How to Address an Out-Of-Date Business

Rick's New Job

The author of this report has been asked to review a case study that involves Rick's new job. Rick has been interning at a factory that is in need of a proverbial shot in the arm and he is then offered a permanent position. He is warned straight away that he is an "outsider" in the first and that other people in the group are the "insiders." The questions that will be answered start off with why Rick was let go. How reinforcement theory figures into the firing will be discussed as they pertain to the main characters in the situation and there will also be a discussion of expectancy theory. The second question and headed will pertain to how Rosie's and Walter's reactions to the computer can be defined in terms of resistance to change. The question of how much Rick have used the concepts in the chapter to approach the computer situation as a means to gain acceptance will be discussed. Explaining Rick's ability (or inability) to "fit in" will be covered vis-a-vis social learning theory will come next as well as how his "processing" of the situation broke down. Finally, if Val were to hire the author of this report, it will be explained how a management program would have been introduced and brought forth. While Rick had good intentions, his methods were far from advisable.

Reinforcement Theory

Rick was let go because there were further struggles with the paper firm and he was the easiest person to let go because he was, as the others clearly noted up to and including Val, the "outsider" of the group. He acted too much like he was the upstart and a new leader, even if that was not his intent. Social reinforcement theory applies because the social behavior of people is governed by the actions that they see in their social sphere. They saw an outsider some in and try to "take over" and change things the way he say fit. The people from the existing group did not take kindly to this and they eventually got him forced out. Expectancy theory says that the group expected Rick to act as an outside because that is what he was. Since he did not do that, they openly rebelled and fought against him and sought to have him removed from the employer…which eventually happened (URI, 2015).

Resistance to Change

As far as the computer situation, Rick either should have ran the computer by Val and other people at the top first or he could have asked what the current system was of tracking people and asked if he could help make it "even better." Rather than suggest the current system is broken and non-usable, Rick could have worked with Rosie and Walter rather than do what those two deemed to be an "end-around" on the situation. In other words, Rick would have to work with the two rather than against them so that the computer would already be accepted when it appeared rather than people that are afraid of his "big and fancy letters" and/or the "fancy computer" reacting as if he was walking through the factory in his birthday suit (HBR, 2015).

Social Learning Theory

Rick was an outsider for two major reasons…he was not family of the main people in the firm and he was not a tenured person of the factory. There is nothing he could have done about the first short of marrying one of the people in the family or something like that. As for the second, he really would have to cool his heels and learn precisely the way they were doing things and then introduce changes and new tasks or items very slowly. Truth be told, Rick would have to make a calculation as to whether he could or should even try to put the time in to make the changes slowly enough so as to not enrage the people at the factory. Indeed, changes needed to be made at the factory but it is clear that the people at the factory were not happy with Rick being the one behind the choices. Also, Rick spending "too much time with Val" was also an issue so getting in tight enough with Val to have him be the voice of the changes also created some issues. Basically, Rick's only hope was to get it through to Val that the way the family was currently doing things was broken and nothing short of Val standing up to them and reining them in would solve the problems (Reed & Bogardus, 2015).

Designing a Management Training Program