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Chapter 11 AssignmentTopic: Organizational Controls

InstructionsThe assignment for Chapter 11 is a short assignment. Check the course schedule for the due date.

Case and questions. Read the case below and answer the four questions at the end of the case. Thestory is somewhat old, so dont focus on the pay. However, the issues are very current and relate to goodand bad ways to control employee output and activities.

Assignment Length. This paper should be at least 2 double-spaced pages. Use one-inch margins andTimes Roman 12-point font.

Be sure to use the spell check and grammar check options on your word processing software. I want the

assignment to have no spelling errors or grammatical errors.

Good luck.

Mr. Eden Profits from Watching His Workers Every MoveSource: Wall Street Journal, December 1, 1994, p. A11

Ron Edens runs a company called Electronic Banking Systems, Inc. Located outside Baltimore,Maryland, EBS provides outsourcing clerical services. It handles the clerical tasks involved in processingdonations for groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Green peace, and the NationalOrganization for Women. Most of Edens employees earn $7 an hour or less doing repetitive tasks such

as opening envelopes or recording donation data on a computer. Ron Edens is especially proud of thecontrol system he has created to closely monitor his employees.

Walking around EBS, you see long lines of people sitting at spartan desks, slitting open envelopes,sorting contents, and filling out control cards that record how many letters they have opened and howlong it has taken them. These letter openers must process three envelopes a minute. Nearby, otherworkers tap keyboards, keeping pace with a quota that demands 8,500 strokes an hour. Jobs are highlyspecialized and involve extensive repetition. Letter openers only open envelopes and sort contents.Workers in the audit department just compute figures. Data-entry clerks punch in the information that theothers have collected.

The workroom is silent. Talking is forbidden. The windows are covered. Coffee mugs, personal photos,and other adornments are barred from the workers desks. Edens wants to remove anything that mightdistract his workers from the job at hand. For example, commenting on the blocked windows, Edens

says, I dont want them looking out its distracting. Theyll make mistakes.

In his office upstairs, Edens sits before a TV monitor that flashes images from eight cameras postedthroughout the plant. Theres a little bit of Sneaky Pete to it, he admits, using a remote control to zoomin on a document atop a workers desk. I can basically read that and figure out how someones day isgoing. In addition, his systems software generates daily reports recording the precise number ofkeystrokes tapped by each data-entry worker and the number of errors made by each worker.

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The work floor at EBS resembles an enormous classroom in the throes of exam period. Desks pointtoward the front, where a manager keeps watch from a raised platform. Other supervisors are positionedtoward the back of the room. If you want to watch someone, Edens explains, its easier from behindbecause they dont know youre watching. Theres also a black globe hanging from the ceiling, in whichcameras are positioned.

At EBS, workers handle thousands of dollars in checks and cash. Thats one reasons, Edens says, forthe cameras. It can help deter would-be thieves. But Edens concedes that tight observation also helpsEBS monitor productivity and weed out workers who dont keep up. There are multiple uses, Edenssays of surveillance.

Edens is unapologetic about his control system, including the rule that forbids all talk unrelated to thecompletion of each task. Im not paying people to chat. Im paying them to open envelopes, he says.

Edens offers considerable insight into his philosophy of management when he says, We dont ask thesepeople to think the machines think for them. They dont have to make decisions.

Answer the following questions:

1. What type(s) of controls is(are) Mr. Edens using to ensure high worker productivity? Give examples

and label the controls. As you label the controls, use the types of controls discussed in the chapter.

Remember, in most assignments you are showing that you can take material from the textbook and

apply it.2. What are the advantages of Mr. Edens control system?3. What are the disadvantages of Mr. Edens control system?4. What ethical issues, if any, are you concerned about at EBS and why?