Sonic, Inc.

Sonic, Inc. is an organization with serious problems. Founded in 1963, it was once a leader in drug plastic manufacturing. However, due to increased competition in that sector, it slowly changed its focus over the years, and now specializes in the manufacture of medical devices, aerospace components, and electronics. It employs 3000 people in its three divisions, located in seven facilities throughout the United States.

The problems with the current organization are almost too many too mention. It seems to have no clear-cut goals, employee and management turnover are high, the workforce seems demoralized and reports low job satisfaction, and a lack of financial resources has resulted in substandard working conditions. The psychological contract between employees and management is very weak.

Employees have accused management of making ethical compromises. There is a lack of advancement opportunities, and employee training and opportunities for employee continuing education are almost non-existent. Employee teams are never used to solve organizational problems, inter-departmental conflict is high, and reports of customer dissatisfaction are numerous.

Value conflict is high at Sonic, and many employees report a high-stress working environment. Some employees seem withdrawn, and conflicts and arguments between employees and departments are frequent. There is a noticeable lack of diversity in the workforce, and employees say they are tired of the Theory X style of management used by organizational leaders. Employees report that personal need satisfaction is low, and some have laughed sarcastically when asked if various need levels on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs are being met. “Are you kidding?” has been a common response to the question.

Employees at Sonic report feelings of negative inequity, feeling they are giving more in terms of time and effort than they are receiving in return. Very few employees report having job-related goals other than collecting a pay check. They complain about the organization’s inadequate performance management system, poor performance monitoring by management, and a general lack of feedback on their performance. Most report not having received a realistic job preview when they were hired.

Without question, the organizational climate at Sonic is poor, and a lack of trust permeates the company. Employees blame their low productivity on poor communication with management and other departments, and some report never having seen or heard of such a demoralizing organizational culture, or an organization with a strong resistance to change or lack of unity of command.

You have been hired by the new corporate chief executive officer to fix Sonic’s problems-not its marketing problems, although they are also quite severe, but rather its people problems.

Each week, you will face a set of specific challenges relating to Sonic. Your final paper will include your response to 12 of these issues. You will have turned in a minimum of 8 of the challenges for review by the instructor. The left-over challenges can wait until you submit your final project document in Week 7 or you could submit an extra one each week so that your final submission will benefit from the feedback.

you will submit the final project document to the final project document assignment.

It is your responsibility to compile the final project document. This requires summarizing the work that was submitted each week in paragraph format. Appropriate citations are necessary, but the document should not contain bullet lists, numerical lists, diagrams, visuals, or indented quotations (40 words or more). While it is appropriate to use citations as necessary, they should be used sparingly. The final project document should include a title page, table of contents, and a separate heading for each week’s work. The heading can simply be “Week One Summary” or “Week Five Analysis”, or a more creative heading if desired. The final document should not exceed 12 pages in length or about 3 pages each for each of the weekly sections. This may require eliminating certain parts of the weekly submissions. The final document needs to be paginated.

Your weekly submission should be two full pages in length (12-point font), with no bullet lists, numerical lists, diagrams, visuals, or indented quotations (40 words or more). The paper should be paginated, and not contain any definitions or explanations of the concepts being discussed. The concepts being discussed should be directly applied to Sonic, with Sonic’s name mentioned throughout the document-no less than every three or four sentences. It should include a title page, a heading for each topic addressed so as to clearly distinguish between topics, and a references page. The title page and references page do not count toward the two-page length. The title page should clearly mention the specific challenges being addressed.

The total project (everything mentioned here) is worth 400 points. There will be four question submission reviews (weeks 2,3,5 and 6), each worth 50 points (individual grades based on the quality of individual submission), and the final project document submitted worth 200 points.