Case B: Wynn Computer Equipment (WCE)
In 1965, Joseph Wynn began building computer equipment in a small garage behind his house. By 2002, WCE was a $1 billion a year manufacturing organization employing 900 people. The major success found by WCE has been attributed to the non-degreed workers who have stayed with WCE over the past fifteen years. The non-degreed personnel accounts for 80 percent of the organization. Both the salary structure and fringe benefit packages are well above the industry average.
CEO PRESENTATION
In February 2002, the new vice president and general manager made a presentation to his executive staff outlining the strategies he wished to see implemented to improve productivity:
Our objective for the next twelve months is to initiate a planning system with the focus on strategic, developmental, and operational plans that will assure the continued success of WCE and
support for our broad objectives. Our strategy is a four-step process:
 To better clarify expectations and responsibility
 To establish cross-functional goals and objectives
 To provide feedback and performance results to all employees in each level of
management
 To develop participation through teamwork
The senior staff will merely act as a catalyst in developing long and short-term objectives.Furthermore, the senior staff will participate and provide direction and leadership in formulating an integrated manufacturing strategy that is both technology- and human-resources-driven. The final result should be an integrated project plan that will:
 Push decision making down
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 Trust the decision of peers and people in each organization
 Eliminate committee decisions
Emphasis should be on communications that will build and convey ownership in the organization and we approach to surfacing issues and solving problems.In April 2002, a team of consultants interviewed a cross-section of Wynn personnel to determine the “pulse” of the organization. The following information was provided:
 “We have a terrible problem in telling our personnel (both project and functional) exactly what is expected on the project. It is embarrassing to say that we are a computer manufacturer and we do not have any computerized planning and control tools.”
 “Our functional groups are very poor planners. We, in the project office, must do the planning for them. They appear to have more confidence in and pay more attention to our
project office schedules than to their own.”
 “We have recently purchased a $65,000 computerized package for planning and controlling. It is going to take us quite a while to educate our people. In order to interface with the computer package, we must use a work breakdown structure. This is an entirely new concept for our people.”
 “We have a lack of team spirit in the organization. I’m not sure if it is simply the result of poor communications. I think it goes further than that. Our priorities get shifted on a weekly
basis, and this produces a demoralizing effect. As a result, we cannot get our people to live up to either their old or new commitments.”
 “We have a very strong mix of degreed and non-degreed personnel. All-new, degreed personnel must ‘prove’ themselves before being officially accepted by the non-degreed
personnel. We seem to be splitting the organization down the middle. Technology has become more important than loyalty and tradition and, as a result, the non-degreed
personnel, who believe themselves to be the backbone of the organization, now feel cheated. What is a proper balance between experience and new blood?” “The emphasis
on education shifts with each new executive. Our non-degreed personnel obviously are paying the price. I wish I knew what direction the storm is coming from.”
 “My department does not have a database to use for estimating. Therefore, we have to rely heavily on the project office for good estimating. Anyway, the project office never gives
us sufficient time for good estimating so we have to ask other groups to do our scheduling for us.”
 “As line manager, I am caught between the rock and the hard spot. Quite often, I have to act as the project manager and line manager at the same time. When I act as the project
manager I have trouble spending enough time with my people. In addition, my duties also include supervising outside vendors at the same time.”
 “My departmental personnel has a continuous-time management problem because they are never full-time on any one project, and all of our projects never have 100 percent of the
resources they need. How can our people ever claim ownership?”
 “We have trouble in conducting up-front feasibility studies to see if we have a viable product. Our manufacturing personnel has poor interfacing with advanced design.”
 “If we accept full project management, I’m not sure where the project managers should report. Should we have one group of project managers for new processes/products and a
second group for continuous (or old) processes/products? Can both groups report to the same person?”
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Guiding questions
1. What are the problems at WCE? Identify at least 5 problems
2. What appears to be the major problem?
3. Can line managers effectively wear two hats?
4. Should there be two groups of line managers?