Imrannert
Krannert Graduate School of Management
Spring 1981
Purdue University
Satisfaction: The Bottom Line
added that if a prant's absenteeism tops 8% of the work force, therfe is then a corretatiots between absen¬ teeism and increasing in-process defects. "If you add more defects, y0(ji add more-Inspectors. If you Studies have shown a definite ^^^ore inspectors, you add mon
correlation between worker job        y^^Zi   repair. If you add more repair/i satisfaction and customer y^^^f -   you're not meeting your schedulesTp^
satisfaction. /^^y^'-"     Then you operate more overtime
So says Delmar Landen, (;M/^^w^"        And what's or\Q of the major cause' of organizational development at 1tiZ--Z. - Dfabsenteeism? Overtime." General Motors. Lander^ who haa^ _rzr".r'JiBy the same token, Landen st QflD. in industrial-organizational |-3^3-~rJ'1^   plants that have the highest
Rhology, spoke to Krannert st dents on April 27 about his invoh ment in local, state, and national quality of work life councils. Lan is also an adjunct professor of m agement and psychology at Waynf^ State University and is the directc^^ of the American Center of Q Work Life in Washingtoj^'p,. The concept of qualityxsf deals with the feelings and job s faction of workers. In the mid 1960's, Landen explained, Ge Motors conducted several sUxai^s- determine why a small nupnroer ^f
prcrduct quality have the best cus
tomer satisfaction. Then it shoul
le any surprise to you that tftey
what life is all about is to sponge off parents. I am glad that people's expectations have risen. I'm also ad that you, as a generation of are different from my ion." Ouririg the 60's and 70's GM reached a number of conclusions from Its studies of management's role in worker morale. One of those 'studies showed that the most effec¬ tive supervisors were those who (^re very goal and task oriented, hd "had a very high consideration for people." If the last factor were not present, Landen said, the super-
have the lowest abs^enteeism. They: also have the fewest grievancef;^^;^^ They also have tli^ least amount
mer
turnover. They al^KayetlieleweisAr *^'—r costs." ^ rzir;r-::rz=rzr:n:
—f=v^(
:.z=eftective and accounted for a dis- ^prbportiqnate number of the "prob¬ lem empl^^ees." Another ^^udy showed that the
ttb;
people in an organization accountedz: for a disproportionate number j;^ problems. "We found out tha absenteeism, grievances, dis^ turnover, in-proceis defects, \x\ tion, quality contrqf, labor co&ts, and customer sati^action ratings were all inter-related. That if you; knew one, within a re^onable    j degree of error, you cotitd predi all the others."
To illustrate his point, Landen explained that 75% of all worker dis¬ ciplinary actions concerned prob¬ lems with absenteeism. "What l]^^ens if you don't like the disci- p^R you just got? You immediately call your committeeman and file a grievance against the discipline." He
nden pointed out that tod; kers entering the job market!: want more meaningful work and a asking for it. "People eomeJnto organizations as human beiHgs their values, their hopes,_'their
ms, their fears, th'eic appre sions, everything else that denotl^ human qualities and human charaj dteristicit, We don't check our vSiide' "systems at the plant gate or the. .* office door, or at the door of an*aud itorium. To operate on the false assumption that personal proble are not brought into the work ptaQ or work place problems are not brought into the faimily or in to th
munity, is sheer nonsense." anden disputed the contention that the continual decline in worker satisfaction over the last 25 years was qaused by parents follovyirig Dr. Spoci:'s "permissive child rearing practices" that some say "spawned a whole new generatron of hippies and malcontents, whose concept of
less effectivesupervisors spent more time, ndt less, with their sub¬ ordinates, "gmng them hell," and 'disciplining tflem." Those supervi¬ sors often talked to their employees in a "demeanirig" manner.
Still another/study showed that in organizationSi/where a manager's "span of con/rol" was the greatest, iency vyias greater, quality was rate of absenteeism was d grievances were fewer, explained that a greater control resulted in a higher lity of the relationship. Essen¬ tially what you've done is spread the supervisor around so grossly that people have to become self control¬ ling and self-managing."
In 1970, the company began a ser¬ ies of meetings where management personnel discussed possible reme¬ dies to the automaker's operating problems. In 1973 the UAW and the major automakers negotiated the
cont'd., p.2