Overview of Organization

Red Lion Controls is an industrial automation company that “has been delivering innovative solutions to global markets since 1972 through communication, monitoring and control for industrial automation and networking – enabling companies worldwide to gain real-time data visibility that drives productivity.” (About us, 2022). Red Lion Controls has over 350 employees globally in India, Germany, Canada, Mexico, UK, the Netherlands, and the United Stated. RLC is headquartered in York, PA.

Recently the organization underwent a revision of the mission and vision. Our new Vision statement is: Empower customers to unlock the value of Industrial Data – building a better world ​together. Our vision helps us to differentiate our value, our customer, our teams, and our purpose. Our new Mission statement is: We create innovative technologies to Access, Connect and Visualize industrial data. We start with empowered employees who put the customer first and strive to be better today than yesterday. Our motto has also quickly adapted to be, Access – Connect – Visualize, all things we at Red Lion do to help the customer interact with their industrial data. Our values are shown below in Exhibit 1.1.

Exhibit 1.1: Red Lion Controls – Core Values

Red Lion Controls has a history of innovation starting from when the company was founded in a garage in Red Lion, Pennsylvania to the global organization it has become today. Exhibit 1.2 showcases the History of Innovation.

Exhibit 1.2: Red Lion Controls – A History of Innovation (About us, 2022).

Red Lion Controls is an operating company of Spectris, which is located in the UK. Spectris’ business model is to “Lead by purpose. Spectris harnesses the power of precision measurement to equip our customers to make the world cleaner, healthier and more productive.” (Our business model, 2022). Red Lion Controls is the smallest of the operating companies, but has the most niche market, by focusing on connecting industrial companies to their data. Being backed by Spectris has been largely positive, as they are heavily focused on sustainability, and philanthropy projects centered around STEM education.

Red Lion Controls’ culture is family centric; we appreciate the small-town, close-knit community feel each location has, and we are people focused. Each location has developed close ties to one another, whether it’s because of geographic location and religious holidays such as in our Pune, India location. Or because many employees have come together through acquisitions of their previous employers and remained as a team, such as in our Mobile, Alabama office. The York, Pennsylvania office is a large site, however the employees have exhibited long tenure, with many employees actively celebrating their 20, 25, 30, and/or 40-year service anniversaries. Red Lion Controls grows increasingly more involved in our community through both volunteering of our time and fundraising efforts.

The RLC facility where I am located in York, PA is in an area where there are several other manufacturing facilities, and logistics warehouses. Competition for employees is frequent and retention is difficult in the economic climate where employees are leaving for sometimes $0.50 more an hour. In spite of these challenges, we have decided to focus on what perks we do offer our employees, a safe work environment, an employer who cares about your academic and professional growth via tuition reimbursement, opportunity to be involved in your local community, and to collectively work together to build a better world.

Research Project

The project which I have decided on for this course, is to help a production supervisor hold two successful meetings, one to review the results of her department’s Gallup Engagement Survey, and another to facilitate a conversation with her departments on which engagement item to focus on and create an action plan to encourage engagement. The issue is that she currently feels overwhelmed with responsibility and has been unsuccessful on her own in finding solutions to free up her time, to hold these meetings effectively. This is important for two main reasons; the first reason is because it is Red Lion Controls’ goal to increase overall engagement within the organization by focusing on the individual team efforts. The company’s overall results of the survey indicated that 35% of the workforce was engaged, 50% was not engaged and 15% was actively disengaged. 50% of employees are just waiting to be reached! The second reason is regarding Colleen’s growth opportunity. In order for her to grow as a leader in the organization, the Plant Manager and I would like to see her able to automate processes, become efficient in her time management, and cultivate a culture of positive change.

Internally she will have challenges, as the survey results for her specific team indicate a 3.54/5.00 score for engagement, which places her team in the 17^th overall percentile for Gallup’s overall benchmark for engagement. Comparatively, Red Lion Controls overall score was a 3.74/5.00, and fell in the 26^th percentile. Throughout this project, I want to understand deeper what internal factors are affecting this issue, however from what I know, there is a lack of trust with senior leadership. At the point in time this survey was taken, we were in the midst of massive change in the organization, our President had resigned, we had interim leadership, and were facing a shared services model change, which eventually fell apart after the survey had concluded. The external forces driving this need is retention of talent. The economic environment in York, PA right now is an employee’s market, and jobs are plentiful. Employees have their choice of employers, and other employers are paying very well. We need to ensure our employees feel valued and engaged in order to retain their talent.

Historically, I have addressed time management with Collen in relation to previous time-based employee related activities such as reviews. These have traditionally taken a very long time to complete or were left to the last possible minute. Unfortunately, when this happens the follow up on issues is almost non-existent because of the time it would take to circle back once evaluations are complete.

My Role at Red Lion Controls

I am the HR Manager for Red Lion Controls, and I oversee employees primarily in the US, however I work with other teams globally and assist when I am needed. My scope of responsibility is largely employee relations, and leadership development. I report to the VP of Human Resources and am a member of the extended leadership team (ELT). As a member of the ELT my role is to assist in the creation, planning, and implementation of the company’s strategic goals for next year.              

My role in this issue is to be the change agent and help facilitate measures that will allow Colleen to be successful in her time management and process efficiencies. Colleen’s role is to participate in the interventions and implement changes to help her achieve better time management, and process improvements. Additionally, Steve Herbert, our Plant Manager will be peripherally involved, as a coach to Colleen, and as a gatekeeper for me, where he will provide objective feedback and help provide additional insights, I may be unaware of. Lastly, the employees in Colleen’s departments will be involved, as this is the group in which we are trying to invoke a change and potential improvements that would allow more self-ownership of processes, which would allow Colleen to loosen the reigns and refocus on other tasks.

References:

About Us. Red Lion. (2022, June 9). Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.redlion.net/about-us

Our business model. Spectris. (2022). Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.spectris.com/our-approach/our-business-model/