Organizational Culture and Harley-Davidson Case Study

Organizational Culture and Harley-Davidson - Case Study Example The success of Harley-Davidson as a company can be attributed to its strong organizational culture. Harley-Davidson management strived to rediscover the things their company did best and was gifted with the knowledge of what culture could help achieve its vision of the future. Its leaders consciously re-examined its community roots and undertook actions that served long-term corporate and community purposes (Burack, 1993, p. 78). According to Schuster and Weidman (2006), Harley-Davidson's culture could be described as participatory because it imbues "collaborative decision-making at all levels". Schuster and Weidman (2006) shared that this company applies "collaborative model" because it decentralized the senior management's decision-making down to its salaried-only work groups. Although Harley-Davidson management considers this culture as a "work in progress", it has already attained various success levels throughout the organization. The continued exposure of their leaders and plan t floor employees into working productive teams, the company has gained non-traditional opportunities and it increased the level of employee support for this practice of labor-management partnership. Harley-Davidson's is an epitome of a company's effective approach to people management No doubt, organizational culture... Conversely, failure to comply with cultural norms generates social pressures to conform; thus the individuals would either align with the cultural expectations or face ostracism and ridicule by their peers. Much of this process occurs in an informal and unspecified manner, filling in the gaps left by rational organizational control systems such as reporting relationships and job descriptions. Ultimately, it is the customers that benefits in the application of a We have recommended for Harley-Davidson to establish a website where customers and potential customers can convene, the site will be called "Harley Dreamers" and the goal of this website is to promote Harley-Davidson events and while linking our customers to each other. The site will also offer a "Swap Meet" portion of the website, where subscribers could post ads for motorcycles and parts for sale or for trade. Another feature would be a site like "Bike Log", which could complement the "Swap Meet" site because people purchasing a bike from the site will be able to see where the bike has traveled and users can share their good or bad experiences using Harley-Davidson's motorcycles. "Swap Meet" should be free for all Harley-Davidson customers, since this is the great selling point for getting people to subscribe to this site. Lastly, the "Technical Information Center" is a vital feature of the site where subscribers can obtain answers directly from Harley-Davidson professionals who wo uld answer to their needs 24-hours a day. The GPS system will also enable users to track a bike or they can simply chat with other bike owners about their experiences on our blog. Incidentally, decentralized and collaborative decision-making that already exists in Harley-Davidson culture can work best with

Precise Molded Products, Inc Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Precise Molded Products, Inc - Case Study Example This implies that, the staff might be concerned more with the technical part of production at the expense of the other parts such as the wrapping part that records the highest number of rejects. A critical analysis of both wrap and short suggests that wrapping does not require much expertise to do it, whereas measurement may require one to have knowledge of what they are doing. Sower (2003) asserts that the biggest cost of quality results from carelessness of the workers. Employees may become careless due to fatigue, lack of motivation as well as poor working conditions. It has been noted that, workers who are highly motivated when doing their work, make less mistakes (Sower, 2003). Moreover, if employees are overworked the probability of making many mistakes is very common. Consequently, managers should always ensure that all their employees are well kept in order to avoid small mistakes. By so doing the cost of quality will greatly be reduced. Mistakes that cause rejects cannot be avoided but can only be reduced because man is to error (Sower, 2003). Mistakes like discoloring and stains are caused as a result of simple human errors. Products may be handed by employees in a way that they are not supposed to be handled causing damage. Appearance of a product plays a very big role in the rejection of the product since a customer will dislike anything that is not appealing to the eye. Thus managers should ensure that products are presented in a way that is appealing to the customer. In addition, customer satisfaction also encompasses good delivery services, production of a variety of products and the product taste should be to the preference of a customer (Sower, 2003). The quality manager specifically complains of a rise and fall of rejects depending on the days. Sower (2003) explains that this is a clear reflection that the firm is experiencing accuracy as well as effectiveness problems. This can only be