Bicycle factory “Springbok inc.” is located in a small town in the Eastern
part of the Netherlands. The factory produces two types of bicycles for the
Dutch market: an aluminium frame sports bike and an iron-frame city
bike. Each of these bike-types have 2 variants: an electric variant and a
non-electric variant. The Dutch market for bicycles is very competitive,
many (20+) different manufactures compete for an increase of their
market share, and they mostly rely on the same suppliers of raw material
and parts. Also, customers are very diverse and constantly demand very
different customizations that are hard to predict, ranging from people
requesting anti-theft options on their city bike or electrified sports bikes
that can carry children to electrified city bikes with easy step-on-step-off
options.
In the company, around 250 people work in the following departments:
- A “welding department”, in which steel and aluminium pipes are
transformed into frames.
- A “small material department”, in which all small parts for the bikes,
such as the steer and the front and back fender are made.
- An “electrical department”, in which all electrical wires for the bikes
are made.
- An “assembly department” in which all parts are put together to
make the bikes
- A maintenance department, that supports the other departments
when machines break down or need service.
In the factory, many problems arise in the production process. For
example, workers complain that the work that they do is too simple and
too monotonous. Also, between the welding and assembly department,
delays occur frequently. The welders have to work on all kinds of different
frames at the same time, which results in them not finishing in time. Also,
it is often seen as problematic that information on particular custom
orders of clients are not shared between the different departments. This
results in frequent errors such as the wrong bikes being assembled for
particular clients and failures in customization.
,(1) For diagnosing and redesigning organizations De Sitter has developed
so-called structural parameters. Use the parameters of “functional
concentration” and “differentiation of operational transformations” to
diagnose the Springbok factory. To this end:
a. Explain why the Springbok factory scores high or low on these
parameters.
b. Describe how the problems that the Springbok factory faces can be
characterized by De Sitter’s three outcome variables (3Qs).
Next to ideas on how to diagnose organizations, De Sitter has also
developed detailed ideas on how to redesign organizations. Try to come
up with an alternative design for the Springbok factory at the macro and
meso level of the organization. To this end:
c. What kind of “order flows” can be used to design the production
structure at the macro level of the organization?
d. Describe how you would make segments (meso level) within these
flows and describe what kind of activities you would assign to these
segments.
(2) The director of Springbok inc. now asks you to use Burton’s perspective
for making an alternative design for his company. Based on the book by
Burton et al and the case description, explain which configuration you
would suggest for a redesign of Springbok. To do so:
a. Describe the kind of environment Springbok is located in by using
the dimensions ‘complexity’ and ‘unpredictability’.
b. Explain which configuration -according to Burton- would fit Springbok
inc. best by using the dimensions ‘functional specialization’ and
‘product/ service/ market orientation’.
(3) The director of Springbok has also heard of Lean management as a
promising approach for organisation design, in particular for mass
customization. He asks you to explore what a lean approach would
mean for their factory, what measures they would need to take and
what the implications would likely be. To this end:
a. Look at the situation of Toyota when they initially developed the lean
approach. Why was mass customization relevant for them and how
, was it achieved? In what way is the situation of Springbok
comparable to that of Toyota?
b. Explain the biggest problems of the current situation in the
Springbok factory according to lean management
c. Describe how the Springbok factory would need to be redesigned
according to lean management and how the work processes would
be organised from customer order to delivery.
The director of Springbok has heard that lean management can also
expose weaknesses in the system and is somewhat worried that
introducing lean management might create new problems.
d. Explain how lean exposes weaknesses and what these weaknesses
might be in the case of Springbok. Describe what the firm could do
to avoid these problems?
(4) After having looked at the various approaches that you have presented
to him so far, the director of Springbok is somewhat disappointed that
they all do not really start from the needs of the employees. He tells
you that it is part of the culture, particularly in this eastern part of the
country, to not only focus on revenue but also to act as a responsible
organization that looks after its employees. You explain to him that
there is also a fourth approach that explicitly focusses on how work
should be designed for employee wellbeing.
a. Explain in your own words – and in a way that the director of
Springbok is likely to understand – the central idea of Action
Regulation Theory and why this idea matters for the design of work.
b. Explain which regulation hinderances you see in the current situation
at Springbok.
c. Using the concept of the complete task, explain how you would
create human centered jobs at Springbok and describe what
activities these jobs would entail.
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