This document provides an overview of Whirlpool's Findlay Division, including its history beginning in 1911, mission and values of respect, integrity, diversity, teamwork and winning. It discusses policies around ethics, harassment, communication and attendance. Reinforcement theory is used to reward attendance and goal achievement, while punishments like suspensions are given for violations. The document also discusses how ERG theory applies to meeting employee existence, relatedness and growth needs. Finally, it outlines the use of departmental, management, virtual and manufacturing teams at Whirlpool and includes dependent variables like absenteeism and turnover rates.
2. Whirlpool’s History
Company Mission and Terminal Values
• Key Terminal Values
Policies and Procedures
• Reinforcement Theory
Employee Needs
• ERG Theory
Teamwork at Whirlpool
• Types of Teams
Dependent Variables
Questions
Sources
4. MISSION VALUES
Everyone, Passionately Respect
Creating Loyal Customers
for Life Integrity
Diversity and Inclusion
Teamwork
Spirit of Winning
5. TERMINAL INSTRUMENTAL
Respect Being Honest
Integrity Being Honorable
Diversity & Inclusion Being Helpful
Teamwork Being Responsible
Spirit of Winning Being Capable
Being Dependable
Being Courageous
6. •Code of Ethics
•Equal Employment Opportunity
•Harassment
•Hostile Work Environment
•Sexual Harassment
•Open Door Policy
•Peer Resolution Procedure
•Communications
•Electronic Communication Policy
•Personal Electronic Device Policy
•Information Stations
•Badges
•Parking
•Visitors
•Hours of Work
•Attendance Policy
•Disciplinary Stacking Process
7. POSITIVE
REINFORCEMENT
Attendance Recognition
On a point system; employees
are rewarded extra vacation
days for perfect attendance.
• GoalShare Achievement
Award
• A quarterly cash payout for
people who meet or exceed
Consumer Centered
Manufacturing goals.
8. PUNISHMENT PREVENTING EXTINCTION
Disciplinary Stacking Meetings
System Training
• 2 points for every day Evaluations
missed. Signs
• Suspension depending on Logging and Tracking
severity of situations Communication
• Verbal Warnings
• Written Warnings
9. Allemployees have Recap on ERG Theory
needs!
ERG Theory applies Existence
to Findlay’s Division
plant workers. Relatedness
Growth
10. ERG Theory at Whirlpool
Existence Relatedness Growth
•Paycheck •Breaks •Tuition
•401K Plan •Parking •Reimbursement
•Bereavement •Paid Vacation •Safety Gear
•Health Care Coverage •Communications Reimbursement
•Safety •Health Center •Job Bidding
•Retirement Benefits •Attendance •GoalShare
•Disability Coverage Recognition Achievement
•Worker’s Comp •Employee Assistance •Special Recognition
•Rebates & Discounts Awards
•Cross Training
•Job Training
17. Interview
with Kandy Stone, Employee
Employee Handbook
Company Website
• www.whirlpoolcorp.com
Notas do Editor
Hello class! My name is Samantha Stone, and I will be presenting to you: Whirlpool Corporation and how this company applies to some of the OB concepts we have covered throughout the course. Of course, there are so many applications from our learning material and the world of Whirlpool is so complex, that I will only discuss some key OB factors. I chose this company because it is a potential place that I would like to pursue my career.
The table of contents shows you that I will be first discussing the history of Whirlpool. After that, I will cover the four OB concepts most relevant to the company: mission and values, reinforcement theory, ERG Needs Theory, types of teams, and dependent variables at Whirlpool. In conclusion, you will find the sources I have used, so that you can access these sources for your own desires.
Whirlpool is the world’s leading manufacturing company of home appliances. Whirlpool began in 1911 in Saint Joseph, Michigan, known as the Upton Machine Company. Whirlpool first started its business by manufacturing automatic washing machines. By the 1940’s, the company grew even faster and became the world’s largest producer of wringer washers. In 1955, the company went through a merger and then became the only company (now Whirlpool) to produce major home appliances. Whirlpool now reaches multi-billions in annual sales.The Findlay Division started in 1967. This division is one of the largest employers in Hancock County. The Findlay division does not only lead to success in profits, but they also support many developmental, educational, and community service projects in surrounding areas.The Findlay division opened up on a 75-acre site with 200 employees, making food-waste disposers. Today, Findlay Whirlpool is now dedicated to making different types of dishwashers. Findlay Whirlpool doesn’t only make Whirlpool brand. They produce KitchenAid, Maytag, Jenn-Air, Kenmore, and Amana as well. The Whirlpool division in Findlay is the world’s largest dishwasher manufacturing site.
Let’s begin by starting with the most important aspects of Whirlpool, their mission and values. The company’s mission statement is “Everyone, Passionately Creating Loyal Customers for Life.” Whirlpool’s mission statement focuses on working together as a team with passion, and concentrating on loyalty to their customers.Another significant and critical part of Whirlpool’s foundation is their values! Whirlpool’s values include: respect, integrity, diversity and inclusion, teamwork, and the spirit of winning. These are the company’s terminal values. Next let’s look at Whirlpool’s terminal values and how they become instrumental values.
Let’s recap on what terminal and instrumental values are. Terminal values are the values that the company wants to achieve, and instrumental values are the behaviors we want our company to practice to achieve our terminal values. In order to gain respect, the employees act honestly, responsibly, and independently. Integrity comes from the people of Whirlpool being honorable and helpful. Diversity and inclusion also comes from being honest and responsible. Teamwork at Whirlpool comes from the people being dependable, helpful, and responsible. Finally, the spirit of winning comes from being all of the above; honest, honorable, helpful, responsible, capable, dependable, and courageous.
Like most corporations, company policies and procedures are extensive and detailed. This is why I chose to discuss the Findlay division, instead of the company as a whole. Whirlpool’s Findlay Division has a large amount of P&P alone, so we will only discuss certain ones. For any person starting a new job or anyone that works for this matter, it’s always imperative to read and understand your company’s policies and procedures. I see it like this! Policies and procedures are not just rules and foundation of the workplace, but it is for you to understand your rights as an employee as well. Without P&P, what would organizational behavior be like?As you can see above are some of Whirlpool’s P&P at the Findlay division. All of this information can be found in the company handbook. One policy that I did not see in the company’s handbook, is one that I would like to see for all organizations, and that is a non-retaliation policy. Although, the open door policy states that “It is the policy of the Findlay Division to give all concerns full consideration without retaliation,” I think the company should implement a non-retaliation policy with further extensive detail to ensure the employees will not be retaliated against.
The employee handbook not only states its policies and procedures, but it tells you about how the company recognizes good and bad behavior. From the study of the Reinforcement Theory, I have included some aspects of the job that applies this theory. Under the Positive Reinforcement category, we see that Whirlpool has an Attendance Recognition and GoalShare Achievement Award program. The Attendance Recognition has an intermittent schedule of a fixed-ratio. Whirlpool likes to recognize the employees that practice good behavior based on their attendance. For every month that an employee has perfect attendance, the company gives that person two points. After an employee achieves so many points, they earn a day off with pay. Another positive reinforcement is the GoalShare Achievement Award (variable-interval), which is a cash payout for employees that meet or exceed CCM goals. Consumer Centered Manufacturing (CCM) will be discussed later. By these positive reinforcements, desired behaviors will be repeated.
As we continue looking at the Reinforcement Theory, I will now discuss punishment and extinction. They way Whirlpool uses punishment is through their Disciplinary Stacking System. Each employee is docked two points for every day missed. Once an employee reaches eight points they become terminated. This Disciplinary Stacking System is the negative consequence provided for bad behavior.The way Whirlpool’s Findlay Division prevents extinction is through departmental and company wide meetings, training, evaluations, signs, logging and tracking, communication, and so-on. Whirlpool implements and practices many different reinforcements, which not all are discussed here. But these are some of the ways they utilize the Reinforcement Theory to teach employees how to behave within the company.
Let’s discuss the employee needs of Whirlpool’s Findlay Division. ALL employees have needs! I have chosen to apply the ERG Theory because this plant contains a lot of lower level jobs. Remember from our learnings that the ERG Theory discusses the needs of existence, relatedness, and growth. The next slide will show you how Whirlpool uses the ERG Theory with its employees.
Recall from the theory that existence are your basic material requirements. Whirlpool provides the need for existence through salary, 401k plan, bereavement, healthcare, safety, retirement benefits, disability coverage, worker’s compensation, and rebates/discounts. Relatedness pertains to our interpersonal relationships, which include the company breaks, parking, paid vacations, communication, their health center, attendance recognition program, and employee assistance. Some of you may be familiar with a similar program at your job, like Whirlpool’s Employee Assistance Program. I think this program is great for interpersonal relationships because it provides confidential counseling to employees with personal issues. The program is free to all employees. Finally, the desire to grow personally and professionally within the company is very important to almost all employees at Whirlpool. People want to build a career, and they want to work for a company that cares about its employees and not just profit. Whirlpool gives employees the opportunity to grow through tuition reimbursement, safety gear reimbursement, job bidding, achievement and award programs, job training, cross training and more. Tuition reimbursement is always a topic that us students like to see offered in our workplace. For Whirlpool employees, and like most employees, there are certain eligibility requirements, select plans of study, and developmental plans involved with this perk. One thing I would add to employee-employer relatedness is a company daycare. Some companies provide daycares at their sites. This is a very nice perk for parents. Companies that provide daycares really do show that they care about their employees.
Most manufacturing facilities like Whirlpool have departmental teams like; assembly line teams, production department teams, receiving and shipping department teams etcetera. Whirlpool’s management teams can be found on the company website, which is broken down in the organizational chart. It starts with Jeff Rettig, as the President and CEO of Whirlpool Corporation, and its directors and executives, and so on. Whirlpool as has virtual teams on the corporate level, because this is a global marketing company. The team I want to discuss is the Consumer Centered Manufacturing (CCM) Team, that works in the Findlay Division and all other manufacturing sites.
The CCM Team is focused on proactively addressing and responding to competitive pressures, market changes, and need for value creation. The goal of this system is to allow the CCM Team to respond more quickly to customer demands while adding value. The three strategies this team focuses on are listed above. WPS utilizes lean manufacturing tactics to minimize cycle time and maximize consumer value. The WPS allows the CCM Team to find ways to eliminate wasted steps in its process through out the assembly lines. For example: an assembly line that took 72 days to make a small part of a dishwasher is now only a three day process. BDD is an approach where what’s demanded is what’s built. This keeps excessive inventory at a minimum, allowing more space in the facility. RIM is designed to decrease the amount of time it takes to develop new products.
The two dependent variables I would like to discuss about Whirlpool’s Findlay Division is absenteeism and turnover. We should all know by now that it is a huge cost and disruption for employers when employees have poor attendance. At Whirlpool, employees can only accrue up to 6 points upon termination. Whirlpool has a low-tolerance for tardiness and absenteeism. There attendance policy explains how employees are to be on the job when required. If they fail to do so, it will result in points that accrue in the Disciplinary Stacking Process. If an employee has a no-call no-show twice, they will be terminated. Absenteeism is also eliminated by the company’s rewards for perfect attendance. Whirlpool is able to save costs by having such a low turnover rate. Although, there is always room for improvement; Whirlpool is considerably well off with their strategies for retaining employees.
We have covered four topics from our Organizational Behavior learnings, and I have applied them to Whirlpool’s Findlay Division. There is so much more to learn about this company, but what I have touched on, I hope, was informative and comprehensible. It’s always important to learn and understand a company’s behavior, background, culture, mission and values. Whirlpool’s profits, ethics, history, and reputation show that its people are effectively improving the organization!
