One way that organizational behavior would help Rob is to make sure all the sewing line workers are in-sync with each other. In my mind, it seems the sewing line is set up so there’s a worker at each station and as they finish at that station they move to the next one. If the workers are not motivated and observant of each other, bottlenecks would develop at certain stations or with certain individuals thus throwing off the production for the whole group. Timbuk2 also pays its’ employees well and encourages them to learn new skills. The good pay and ability for workers to grow keeps all the workers happy; the well-being of workers is a crucial aspect of organizational behavior as Mayo notes "behavior and attitudes are closely related" (34). Behavior here being their production work and attitudes encompass the happiness and personal and organizational outlook of the employees.
Another crucial aspect of organizational behavior evident at Timbuk2 is a willingness to listen to employee suggestions and ideas. As Timbuk2 encourages employees to grow, it would be rather silly for them to not listen to employee’s ideas. Listening to employee ideas shows that Timbuk2 considers all of their employees as part of the Timbuk2 team and considers them to be equals. This portion of Timbuk2′s strategy also contributes to employees’ satisfaction with their job which encourages them to stay with Timbuk2 and increases their output. It also encourages innovation throughout the company which is a goal of entrepreneurship and knowledge management. Inputs
• Customers provide Timbuk2 with the specifications for each bag produced. This improves both efficiency and effectiveness as it eliminates the need for Timbuk2 to design the bags and it helps customers get exactly the bag they want.
• Purchasing materials on a weekly basis allows Timbuk2 to keep its inventory and waste costs down by ensuring only what is needed is bought and used.
• Employee ideas and suggestions are additional inputs that contribute to streamlining the production process.
• Orders come into Timbuk2 from a variety of sources, including Internet orders, which improve efficiency by allowing customer orders to be quickly turned into design specifications for the sewing line and thus improves turn-around time.
Transformation Process
• Sewing line workers receive the materials and design specifications and use both to, step by step, create a fully customized bag for each customer. At the end of the day each bag produced is shipped out, reducing storage costs and improving customer satisfaction by keeping wait times to a minimum.
• Workers on the sewing line act as quality control and use their first-hand experience to improve the processing of orders into final products. In this way the people on the sewing line can be considered managers (managing the quality of the bags and improving production). Outputs
• At the final station on the sewing line the customer’s order is finalized into his/her bag and is