Case Analysis
Oxford Plastics, the plant was located in a town near Beatty, about 45,000 people. They manufactured a variety of products, from lawn ornaments, patio furniture to automobiles. They employed about 3,000 workers. The company played an important part in the economy and the entire state, offering few well paying factory jobs.
In 2004 the Plant manager Sam Henderson, announced major plans for an addition to the manufacturing plant. The new shop would include a state of the art color lab and paint shop that would enable better and faster matching of colors to customer requirements. The new shop would keep Oxford Plastics competitive in the fast paced global market for plastics.
Once the new facility was complete, the largest problem was to identify the location for this new process, the lab and paint shop would require 25 acres of land for the facility. The Oxford Plastics company purchased 75 acres, the company had to complete the project in a timely manner, otherwise ran a chance that the EPA could force Oxford to stop using it older process, effect shutting down the factory. The Governor stressed that the project not be bogged down or thwarted by conflict among different interest groups, as it’s important to the economic development of the region.
Mark Thomas was assigned to the project by Headquarters there were many others that were assigned to this project that were from many other officials, State Governor Tom Winchell, Beth Friedlander from the Governor’s Office, and others not listed. Mayor Barbara Ott a political newcomer. There are others May Pinelas, Chairman of Historic Beatty, who argues vociferously that the future of the region lies in historic and natural preservation and tourism.
Henderson is torn on how to proceed in facilitating the proceedings of “how to move forward” how will I build a coalition among such a diverse organization and groups? The Oxford Group needs to move quickly, and
References: Based on “Mammoth Motors’ New Paint Shop, “a role play originally prepared by Arnold Howitt, executive director of the A. Alfred Taubman Center for State and Local Government at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and subsequently edited by Gerald Cormick, a principal in the CSE Group and senior lecturer for the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. Organizational Theory and Design, Text: Pgs 199-200