Superior Slate
Problem Statement
The Superior State Quarry had a sharp decline in production output after the process was upgraded and streamlined. Thomas North is now faced with profit losses and uncertainty in his company's ability to compete in the slate roofing industry.
Analysis
There are many reasons why "improvements" made to the slate quarry work process and equipment triggered a loss in productivity. To understand why this happened, one has to first understand the social system of the group members at the quarry. By analyzing the elements of behavior of the social system, both external and internal, and how they relate to one another, we will be able to understand why erecting the new mill had the kinds of consequences it did.
The part of the social system called the external system is comprised of required and given behavior. More specifically, it consists of required activities, required interactions, required sentiments and given sentiments. These elements of behavior are what a group starts with and will depend on various background factors which members of the group have little or no control over. Some of these background factors are job design, technology, management policy and practice, leadership behavior, personal backgrounds, economic environment and social environment.
Prior to erecting the mill, the group performing the work of making shingles primarily consisted of two splitters and one trimmer. The required activities of the splitters and trimmer were as follows:
Two splitters were to break a large rock into small blocks by using a wooden mallet. The splitters then carried the small blocks into the shanty. There the splitters further chiseled the blocks into thinner pieces.
When this was completed, the splitters placed the thin pieces for the trimmer on a low table. The trimmer then proceeded to make as large a rectangle out of these pieces with a trimming machine. After the pieces was...
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