OB Case Study - Paradoxical Twins
OB Case Study - Paradoxical Twins
OB Case Study - Paradoxical Twins
By Alisha Horo Asmita Karanje Mac Lobo Lincy Thomas Rajiv Venugopal Makushla Santimano Mihir Sikka
ACME
OMEGA
Acme retained its original management Upgraded GM to president The annual sales of Acme was $10 Mn Acme had 550 employees Greater net profit Organisation structure was retained
Omega hired a new president and upgraded several of the existing personnel within the plant. The Annual sales of Omega was $8 mn Omega had only 480 employees. Relatively less net profit Doesn·t believe in organisation structure
The Contract
Major photocopy manufacturer was looking for a sub-contractor for IC·s Contract: to assemble the memory unit for its new experimental copier. Projected sales: $5-$7 Mn Both Acme and Omega were geographically close, submitted highly competitive bids and the sample size was 100 units. Deadline: 2 weeks i.e 11th july- 25th july
Omega
At Omega Rawls had already informed all the department heads about the potential contract they were about to receive and once he received the blue prints, he informed the head that production could begin. They did a make-or-buy analysis and decided on ordering Japanese substitutes for the missing parts.
Acme
There was a friction between the methods engineer and the production foreman as the normal procedure to contact method enggineers for setting up the assembly line was not done. The process was as such inefficient and not well balanced. The method engineers felt useless in the company. All the units had to be taken apart first to conform to the new blueprint and second time again to install the missing parts in the units . As such there was a delay in the production of units at Acme Acme Shipped off the goods with inspecting only one sample out of the 50 units s
Omega
Omega found an error in the connector cable design, they redesigned it and asked for approval from the manufacturer Omega conducted quality test on all the units before shipping them.
Result
Acme Omega
Ten of Acme·s final memory units were ultimately defective. Acme·s delivery was delayed by 4 days as the deadline was 25th july and they delivered on 29th july They incurred further delays for fixing the defective items
Analysis of Acme
Acme·s Organization Structure is rigid and Acme compromised on quality to meet the deadline Decision making was only with John Tyler and gave little scope to the engineers to give their inputs Flow of communication is from top to bottom and as such inefficient and it left the method engineers feel unwanted in the organisation. The plant manager is biased and has a short term vision wherein they want the prototypes to be out by any means.
Analysis of Omega
Doesn·t believe in written memos and as such oral communication at times lack clarity of understanding. Omega is overstaffed No proper division of labor Decision making lies with the management Omega is aware of potential contracts it shall be awarded and as such it shows they are proactive in environmental analysis
They supplied units to the manufacturer before the stipulated time. They are efficient in their work as in they studied the design carefully, detected an error and re-worked on the manufacturer·s blueprint. They took the formal approval of the manufacturer and as such they portrayed professionalism It being a trade secret they should have signed a confidential agreement before bringing the error in the design into the manufacturer·s notice.