Betty Kester was continuously on top of things. In school, she had always been at the top of her class. When she went to work for her  uncle’s shoe business, Fancy Footwear, had been singled out as the most productive employee and the one with the best attendance.  The company was so impressed with her that it sent her to get an M.B.A. to groom her for a top management position. In school again,  and with three years of practical experience to draw on, Kester had gobbled up every idea put in front of her, relating many of them to  her work at Fancy Footwear. When Kester graduated at the top of her class, she returned to Fancy Footwear. To no one’s surprise, when  the head of the company’s largest division took advantage of the firm’s early retirement plan, Kester was given his position.    Kester knew the pitfalls of being suddenly catapulted to a leadership position, and she was determined to avoid them. In business school,  she had read cases about family businesses that fell apart when a young family member took over with an iron fist, barking out orders,  cutting personnel, and destroying morale. Kester knew a lot about participative management, and she was not going to be labeled an  arrogant know-it-all.    Kester's predecessor, Max Worthy, had run the division from an office at the top of the building, far above the factory floor. Two or three  times a day, Worthy would summon a messenger or a secretary from the offices on the second floor and send a memo out to one or another  group of workers. But as Kesmer saw it, Worthy was mostly an absentee autocrat, making all the decisions from above and spending most  of his time at extended lunches with his friends from the Elks Club.    Kester's first move was to change all that. She set up her office on the second floor. From her always-open doorway she could see down  onto the factory floor, and as she sat behind her desk she could spot anyone walking by in the hall. She never ate lunch herself but spent  the time from 11 to 2 down on the floor, walking around, talking, and organizing groups. The workers, many of whom had twenty years of  seniority at the plant, seemed surprised by this new policy and reluctant to volunteer for any groups. But in fairly short order, Kester  established a worker productivity group, a "Suggestion of the Week" committee, an environmental group, a worker award group, and a  management relations group. Each group held two meetings a week, one without and one with Kester. She encouraged each group to  set up goals in its particular focus area and develop plans for reaching those goals. She promised any support that was within her power to give.    The group work was agonizingly slow at first. But Kester had been well trained as a facilitator, and she soon took on that role in their  meetings, writing down ideas on a big board, organizing them, and later communicating them in notices to other employees. She got  everyone to call her "Betty" and set herself the task of learning all their names. By the end of the first month, Fancy Footwear was  stirred up.    But as it turned out, that was the last thing most employees wanted. The truth finally hit Kesmer when the entire management relations  committee resigned at the start of their fourth meeting. "I’m sorry, Ms. Kesmer," one of them said. "We’re good at making shoes, but not  at this management stuff. A lot of us are heading toward retirement. We don’t want to be supervisors."    Astonished, Kesmer went to talk to the workers with whom she believed she had built good relations. Yes, they reluctantly told her, all  these changes did make them uneasy. They liked her, and they didn’t want to complain. But given the choice, they would rather go back    to the way Mr. Worthy had run things. They never saw Mr. Worthy much, but he never got in their hair. He did his work, whatever that  was, and they did theirs. "After you’ve been in a place doing one thing for so long," one worker concluded, "the last thing you want to do  is learn a new way of doing it."    Case Questions   What factors should have alerted Kester to the problems that eventually came up at Fancy Footwear?   Could Kesmer have instituted her changes without eliciting a negative reaction from the workers? If so, how?

Practical Management Science
6th Edition
ISBN:9781337406659
Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Publisher:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Chapter2: Introduction To Spreadsheet Modeling
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 20P: Julie James is opening a lemonade stand. She believes the fixed cost per week of running the stand...
icon
Related questions
Question
Betty Kester was continuously on top of things. In school, she had always been at the top of her class. When she went to work for her 
uncle’s shoe business, Fancy Footwear, had been singled out as the most productive employee and the one with the best attendance. 
The company was so impressed with her that it sent her to get an M.B.A. to groom her for a top management position. In school again, 
and with three years of practical experience to draw on, Kester had gobbled up every idea put in front of her, relating many of them to 
her work at Fancy Footwear. When Kester graduated at the top of her class, she returned to Fancy Footwear. To no one’s surprise, when 
the head of the company’s largest division took advantage of the firm’s early retirement plan, Kester was given his position. 
 
Kester knew the pitfalls of being suddenly catapulted to a leadership position, and she was determined to avoid them. In business school, 
she had read cases about family businesses that fell apart when a young family member took over with an iron fist, barking out orders, 
cutting personnel, and destroying morale. Kester knew a lot about participative management, and she was not going to be labeled an 
arrogant know-it-all. 
 
Kester's predecessor, Max Worthy, had run the division from an office at the top of the building, far above the factory floor. Two or three 
times a day, Worthy would summon a messenger or a secretary from the offices on the second floor and send a memo out to one or another 
group of workers. But as Kesmer saw it, Worthy was mostly an absentee autocrat, making all the decisions from above and spending most 
of his time at extended lunches with his friends from the Elks Club. 
 
Kester's first move was to change all that. She set up her office on the second floor. From her always-open doorway she could see down 
onto the factory floor, and as she sat behind her desk she could spot anyone walking by in the hall. She never ate lunch herself but spent 
the time from 11 to 2 down on the floor, walking around, talking, and organizing groups. The workers, many of whom had twenty years of 
seniority at the plant, seemed surprised by this new policy and reluctant to volunteer for any groups. But in fairly short order, Kester 
established a worker productivity group, a "Suggestion of the Week" committee, an environmental group, a worker award group, and a 
management relations group. Each group held two meetings a week, one without and one with Kester. She encouraged each group to 
set up goals in its particular focus area and develop plans for reaching those goals. She promised any support that was within her power
to give. 
 
The group work was agonizingly slow at first. But Kester had been well trained as a facilitator, and she soon took on that role in their 
meetings, writing down ideas on a big board, organizing them, and later communicating them in notices to other employees. She got 
everyone to call her "Betty" and set herself the task of learning all their names. By the end of the first month, Fancy Footwear was 
stirred up. 
 
But as it turned out, that was the last thing most employees wanted. The truth finally hit Kesmer when the entire management relations 
committee resigned at the start of their fourth meeting. "I’m sorry, Ms. Kesmer," one of them said. "We’re good at making shoes, but not 
at this management stuff. A lot of us are heading toward retirement. We don’t want to be supervisors." 
 
Astonished, Kesmer went to talk to the workers with whom she believed she had built good relations. Yes, they reluctantly told her, all 
these changes did make them uneasy. They liked her, and they didn’t want to complain. But given the choice, they would rather go back 
 
to the way Mr. Worthy had run things. They never saw Mr. Worthy much, but he never got in their hair. He did his work, whatever that 
was, and they did theirs. "After you’ve been in a place doing one thing for so long," one worker concluded, "the last thing you want to do 
is learn a new way of doing it." 
 
Case Questions
 
What factors should have alerted Kester to the problems that eventually came up at Fancy Footwear?
 
Could Kesmer have instituted her changes without eliciting a negative reaction from the workers? If so, how?
Expert Solution
trending now

Trending now

This is a popular solution!

steps

Step by step

Solved in 2 steps

Blurred answer
Knowledge Booster
Effective management
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, operations-management and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.
Similar questions
  • SEE MORE QUESTIONS
Recommended textbooks for you
Practical Management Science
Practical Management Science
Operations Management
ISBN:
9781337406659
Author:
WINSTON, Wayne L.
Publisher:
Cengage,
Operations Management
Operations Management
Operations Management
ISBN:
9781259667473
Author:
William J Stevenson
Publisher:
McGraw-Hill Education
Operations and Supply Chain Management (Mcgraw-hi…
Operations and Supply Chain Management (Mcgraw-hi…
Operations Management
ISBN:
9781259666100
Author:
F. Robert Jacobs, Richard B Chase
Publisher:
McGraw-Hill Education
Business in Action
Business in Action
Operations Management
ISBN:
9780135198100
Author:
BOVEE
Publisher:
PEARSON CO
Purchasing and Supply Chain Management
Purchasing and Supply Chain Management
Operations Management
ISBN:
9781285869681
Author:
Robert M. Monczka, Robert B. Handfield, Larry C. Giunipero, James L. Patterson
Publisher:
Cengage Learning
Production and Operations Analysis, Seventh Editi…
Production and Operations Analysis, Seventh Editi…
Operations Management
ISBN:
9781478623069
Author:
Steven Nahmias, Tava Lennon Olsen
Publisher:
Waveland Press, Inc.