In this story Bill Marks jumped to a conclusion based on his bias about the new, younger employees who worked for him.  This is a troubling example of almost making a decision based on very limited information (data) about what was going on in the situation.

Bill was prevented from making an awkward and wasteful decision by the involvement of an H.R. Director who understood how to diagnose a problem.  Fortunately, Bill had enough “common sense” to check with his H.R. Director, Raymond Webster, before taking any action.  Raymond, with many years of experience applying his “Good Scientist” skills, was able to show Bill how to apply the Scientific Method to the situation in which he found himself.

Here’s the story as told by Raymond Webster.

It was Friday morning, and I was wrapping up a telephone conference call when Bill Marks, the Plant Manager of Unit 4, barged into my office complaining, “Those youngsters you just hired are refusing to work overtime.”

My name is Raymond Webster and I’m the Director of Human Resources for a large furniture manufacturing company located in a small town in Ohio.  Bill has 20 years with the company and is responsible for an assembly plant that employs 150 associates.  Our business is beginning to pick up so we started hiring again about six months ago.

I asked Bill to sit down with me and explain the problem he saw having.  He dropped into a chair, acting exhausted, and began to explain, “I’m having a tough time getting enough associates to work overtime this weekend.”  Bill told me that he had just asked for 15 volunteers to work overtime on Saturday (tomorrow).  “I didn’t think I would have any problem finding 15 people; instead only 12 volunteered.  I can’t operate without 15, and if we don’t run on Saturday the Anderson order will be a late delivery.”  Bill kept saying, “There is something wrong here; associates never used to do this to me; it must be those new, young people you hired; they don’t want to work hard for a living like the rest of us.”

By promising that I would look into the matter and get back to him before the end of the shift, I was able to calm Bill down.  I thought to myself, “It can’t be as simple as ‘pointing the finger’ at the new, younger associates.  I was determined to get to the bottom of the issue and I decided to get some questions answered to help me understand the problem.  I needed answers to the following questions to properly consider the problem and possible solutions

1. When does Bill usually ask people to work overtime?  How much advance notice does he give?

2. What are the scheduled delivery dates for the Anderson order?

3. Were there any backups or breakdowns that delayed processing the order?

4. Was there more than a normal absentee rate at the time of the overtime offer?

5. Were there any external factors that might be affecting associates’ decisions about whether to volunteer or not to volunteer for overtime?

6. How does Bill usually ask for overtime volunteers? Is he demanding and pushy?

To get the answers to my questions, I took a walk out in Unit 4 and made a stop at the Scheduling and Plant Engineering area.  I also took a swing through the plant, stopping randomly to chat with associates, and I included both old timers and several of the new, younger associates.

It took me about two hours to complete my walk around.  I had promised Bill I would get back to him before the shift ended, and I had about 15 minutes to organize the information I had collected and put it into a cause and effect statement describing what I thought was going on.

These are my notes (In order of my walk through Unit 4):

Q1: What is the scheduled delivery date for the Anderson order?

A:  The delivery date for the order is next Monday (source: Scheduling area).

Q2:  Were there any backups or breakdowns that could have delayed processing the order?

A:  On Tuesday morning the line was shut down for 3 hours due to an electrical failure at the edging machine.  It took 4-5 hours before the line was back to normal.  This threw the whole schedule off for the week and created the need for overtime on Saturday.  The breakdown was caused by a motor failure on the equipment (Source: Scheduling & Engineering).

Q3: When does Bill usually ask people to work overtime?

A:  Associates reported that Bill always gives as much advance notice as he can, and in this case he told them on Wednesday that he thought he would be asking for 15 volunteers. He actually began offering the overtime, by seniority, early on Thursday, expecting to have the 15 names early on Friday.  Bill had 12 names by 10:00 am Friday morning; he was short three volunteers.  Associates reported he

acted “frustrated” which was unlike Bill, and he started canvassing associates trying to get three more names.  Associates who signed up don’t yet know for sure if they will be working on Saturday.  One volunteer said, “We’ve got lives too, and we all have plans we’ll need to cancel if we are going to work on Saturday.”  (Source:  Associate).

Q4: Was there more than the normal absentee rate at the time of the offer?

A:  The absentee rate was normal yesterday when the offer was made.  However, I noted that 8 to 10 associates had been granted unpaid leave on Friday.  We always have some requests for unpaid leave, usually one or two, but this was an unusually high number.

Q5: How does Bill usually ask for overtime volunteers?

A:  Of the 8 associates I spoke with, including 3 of the newer employees, all reported that Bill is courteous and not demanding.  As one associate put it, “Bill is a thoughtful person who cares about us.” (Source:  Associates).

Q6: Were there any external factors that might have affected peoples’ decisions to volunteer for work on Saturday?

A:  When I looked at the local community calendar I found that the high school graduation was scheduled for Saturday.  I checked two nearby school districts and their graduations were also planned for Saturday.

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THE REST OF THE STORY

Bill Marks showed up in Roger’s office about thirty minutes before shift change.  He seemed more relaxed and commented, “I hope you have a way to get me out of this mess.” Roger replied, “I have some interesting information for you but you’ll have to decide for yourself what to do.”  Bill seemed satisfied so Roger started reading off his notes, pausing to make sure Bill understood the information he was getting.  When Roger got to question #3 regarding, “When Bill asked people to work overtime”, Bill commented, “Who said we all have other lives!  Sounds like a disgruntled associate.” Roger remarked, “Let me finish, you may change your mind.”  As Roger was reading the response to #6 regarding external factors, Bill stood up and said, “Damn I forgot all about that.  That explains why folks who normally accept overtime are turning me down.”  Bill started toward the door and Roger said, “Hold on–do you really understand what happened here?  What does this tell you about how you should handle future situations like this one?”  Bill sat down shaking his head.  “I guess I jumped the gun.  I concluded it was the young associates doing their thing and that wasn’t it at all.  Next time I’ll talk to you first before I act.”  Bill replied; “No!  That’s not necessary.  You just need to slow down and make sure you have all of the facts before you decide what to do.”   “You’re right!”  Bill said.  “I’m going to straighten this out right now before everybody leaves for home.”

As Bill was leaving, Roger asked, “What are you going to do?”  Bill paused and said, “I’m going out and apologize to my whole crew for jumping the gun and acting frustrated.  If I do that I might just get 2 or 3 more to sign up for Saturday overtime”.

Bill did just what he said he would do and indeed got 3 more volunteers.

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HOW RAYMOND GRASPED THE SITUATION

In this story Raymond applied his “Scientific Self” by following a diagnostic approach to determine the cause of Bill’s concern about “Those Youngsters Refuse to Work Overtime.”

Put yourself in Bill’s shoes and recap the steps Raymond followed. What was Raymond’s diagnostic approach?  How did he Grasp the Situation?