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Objective 6B Educational
Treadway Tire Company Business Report
Katie Little
McDaniel College
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Understanding the context and constraints in which Human Resources Management
(HRM) supports and advances a business’ strategic objectives was the focus of the
Introduction to Human Resources Management course. A reflection of this learning
objective was a case study review conducted on the Treadway Tire Company to recognize
the constraints imposed by the legal, organizational culture, and social environments.
The case study of the Treadway Tire Company required the student to design a
concise business report in order to demonstrate their understanding of the organization.
The review included a brief synopsis of the case study, to include the background and case
study findings, an analysis of the organization the importance of the findings on the
organization, and recommendation on a course of action.
In summary, the Treadway Tire Company, more specifically the Lima Tire Plant,
faced a high level of turnover and job dissatisfaction. With the social and business
environment becoming more challenging, it was necessary for the organization to cut costs
and improve productivity at the plant by reducing turnover. Therefore, the Human
Resources (HR) Professional was given the task of creating a solution to the organization’s
problem within a short time timeframe.
Also, organizational and cultural challenges were a focus of the case study. This can
be seen by the analysis of the foreman position and how it affected the performance of the
company. The foreman employees made up the largest group of salaried employees.
Through an analysis of the organization it was found that the educational background and
skills sets of foremen were the two most important factors in relation to their job
performance. It was found that morale, hiring, and training were the areas of the foreman
career that needed the most HR attention.
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Recognizing and understanding the constraints of the Treadway Tire Company and
the organizational culture and social environment, I was able to provide recommendations
and justifications for their implementation. The execution of an organized training
program for those employees moving into and currently in the foreman position would
have the greatest positive impact on the company. Having the foremen participate in a
more formalized training process would help to improve the rate of success and provide
them with the skills to flourish. The training program would need to emphasize skills such
as plant operations, union work, disciplinary actions, and opportunities for
education/advancement.
In order to develop a more formalized training process there needed to be an
assessment of the existing skill levels in order to identify what skills need the most
attention. Training needs assessment can help the HR Professional to develop personalized
and group trainings that fit the needs of the employees. Knowing skills like finance,
administration, and union laws would provide foremen with skills that would be useful in
being successful. The recommended changes focused around the foreman position where
implementing changes can make the most growth and impact needed programs. Welltrained and prepared foreman maintain the daily production at the plant and prepare them
to take on any challenges.
An alternative approach that could be taken to analyze the Treadway Tire Company
is using a strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis. This method
allows the HR Professional to evaluate the organization and provides a framework to
create a strategic plan to help improve the company. At the Treadway Tire Company
strengths included the $100 million dollar expansion that took place and allowed the plant
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to increase its capacity and use new manufacturing technology. Weaknesses included the
lacking employee moral and high turnover. Opportunities included using the skilled and
knowledgeable employees at the plant to create and implement new policies and
procedures to help the plant run more efficiently. Threats include the economy and the fact
that many of the plants were shutting down.
A HR Management theory that can be applied to this case study is the theory of
constraints (TOC). The TOC is based on the idea to, “recognize that the performance of the
whole often depends on the weakest link. If improvement effort is not directed to the
weakest link, then no overall improvement can be realized,” (Stein, 1997). The TOC aims to
produce an enhanced platform within the total quality management approach and can be a
useful tool in today’s competitive business environment and act as a change agent in an
organization. In applying this theory to the case study it supports my original
recommendation of creating an organized training program for the foreman employees.
As an HR Professional I can use the skills developed during this case study and apply
them during my career. To effectively complete the case study of the organization I had to
distinguish the constraints imposed by the legal, organizational culture, and social
environments. By recognizing that the Treadway Tire Company had constraints due to the
economy and its organizational culture I was able to provide a course of action that
recognized the strengths and weaknesses of the company.
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References
Dettmer, H. W. (1997). Goldratt's theory of constraints. Milwaukee, WI: ASQC Quality Press.
Skinner, C. Wickham, & Beckham, Heather. (2008). Treadway Tire Company: Job
Dissatisfaction and High Turnover at the Lima Plant. Harvard Business School Cases
Stein, R. (1997). The theory of constraints: Applications in quality and manufacturing.
Technometrics, 2nd(3), 257. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1271183