Investigación

Jaime de la Horra, Operations Manager at the S.C. Johnson plant in Viña del Mar, Chile, reflected on the plane taking off bound for Buenos Aires, on the initiative that was being developed at the Viña del Mar plant where S.C. Johnson was planning to implement self-directed teams in all the plant’s production lines. Jaime was concerned about the impact that the company’s new strategy, which had been defined at its headquarters in Racine, Wisconsin, was having in the wax production plant. In recent years these workers had experienced a process of job redesign, accompanied by training and development programs in order to prepare them to work in self-directed teams (SDT). Jaime was considered an ardent advocate of SDTs. He had led the change process at the Viña del Mar plant. But sometimes he doubted whether the process would be established successfully, given the difficulties encountered along the way.