FMC, Aberdeen, green river discussion on Organizational Behavior Essay

FMC, Aberdeen, green river discussion on Organizational Behavior - Essay Example Bob Lancaster, who was tasked to build and operate the facility, said that the central belief that guides Aberdeen’s organization and management is a participative-management system on the principles of trust, involving self-directing work teams that would eliminate fear from all employees. (Clawson, 1990) An employee is assigned to a team where a team leader is selected by the members - no supervisors or managers. The teams decide on all matters among themselves concerning their work as long as they get their task done. There are significant differences between Green River’s organizational behavior and management to those of Aberdeen’s. For instance, the people employed here are more than 1000 and have a worker’s union where Aberdeen has none. The facility is also charged with 100 products, which is being distributed worldwide in contrast to latter’s single product line. Both facilities cater to very different industries - one, defense, the other, chemicals. And finally, while Aberdeen is a start-up facility, Green River has been operating since 1948. Aberdeen and Green River facilities share the same FMC corporate guidelines, independence in running their sites, and operating values and systems. Thus, the success posted by Aberdeen’s organizational behavior is a challenge for a bigger facility like Green River. The structure and management approach adopted by Aberdeen, which is basically based on trust, might pose a great risk to a larger organization that must cater to a diverse product lines. The Aberdeen concept espouses the elimination of fear among its employees and mistakes are considered learning opportunities. Green River must consider if it is willing to trade the stability of the huge infrastructure which has been in place and tested for years to a system based on faith. Technical problems also abound, like how the