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The Case of the Missing Time At approximately 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 23, Ebony Ellsworth, manager of the Norris Company's Central Plant, swung her car out of the driveway of her suburban home and headed toward the plant located some six miles away, just inside the Midvale city limits. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly and a cool, fresh breeze was blowing. The trip to the plant took about 20 minutes and gave Ebony an opportunity to think about plant problems without interruption. The Norris Company owns and operates computer chip manufacturing plants. It is a closely held company with some 350 employees, nearly half of whom are employed at the Central Plant, the largest of the three Norris manufacturing operations. The company's main offices are also located in the Central Plant building. Ebony had started with the Norris Company as an expediter in its Eastern Plant, was promoted to production supervisor, and two years later was made assistant to the manager of the Eastern Plant. She was transferred to the Central Plant as plant manager when the former manager retired. Today she said to herself, "This is going to be the day to really get things done." She began to run through the day's work, first one project, then another, trying to establish priorities. After a few minutes she decided that the open-end unit scheduling was probably the most important, certainly the most urgent. She frowned for a moment as she recalled that on Friday the vice president and general manager had casually asked her if she had given the project any further thought. Ebony realized that she had not been giving it much thought lately. She had been meaning to get to work on this idea for over three months, but something else always seemed to crop up. "I haven't had much time to sit down and really work it out," she said to herself. "I'd better get going and hit this one today for sure." With that she began to break down the objectives, procedures, and installation steps of the project. She reviewed the principles involved and roughly calculated the anticipated savings. "It's about time," she told herself. "This idea should have been followed up long ago." Ebony remembered that she had first conceived of the open-end unit scheduling idea nearly a year and a half ago, just prior to her leaving Norris's Eastern Plant. She had spoken to her boss, Jim Quince, manager of the Eastern Plant, about it then, and both agreed that it was worth looking into. The idea was temporarily shelved when she was transferred to the Central Plant a month later. She started to think through a procedure for simpler transport of precious metals to and from the Eastern Plant. Visualizing the notes on her desk, she thought about the inventory analysis she needed in order to identify and eliminate some of the slow-moving stock items, the packing controls that needed revision, and the need to design a new special-order form. She also decided that this was the day to settle on whether to upgrade some equipment in the clean room. There were a few other projects she couldn't recall offhand, but she could tend to them after lunch, if not before. "Yes, ma'am," she said to herself, "this is the day to really get rolling." When she arrived at work and entered the plant Ebony knew something was wrong as she met Al Noren, the stockroom foreman, who appeared troubled. "A great morning, Al," Ebony greeted him cheerfully. "Not so good, Ebony; my new man isn't in this morning," Al growled. "Have you heard from him?" asked Ebony. "No, I haven't," replied Al. Ebony frowned as she commented, "These stock handlers assume you take it for granted that if they're not here, they're not here, and they don't have to call in and verify it. Better ask Human Resources to call him." Al hesitated for a moment before replying, "Okay, Ebony, but can you find me a man? I have two cars to unload today." As Ebony turned to leave she said, "I'll call you in half an hour, Al, and let you know." Making a mental note of the situation, Ebony headed for her office. She greeted the group of workers huddled around Marilyn, the office manager, who was discussing the day's work schedule with them. As the meeting broke up, Marilyn picked up a few samples, showed them to Ebony, and asked if they should be shipped as is or if it would be necessary to inspect them. Before Ebony could answer, Marilyn went on to ask if she could suggest another clerical operator for the sterilization equipment to replace the regular operator, who was home ill. She also told Ebony that Renaldo, the industrial engineer, had called and was waiting to hear from Ebony. After telling Marilyn to go ahead and ship the samples, Ebony made a note of the need for a sealer operator for the office and then called Renaldo. She agreed to stop by Renaldo's office before lunch, and then she started on her routine morning tour of the plant. She asked each foreman the types and volumes of orders they were running, the number of people present, how the schedules were coming along, and the orders to be run next; helped the dock foreman find temporary storage space for consolidating a carload shipment; discussed quality control with an operator who had been running poor work; arranged to transfer four people temporarily to different departments, including two for Al in the stock-room; and talked to the shipping foreman about pickups and special orders to be delivered that day. As she continued through the plant, she saw to it that reserve stock was moved out of the forward stock area, talked to another auditor about her requested change of vacation schedule, had a "heart-toheart" talk with a new employee who seemed to need frequent reassurance, and approved two orders for customized chips for different customers. Returning to her office, Ebony reviewed the production reports on the larger orders against her initial productions and found that the plant was running behind schedule. She called in the folding-room foreman and together they went over the lineup of machines and made several necessary changes. During this discussion, the chief engineer stopped in to discuss several changes, and the routing foreman telephoned for approval of a revised schedule for one customer. The production foreman called twice: first to inform her that inventory of two standard, fast-moving stock items was dangerously low, and later to advise her that the final specifications for the urgent Dillion job had finally arrived. Ebony made the necessary subsequent calls to inform those concerned. She then began to put delivery dates on important and difficult inquiries received from customers and salespeople. (The routine inquiries were handled by Marilyn.) While she was doing this, she was interrupted twice: once by a sales correspondent calling from the West Coast to ask for a better delivery date than originally scheduled, and once by the personnel vice president asking her to set a time when she could hold an initial training and induction interview with a new employee. After dating the customer and sales personnel inquiries, Ebony headed for her morning conference in the executive offices. At this meeting she answered the sales vice president's questions regarding "hot" orders, complaints, and the status of large-volume orders and potential new orders. She then met with the general manager to discuss a few ticklish policy matters and to answer questions on several specific production and personnel problems. On the way back to her own office, Ebony conferred with Renaldo about two current engineering projects about which he had called earlier. When she reached her desk, she looked at her watch. It was 10 minutes before lunch, just time enough to make a few notes of the details she needed to check in order to answer the knotty questions raised by the sales manager that morning. After lunch Ebony started again. She began by checking the previous day's production reports, did some rescheduling to get out urgent orders, placed appropriate delivery dates on new orders and inquiries received that morning, and consulted with a foreman on a personal problem. She spent 20 minutes on a Skype call going over mutual problems with the Eastern Plant. By midafternoon Ebony had made another tour of the plant, after which she met with the personnel director to review with him a touchy personal problem raised by one of the clerical employees, the vacation schedules submitted by her foremen, and the pending job-evaluation program. Following this conference, Ebony hurried back to her office to complete the special statistical report for Oracle, one of Norris's best customers. As she finished the report, she discovered that it was 10 minutes after six and she was the only one left in the office. Ebony was tired. She put on her coat and headed through the plant toward the parking lot. On the way she was stopped by both the night supervisor and night foremen for approval of the production schedule. With both eyes on the traffic, Ebony reviewed the day she had just completed. "Busy?" she asked herself. "So, did I accomplish anything?" Her mind raced over the day's activities. "Yes and no" seemed to be the answer. "There was the usual routine, the same as any other day. The plant kept going and I think it must have been a good production day. Any creative or special-project work done?" Ebony grimaced as she reluctantly answered, "No." With a feeling of guilt, she probed further. "Am I an executive? I'm paid like one, respected like one, and have a responsible assignment with the necessary authority to carry it out. Yet one of the greatest values a company derives from an executive is her creative thinking and accomplishments. What have I done about it? An executive needs some time for thinking. Today was a typical day, just like most other days, and I did little, if any, creative work. The projects that I so enthusiastically planned to work on this morning are exactly as they were yesterday. What's more, I have no guarantee that tomorrow or the next day will bring me any closer to their completion. This is the real problem, and there must be an answer." By this time Ebony had turned onto the side street leading to her home. The problem still uppermost in her mind was: "How can I become a more effective manager of my time?" Her thoughts were interrupted as she saw her son running toward the car calling out, "Daddy, Mommy's home." Introduction (5 pts): I need to begin my report with an introduction that provides a purpose statement and end my report with a strong conclusion. Professional writing skills and editing skills are expected in the final report document. After the introduction, I need to a comprehensive job in answering the 4 questions at the end of the case. Each question specifies how many answers I need to provide. Please use a numbered list for my answers. And need to provide some additional answers just in case. The answers for each question should not repeat one another. Question 1 (20 pts): What principles of time and stress management are violated in this case. Hint: Please study and use the 20 rules of efficient time management for managers in Chapter 2. Mention 5 (or more) DIFFERENT principles that are violated.

1. Principle of Clarity of objective or even purpose was violated in the case. This enables an organization to have effective time management.

2. Not goal driven, which having a significant goal in an organization is very important.

3. Employees were not aware of their targets. Violating the principle of stress management was that it was creating tension and stress.

4. Limited free thinking was happening amongst staff members.

5. Unorganized time usages which was resulting in unnecessary work.

Question 2 (20 pts): What are the organizational problems in this case? (Organizational problems are related to the organizational culture, structure, procedures, etc.) Mention 3 (or more) DIFFERENT problems. Organizational problems are systemic problems in organizational culture, structure, and procedures. So, the answer should be different from the answers to Questions 1 and 3 which are focused on the mistakes and personal characteristics of the plant manager, Ebony.

1. Poor time management is the biggest problem

2. Poor working conditions which were very unorganized

3. Lack of problem management which resulted in decreased productivity, poor time management and a very stressful work environment.

Question 3 (20 pts):Which of Ebony's personal characteristics (traits, abilities, personalities, or styles) inhibit her effective management of time?Mention 3 (or more) DIFFERENT personal characteristics.

1. Poor organizational skills

2. Lack of certain skills to succeed

3. Poor delegation skills which results in the inability to withhold teams

4. Unable to prioritize

5. Bad at communicating with staff members

Question 4 (20 pts):If you were hired as a consultant to Ebony, what would you advise her?Give 5 (or more) DIFFERENT suggestions.

1. Have a clear vision of the goals Ebony wants to achieve

2. Work with other staff members to figure out a way that works and helps the organizational goals

3. By having a clear goal this will help with time management because you will know what is necessary and what is not

4. Communicate with other staff members so they know her expectations

5. By creating a closer relationship with staff members they can all work with Ebony to move toward the ultimate goal.

Writing and Grammar (5 pts): Please proofread. Make sure grammar and spelling are correct and that your answers are clear, consistent, and coherent. The 4 questions at the end of the case are interrelated and your answers should be inter-related and consistent as well. In addition, the quality of writing should be good in all parts. If some parts are well-written and other parts are poorly-written, this indicates inadequate teamwork.