Markham Instrument Company
...rship style and value. Based on the analysis, Greene’s ‘lack-of-trust attitude’ could be initially seen on how he treats the employees under him. Greene’s lack of trust was evident on his policy that all methods work under his department should be done by supervisors. But that was minor compared to his attitude toward other departments, specifically in sales and engineering. As his colleagues from those two departments stated, Greene was never wrong generally his whole production department. For instance, when the engineering department suggests an idea, Greene never considers it and persists to do things his own way. This is evidently a display of lack of trust in Greene’s attitude. One manager even stated that he even had to make his ideas turn out like it was Greene’s to get things done. Furthermore, Greene always wanted other managers to address him first, and not his staff in the production division even though the request was simple enough to be handled by other managers under him. Greene’s lack of trust attitude also expanded to the top management, with his view that top management always favors the sales department from them. As shown in the case study, another factor that led to Greene’s difficult personality is his tactlessness and lack of communication skills. Interpersonal skills are necessary for a production manager to have, as can be seen on the current situation. Greene had displayed many signs of his tactlessness based on his comments and based on the comments of engineering and sales managers. First of all, Greene could not give the effort of fighting out for his views. Instead, Greene’s tactics is doing things in his own way without explaining to his fellow managers thoroughly and clearly why it had to be done his way. Because Greene didn’t have the ability to explain clearly what is in his mind, he creates an impression of being rigid and being too difficult to get along with. Greene was traditionally autocratic, which includes the attitude of being judgmental of others. Perhaps people would have understood him better if he had the effort of explaining clearly his side of the story. Furthermore, as can be reflected from Greene’s testimonials, he had a bitter attitude toward the top management of Markham. Greene spent his time criticizing instead of analyzing facts and arguing his views through a professional non-insulting manner. The top management even branded Greene as insulting sometimes, for being too frank. Greene had no interest in talking or mixing with anyone in the engineering department or in the sales department, with the reason that he already knows about everything that they are doing. Obviously, Greene was ineffective in the area of communication and it had hurt his reputation badly. Despite suggestions from the top management that he should expand his communication networks, he just reasoned in his tactless way on why he shouldn’t have too. Based on the article “Communication..how to listen effectively,” attributes that should be related with how a production manager should handle people include: sound communication skills; listens to and supports staff; builds teams and is collaborative; has a participatory management style; develops and coaches others; has an effective leadership style; vision and confidence in their mission; ability to motivate; and interpersonal sensitivity. Because Greene lacks the ability to communicate effectively, he couldn’t effectively perform some of the important attributes mentioned. Lack of communication skills restrain a manager from having a participatory disposition with other managers, train and coaches employees, motivate employees, and interpersonal sensitivity. Greene’s attitude greatly disrupted the tradition in Markham of having a family-like bond with each other. Furthermore, it disrupted the collaboration among the production, engineering, and sales division which could have played greatly in the progress of the company. Finally, the third factor that contributed greatly to Greene’s sour disposition is the inability of the company to meet some necessary needs. The company played a part on why Greene developed a rigid personality by not establishing a strong control over the production division. In Greene’s department, every policy was made by him. As one of the manager in sales stated, “He is his own little king”. Clearly, there was no department to conduct the relationship between the three divisions. There was lack of control, and thus Greene became loosely intact with his policies and being comfortable with them, did not welcome any changes. The other managers even gave hints of avoiding interaction with the production department by suggesting a product engineering department in where the production division could take their affairs. Basically, the lack of control and supervision in the production division led to the development of a different culture within it with Greene leading the way. One of the managers stated that nobody wants to make the productions mad because once they walk up, nobody will replace them. Markham, especially Finlay, let Greene get away of having his own world. The role could have been played by the executive vice-president. In the end, that particular lack of control ended up in forcing Greene to resign. The lack of control made Greene to proud of himself that he refuses to be blamed for mistakes. Engineering and sales managers confessed that Greene always insisted that the production d...