The Promotion
By Harry E. Berndt
Everyone agreed that Joaquim Canato was indeed the right
choice to be the supervisor in the tire assembly department; he was the perfect
choice. He was admired and liked, even loved, by most people in the village. It
seemed that he could do anything better than anyone. In the bull ring he was the
brave captain of the Focados, the team that subdued the bull at the end of the
bull fight. He thrilled all the ladies of the village as he leaped between the
horns of charging bulls, stopping them so they could be to be led from the
ring. He was the village Patron’s favorite and he made Joaquim second only to
himself in the Bull fighter’s Club. Joaquim was now the proud employee of the
new factory, and no one in tire assembly could produce tires faster or of
better quality than he.
Jim Lyle arrived in the village about six months earlier to
begin training people for the new plant start-up. Most of the equipment for the
start-up was in place and there were some people trained for every operation; tread
extrusion, fabric cutting, bead building, tire assembly, curing, final
inspection and shipping. Production was going on for over a month and although
slow and still a little unsure, everyone knew his job; not at an American or
British piece-work level, but adequate for a beginning. It was now time to
choose supervisors for each department, and Joaquim was chosen for the tire
assembly department.
Jim first met Joaquim when he needed someone to paint the
factory water tower. It was a big job and he asked the village priest, Father
Botaquillo, and the Patron, Jose’ Costa, if they could recommend someone who
was competent and trust-worthy to do the job. Almost simultaneously they both
said Joaquim Canato, of course. The tower was painted within a week and it
looked magnificent. It was the most beautiful site in the village, and higher
than anything people ever expected to be built. Up until that time, the church,
which was built in the tenth century as a mosque, was the highest and most
magnificent structure.
Jim Lyle walked through the factory and felt proud about
what he had accomplished. The formal opening, the inauguration of the factory,
was still over a month away and everything seemed to be moving along very well
indeed. All the employees were trained and producing tires that, for the most
part, met the specifications established by the engineers in the United States.
Of course, the level of production was very low and there were quality
problems, but that was expected on a start-up operation. Every morning he and
the quality control manager held a meeting where they dissected several tires
that had been rejected during final inspection. They would find blisters caused
by humidity or the builder’s failure to correct for folds or fabric tears. But
overall Jim Lyle was satisfied that the plant was making progress and even
though there were too many rejected tires for a functioning plant, the figures
did not seem too bad for a new start up. Jim felt sure that the quality would
improve, as well as the production levels.
Production and quality did improve in almost all the
departments, but in the most important department, tire assembly, things seemed
to worsen every day. Plant directives were ignored and building specifications
were not followed. In the quality control morning meetings, the problems not
only worsened, but they were problems Jim Lyle had never seen before. The most
egregious were those involving ply selections that differed from those
specified for a particular size tire. There were other problems, too, such as
the scheduling tire assembly to match that of the production of plys, treads,
or beads. Mass confusion ensued, and it became obvious that Joaquim was unable
to cope with the problems.
What to do? To remove Joaquim from his position of tire
assembly supervisor would cause him to lose face in the village, but to keep
him in that position became impossible once Lyle became aware of the depth of
the problem. He could give Joaquim an assistant who might be able to correct
errors as they occurred. Or, Jim Lyle could spend more time in the department
and assure that errors were discovered and corrected. These were not reasonable
solutions though, so maybe Joaquim would have to be demoted to tire builder. In
thinking about moving him back to tire builder, Lyle came up with a better solution,
but one that was more or less the same. He would promote Joaquim to master tire
builder for research and new tire production.
So, Lyle gave Joaquim a small increase in pay and posted the
announcement of his promotion. Once again Joaquim was perceived as a man who
could tackle any job. He remained the most admired man in the village; a daring
captain of the village Focados, and the man in charge of research at the new tire
factory. A new supervisor was appointed who always deferred to Joaquim on
matters concerning new tire production. It was only right, because after all he
was Joaquim.
