Timkin Company Is the Largest

¶ … Timkin Company is the largest producer of bearings, and is regarded as the established steel manufacturing company of North America. The company did not only entertain and offer its services to the local clients within North America, but is also the largest exporter of steel alloys and bearings to other parts of the World. The political turmoil in other parts of the world provided the manufacturing firm with an ample opportunity to host different clients, and series of such opportunities provided with the company with immense financial growth. The manufacturing firm was popular for the implementation of balanced labor-production affiliation, and was successful in ensuring that any disequilibrium with reference to the labor relations are curtailed without affecting the credibility and production of the company. Once the technological revolution captivated the European and Asian region, the manufacturing firm observed the emergence of different bearing and steel-alloys manufacturing companies across the globe, in particular South East Asia. Such competitive scenario restricted the domain of activities within the corporate, and the management adopted different tactics to handle and dilute the influence of local and foreign agents. The threats associated with the internal agents was mainly attributed with the unions, which was diminished through different tactical means, the measures adopted kept the interest of the company well protected, the management on its behalf has been reluctant through to keep the stakes of the company at risk, and therefore has nullified the influence of the internal agents to overcome and concentrate on the expected dominance of the foreign companies in the market share. It was observed that the Japanese and Koreans have been successful in the deliverance of the bearing products and steel alloys in qualitative and quantitative terms, and the manufacturing units in both the countries have utilized the services of the cheap labor and economic concessions provided by the governments of the respective regions to secure financial gain and market share. Unfortunately, for Timkin Company it was difficult to rely on the economic provisions of the government of United States, therefore the company has to initiate preventive measures independently.

Issues

The labor unions has created major hurdle towards the development and expansion plan of the Timkin Company. The labor unions were proactive, and tried to curtail the production activities of the company, in case of the failure of the Timkin Company to fulfill the demands of the labor unions, which were mainly related to the labor wages. The strong foreign competition which threatened the development of the company, made it difficult for the management to allocate more funds towards the labors. The penetration of the Japanese and Koreans into the market influenced the market shares of the Timkin Company. The Timkin management observed that their Japanese and Korean counterparts offered fifty percent of labor wages offered by the Timkin Company, and therefore under such conditions when the market share was on the verge of declination, it was difficult for the Timkin management to offer any commitment or pledge towards rise in labor wages in the due course of time. The Timkin management also complained about the economic policies of the United States government, the government introduced certain measures which were responsible for the strengthening of the dollar currency, and such measures developed adverse impact on the exports and performance of the Timkin Company. The labor laws of the United States offered unprecedented protection to the rights of the labor forces, and the violation of the regulation was widely condemned, whereas the counterparts in Southeast Asia were not subjected to such restrictions, and it was reported that the companies in these region were mainly able to extract more out of their labor due to the ignorance on the part of the labor unions with reference to their rights. The production and functioning of the Timkin Company was also vulnerable to the strike calls, and the company on its part was unable to address the economic woes of their labor due to the rising competition in the international market. The company was oversized in terms of number of employees, and it required restructuring of the organization, the concerns of the appointees at mid-managerial level was another area of focus and concern for the management.

Possible courses of action

The Timkin management adopted effective and efficient course of action to subdue the concerns and woes of the labor unions. The implementation of the counter measures prevented the production activities from any halt, and the overall functioning of the company was not hampered. The organization launched a program titled 'Organization of War on Competition (OWOC)', the purpose of which was to inform the local employees about the international competition between the manufacturing units, and the vulnerable constraints which were expected to affect the earnings and sales of the Timkin Company. The management introduced certain different techniques which were aimed at the creation of direct linkages between the labor forces and the company management. The forum was used for the resolution of the expected differences between the management and labor forces, the concerns of the employees were projected, and the management on its part explained its restriction in resolution of the issues related to the wages and holidays. The forum was successful enough to encourage and motivate the labor and their services, and through such platform the labor forces were realized that they were essential segment and contributor towards the success and operations of the company. The company used such a platform for the resolution of differences, and requested the concrete involvement and efforts of the labors for capturing the international and local market shares, the employees were encouraged to contribute so that production activities are momentous. The platform was an indirect approach to convince the labor unions to withdraw their demands of increments, during the period when the company is engulfed with heavy competition from international companies. The employees were also assured that their unconditional contribution will result in the financial gains for the company, which will ultimately result in the dispersion of the profits to the employees in forms of increments and other relaxation. The restructuring of the organization was performed through different retirement packages and benefits offered to the mid-managerial employees.