Ron Sandlin, President of Patriot Transportation Holding Inc., a trucking company located in Jacksonville, Florida, does not know what else to do. He increased base pay, increased vacation days, and decreased the age requirement from 25 to 23. He added a productivity-based pay system as well. He still cannot find enough people to hire as truck drivers for the company. Sandlin thinks that this issue is strictly due to a strengthening economy, which means higher demand and a lower supply of workers. However, perhaps more can be done to attract the right workers. The company is continuously growing its market footprint and therefore, a need for drivers is an ongoing concern. In fact, the lack of drivers is the company’s top concern. Patriot is having trouble recruiting truck drivers. 

To get as many ideas as possible for solving this problem, management has hired three different consultants. One is an adherent of the classical managerial strategy, one is an adherent of the human relations managerial strategy, and one is an adherent of the high-involvement managerial strategy. Each consultant works separately and provides a separate set of recommendations for solving the problem. Their recommendations include changes to both the compensation system and employees’ work structure, but these changes are all different.

Q: What do you think the recommendations of each consultant were? Which do you think would be the most effective solution?