You are the Plant Manager of a manufacturing facility in the USA. You have just transferred in to the new position from another manufacturing facility therefore you are new to your staff and employees.

Coming into your new job you were told that the plant was full "of opportunities" for improvement. It was also made clear that your performance evaluations would heavily reflect the improvements you are able to achieve.

SITUATION

As with any new position, you spend the first couple of weeks basically getting to know your staff, employees and, most importantly, how day-to-day business is conducted. You quickly recognize that your boss was not kidding: there are a number "of opportunities" which need to be addressed.

As you gather more information it becomes apparent that your predecessor was also addressing some of the problems and had clearly made some decisions and taken action. One of the problems that the former Plant Manager addressed was the most common problem in most organizations: poor communications. His approach towards solving this common problem was to establish a number of routine meetings with staff and/or employees. Based on comments from your staff, this had improved the poor communications issue.

Recognizing that this approach had improved the situation, you let things ride without any changes for a couple of months, however, as time went by you became more dissatisfied with the situation.

You recognize the benefits of the meetings and an apparent improvement in communications; however, you notice that these meetings are taking a significant amount of your and your staff's time. Time that you feel could be put into more productive efforts such as reduction in costs, improved productivity, better product quality, etc.

QUESTIONS

You have a dilemma in your hands. On one hand, you recognize the importance of good communications. On the other hand, you feel that you and your staff are spending too much time in meetings. There is no question. You need to do something!

What actions can you take to continue the improvement in communications and increase the productivity of your staff? Discuss in detail the answers to the questions.