SECTION1 (CASESTUDY)
Brooks Technologies (28 marks)
You are the newly appointed human resources director of Brooks Technologies, a middle-
sized organisation that employs approximately 500 employees. In the last couple of years, the
organisation has grown rapidly. This rapid growth has resulted from the introduction of new
technology that has enabled the organisation to increase its production by 30 per cent. The
management team is currently investigating opportunities to export its products to China,
Indonesia and Italy.
However, the increase in production resulting from better technology has resulted in a lack
of quality in some of the product streams. The company employs quality controllers whose
task it is to check the quality at the end of the production process (post-process control).
Ideally, quality should be checked during the process by employees and supervisors who are
well trained in quality specifications.
One of the areas in which the company has achieved is employment equity. The management
and the supervisory team, as well as the employee corps, are all representative of the
population. However, at this stage, there is no indication that employment equity is
benefiting the organisation, as there is little interaction between employees from different
cultural groups, and there is ongoing conflict owing to different values, beliefs, behaviours
and opinions.
The company is following a relatively traditional management approach based on providing
employees with clear goals, instructions and information. Although employees receive
adequate training in how to carry out instructions, they often do not understand the rationale
behind the instructions. In addition, little provision has been made for upward
communication between employees and managers. Status differences between management
and employees are reflected in huge differences in salaries/wages and benefits, accessto
information, decision-making prerogatives, and even dress code and parking allocation.
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