Handling Differences at Japan Auto

FORTES, PERALTA, QUIRONG

Facts of the Case
Japan Auto Sales Los Angeles Parts Distribution
Center
Large Japanese-owned automobile manufacturer
Built on commitment to quality
Customer satisfaction
Supports continuing education, diversity
Future career opportunity and growth
Minimum bachelors degree
Facts of the Case
Main Characters
Barbara Smith
30 years old, ambitious
From outside Transportation Company
Started as LAPDC as office clerk
Promoted from secretary to department specialist
Responsible for core and obsolescence programs
Quest for career growth
Almost completed general education requirements for
Associate of Arts Degree
Misunderstood demeanor
Regarded as harsh and argumentative
Insulted many associates
Insinuating superiority as shes in college
Failed to remember, other have degrees
Associates believe they should be respected
Internal customers
Facts of the Case
Main Characters
Chrys Haber
37 years old
3 years now with LAPDC
Joined Japan Auto as an Assistant for
Facilities Department
Promoted to Claims Specialist
shes approximately 4 months with
department niow
Made friends quickly
Known by fellow associates and
management as high energy, dynamic,
Considered an asset
Facts of the Case
Main Characters
Marcia
38-year old
Smart yet insecure
Sympathetic towards Barbara
Trying to be different and move ahead
Constantly afraid of hurting others
feelings
Always strove for acceptance by associates
Not guide and encourage Barbara to
follow development plan
Allowed Barbara to do as she pleased
Created major hostility who wanted to
get promoted too
Not give same opportunities to other
associates
Favoritism
Created antagonism and lack of loyalty
Point of View
Management
Address issues with
Marcia, Office Manager
Chrys and Barbara, Associates
Statement of the Problem
What strategies should management implement
to improve interpersonal relations among the
employees in order for the company to achieve
its organizational goals in a frictionless
environment?


Objectives
Achieve organizational goals
Improve interpersonal relations among employees
Lessen professional friction among employees
Have a more cohesive team
For Marcia to be an effective and efficient office
manager/leader
Areas of Consideration
SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
Encourages career advancement
Incentivize degree holders
Diversity: well-balanced mix of gender and ethnicity.
Cross training: associates develop plan for career growth.
Both Barbara and Chrys great professionals, strong
personalities.
Chrys confrontation had a positive impact on Barbaras
work ethic.
Associates are ambitious and enthusiastic.
The office had an exceptional team environment.
Despite her mistake when she became harsh towards
Barbara, Chrys ability to see her mistakes can quickly fix
teams before going out of hand.
Employees try to resolve conflict at their level first before
bringing it up with management


WEAKNESSES
Marcias weak personality empowered Barbaras poor
attitude.
The associates didnt confront Barbara directly to talk about
their problems with her.
Barbara has a tendency to look down on her colleagues,
which resulted to many disobediences like not participating
in claims training
Carolyns inassertiveness reinforced Barbaras
uncooperativeness in cross training
Chrys, despite her objectivity, became emotional when she
confronted Barbara.
Areas of Consideration
SWOT ANALYSIS
Opportunities
Better working relations
Camaraderie might lead to
surpassing sales targets,
expansion.
Improved internal
communication
Working relations will lead to a
happier workplace, to
consumer satisfaction.

Threats
Competitors take advantage of the
internal conflict
Anger and negative emotions to
make future confrontations more
rabid, painful.
Employees misaligned with the
objectives of maximizing profit and
minimizing cost in an organization.
Quality of products and services may
suffer due to internal conflict

Areas of Consideration
SWOT
The SWOT suggests:
Management team did great job prioritizing
employee career growth, education
Require a bachelors degree
Advantages of diversity
Employees of different ethnicities, gender
mixture created along with cross training
Understanding of diverse customer base
Result: highly skilled associates.
Associates embraced career growth path
Allow themselves to improve technical skills.
The problem lies:
Marcia inassertiveness
Barbaras aggressiveness, myopic view, lack of
humility
Alternative Courses of Action
ACA1
ACA1: Engage in Team Building Activities to Foster Closer
and Smoother Working Relations and Understanding among
employees.
A. Create Venues for interaction
-who share or like to develop similar interests
-force the employees to interact more and to bond more
with each other
Yoga and Pilates Club
Arts and Crafts Club
Photography Club
Cycling Club


Alternative Courses of Action
ACA1
B. Employees to engage in
programs that emphasize
Character-building
Coveys 7 Habits of Highly
Efficient People
Seeking to understand,
then to be understood
Being proactive, not
reactive
Loyalty to the Absent
Think Win-Win

Alternative Courses of Action
ACA1
Advantages:
Closer professional and personal relationship
Character-building activities
Encourage to think long-term
move towards common good
Long-term investment in people gives lasting results
Coveys Program
lessen backbiting, tone down emotionally-charged environment
encourages people to practice thinking Win-Win Situations for others and
themselves.
Disadvantages:
Might need to spend on materials and manpower to manage an Employee Center
to run and coordinate the various clubs
Character-Building Programs like Coveys are expensive, take at least one work-
week to facilitate
Results take time to be seen and felt

Alternative Courses of Action
ACA2
Invest in Marcias leadership education
stronger, more assertive office manager
Leading team to achieve organizational goals
Advantages
Marcia to become better leader, rallying her team to
achieve organizational goals
Marcia to be an able leader, ensure smoother
working relations among her subordinates
Armed in handling discord and disagreement from
her subordinates

Alternative Courses of Action
ACA2
Invest in Marcias leadership education
stronger, more assertive office manager
Leading team to achieve organizational goals

Disadvantages
Too much focus on Marcia
Too dependent on one person. What will happen when she resigns
Training will also entail cost
Danger of Marcia resigning anyway, wasting leadership training
Alternative Courses of Action
ACA3
ACA3: Status quo.
Barbara now more cooperative, sensitive
Chrys more introspective
Marcia now assertive, gave opportunities to other associates.
Advantages
No cost
Everybody given chance at peace, at their own pace
Disadvantages
High risk of regression
Management not really know what actually changed internally
among employees
In the dark


Recommendation
ACAs 1 and 2 are tied at the top
Programs are slowly but will surely deliver frictionless,
smoother and better working relations among the employees
ACA 1 lowest score in ease of implementation
anticipated additional manpower and cost
Recommendation
ACAs 1: bond and friendship developed among employees will take time to happen
ACA2: perfect score in ease of implementation
only involves training and educating one manager, Marcia.
ACA 3, perfect score in ease of implementation
doing nothing
lowest in effecting better relations among workers
Will just leave people wondering what happened
Recommendation
Two-pronged approach
ACAs 1 and 2
More venues for employees to bond and get to
know each other better
Train Marcia to lead her team as real office manager
Conclusion
Case shows despite the good execution of employee
programs
Educational growth and career promotion
lack of interpersonal skills may impede the success of
such objectives.
Importance of soft skill/human skill
Barbaras lack of interpersonal skills have caused a
conflict
May have impeded the growth of other associates
Good that associates resolved issue within their level
before raising to management


Management Levels and Skills Needed

Needs
Needs
Needs
Conceptual
Skills
Human
Skills
Technical
Skills
Supervisory or
Operational Mgt
Middle
Management
Top
Mgt
As a manager moves from the supervisory to the top management level,
conceptual skills become more important than technical skills, but
human skills remain equally important
Source: Management by Stoner and Freeman
Thank You!