AdmiralHyena2122
Jim Malesckowski remembers the call of two weeks ago as if he…
Jim Malesckowski remembers the call of two weeks ago as if he just put down the telephone receiver. “I just read your analysis and I want you to get down to Southern Indiana right away, ” Jack Ripon, his boss and chief executive officer, had blurted in his ear. “You know we can’t make the plant work anymore-the costs are just too high. So go down there, check out what our operational costs would be if we move, and report back to me in a week.”
At that moment, Jim felt as if a shiv had been stuck in his side, just below the rib cage. As President of the Wisconsin Specialty Products Division of Lamprey, Inc., he knew quite well the challenge of dealing with high-cost labor in a third-generation, unionized U.S. manufacturing plant. And although he had done the analysis that led to his boss’s knee-jerk response, the call still stunned him. There were 920 people who made a living at Lamprey’s facility; and if it closed, most of them wouldn’t have a journeyman’s prayer of finding another job in the town of 9,000 people.
Instead of the $16-per-hour average wage paid at the plant, the wages paid to the workers would amount to about $6 an hour on average. That’s a savings of nearly $15 million a year for Lamprey, to be offset in part by increased costs for training, transportation, and other matters.
After two days of talking with county and state government representatives and managers of other companies in the town, Jim had enough information to develop a set of comparative figures of production and shipping costs. On the way home, he started to outline the report, knowing full well that unless some miracle occurred, he would be ushering in a blizzard on pink slip for people he had come to appreciate.
The plant had been in operation since 1921, making special apparel for persons suffering injuries and other medical conditions. Jim had often talked with employees who would recount stories about their fathers or grandfathers working in the same Lamprey company plant-the last of the original manufacturing operations in town.
But friendship aside, competitors had already edged past Lamprey in terms of price and were dangerously close to overtaking it in product quality. Although both Jim and the plant manager had tried to convince the union to accept lower wages, union leaders resisted. In fact, on one occasion when Jim and the plant manager tried to discuss a cell manufacturing approach, which would cross-train employees to perform up to three different jobs, local union leaders could barely restrain their anger. Yet probably beyond the fray, Jim sensed the fear that lurked under the union reps’ gruff exterior.
A week has passed and Jim just submitted his report to his boss. Although he didn’t specifically bring up the point, it was apparent that lamprey could put its investment dollars in a bank and receive a better return than what its Southern Indiana operation is currently producing
Tomorrow he’ll discuss the report with the CEO. Jim doesn’t want to be responsible for the plant’s dismantling, an act he personally believes would be wrong. “But Ripon’s right,” he says to himself. ‘The costs are too high, the union’s unwilling to cooperate, and the company needs to make a better return on its investment if it’s to continue at all. It sounds right but feels wrong.
Critical Thinking Grading Rubric
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Critical Thinking Trait (1) Does Not Meet Expectations (2) Meets Expectations 3) Exceeds Expectations
Information/Evidence Uses no/very limited information (0-1) Identifies some relevant Uses a range of carefully
evaluated information (2-3) relevant information (4+) Viewpoints Does not incorporate multiple In…
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Critical Thinking Assessment Instructions:
Please complete the following questions regarding the scenario above.
1. What information or evidence from the scenario should be considered?
2. What stakeholder viewpoints, or groups of people that will be impacted by the decision, should be considered?
3. What assumptions must be made?
4. What implications or consequences are there for the alternative courses of action?
5. What conclusion or solution to the problem do you recommend?
