This is an extension of the cloud named The Goal: Changing the mandatory break times. In The Goal Alex decides to talk to the union regarding his need to utilize bottleneck capacity, by only allowing breaks when a set up is completed. In the end he gets his way, but the union does not seem happy about allowing him to make the change. Alex could have developed a cloud to understand why the union wouldn't want to make an exception to the contract.
Relation | Assumption(s) | Injection(s) |
D-D' | 1. The suggested change of policy is the only policy, which can fulfil the specific purpose. | 1. If there is another policy, which will also enable Bearington to utilize their bottleneck capacity without granting this specific change, such a policy would solve the problem (e.g. staggering the lunch breaks, instead of disallowing breaks when the machine is idle). |
B-D | 1. When you grant a change to a contract, you also allow every other part of the contract to be questioned without negotations. | 1. Coming up with a formalized way of handling future proposed changes, could provide comfort that making one change, does not simultaneously allow a lot of other changes (Alex could not guarantee that this would be the only change, and he didn't come up with any answers to this concern) |
C-D' | 1. The change of policy is important for the competitiveness of the company. | 1. The conflict can be solved if the union representative can convience Alex that the requested change will have no impact on their competitiveness (this is not the case). |
A-B | 1. Workers rights are secured by companies following the agreements in the contract. | 1. Ideally contracts can be substituted by trust, however this seems like an unrealistic assumption in the company at that time. |
A-C | 1. If the company doesn't have satisfactory labor conditions, they might choose to relocate the plant to another area that has or competition will ultimately force the plant to close. | 1. This assumption is hard to challenge when Bearington has a bad financial record. (Ultimately, this was the argument given to the union president) |
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