To: Dr.

Windes
From: Callie Groenhof
Date: 11-24-15
Re: Final Paper
Running back and forth with the hustle and bustle of machinery continuously moving is a
typical day at the Lakeside Pic-N-Pac. Pic-N-Pac is a blueberry picking and packing plant in
Holland, Michigan. This plant runs seasonally during the months of July through September. Jeff
Groenhof, Dennis Vanderkooi, and Brent Boumann are the owners of the facility, while Jake
Groenhof is the head manager of the plant. Jeff Groenhof helped me to gain information about
Lakeside Pic-N-Pac.
Jeff Groenhof has been a blueberry farmer for twenty-eight years. He took over his
father-in-laws farm and made it his own. Jeff and his family started with just a small packing
line in one of his barns on the farm. It was a small line with three motorized machines and the
rest was all manual labor. Jeff only packed fruit from his farm and every once in a while he
would pack a different farmers fruit too. In 2004, Jeff got together with three other blueberry
farmers Don Windemuller, Dennis Vanderkooi, and Brent Boumann. They created the packing
facility of Lakeside Pic-N-Pac. With this packing line, they not only pack their own fruit, but
also the fruit of many other blueberry growers in the West Michigan area. The farmers decided to
expand the business and buy land together so they would have more production, so they bought
land about forty minutes away from the packing plant to grow more blueberries. The first year
that the new plants were old enough to produce a good crop was in 2015. After a few years, Don
Windemuller retired and decided to just run his own farm, so that he did not have to worry about

the packing plant. Jeff is now the president of the organization, and he is also the owner that
takes care of the hosing for the hand pickers, checking on which fields need to be picked, and
also making sure that the hand pickers and the people in the packing plant are problem free.
This business has two parts to it. First, there is the blueberry picking. This consists of
around three hundred employees. For hand picking there are four different crews with three crew
leaders. Fidel is in charge of running two crews, while Eli and Casiano are in charge of just one
crew. Each crew has approximately eighty people in it. The other part of Pic-N-Pac is the
packing part of the operation. This is where the office and the plant are categorized. There is
about forty people in this part of the business.
To understand the business, a person must understand that it is a process of just
blueberries going from the bush in the field to the shelf in the store. The blueberries start off on
the bush and are picked by the hand pickers who place them in the bucket. The bucket of berries
is carried to the truck that is out in the field. On this truck there is two different people. One is
the scale operator who will dump the berries into a lug and weigh in the blueberries. Then, the
stacker who is in the truck will take the lug and proceed to place the lug on a pallet that is in the
truck. Once the truck is full, the truck is taken to the packing plant by one of the three truck
drivers Rufino, Jose, or Tereso.
When the blueberries reach the plant, the truck driver will unload the truck and place the
fruit in the pre-cooler. From the pre-cooler the fruit will move to being packed. Alfredo will go
and find the pallet that Jake instructs him to find, and he will bring it to the beginning of the
packing line. When the pallet is by the dumping area, the dumper will take the lug and flip it over
onto the packing line. The blueberries will go through several sorters one being called the color
sorter and the other is the hand sorter. The hand sorter is about two to five ladies, but it all

mattering on the quality of the fruit that is being run. The fruit will go off of that belt and into the
filler which is a machine that has the packing clams in it. On one of the filler will be a person
who is placing the clams into the machine and on the other end will be four people who are
waiting to take the filled claims off the line and place them into the boxes that are before them.
Once the claims are in the boxes, the packers will give it to the stackers who will place the box
on a pallet. Once there is a full pallet, the labeler will go and place stickers on all the boxes
marking them with a number of where it is supposed to go. Also, the labeler will make sure that
the correct company label is being placed on the fruit. The two places that Pic-N-Pac packs for
are North Bay Produce and Michigan Blueberry Growers Association. When the blueberries are
all packed and ready, they are placed in the finished cooler. They will wait here until a truck
comes to take them to a store such as Walmart, Cosco, or another type of store that sells fresh
fruit.
Lakeside is a flat model of hierarchy. There are four bosses at the top of the model. Next,
is Jake Groenhof he is the manager that over sees everything that is happening in the plant. Also,
alongside Jake in the model are the crew leaders Fidel, Casiano, and Eli. Under the crew leaders
there is the Truck Drivers Jose, Tereso, and Rufino. Next is the scale operators, stackers, and the
hand pickers. At the packing plant under Jake is the manager in charge of shipping, Julio Baeza,
the manager over the packing, Maria Ramirez, and the office manager who is Mike Dozeman.
Under the managers are the people who work in the plant and in the office.
People reaching up to the top and talking to the leaders who are high up the model
depends on the persons relationship with the people in the hierarchy. People will normally go
just to the step just above them or the second step above them. For a hand picker, he will go to
either the scale operator, the secretary at the office, or his crew leader with the problem that he

has. It depends on the employees relationship with the owners if he talks to them about the
problems that they are having. If a problem is brought to our attention we will turn our focus
right away to the problem that is at hand with the employee, even if it means directing our
attention from the task that we are on at the moment, stated Jeff Groenhof.
The forms of motivation that Lakeside Pic-N-Pac uses is mostly reward motivation. As
the season comes to a close the hand pickers will begin to move and go to different places before
the season is completely over with. To keep hand pickers around, the owners will raise the price
per a pound that they will pick. Jeff explained that, This motivation will make the people stay
around and finish out the season, but it will also encourage the people to pick faster. Another
form of motivation is whenever there is mile markers throughout the seasons it is celebrated with
a lunch for the employees.
Jeff used another form of motivation out in the field with the hand pickers. Because he is
one of the owners of the business, the people have respect for him and when he shows them
respect they feel as if they are valued in the business. Jeff will take time to be with the people
and he will help them out when they need it. If some of the people are short on money and need a
quick loan, then Jeff will help them out and trust the people to pay the business back. It is very
rare when the people do not repay the loan.
There are a couple of different types of power that are used in different places at Pic-NPac. Jeff Groenhof in the field will use expert power. He does this because the people look up to
Jeff whenever he is in the field checking them out and making sure that everything is running
smoothly. Whenever the people talk to Jeff, a person can tell that they had respect for this man.
In fact on August fourteen, Jeffs birthday, the people at the packing plant will throw a party for

him to celebrate. It started out as it being a surprise party for him, but now that it is traditional it
has become less of a surprise for him.
Another form of power that is used at Pic-N-Pac is reward power. If an employee is doing
a good job and is dedicating himself to the business, then there is a monetary reward given to
him. These monetary rewards can be in different forms. One would be a pay raise to that
employee. Another reward that the owners do every year is they will go to Mijers and buy two
one hundred dollar gift cards for Maria the manager of the people in the plant. These gift cards
are given to her during the winter as a thank you for all that she does for the business. The
owners recognize all that she has to take care of with the employees that are under her.
In this business there is some empowerment. Most of the people are placed in one
position and become very good at this position. Sometimes there are different employees that
will have more than one specific job and will move around to where ever the plant needs them to
be. If a person has an idea then the owners and Jake are open to listening and trying out a new
idea that could help the business run smoother.
The owners empower most of the managers like Jake, Maria, and Mike Dozeman. Jake
is able to do whatever he wants in the plant, and we are there to back him up. Also, we empower
Mike to be able to do whatever he wants in the office (Jeff Groenhof). Jake will assign different
tasks to different people telling them what he wants done, and he does not need to check with the
owners to see if that is ok. Jake is also the one who will go out and say if Pic-N-Pac needs to hire
another person to work in the shed or not. Then, Jake will empower Maria to go and find who
ever she wants to hire in our applications folder. Mike is empowered by being able to decide
what he wants to do in the office and how he wants to do it. If Mike wants to do something
different in the office, he is able to do it without asking the owners before doing so.

Another form of empowerment that in this business is with Julio Baeza. He is Jakes
Right hand man. Julio is now in charge of loading and unloading trucks, downloading scales, and
also helping to do odd jobs around the plant. In the beginning, when Julio started to work at PicN-Pac in 2009, he was an employee who would stay by the line and either stack boxes, or he
would dump lugs at the beginning of the line. Throughout the years, he continued to come back
during the summer never missing a year. By doing so Jake began to give him more jobs such as
taking care of the trucks that were coming in and unloading them.
Julio is also not afraid to tell of changes that he would like to have done at Pic-N-Pac.
One of the ideas that he came up with was making some numbers that he would place above the
unloading doors that were outside. This was so that he could tell the truckers to go to which door
he wanted with less confusion. When he told me this idea, I brought it up to Jake and he instantly
gave the go ahead telling me that Julio could do whatever he wanted to do. The signs were
made up and placed on the door. This idea did actually made the plant run smoother.
As the secretary of this business the bosses have given me a form of empowerment as
well. I am able to do the jobs that I have however I would like to. A large program that I am in
charge of is hiring all the hand pickers at the beginning of every season. With this we will have
about three to five different mornings that we hire about three hundred hand pickers in total. I am
in charge of choosing the people that I want to help with the hiring process. I will watch the
process and make adjustments for the following time to make sure that everything will run
smoother. I do not need to report anyone who is higher in the model of hierarchy, and I am able
to make my own decisions on what I think is best for the business.
There are a few different types of leaders at Pic-N-Pac. As for Jake he need to have two
different types of leadership styles. Because Pic-N-Pac is seasonal work we normally get some of

the same people every year, but the other half will be a wild card to see who Pic-N-Pac gets. An
example of this would be this one man who Jake hired a few years ago. He was at Pic-N-Pac
employ for maybe two weeks. Pic-N-Pac has a three warning rule and then a person is fired. This
man got two warnings for being late or not showing up. Then, one time Jake gave this man a job
of washing lugs and the guy did not like this job so he just walked out the door. Jake watched
him and assumed that he had just quit. The next morning the guy shows up to work again. This is
when Jake had to ignore any form of establishing a relationship with this man and fired him
because he walked off the job. The man argued with Jake for a few minutes and stormed out of
the work place. On the other hand Jake will have the middle-of-the-road management leadership
style who is establishing a relationship with the employees and yet he needs to have high
performance from the people in the plant.
Jeff Groenhof is more of a leader that is between the country club leader and the team
management forms of leadership. He is very focused on the relationship that he has with the
employees. If they have a problem and he is busy, he will normally stop what he is doing to help
the employee out with whatever problem that they have, or he will instruct another person to go
out and help them. Jeff stated, I try to treat people equally and with respect. I want to establish a
trusting relationship with my employees so that I can trust them and they can trust me. Jeff will
normally permit the employees to have his number, but there are times when he regrets this
decision. An example of this would be with the employee Alejandro. Alejandro always seems to
have a problem or is always trying to come up with different ideas that he has. The first year that
Alejandro was at Pic-N-Pac, he had Jeffs number and would call Jeff once a day. Jeff would
always spend time talking to Alejandro trying to help him out. By the end of the season the
phone calls were getting sickening, but Jeff still put up with it. The following year Alejandro lost

Jeffs number and came into the office asking for it. I did not give it to him and told him that Jeff
was going to have the secretary answer most of the calls now. For a few weeks after that,
Alejandro would ask for Jeffs number, but I kept telling him that he needed to bring his
problems to the office and I would bring them to Jeff. After a while Alejandro realized that he
would have to bring his problem to his crew leader or to the office if he wanted to have his
problem solved.
The crew leaders, Casiano, Fidel, and Eli, all have to have a strong leadership style that
requires the people to continue to follow them instead of easily leaving and going to a different
crew at a competing packing plant. Their leadership styles I would describe as the middle-of-theroad management. It is because the crew leaders need to get the felids picked, but the crew
leaders need to also maintain a good relationship with the hand pickers.
The types of followers that are at Pic-N-Pac is typically the yes followers. In this business
people will normally do whatever Jake wants them to do. An example of this would be when
Jake tells them to do a job a certain way and they do it. Also, with dealing food, Pic-N-Pac has a
lot of certain ways that it has to do things so that the people sometimes do not have the chance
give their opinion on things. There are so many different, specific ways that things need to be
cleaned and how certain jobs need to be done.
The negotiations that take place at Lakeside Pic-N-Pac are normally done in the form of
the wise owl or the shark. Jake used the shark form when he is trying to get the best deal on a
product that he need in the shed. If there is a better price out there for boxes then he will take it,
especially if the company that he is working with is being slow at delivering the product to him.
The wise owl is practiced more by the business owners Jeff, Denny, and Brent because they need
to maintain the relationship with the customer. Jake will also use the wise owl technique, it all

depends on the situation that he is in. He will use the wise owl technique when he is dealing with
a person who he is buying equipment from. Normally, Jake will spend a few hours talking to the
business man trying to get the best deal on the machine that he needs in his packing line.
There are a few conflicts that happen at Lakeside Pic-N-Pac. Normally, they are resolved
with the compromising or the collaborating conflict management style. The avoiding managing
style is not normally used unless the issue is minor, then we just let it work itself out (Jeff
Groenhof). This is because for Pic-N-Pac there is always the threat of a law suit happening if a
conflict is not resolved right away because of all the employees that they have working for them.
If the conflict is larger, then the owners will use the collaborating technique to resolve the
conflict.
I do have a few suggestions that I would give to Pic-N-Pac to make it a better place. First,
I would suggest that at the end of the year whenever an employee leaves to have on the quit form
a suggestion where an employee can leave a comment on what he thinks would make the
business a better place. At the end of the season, the hand pickers will begin to quit so that they
can move to another crop. When they leave they come into the office and sign a paper that they
are officially quitting. On this sheet of paper can be a suggestion box for ideas to make things
better or to change something that is not really running smoothly from their point of view.
Another suggestion that I have is keeping the office by the plant area. Also, if there is any
additions to the building to never separate it from where the people are working. Last year there
was talk about making the house next door to the building the new office. If this was made the
new office, it would be a form of separation between the workplace. Instead the workplace
should become more open with no separation. Even though it is a small thing, but with the

owners using the same bathrooms as the employees shows that there is equality and oneness in
the plant.
Pic-N-Pac has been growing and getting more business throughout the years which
creates more opportunities for the business. I am excited to see how the culture of the business
changes with the growing of the business and the hiring of more employees. There are a few
glitches in this packing plant with how it handles some things, but that can be changed. Also, it is
difficult to change it because it is a seasonal business that continues to get different employees
every year. Even though it is seasonal, there are the loyal employees that continue to return to
Lakeside Pic-N-Pac because this place has become like family to most. Julio has said before that
he will never quit Pic-N-Pac because of how he is treated with respect and how he just loves the
people that are there. Lakeside Pic-N-Pac is not just a business, but it is a family. Jeff stated that,
Our main goal is to keep everyone happy, because happy workers make for a happy working
environment. At Pic-N-Pac the owners do fulfill that goal by keeping the employees happy with
the job that they are performing.