Lewis Latimer - the Supervisor of Special Test Operations

1. Point of View

The case was analyzed using the point of view of Lewis Latimer, the supervisor of Special Test Operations. He is in the best position to influence Frank Duncan, his boss and director of operations in their facility, in addressing the problem in his department.

1. Problem Statement

Short-term: How to address the casual attitude and lost team spirit of some Technician A’s?

Long-term: How to regain the motivation of these Technician A’s?

1. Analysis of Relevant Case Facts

1. General Environment (Technological, Socio-cultural, Economic, Legal/Political, International)

1. Desktop electronic calculator companies are in a fast-moving industry.

1. Task Environment (Customers, Competitors, Suppliers, Labor Market)

1. Certain companies are very particular with the educational qualifications of their employees who want to be in a higher job position which has a pre-specified higher education requirement.

1. Internal Environment (Management, Culture, Employees)

1. The electronic specialists of the company have military electronics background, are graduates of electronic trade schools, or have certificates of completion from junior colleges that specialize in the sciences.
2. There are 3 classifications of the company’s technicians. Technician C takes half a year to get promoted to Technician B. Technician B takes 3 years, on average, to be promoted to Technician A with a maximum of 4 years to be qualified to this position.
3. Technician A can no longer be promoted once they reached the top pay scale of this position.
4. Majority of the company’s technicians are now Technician A.
5. Technicians do not qualify to Junior Engineering classification or “professional” since they did not obtain an undergraduate degree in engineering.
6. Several Technician A’s are not motivated to work.
7. Frank Duncan, the operations manager, would consider Super-Grade classifications for outstanding employees in the Technician A category and asked Lewis Latimer, the supervisor, to write a new job description for this classification.

4. SWOT Analysis