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The Straw BossMar 01 '09 (Updated Jun 20 '11) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line An partially fictional account of partially fictional people. Joe was pleased to learn from his boss Tim, who is also his best friend. He would be put in charge of a work crew tasked with boxing products for later shipment to customers. Joe is not surprised. Being in charge runs in the family, his father is a hardware store manager; his mother is a supervisor at the FDA and also owns a self service Laundromat. On his first day as the boss, Joe analyzed the work process. Joe knows the average person can stuff, tape, and label a box and make few mistakes. However, feeling the responsibility of being in charge of a work crew and ultimately the quality of their work, Joe typed a list of instructions which outlined the procedure for boxing and labeling products. As with anything there are exceptions to rules and occasionally there are products that require special handling. There are products to be boxed where boxing spans several days before shipment. There are also mailing addresses that use different types of labels for various shipping methods, i.e., FedEx, UPS, and USPS. Boxing can be complicated by these conditions being applied based on size of the box used and weight of the product. At best, the exceptions are a judgment call and there are no hard and fast rules. At worst, there could be an additional small shipping fee applied if boxes were shipped one way when they could have been shipped another. Regardless of hindsight, within normal human ability, the judgment call is what it is. Because Joe knew that mistakes in shipping would fall on his shoulders, his instructions provided the basics for boxing and labeling and the instruction to “take everything into consideration” when boxing up the product. Since Joe is also aware that not everyone is as diligent and competent as he, in additon to boxing up his own work, Joe performs quality review on everyone's box's before they are placed for shipment. Joe’s quality review results in him finding a constant stream of errors. Size 10 box was used when size 9 was sufficient. Size 8 box was used when two size 4 boxes should have been used. The label should have been FedEx instead of UPS.Labels were an inch too low in the corner. The tape was supposed to be wide not thin.The label was written in blue ink instead of black ink. To prevent his boss and friend Tim from getting heat for shipping errors, and in a small way to demonstrate his superior ability to his peers, Joe created the policy of returning all inferior boxed product to the responsible employee for correction. Joe reasons, “How will they ever learn, if I don’t show them their mistakes?” Further, besides having a knack for doings things the right way every time, Joe makes sure he is seen as a fair boss. Therefore, if a worker is off sick, Joe will hold his boxed product for correction by the appropriate worker upon return to work. After several years of high turnover rate in the shipping department, the plant manager called upon Joe’s boss Tim to get answers for the situation. Tim immediately called in Joe to include him in the meeting with the plant manger. According to Joe, there is a problem with high turnover but it can be attributed to the difficulty these days in getting good people. In Joe’s words, “Good help is hard to find.” Tim is a smart guy and knows his job is on the line. Rather than disagreeing with Joe and exposing Joe’s shortcomings as Straw Boss, Tim decides to back up Joe. Anything less would put the blame on Tim for hiring him in the first place. Joe knew instinctively that he would need to lower his standards and stop checking every detail on the boxes. In essence, “Nobody can do it as good as me. What’s the use? I tried and people let me down.” Now Joe is often heard to say words to the effect,” We have to get the products boxed. Don’t waste so much time. You’re hurting our productivity”. Months later, upon retirement of the plant manager, Tim moved into the plant manager seat and immediately promoted Joe to the position of assistant plant manager. Joe’s primary duties consist of getting lunch or coffee for Tim, and spending quality time together in Tim’s office discussing people and events. The high turnover rate in the shipping department returned to acceptable industry standards and Tim received a large bonus from the president of the company. Tim made sure to acknowledge the impact of Joe’s humble background in shipping as a valuable source of inspiration and motivation in improving attendance and employee retention. Thirty years later, Joe went to his final reward. He died in peace, assured of his place at the right hand of God.  |
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