THE REPORT SHOULD ONLY BE MAX 1000 WORDS

LEADERSHIP CONSULTING EXERCISE* The Brief PlasticCo is a leading plastics manufacturer producing blow-moulded plastic bottles for the UK food and drink industry. The company operates from eight sites across the UK and has a turnover in excess of 100 million. It currently has a workforce of aound 650 ernployees and is part of a multinational group of packaging companies. The majority of PlasticCo employees work within bottle-producing factories operating the blow-moulding machinery. There are head office functions, , including human resource managenent, ad general managerial d adinistrativ oes outsid of the factory, but the nuber ohese posions is relatiely The majority of the workfore wokhines on the shop loor. The actory work setlng press any chalge anagers who are trying lo rn: rcase crnployce cr gagrenc n1 Many cl the ,obs rxjulr: rclal vely low level of skill and are repetitive, with tasks including transporting materials around the factory and operating particular parts of the machinery. In general, employees have few educational qualifications. Around 80% of factory employees work a strict 12-hour shift pattern, with four days on tollowed by four days off. Shifts either run through the day (8m-8pm) or night (8pm-8am) l'he production process runs 24 hours day, 365 daysa yesar, Including all bank holidays ard Christas Day. Hmployces have o adjust. theie l he systeri andaunsxciable working hours. A farther potentl challeng is the aclory workingenvironment, which is noisy and hot. Alhough Plasti bee successul i any ways, he brd sawpoto increase employee engagement. A common issue identified by managers across the organisation was that problem solving tended to be 'reactive rather than 'proactive. In practice, this meant there was little effort put forward by employees to generate ideas for improvement. Instead, issues were resolved only when probles arose. A plant manager sunmarised tis: I think i's probably more based around problems vatber than them sitting around and asking how am I gong to 1mprove my job? It's 1 ennchi there's an 1ssue bow can e ml rover? So I think it's more readtive problem-solring Plant manager)