Temps_on_the_Team

Read the following case and answer all the questions that follow. Temps on the Team Techno Toys, located in Regina, Saskatchewan, produces electronic toys for children between the ages of 6 and 12. The toy industry is a cyclical business with peak demand for its products during the Christmas season. Management at Techno Toys anticipates a strong demand for its toys this Christmas season and has added 50 temporary toy assemblers for its four-month peak production period (September through December). Techno management chose to hire these workers through temporary employment agencies rather than directly recruit full-time workers. It did so for two important reasons. First, the temps can be easily dismissed after the four-month peak production season ends. Second, given the seasonal time constraints, it is difficult to locate and hire 50 full-time assemblers from the Regina labour market, which currently has a very low unemployment rate of only 3.5% The 50 temporary toy assemblers were assigned to work side by side with the 50 full-time assemblers on self-managed work teams. Dave Smith, the plant manager, organized the assemblers into 10 teams. Each assembly team was assigned an equal number of temps and full-time employees. Each team must decide how to schedule its work, choose the appropriate methods and tools for assembling the toys, and control the quality of the toys that it produces. After about a month of experience with the self-managed toy assembly teams, Dave Smith noticed a higher-than-acceptable rate of return from retailers with complaints about the toys’ reliability and quality. These problems could be traced to the assembly process. After investigating, Dave discovered the facts listed below. - The temporary employees were hired through two different temporary employment agencies, and each agency paid its temps a different rate. All the temps were paid lower wages than the full-time employees. The temps knew about these pay disparities. - All the temporary employees anticipated being reassigned to work at a different company after the Christmas toy season. They knew they had no future at Techno Toys. - The full-time employees on each team tended to act as supervisors to the temps, closely monitoring their work. The temps tended to comply with directions given by the full-timers but showed little initiative in doing their jobs. After reviewing this information, Dave wondered whether he should recommend reorganizing the toy assembly operation and terminating all the temps or try to improve the teams’ effectiveness by making some changes in the teams. QUESTIONS: 1. What do you think of the practice of mixing temporary employees with full-time employees on teams' Do you see any problems in how the temps are being used at Techno Toys' 2. Is there a better way to utilize temporary employees in the toy assembly process' 3. How can the HR department help Dave solve his problem of getting the self-managed teams to produce high-quality toys' ANSWERS: Answer to Question One The most ideal employment policy for all organization is to employ its entire staff on a permanent basis but in the current unstable economic conditions this is hardly impossible as many businesses tend to cut down their expenses. These economic factors has led many organizations to only employ a small number employee to work on a permanent basis and the rest as temporary staff and this has been described in many quarters as unfair (Dobson & Lew, 1999). For any organizations to stay afloat it must minimize its wage bill and for this reason, I believe that, although this may be an unpopular decision it is very necessary as it is the only way companies can lower their wage bill in these harsh economic conditions. Compensation of workers is the main reason as to why I may support the employment of workers on a temporary basis. When organizations lay down workers they are required by the law to pay them lot of money as compensations and to avoid this they hire their workers as temporary staff. The problem with the way Techno Toys management use their temporary staff is not human. As the article points out, they are very inhuman as they only hire the temporary staff for the four months because they can easily be dismissed. At least they should have some policy of rewarding the most hard working temporary staffs by offering them a permanent contract. Answer to Question Two The best way to utilize the temporary staff in this toy making organization is to first analyze which activity they are good in. If a temporary staff is good in lets say assembling the toys they should be put in the group that is mandated with assembling the toys and not any other group. This kind of specialization and division of labour would ensure that the staffs are utilized maximally leading to high quality and quantity of toys being produced hence reducing the rate at which toys are rejected and returned by the customers. Answer to Question Three The human resource department is the department that should play a major role in helping the manager solve the production department problem. This department should first and fore most come up with a job description for each of the hundred employees so that they can know what is expected of them. Supervisors of each of the ten groups should be known by the group or team members so that other permanent staff members should deceits from loading it on the temporary staff. The Human Resource department may also organize a meeting with all the hundred employees and inform them that they are all part of a team irrespective of whether they are permanent or temporary staff. They should then go ahead and instill into them the importance of team work insisting to them that working as a team is much more fulfilling than working as individuals and fighting within themselves. The HR should also inform them that when working as team they are bound to achieve more and spend less time doing the same amount time. The HR department may also advice Dave on the mode of calculating the wages of the temporary staff. Dave may adopt a policy of paying the temporary staff on commission basis where by they will be paid on the number of high quality of toys that they produce. This will ensure they produce the best quality toys and at the same time produce them in high numbers.