Conflicts
Being that this past weekend was Dad’s weekend at the University of Illinois, I was able to spend a lot of time with some of my relatives. My dad unfortunately was not able to make it this year; therefore, I asked my grandparents to visit. They drove over 10 hours to come visit so a lot of the time I spent with them was a one on one situation that I do not often get to have with them. Like any time spent with grandparents I was told stories upon stories about when they were kids, when my mom was a kid, and especially since I am a senior in college what their life was like in their first jobs. Neither of my grandparents went to college; however, my grandfather attended a trade school in high school. This led him to become an electrician and move his way up in the industry eventually leading him to start his own private electric company. He is now retired and spends a lot of his time working on small repairs mostly for people he knows. One story that struck me most this past weekend, especially having knowledge on Boleman & Deal's Model, was during his time as a plant manager about 15 years ago. Recent generations have such a strong focus on higher education, leaving trade jobs to be less appealing. A lot of the new hires the plant saw coming in did not have any of the proper education or training needed to work safely and efficiently in the plant. In addition, many of the experienced workers were leaving for jobs with larger companies and higher salaries. My grandfather proposed a 10-week educational program; in which, these new hires would learn how to safely operate around the plant and gain insight on how the machines worked. This is proposal would gain a new class of workers ready to move up on the ladder instead of constantly leaning on the older generation to guide them which costed them time.
He typed up a 10 page proposal on his program and submitted it to be reviewed by his coworker Tom, who had a better understanding of finances. My grandfather simply asked him to look over the proposal and give an estimated budget on the program. Weeks passed by and he received zero correspondence from Tom; therefore, my grandfather decided to head up to his office to see whether or not he had taken a look at the proposal. Unfortunately, the minute he walked into the office and sat down Tom explained that it was not worth putting money into the education of new hires that will most likely take this experience and move to a different company, which was a huge problem the plant was still facing. My grandfather was shocked at this opinion. Working at the steel plant also entails being put into situation that are extremely dangerous. In those few weeks that had passed by two new workers had been sent to the ER for head injuries due to lack of proper training with the equipment. My grandfather believed that with proper training at the start these accidents would be greatly reduced; in addition, would allow new hires to have better critical thinking and problem solving when situations arose. Tom just responded, saying that they will learn as they go along just like the rest of the people here did.
What my grandfather understood more than Tom, was the difference in education throughout generations. There is a level of incompetence from my generation as most high school educations do not provide classes in trade, and as technology becomes more enhanced these new hires do not have an understanding of what came before it. He explained it like this: “when I began at the plant my buddies and I already had a decent background in electrical work and engineering, but as time went on and technology became more advanced we learned as things progress. Now we have these kids coming in with absolutely no background in engineering because a degree is not needed to be hired nor do kids with degrees usually want a job doing manual labor at a plant. How are these kids supposed to know what they are doing, and is it even safe for them to be doing so?”
The next problem my grandfather faced was that those with the power to implement his program did not spend any time in the field. They simply saw the numbers, the product, and the companies the product was being dispersed to. He then realized the problems occurring in the plant were due to management inability to see long term benefits of spending money developing entry level positions. Therefore; he changed direction of his initial approach of offering a solution to the problem he saw and instead focusing his energy on getting management to understand what the real problem was. He went back five years, researching multiple employees out on workers comp. and what the caused it, in addition to seeing reasons why people were leaving the company. He then went directly to the head of the finance department and defended his case. Unfortunately, Tom happened to be in the office at the same time and invited himself into the meeting. My grandfather was forced to both defend his position, and also explain why Tom’s position was close minded. Unfortunately, Tom won, and my grandfather made his way back to the plant. He then decided, it was important to at least get the company to recognize the lack of investment they have in their employees and what it is costing them.
About two months later he received a call from HR, asking him to come in to further explain his program. Unlike Tom, who decided to completely shut down his proposal, HR was intrigued and set up a meeting with him and some of the top executives at the company. Of course some had the same viewpoint as Tom, why invest in employees who will most likely take their talent elsewhere? My grandfather explained that if the plant provided this type of education it would lead to a whole new desire of people to work at the plant, giving employees a sense of accomplishment in the company.
With continuous back and forth between himself and the finance department on how much money was to allocated for the program, the CEO encouraged its implementation. For three years my grandfather helped teach these courses and to this day there is a 10-week course required for all new hires. Not only have there been a significant reduction in on-site accidents, but the company has also been able to increase worker’s pay due to less of a need for a large number of poorly trained workers. These employees are better able to handle to more equipment safely, and problem solve on their own when something goes wrong.
Side note: After about two years Tom finally admitted my grandfather had the right idea.
He typed up a 10 page proposal on his program and submitted it to be reviewed by his coworker Tom, who had a better understanding of finances. My grandfather simply asked him to look over the proposal and give an estimated budget on the program. Weeks passed by and he received zero correspondence from Tom; therefore, my grandfather decided to head up to his office to see whether or not he had taken a look at the proposal. Unfortunately, the minute he walked into the office and sat down Tom explained that it was not worth putting money into the education of new hires that will most likely take this experience and move to a different company, which was a huge problem the plant was still facing. My grandfather was shocked at this opinion. Working at the steel plant also entails being put into situation that are extremely dangerous. In those few weeks that had passed by two new workers had been sent to the ER for head injuries due to lack of proper training with the equipment. My grandfather believed that with proper training at the start these accidents would be greatly reduced; in addition, would allow new hires to have better critical thinking and problem solving when situations arose. Tom just responded, saying that they will learn as they go along just like the rest of the people here did.
What my grandfather understood more than Tom, was the difference in education throughout generations. There is a level of incompetence from my generation as most high school educations do not provide classes in trade, and as technology becomes more enhanced these new hires do not have an understanding of what came before it. He explained it like this: “when I began at the plant my buddies and I already had a decent background in electrical work and engineering, but as time went on and technology became more advanced we learned as things progress. Now we have these kids coming in with absolutely no background in engineering because a degree is not needed to be hired nor do kids with degrees usually want a job doing manual labor at a plant. How are these kids supposed to know what they are doing, and is it even safe for them to be doing so?”
The next problem my grandfather faced was that those with the power to implement his program did not spend any time in the field. They simply saw the numbers, the product, and the companies the product was being dispersed to. He then realized the problems occurring in the plant were due to management inability to see long term benefits of spending money developing entry level positions. Therefore; he changed direction of his initial approach of offering a solution to the problem he saw and instead focusing his energy on getting management to understand what the real problem was. He went back five years, researching multiple employees out on workers comp. and what the caused it, in addition to seeing reasons why people were leaving the company. He then went directly to the head of the finance department and defended his case. Unfortunately, Tom happened to be in the office at the same time and invited himself into the meeting. My grandfather was forced to both defend his position, and also explain why Tom’s position was close minded. Unfortunately, Tom won, and my grandfather made his way back to the plant. He then decided, it was important to at least get the company to recognize the lack of investment they have in their employees and what it is costing them.
About two months later he received a call from HR, asking him to come in to further explain his program. Unlike Tom, who decided to completely shut down his proposal, HR was intrigued and set up a meeting with him and some of the top executives at the company. Of course some had the same viewpoint as Tom, why invest in employees who will most likely take their talent elsewhere? My grandfather explained that if the plant provided this type of education it would lead to a whole new desire of people to work at the plant, giving employees a sense of accomplishment in the company.
With continuous back and forth between himself and the finance department on how much money was to allocated for the program, the CEO encouraged its implementation. For three years my grandfather helped teach these courses and to this day there is a 10-week course required for all new hires. Not only have there been a significant reduction in on-site accidents, but the company has also been able to increase worker’s pay due to less of a need for a large number of poorly trained workers. These employees are better able to handle to more equipment safely, and problem solve on their own when something goes wrong.
Side note: After about two years Tom finally admitted my grandfather had the right idea.
It's an interesting story. And clearly your grandfather and Tom disagreed about the right approach. I wonder, however, whether this is really conflict. Did your grandfather have other interactions with Tom where he was equally dismissive.
ReplyDeleteI do think there is a kind of prejudice that white collar employees have for blue collar employees in the same organization. I experienced something of that sort when I got a second division under me while I was working in the Campus IT organization. They were called Classroom Technologies and were responsible for installing the LCD projectors and the cabinets in the classroom, along with the supporting materials. They were largely blue collar types, including the division boss. He and I actually got along quite well, but he didn't get along well at all with the other higher ups in the organization, who thought of him as something of a boor.
If your grandfather experienced something like that when trying to present his ideas about training, then it would fit in more with conflict as the ideas might have been dismissed because of who presented them, rather than on the merits of the case. Not knowing your grandfather at all, it is hard to know what his feelings were about management at this company. But I can say that if I were in his position, I would have resented them for being so insular in their views.
In fact there was a lot of dispute between Tom and my grandfather, which was the main reason he faced so many obstacles trying to get his proposal up to higher management. Tom refused to respond to multiple calls from him, and when the two saw each other in passing and the topic was brought up he described my grandfather's idea as a waste on lower level employees. This certainly ties into your idea of conflict between white and blue collared class workers; however, I still see this as conflict between the differing opinions on allocation of resources.
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