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CASE : SONA RUPA
The Sona and Rupa Company manufacatured wooden toys of various kinds ; wooden animals, pull toys, and the like. One part of the manufacturing process involved spraying paint on the partially assembled toys. This operation was staffed entirley by women.
The toys were cut, sanded and partially assembled in the wood room. Then they were dipped into shellac, following which they were painted. The toys were predominantly two-coloured ; a few were made in more than two colours. Each colour required an additonal trip through the paint room.
For a number of years, production of these toys had been entirely hand work However, to meet tremendously increased demand, the painting operation had recently been re-enginieered so that the eight operators (all women) who did the painting sat in a line by an endless chain of hooks. Those hooks were in continuous motion, past the line of operators and into a long horizontal oven. Each woman sat at her own painting booth so designed as to carry away fumes and to backstop excess paint. The operator would take a toy from the tray beside her, position it in a jig inside the painting cubicle, spray on the colour according to a pattern, then release the toy and hand it on the hook passing by. The rate at which the hooks moved had been calculated by the engineers so that each woman, when fully trained, would be able to hand to painted toy on each hook before it passed beyond her reach.
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Questions :
(a) From the angle of Job Enrichment, which core job dimension or job characteristic was most influenced by the new system of group-regulated speed?Evaluate the reported success of the case against the principles of Job Enrichment.
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(b)Comment on the method of payment to the operators. How good do you think such a system is ?
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(c) Would you consider the initial discontent of the operators as a `grievance` ? Why or why not ?
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(d)How could you characterize the involvement of the operators after the introduction of group-regulated speed ?
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(e) Review your understanding of the characteristics of effective workers participation against the backdrop of the case.
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