FACULTY OF ECONOMICS
UNDERSTANDING MANAGEMENT
ACME MINERALS EXTRACTION COMPANY
â' Case Analysis â'
October 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SYNOPSIS i
1 INTRODUCTION 1
2 ORGANIZATION 1
2.1 Departmentalization 2
2.2 Authority in Wichita plant 2
2.3 Corporate culture 3
3 TYPES OF TEAMS 3
4 SYMPTOMS AND PROBLEMS 5
5 ANALYSIS 6
6 RECOMMENDATIONS 11
7 REFERENCES: 14
EXECUTIVE SYNOPSIS
Acme Minerals, presents a hierarchical organizational structure, with a top manager and a great number of subordinates, which are further on divided in different types of teams. It is an organization that is in the pre-implementation phase of work teams, preparing for transition from a highly heterogeneous formal vertical team to a collaborative project team-based working environment. The key purpose for which the project teams were implemented in the first place was to increase the productivity and morale. The first team-based project, which was implemented in the Wichita plant, was successful. As a result of the successful implementation, the other project teams in the rest of the organization, were about to be implemented with increasing frequency in organizations, for further decline in costs and time.
Regarding to the first successful implementation of the project in the Wichita plant, Acme Minerals assumed that the implementation will further on develop successfully, however they found many barriers across the way. There were many problems in the organization, and not all of them were related to change, but other previous circumstances, which weren't solved and postponed until it all came out on the surface. The company was in a bad financial situation and this was known by all employees. Moreover, it was facing serious labor relation problems, as the communication between lower and higher organizational level was poor. There was no significant cooperation among the workers and between workers and the management. As well as this,...