Introduction
Mario Mancini started the Maple Leaf Shoes Company Limited in 1969 and it has advanced to a global company based in Ontario. The company was established to deal with the manufacture of leather and plastic shoes. Currently, the company has a workforce of about 780 workers in its all sectors and offices. A SWOT analysis is an analysis of the growth of a company. This analysis involves a critical examination of the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a company.
Strength
It is focused on the number of its employees. The company has developed a very comfortable working environment with a town near its periphery to facilitate the personal effects of the workers. The town provides everything needed by the workers ranging from basic needs to recreational facilities. This company is a very strong force in the market because of the range of products it manufactures. The products range from leather, plastic, and rubber shoes. Also, gumboots make the company well known in the market. Manufacturing operations in the company have been upgraded to ensure that the company does not experience a shortage of shoes. The culture of employing more men than women in the company has created a negative working environment for the company.
Weakness
The major weakness of the Maple Leaf Shoe Company is its management department. Most of the supervisors do not really care about the welfare of the workers. An evident case was brought to Al who was a supervisor but he did not handle the matter properly leading to the exit of Rosetta. The management should assign the workers more convenient roles where the workers are able to work with a good relationship.
Opportunities
This company enjoys the manufacturing of very essential products. The management should expand its branches to many other countries to explore an expanded market. More advancement in technology should be implemented to ensure that the products being produced are of high quality.
Threats
Maple Company is facing a threat of female workers quitting because of being mistreated by the male workers. Also, the long hours that the workers spend on the job definitely reduce the output of the workers. Other shoe companies like Nike have entered the market and are really competing with Maple Company. New technologies to prepare other products should be invented to give the company a competitive advantage over the others.
Is there a case of sexual harassment in this situation or is it only fun?
I agree that there is sexual harassment in the manner in which Rosetta was treated. Most of the Canadian men at the workplace used to talk about Rosetta’s boyfriend just to irritate her. The stories at the locker were only aimed at making fun of Rosetta so that she could psychologically think about the Canadian men and probably give in to their desires. The manner in which the supervisor handles her case in the first case shows that he was determined to frustrate Rosetta because she was a woman. However, Al should have changed Rosetta from working with men instead of just allowing her to be harassed.
If you were Eva, what would- and could-you do? What are the options? What is the probability of success of each option?
The step taken by Eva to seek justice for her friend Rosetta was correct. I would have pursued justice from the supervisor and forced him to seek Rosetta reinstated. The first option would be to discuss with Al about the situation and convince him that the men were not fair to Rosetta. The second option would be to seek an audience of the human resource department. My last option would be to quit the job as well. This would act as a protest to convince the manager that something is wrong and he would address the issue at hand. Discussing Rosetta’s issue with Al has a very low probability because in this situation the probability is between the men and women. Here I will lose out because the number of women is only two against a very large number of men. The probability of the second option is also zero because female workers are not very much regarded in this company. The probability of the third option is half because I will have created an extra vacancy which may prove difficult to replace and they can be forced to consider my protest.
What are Al’s responsibilities in this instance? Did he carry them out well? Why or why not?
His responsibility is to ensure a good working environment for each worker. He failed to perform his duty properly because he joined the men in making fun of Rosetta. I expected him to transfer him to another more comfortable workstation. Also, he could simply talk to the men to avoid discussions that would offend their workmates whether it is a joke or any other form of harassment. His opinion that jokes should be accommodated is unattainable because people view jokes in different ways.
Situation Analysis
The Maple Leaf Shoes Company Limited being a shoes manufacturing company, making profits goal and the goal of being a strong force in the market because of the wide range of products it manufactures are the major driving forces behind its business strategies. The company’s management seems to recognize that its strength is in recruiting and hiring competent and highly motivated workers. For this reason, the employees are provided with a comfortable working environment with a town near the company’s periphery, offering every important convenience from basic needs to recreation and entertainment.
However, the company needs to do more to be gender-sensitive so that it has a proportional number of both males and females holding positions in different departments. A situation, when female workers are considerably fewer than male ones, does not seem to be a good picture. Such a situation may become a source of a number of problems for the company ranging from varied complications with its personnel, including both male and female workers, to legal issues connected to the cases of gender discrimination. In addition, senior management of the company does not pay attention to women’s needs in guarantying protection from being harassed or oppressed in any other way. Again, this may be a reason for considerable legal problems for the company. Besides, as the company employs people belonging to different nations, it is important to guarantee healthy relations between all of them. Unless the conduct bordering on gender and racial discrimination is suppressed, the company may experience serious problems leading to significant financial losses.
References
Canadian Human Resource Management A Strategic Approach. Ninth Edition. Writer Name: Schwind Das Wagar.