability and the
wages they are currently receiving. They too will be concerned about quotas. As a
communication objective, the lower-level managers need to be able to relay concerns from
lower-level employees to the upper management. Also, much like the plant manager, they need
to work on executing any of the CEOs strategies.
The fourth audience that we looked at was the skilled employees of the firm. With any
changes that will be implemented, these workers will be taking on more duties and
responsibilities such as more cross-training and other culture-building activities. We consider the
lions of this audience to be the veteran workers as well as the charismatic and knowledgeable
workers. Since some of these employees have been with the company for a while, they too are
aware of the daily routines and operations. One can take this into consideration and realize these
workers would like face to face communication as well as written communication for something
more tangible. The main idea and concepts that these workers know are the special skills that
pertain to their own jobs. Just like every other audience, these workers will be concerned about
their job stability as well as their wages. They may feel more at risk since they do sit lower on
the totem pole of the hierarchy. The main communication objectives that these workers need to
focus on, are meeting the goals set upon them by upper management, as well as participating in
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bottom- up communication. They need to realize that they are lower on hierarchy and may not
get their voices heard straight to the CEO.
The last audience that we looked at in completing this change planning chart was the
support staff. We consider secretaries, sales, accounting, and other administrative personnel in
this group. Much like the skilled employees, they too would be taking on more duties and
responsibilities related to the Pulse Report and other administrative tasks. Also, like the skilled
employees and lower-level managers, the lions of this audience would be considered the veteran
support staff as well as the charismatic and knowledgeable staff. Much like the other audiences,
they prefer face to face communication as well as written. What sets this audience apart from the
others is the fact they sometimes prefer email as a means of communication. Since many of the
staff in this audience is office workers, they are usually around computers more than the skilled
employees whothat are working on the line. This audience, much like the skilled employees,
knows their job skills. They also tend to know the context of the problems that arise in the
company. Once again, the audience will be concerned with their job stability and wages. Since
this audience does more of the office work, one of their main communication objectives is to
relay information interdepartmentally. They, just like the skilled employees, need to also meet
the goals set upon them by upper management.

Myers Briggs
We also did a Myers Briggs assessment for both the CEO and of the employees at the
company. While it was fairly simple for us to figure out what the CEO was, it is tough to
determine what the employees were since there are so many of them. There will be so much
diversity amongst the employees, so not all employees are going to fall into this category.

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First we looked at the CEO. When looking at whether she was an introvert or an extrovert
we determined her to be an extrovert. Within our case she had no trouble bringing us in and
being candid about the problems she had with the company. CEOs need to be able to
communicate easily with other workers in the company, a characteristic of someone who is an
extrovert. We then looked at whether she is an intuitor or a sensor. Since the CEO asked us for
help, and, therefore is open to change, we consider her an intuitor. Also, intuitors look into
further development of an idea and are open to new things. Next, we needed to determine
whether the CEO was a thinker or a feeler. Since she is a business woman and usually CEOs
need to have a long term view about the company, we consider her to be a thinker. Thinkers need
to be logical, objective, and need to be able to look at a prolonged schedule. Lastly, we needed to
figure out if the CEO was a judger or a perceiver. Since the CEO refers to her office as her
Spartan quarters we could assume she likes control. People who like and are in control are
judgers. Therefore, the final result of our analysis is that the CEO is an ENTJ.
We then took a look at the general overview of employees whothat work at the firm.
When deciding whether they were introverted or extroverted, we looked at the kind of job they
did. Since most likely they work on their own in their specialties, we assumed they were quieter.
With the majority of the employees working on a line, they dont talk to each other unless
necessary. Therefore, we categorized the workers as introverts. Next we were looking at whether
these employees were sensors or intuitors. From Phillip Clampitts Communicating for
Managerial Effectiveness, we know that lower-level employees want the big picture view of
things, rather than just focusing on the present (2009). From this, we typed them as being
intuitors. We also had to decide if the workers were thinkers or feelers. Since they are logical and
emphasize practicality when working on the line, we inferred them to be thinkers. Lastly, we
21

needed to decide if they were judgers or perceivers. We concluded that the employees are judgers
since the job in which they are working is very structured. When these people work in such a
structured environment, they need to have organization and someone in control. The final result
of our analysis of the employees is that they are INTJ.

Strategy, Tactics, & Rationale

We crafted our strategy after setting our goals and conducting a careful analysis of our
problems and audiences. Our goals of inspiring, educating, and motivating are accomplished
within each strategy as we try to foster a stronger and more informed culture. Our strategy is
aimed to cater to the context of the problem and the audiences involved. With such a large
number of employees, we ultimately made trade-offs in the process. We also tried to harvest the
dissent as much as possible with our audience analysis. Our chart with strategy, tactics, and
rationale is listed in Appendix H.
For our strategies, we felt that we needed to provide a theme during implementation in
order to provide some sort of framework for the employees. To tie within the auto parts industry,
we decided our theme would be One P.A.R.T. of the whole. The acronym P.A.R.T. means
Pushing Achievement through Rewards and Teamwork. This theme emphasized the
importance of teamwork and would help build a culture focused on the company overall and its
goals. It would also motivate employees to achieve these goals through the emphasis on rewards
and teamwork.
Our first strategy is to motivate employees, one of the major communication goals we
had. Many of the problems derived from the lack of change and improvement seen in the
company. The same problems kept on re-surfacing on the Pulse Reports. This could be due to
22

many reasons but as a result of these problems not being solved, employees morale and
motivation were at an all-time low. We believe we had to tackle this problem first for employees
to be more receptive to strategies and tactics that we propose for other problems. In the Pulse
Surveys, employees were giving discussion-terminating retorts out of frustration. To prevent
these, we had to first motivate employees to achieve the organizations goals. Some tactics we
suggested are for managers to reward goal-achieving behavior with a mix of extrinsic and
intrinsic rewards, and inspire employees with story-telling, shared values, and management by
walking around. We used the concepts of motivation as our rationale to craft our strategy and
tactics. We knew that unmotivated and disengaged employees could affect the companys
culture and financials. We also used the notions of culture and realized the companys culture
was not healthy and needed to be fixed in order to have the company performing at its highest
level.
Our next strategy is to emphasize the overall impact of the employees individual duties
to the bottom line through the goal of emphasizing the value of the companys employees. Some
employees were unmotivated because they did not know about the overall goals and how they
impacted them. According to their Myers-Briggs score, the employees wanted to see the big
picture and they werent getting it. Tactics to combat this problem include informing employees
with updates on goals in monthly newsletters and weekly meetings. Using the SMCR model as
our rationale, we wanted to use a rich and lean channel to cater to the diverse needs of our
audience. Monthly newsletters are lean but allow for introverted employees to contemplate
questions. These monthly newsletters would have feedback from the Pulse Report team and the
CEO, employee recognition, and updates on major decisions. A weekly meeting allows for a rich
channel of communication for ample feedback from those introverts and also provides a forum
23

for the extroverts to speak out. These weekly meetings would not only be informational but
motivational with senders setting expectations and goals for receivers. With both of the channels,
we wanted to use the underscore and explore strategy with our messages to ensure we were not
under- or over-communicating. Each channel could provide reinforcement of our messages
without redundancy. We believe if we kept the messages simple and powerful, we could
eliminate information overload and encourage action.
Another strategy we recommend is for the CEO to establish more rapport with the lowerlevel employees based on the goal of relating to her employees. We feel this strategy would
encourage bottom-up communication and would allow the organization to be less top heavy
without eliminating positions, which could contribute to the employees fears of instability.
Certain tactics for management by walking around include 10 for 10, in which the CEO would
promise to her employees that she would take at least 10 minutes of her day to meet 10 new
people within the organization. After reading The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard
and Spencer Johnson, we believe this would be enough time for the CEO to make an impact and
inspire her employees. As Blanchard and Johnson states, it only takes one minute to inspire and
motivate employees. This strategy was critical in order to build a culture focused on teamwork
and collaboration.
We also would have Eating with Edwards, a specific intrinsic reward thatwhich
includes a monthly lunch in the cafeteria with a group of employees from all departments
whothat have had exceptional performance for the month. This would give employees the chance
to get to know the CEO in a less formal way and allow knowledge sharing among different
departments. Another unique benefit would be the motivation for other employees to try to be
those employees of the month. Having this lunch in the cafeteria allow co-workers to
24

acknowledge their peers and be inspired from them. According to the SMCR model, using a
face to face channel with this tactic allows for the CEO to accomplish her goal of inspiringe and
motivatinge the employees. With our knowledge about the strength of culture and the concepts of
motivation as our rationale, we believe this strategy must be implemented in order for the
company to be successful.
Our fourth strategy was to communicate to all employees how major decisions were
being made in the plant. This strategy was tied to our goals of educating our employees to be
better-rounded and informed employees. The organization can implement this strategy when
they focus on the goal of educating their employees. We believe using the divide and conquer
approach and then selecting key lions within those groups to communicate across organizational
boundaries would be ideal. As a large automotive parts manufacturer, decisions need to be made
quickly. With this approach, we could allow decisions to be made quickly and have key lions
help other groups that were not involved in the decision making to transition into the acceptance
stage. These lions would try to prevent bad decision downloading. According to Kubler-Rosss
stages, the decision makers needed to not only be cheerleaders but teachers to others about the
decisions they made. We could use key lions, who would be veteran employees or opinion
leaders, to be presenters in forums held among shifts. Of course, these key lions would have to
be very knowledgeable. These small forums held among shifts would allow for ample feedback
and encourage knowledge sharing. We believe based on the SMCR model that using these
forums are necessary. With this face to face interaction, it would allow senders to educate the
employees who felt they did not know how decisions were being made or what the future plans
were for the company.

25

The next strategy was to analyze and implement solutions to concerns found in the Pulse
Report. We believe the Pulse Report needs to be more of a beneficial tool in the company. Based
on the D-I-K-A model, the company had a lot of data and information with its many Pulse
Reports but barely any knowledge or action being implemented. We believe the Pulse Report
should still be done monthly with a group of random people but, to help the Pulse Report be
more impactful and encourage knowledge and action, we would enlist a group of key lions
among different departments to brainstorm solutions to concerns in the Pulse Report. The group
would do so after analyzing the results of the current Pulse Report. This cross-functional team
would not be paid but would be given a bonus if the Pulse Report for the following month
showed improvements. The amount of the bonus and how much improvement would be needed
to get that bonus would be determined by an objective person who would be the director of the
team. This strategy could allow problems found in the Pulse Report to be addressed and
prevented before it affects the companys culture and financials.
Our last strategy was to show follow-through. This was a problem in the company
because many employees were getting discouraged by the lack of improvement they saw,
especially in response to the Pulse Reports. We wanted to have the CEO present a rollout
schedule to her employees that includedof the new changes that would occur in the workplace.
We have included a rollout schedule for the implementation of our tactics in Appendix I. We
wanted to ensure that according to the Myers-Briggs score of the employees who were judgers
were able to be aware and observe the changes being made over time. The receivers wanted to be
informed of these new changes and the best channel for that was written or face to face,
according to the SMCR model. This written rollout schedule could be used as a reference for the
receivers to prepare them for the new changes and ensure them that things were getting done to
26

improve the workplace. This rollout schedule could also be a stepping stone to foster a more
informed culture.

Rejected Ideas
Through our decision making process, we had many rejected ideas. We did not want to
use the majority rule approach. This approach would be convenient and cost effective for the
CEO and upper management but it would not cater to the diverse audiences in the plant. Having
a big meeting would not be ideal as well. Introverts would be unwilling to share their input out
loud. By using smaller meetings among shifts, people feel more included within the discussion.
We also wanted to have the CEO be more involved with these meetings, but we felt that the CEO
should focus on more strategy issues and she would not have enough time to attend all the
meetings. We also felt that the lions within each groups could lead these meetings just as well as
the CEO so we rejected the idea of having the CEO in these meetings. We also thought about not
improving the Pulse Report. We finally decided to improve the structure of the Pulse Report to
include more qualitative questions to get more specific answers.

Conclusion
From the words of Henry Ford: Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is
progress. Working together is success. We needed to get this company working together. Its
departmentalized company had made it so focused on achieving departmental goals that the
company was ignoring the organizations goals and how it affects the companys culture. We
wanted to get the company back on track. With our communication strategy, we wanted the CEO
to build rapport with her employees, encourage boundary spanning to increase communication
and knowledge sharing between levels of the company, and in the end have a stronger culture
with more motivated and engaged employees.
27

Continuous Improvement
In general, there seemed to be some controversy amongst the feedback we received.
Some people seemed to think that the organization of the presentation including the PowerPoint
slides, color, layout, and information included was good and some thought that it was bad. Some
people said that the presentation was too long and some said that it was too short. Some people
said that we included just the right amount of information and some said we had too much info
and needed to save it for the paper. Although we cannot go back in time to change how we would
present, nor can we change for our next class presentation because the semester is at an end, we
can take this knowledge and use it in the future and try to tie it into our paper. It was difficult to
see what exactly needed to be changed due to this polarization of feedback. In addition, the
feedback also seemed very vague and not specific.
As for the content of our presentation, our feedback indicated that we did a good job
tying our strategies, tactics, and rationale together with the chart we provided. Some of our peers
thought we should include our references for more credibility but noted that it was nice that we
used an outside source for our rationale. They felt we needed to clarify what about the Pulse
Report process and Professor Clampitthil suggested weus to tie our goals to our problems. He
also suggested a theme. We have included those suggestions within our paper. Overall, they felt
our presentation was informative and thorough.

Appendix A: 100 Facts

1. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects
(driving towards six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification
limit) in any process -- from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service.
28

2. The goal of Six Sigma is to increase profits by eliminating variability, defects and waste
that undermine customer loyalty.
3. To achieve Six Sigma, a process must not produce more than 3.4 defects per million
opportunities
4. A Six Sigma defect is defined as anything outside of customer specifications.
5. A Six Sigma opportunity is then the total quantity of chances for a defect.
6. The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a
measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction
through the application of Six Sigma improvement projects.
7. This is accomplished through the use of two Six Sigma sub-methodologies: DMAIC and
DMADV.
8. The Six Sigma DMAIC process (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) is an
improvement system for existing processes falling below specification and looking for
incremental improvement.
9. The Six Sigma DMADV process (define, measure, analyze, design, verify) is an
improvement system used to develop new processes or products at Six Sigma quality
levels.
10. The Six Sigma DMDV can also be employed if a current process requires more than just
incremental improvement.
11. Both Six Sigma processes are executed by Six Sigma Green Belts and Six Sigma Black
Belts, and are overseen by Six Sigma Master Black Belts.
12. According to the Six Sigma Academy, Black Belts save companies approximately
$230,000 per project and can complete four to 6 projects per year.
13. General Electric, one of the most successful companies implementing Six Sigma, has
estimated benefits on the order of $10 billion during the first five years of
implementation.
14. GE first began Six Sigma in 1995 after Motorola and Allied Signal blazed the Six Sigma
trail.
15. Countless studies continue to tell us the majority of our workforce is not engaged.
16. Engaged employees are more productive, more profitable, more customer-focused, safer,
and less likely to leave their employer.
29

17. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or
her work.
18. Engaged employees work with passion and are connected to their companies.
19. When studies are conducted to find out what employees value in a job, career
opportunities and development always appears among the top three items, typically
before the expected answers of pay and benefits.
20. What employees really want is a relationship with their managers whereby they can have
open, honest, two-way conversations about their abilities, interests, and options. They
want managers to listen to their perspectives, offer their points of view, and provide
encouragement.
21. To engage employees, the manager must use a variety of familiar management skills and
apply them to the career context.
22. To engage employees, frequent discussions with staff members about what they do best
and what they want to do should be routine.
23. Ongoing dialogue enhances productivity and results in a partnership that aids the
employee match positions or projects that maximize their talents.
24. The manager's role includes:
Providing time for development discussions
Providing timely performance feedback
Identifying an employee's potential
Providing training and growth opportunities consistent with both individual and
organizational goals
Communicating formal and informal advice and information on the organization
Linking employees with appropriate resources and people
25. The employees' role includes:
Taking responsibility for their own development
Engaging in self-assessment and soliciting feedback
Initiating development discussions with their managers
Setting multiple career goals
30

 Advocating their own cause

Making use of a variety of development opportunities
Creating and communicating their development plan
26. Historically, U.S. auto manufacturers had Fordist organizational practices such as
bureaucracy, tall organizational structures, command and control management systems,
and seniority based compensation.
27. With new competition from Japan, domestic auto manufacturers have been trying to
implement Japanese practices like team work, few job classifications, an active
continuous improvement culture (Kaizen), outsourcing, just-in-time inventory
management, quality circles, and lean manufacturing.
28. There is considerable evidence in the industrial relations literature that the traditional
adversarial relationship of United Automobile Workers is being gradually replaced by a
more cooperative relationship in response to globalization, the enforcement of
government regulations, capital mobility and the increasing difficulty unions face in
organizing new members.
29. Auto parts manufacturers can be Tier 1 (lead vendor), Tier 2, or Tier 3 suppliers for the
major manufacturers.
30. The key driver of profitability for auto parts companies, going forward, hinges on their
ability to continuously reduce costs and achieve greater operating efficiency, with secure
and stable orders from auto makers being crucial.
31. Companies strong in the area of capacity utilization & plant flexibility, geographic
positioning/market reach, cost protection in relation to commodity price movements and
product development efficiency should exhibit resilience in profitability, and earn good
ratings.
32. The automotive parts manufacturing industry is heavily integrated between the U.S. and
Canada. Today, every vehicle assembled in North America contains nearly $1,250 worth
of parts manufactured in Canada. There is a high concentration of these firms in the state
of Michigan and the Province of Ontario, Canada.
33. Because of lost business, more than 200 auto suppliers in the $10 million-$500 million
revenue bracket are in financial trouble.
34. Auto industry faces a number of problems including overburdening health-care costs,
union strife, over-capacity, exposure to high steel prices, and competition from abroad.

31

35. Although approximately 1 out of 5 jobs are located in Michigan, especially the Detroit
area, an increasing number are located in other parts of the country, particularly the south.
36. Average earnings are very high compared with those in other industries.
37. Overtime is especially common during periods of peak demand. Most employees,
however, usually work an 8-hour shift: either from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. or from 4 p.m. to
12:30 a.m. A third shift often is reserved for maintenance and cleanup.
38. Heat, fumes, noise, and repetition are not uncommon in this industry. In addition, many
workers come into contact with oil and grease and may have to lift and fit heavy objects,
although hydraulic lifts and other equipment have eliminated much of the heavy lifting.
Employees also may operate powerful, high-speed machines that can be dangerous.
39. In 2006, motor vehicle manufacturing, on average, sustained 11.4 cases of work-related
injury and illness per 100 full-time workers, 13.2 in motor vehicle body and trailer
manufacturing, and 7.7 in motor vehicle parts manufacturingcompared with 6.0 in all
manufacturing industries and 4.4 in the entire private sector.
40. Industrial production managers oversee first-line supervisors and managers of
production and operating workers. These supervisors oversee inspectors, precision
workers, machine setters and operators, assemblers, fabricators, and plant and system
operators. They coordinate a variety of manufacturing processes and production
activities, including scheduling, staffing, equipment, quality control, and inventory
control.
41. Assemblers and fabricators and metal workers and plastic workers put together various
parts to form subassemblies, and then put the subassemblies together to build a complete
motor vehicle. Most assemblers in this industry are team assemblers, who work in teams
and perform a variety of tasks.
42. In 2006, about 1 out of 4 workers in motor vehicle and parts production were union
members or were covered by union contracts, more than double the proportion of workers
in all manufacturing industries and all workers in the private sector.
43. The primary union in the industry is the United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural
Implement Workers of America, also known as the United Auto Workers (UAW).
44. For example, Toyota and many of its suppliers expect all employees to show potential for
leadership, to participate in teams, to develop the skills and flexibility necessary for
multiple jobs, and to focus on safety and built-in quality. The automaker also seeks and
develops employees with a structured approach to thinking, problem-solving, and
improvement.
32

45. The U.S. auto parts manufacturing industry consists of about 4,500 companies with
combined annual revenue of about $225 billion.
46. Large companies include ArvinMeritor, Dana, Delphi, Lear, Visteon, and the automotive
division of Johnson Controls.
47. The industry is very concentrated.
48. Tier 1 suppliers, of which there are roughly 1,000, usually concentrate in one or two
distinct industry segments such as axles, power trains, brakes, exhaust systems,
suspensions, electrical components, seating, engine parts, or accessories.
49. Most of these supplier companies are family-owned, said Daniel Luria, research
director of the Michigan Manufacturing Research Center in Ann Arbor. And in a period
when the families cant sell, the decision is to preserve the companies as future streams of
revenue for the next generation.
50. Some plants have institutionalized "pay-for-skill," a pay system in which, employees
receive additional pay for each new skill they learn.
51. Loyalty and gift exchange appeared to motivate employees in several cases. For example
at Industrial Strainer, workers contributed on average half a suggestion per year each,
even though there was no explicit reward for doing so. When asked why, several workers
said, "It's a good place to work," because of above average wages ($12 per hour rather
than the $10 prevailing in the area). One worker added that an additional motivation was,
"Management--at least some of them--cares about you.
52. When conducting a communication audit, the first step is to determine who should
conduct the assessment.
53. The next step to take into consideration is to select the proper method(s) or tool(s).
54. A variety of methods, such as questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, communication
logs, and network analysis, can be used to conduct an annual or biannual communication
audit.
55. You want to make sure that all employees know their comments will remain confidential
when conducting a communication audit.
56. You want to make sure that you garner top managements full support of the assessment.
57. Finally, you want to carefully interpret your findings.
58. If the organization does not plan to respond to the findings, then the data should not be
collected in the first place.
33

59. Even if the organization plans on responding to the audit results, the timelines of the
response presents one of the most troublesome potential drawbacks.
60. The first major objective of the Pulse process is to identify employee concerns and
reactions to ongoing initiatives in a timely, reliable, and economical manner.
61. The second major objective of the Pulse process is to respond to these concerns.
62. The third major objective of the Pulse process is to cultivate a productive dialogue
between executives and employees.
63. A short Pulse survey (10-15 questions), is routinely administered to a rotating sample of
employees on a biweekly or monthly basis.
64. The Pulse Report is a one-page summary of the findings, presenting quantitative data for
the numerically rated questions and major themes for the open questions.
65. An Executive Response outlines senior management reactions to the issues highlighted
from the current Pulse Report.
66. The Pulse Report provides the organization with a timely and accurate record of the
current working climate.
67. The Pulse Process requires a degree of attentiveness to procedural concerns similar to
that of a communication audit.
68. Employees need to have a clear understanding of how the process will work, including
the projected timetable for the report and executive responses.
69. Communication strategy can be broadly defined as the macro-level communication
choices we make based on organizational goals and judgments about others reactions,
which serves as a basis for action.
70. Strategy involves a macro-level orientation that can be distinguished from tactical
concerns.
71. Strategy involves implicit or explicit choices resulting in trade-offs.
72. Strategy involves goal setting.
73. Strategy involves anticipating others reactions.
74. The dance between the initiative and the response and then the subsequent adjustment
creates the dialogue that determines the success of the strategy.
75. That dance differs greatly from one based on a theme of learning to avoid mistakes.
34

76. Strategy naturally serves as the basis for action.

77. Suzanne Edwards is the new CEO of an automotive parts manufacturing firm.
78. She recently read the companys communication Pulse Report.
79. Pulse Reports are market research data.
80. She has been in the position for at least 6 months.
81. The firm for which she works has over 1,000 employees.
82. She has a background in finance.
83. There were 1,742 respondents to the Pulse report.
84. The Pulse Report was from the month of April.
85. Respondents were asked to respond on scale of 1-5: 1 representing that they STRONGLY
DISAGREE and 5 representing that they STRONGLY DISAGREE.
86. Only 44 percent of the employees responded to the Pulse report.
87. There was an increase from the cumulative norm to the current month norm of .4 percent
with people thinking that they have an important role in the Plants success.
88. The current month norms seemed to be fairly close to the current month norm.
89. Out of those that responded to the questions only 9 percent of the people strongly
disagreed that safety is a high priority in their department and 41 percent disagreed, and 9
percent were undecided, which means over 50 percent of the people felt safety was an
issue.
90. No one strongly agreed that they understood where the Plant is headed.
91. No one strongly agreed that the plant was moving in the right direction and only 9
percent agreed that the plant was moving in the right direction.
92. Fifty percent of the people who responded were either undecided or agreed to some
degree that they understood how decisions were made.
93. The questions the plant manager was asked all varied.
94. Some of the questions posed by the employees were double barreled questions.
95. It was unclear if people knew how they contributed to the plants growth- 39 percent
agreed, 14 percent undecided 24 percent agreed, and 23 percent strongly agreed.
35

96. Forty-six percent of the people who responded said that they and their co-workers were
focused on controlling costs.
97. The employees were allowed to ask the plant manager one question.
98. The questions from the employees who responded indicate that the employees feel there
is not good communication.
99. The questions from the employees who responded indicate that the employees feel their
concerns are not of importance to the CEO.
100. The employees asked loaded questions which may indicate they need an abundance of
information.

36

Appendix B: Pulse Report

Pulse Report
April
Rating is on a 15 scale; 1 representing strongly disagree (SD), 5 representing strongly
agree (SA).

Questions arranged in order of most agreement to least

agreement for the current months reading

Question

Cumulative
Norm

Current
Month
Norm

SD

(1)

SA
(5)

I know how I contribute to the

Plants growth.

4.5

4.0

39%

14%

24%

23%

My co-workers and I are

focused on controlling costs.

4.2

3.8

46%

18%

9%

27%

Safety is a high priority in my

department.

3.8

3.7

9%

41%

9%

29%

12%

I have an important role in the

Plants success.

3.1

3.5

17%

23%

34%

8%

18%

We continue to meet customer

needs while controlling costs.

3.1

2.9

20%

24%

30%

14%

12%

My immediate supervisor
provides routine updates on
Plant issues.

3.0

2.8

18%

30%

30%

11%

11%

The Plant is moving in the right

direction.

2.9

2.6

59%

32%

9%

37

I understand where the Plant is

headed in the next quarter.

2.7

2.4

4%

52%

22%

22%

I understand how major

decisions are made in the
Plant.

2.4

2.2

28%

22%

36%

9%

1746 (of
3882)

22 (of
44)

44%

50%

N (Number of Respondents)

Response Rate

If you could ask the plant manager one question, what would it be?
What new products are on the horizon?
There is a significant amount of work being done to keep the plant operating at its current high
level for our existing products. Given this, it seems there should be a little less emphasis on
getting all the transformation training done this year. Sure the training is important, but lets
be smart as we prioritize activities. Comments?
The key to our competitiveness in the future will be totally engaged employees. Employees
always looking for improvement opportunities and a way to reduce waste. It is employees
utilizing their time wisely every day. This is a different mentality than punching a clock and
putting in your time. Some of our people really do utilize their time effectively. My question
is, do you think the union membership (in general) truly understands the urgency of this? Do
they understand coming into the plant and working on whatever needs attention, safely of
course. It has to be significantly different in the future than it is today.
We have trained a large number of people to do our job because of flex issues. People who
have done the job for nearly 2 years are still having occasional problems with parts of the job,
and they trained for over a month at the beginning. Now we are training other flex people on
this job so they can help out at times; they are receiving 3 or 4 days of training each. How
much help do you think they will be?
38

5%

 When are we going to get somebody in the maintenance dept who is a person who will work
with the people and not for the puppet master that controls him? Do you have to have a
graduate degree to get promoted in the maintenance dept (buddy system)?
Thanks for taking on the challenge of being plant manager at this time of transition.
I really appreciate the work that is being done to clean up the plant. It is looking nice. To help
keep it clean, how do we get people to quit throwing used earplugs, coffee cups, etc., on the
floor? They wouldnt do this at home; at least I dont think they would.
Could you please give me three specific examples of flexibility that you would like to see
and some explanation of why that shouldnt scare the sh__ out of me?
Why dont you let the plant employees make some decisions on what new policies to enact
instead of management making all the decisions?
Are we getting any feedback from our customers? Have orders gone up?
In the past year, I have noticed our products sitting on the loading docks with HOT stickers
on it due to no availability of outside carrier trailers and/or late due dates. What do you plan
on doing about it and how are we compensating our customers for late shipments with over
the road carriers and scheduling? Have we thought about our own trucking line (which we
already have) to run loads back and forth?
Why do we pay so much attention to the whiners and not the winners?
Nothing that is worthy of your time
What has happened to our employee communication?
This may not seem that important, but I cant understand why I do not ever receive my pay stub
on Thursdays. I get it on Fridays and several times I will get it on Saturday.
Thanks for a great job in a tough situation!
You dont see too many cars here on nights and weekends! I know corp and salary stick
together but until you look in a mirror and truly be honest with yourself, you will realize that
we are indeed too top heavy.
Why is it when new business development gets good ideas the execs throw them out? I dont
think they follow through with ideas well enough. When they do, and someone comes up
with something, they dont get anything for it. What a knife in the back to those who deserve
more than they got. I, for one, am glad I will not be one of those people!
Do you not hear the frustration in these questions month after month after month? Where do
you think this comes from? And how do you think the negativity affects people after this
amount of time? Its not fair to keep putting more frosting on. Good people with good
attitudes work here, but constant frustration does take its toll on even good people and wear
down a person. And please dont suggest looking for another job anymore. We want and
39

appreciate our jobs here. We just want more stability and some security and I dont think
thats too much to ask for.

Appendix C: Quantitative Pulse Report Analysis

Highest to Lowest
Cumulative- See sheet
Current Month- See sheet
Difference between Cumulative and Current Month (April) Norm
(+.4) I have an important role in the Plants success.
(-.1) Safety is a high priority in my department.
(-.2) We continue to meet customer needs while controlling cost.
My immediate supervisor provides routine updates on Plant issues.
I understand how major decisions are made in the plant.
(-.3) The plant is moving in the right direction.
I understand where the Plant is headed in the next quarter.
(-.4) My co-workers and I are focused on controlling costs.
(-.5) I know how I contribute to the Plants growth.
Some Answers Provided on Report We May Want to Look Into
40

(39% DISAGREE) I know how I contribute to the Plants growth.

(46% DISAGREE) My co-workers and I are focused on controlling costs.
(41% DISAGREE) Safety is a high priority in my department.
(52% DISAGREE) I understand where the Plant is headed in the next quarter.
(59% DISAGREE) The Plant is moving in the right direction.
(ONLY 9% AGREE) The Plant is moving in the right direction.
Also, a large number of the respondents are undecided on whether they feel they have an
important role in the Plants success.
Response rate was up 6% this month compared to Cumulative norm.

Appendix D: Qualitative Pulse Report Analysis

19 comments to If you could ask the plant manager one question, what would it be?
Five out of 19 responses suggested a specific improvement
Overall Problem: Manager and Employee Disconnect (15) (79%)
Sub-problems:
41

Hierarchy (3) (16%)

Incongruent goals (9) (37%)
Information not shared (5) (27%)
Positive comments recognizing transition being tough (2) (10%)

Appendix E: K.I.S.S. Chart for CEO

KNOW

INFER

SO WHAT TO DO

SO WHAT NOT TO
DO

-new to the job

(only 6 months)

-she hasnt built a

rapport with the
employees

-demonstrate credibility
-realize changes effect
on employees
-MBWA

-dont make drastic

changes unless needed
-dont assume everyone
understands change
-lack of communication

-she has seen

other Pulse
Reports

-problems are not

new to her

-present rollout
schedule
-focus on receivers
needs

-ignore receivers needs

-blame receivers

-she has a
financial
background

-shes an Arrow
manager

-be perceptive while

observing employees
(harvest the dissent)

-Overwhelm them with

details (information
overload)

42

Appendix F: K.I.S.S. Chart for Employees

KNOW

INFER

SO WHAT TO DO

SO WHAT NOT
TO DO

-Over 1,000
employees

-Theyre diverse

-Use divide and conquer

approach and identify
the lions/opinion leaders

-Only use lean

channels

-There are different

levels
-Communication will
be misinterpreted by
some

-Theres a union

-Auto parts
manufacturing
firm

-Harvest the dissent

-There is division
between employees

-Realize the differences

between the two groups

-Have more power

compared to nonunionized workers

-Follow Union
guidelines

-Not required to have a

bachelors degree

-Provide direct and

relatable examples

-Dont use CEO

lingo

-Strict and fast paced

environment

-Timely messages

-Over
communicate

43

-Dont favor one

group over the
other

Appendix G: Change Planning Chart

Audiences

How group
will be
effected

Who are the

lions?

What are the

channel
preferences?

What do
group
members
know or
think they
know?
Accountable
Problems

Concerns
or
resistance
points?

Communication
Objectives

CEO

Overall
responsibility

CEO

Face to face

Time
Cost
Job
stability

Developing
strategy
Measureable
improvements

Plant
Manager

More comm.
and
awareness

Plant manager

Face to face

Problems

Job
stability
Cost
Quotas

Executing
strategy
Provide relevant
concerns to CEO

LowerLevel
Managers

More comm.
and
awareness

Veterans
Charismatic
Knowledgeable

Face to face
Written

Problems

Job
stability
Wages
Quotas

Executing
strategy
Relay concerns to
upper
management

Skilled
Employees

More duties
and
responsibility

Veterans
Charismatic
Knowledgeable

Face to face
Written

Job skills

Job
stability
Wages

Meeting goals
Participate in
bottom-up comm.

Support
Staff

More duties
and
responsibility

Veterans
Charismatic
Knowledgeable

Face to face
Written
Email

Job skills
Context of
problems

Job
stability
Wages

Meeting goals
Relay info interdepartmentally

44

45

Appendix H: Strategies, Tactics, & Rationale Chart

46

Appendix I: Roll-out Schedule

MONTH ONE
- WEEK ONEDAY ONE:

Meeting with CEO to present and explain our communication plan (including the need
for Pulse Report improvement)

Make necessary changes based on feedback received from CEO

DAY TWO:

Individual meetings to explain the new communication plan with

o

Top executives, plant manager and department heads

o Lower-level managers and shift supervisors/lions of each department/shift

DAY THREE:

Meeting with CEO, top executives, plant manager, department heads, shift supervisors,
Lower-level Managers, and lions to review the new communication plan and receive
feedback.

DAY FOUR:

Meeting with CEO, top executives, plant manager, department heads, shift supervisors,
lower-level managers and lions to:

47

Review the new communication plan

Address feedback concerns

o Go over results of Pulse Report.

o Make changes to Pulse Survey for next month.
DAY FIVE:

Meeting with CEO, top executives, plant manager, department heads, shift supervisors,
Lower-level Managers, and lions to:
o Answer any additional questions
o Address feedback and concerns
o Review next weeks schedule

-WEEK TWODAY ONE:

CEOs 10 for 10 starts

Weekly department meetings held (for each shift), where:

o New communication plan is introduced to employees
o Tentative rollout schedule is presented to employees
o Pulse Report and executive response is presented to employees
48

o Feedback is received
DAY TWO:

MBWA, 10 for 10

First official forum held to:

o Review new communication plan
o Go over Pulse Report results and new Pulse Survey for next month.

First official knowledge sharing team meeting held

o Review new communication plan
o Go over Pulse Report results and new Pulse Survey for next month.

DAY THREE:

MBWA, 10 for 10

Monthly newsletter is developed.

DAY FOUR:

MBWA, 10 for 10

Last changes to monthly newsletter before print

DAY FIVE:

49

MBWA, 10 for 10

Monthly newsletter distributed to all employees

-WEEK THREEDAY ONE:

MBWA, 10 for 10

Weekly department meetings held

DAY TWO:

MBWA, 10 for 10

Second unofficial forum held (since usually only once a month)

DAY THREE:

MBWA, 10 for 10

Second unofficial knowledge sharing team meeting held (since usually only once a
month)

DAY FOUR:

MBWA, 10 for 10

Meeting with CEO to give update on progress of new communication plan and the plant.

DAY FIVE:
50

MBWA, 10 for 10

- WEEK FOUR DAY ONE:

Weekly department meetings held

MBWA, 10 for 10

DAY TWO:

Explain (what it is, why its important and how info will be used) and distribute Pulse
Survey

MBWA, 10 for 10

DAY THREE:

Calculate results of Pulse Survey

MBWA, 10 for 10

DAY FOUR:

MBWA, 10 for 10

Meeting with CEO, plant manager, and top executives to:

o Go over Pulse Report results
o Form executive response
51

o Discuss/develop next months Pulse Survey questions

DAY FIVE:

MBWA, 10 for 10

Eating with Edwards

MONTH TWO
(MBWA / CEOs 10 for 10 done daily)
- WEEK ONEDAY ONE: Weekly department/shift meetings- executive response given from last months Pulse
Report
DAY TWO- Knowledge sharing teams meet to address Pulse Report concerns
DAY THREE- Lions present feedback of knowledge sharing teams to CEO and management
DAY FOUR- Management meetings (where CEO is present)
DAY FIVE- Information is collected for the monthly newsletter
- WEEK TWO DAY ONE: Weekly department/shift meetings
DAY TWO: Newsletter published (with last months information and this months needed to
know information)
52

DAY THREE: Forums held and lions present (to discuss decisions in plant)
DAY FOUR: Management meetings where CEO is present
DAY FIVE: New Pulse Survey developed
- WEEK THREE DAY ONE: Weekly department/shift meetings
DAY TWO: Pulse Survey given with explanation and timeline of information use
DAY THREE:
DAY FOUR- Management meetings where CEO is present
DAY FIVE: Pulse Survey Data calculated and developed into report
- WEEK FOUR DAY ONE: Weekly department/shift meetings
DAY TWO: Pulse Report results discussed with CEO and upper management with lions present
DAY THREE: Executive Response is finalized with CEO; Upper management and ions present
(is distributed at the beginning of next month in weekly department/shift meetings by lions)
DAY FOUR: Management meetings where CEO is present
DAY FIVE- Eating with Edwards

53

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