De La Salle University

Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business

Management and Organization Department

Tibiao Bakery, Incorporated: Employee

Training and Development Program
for Blue-Collar Workers

A Written Report Submitted

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in
Management Action Research

Submitted to:
Dr. Jaime T. Cempron

Submitted by:
Lim, Rapunzel Grace

October 15, 2014

Tibiao Bakery, Inc: Training & Development

I. BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION
Topic: Employee Training and Development for Blue-Collar Workers at Tibiao Bakery, Inc.

Purpose
Tibiao Bakery is a family corporation established at the town of Tibiao, Antique, Iloilo Prov-
ince in 1952. The company expanded its operations to Iloilo City in 1982. Tibiao Bakery is
one of the largest food manufacturing business in Iloilo, thus, 70% of its employee popula-
tion are blue-collar workers. However, these workers do not fully comprehend the compa-
nys intentions and objectives. This paper is written to address the following at Tibiao Bak-
ery: outdated organizational structure, ineffective communication and tolerance of incom-
petence.

Rationale
For Tibiao Bakery, the performances of its production department, delivery, maintenance
and retail department are vital to its operations. Majority of the employees on these divi-
sions are blue-collar workers. Their jobs include converting raw materials into baked
goods, packing baked goods for shipment, delivering these products to store outlets and
other establishments, cleaning and maintaining machineries, equipments and work areas.

However, Tibiao Bakery is quite lenient with the employee qualifications for job entry on its
major departments. External and internal issues often arise because incompetencies.
Since there is a significant correlation between employee competence and company pro-
ductivity, it is important to have a manufacturing workforce with good practical skills and
ability to handle manual labor over long periods of time. This is where the necessity for
employee training and development enters the scene.

A company cannot exists on its own. It has stakeholdersinvestors, suppliers, employees,

customers, government. This paper focuses on the employees in particular. Tibiao Bak-
erys training and development program is not only for the welfare of the company but also
for personal development of the employees.

Context
Company Name: Tibiao Bakery, Incorporated
Nature of Business: Food Manufacturing Industry
Products and Services: Products:
Pan loaf, buns, rolls, pizza dough, pastries
such as cookies and cakes

Services:
Tibiao Bakery supplies bread products to
the following establishments in Iloilo: 7-11,
Jollibee, KFC, Minute Burger, Pizza Hut,
local hotels and local grocery stores
Major Market Served: Western Visayas (Iloilo City, Iloilo Province,
Negros Occidental)
Company Size: 280-300 employees
Page 1
Tibiao Bakery, Inc: Training & Development

Tibiao Bakery is on the process of reformation. Both hardware (strategy, structure and sys-
tem) and software (employees behaviour and performance) within the organization are al-
ready outdated. Reformation aims to attain both the short-term and long-term objectives of
the company. A big company like Tibiao Bakery faces an array of internal issues. These
are the following:
Ineffective Holiday Work Schedule in the Production Department
Lack of Training and Development for Blue-Collar Workers
Outdated Technological Structure and System at Tibiao Bakery

Ineffective Holiday Work Schedule in the Production Department. Every year the
workload in the production department increases during the holiday season (Christmas
and New Year) because of the high demand for Tibiao Bakerys products. The manage-
ment imposed a Holiday Work Schedule to meet the demand.

This is set for 24-hour operation. The production manager does the pre-mixing of the in-
gredients. The bread premix will be sent to the production department for shaping, baking,
cooling and packaging. The employees are divided into two teams. Both teams work for 12
hours each with breaks in between (food provided) as well as overtime pay.

Organizational Structure Board of Directors

Administrative Department
Human Resource (HR) Department
Production Department
Retail Department
Delivery
Maintenance
Other Relevant Information: Main Branches:
Compania, Molo, Iloilo City
Bonifacio Drive, Iloilo City
Avancena, Molo, Iloilo City
San Agustin, Gen. Luna, Iloilo City
New Washington St, Iloilo City
Quintin Salas, Iloilo City

SM Branches:
SM Jaro, Jaro, Iloilo City
SM City, Mandurriao,Iloilo City
SM Delgado, Iloilo City
SM Hypermarket, Jaro, Iloilo City
SM Savemore, Talisay City, Negros
Occidental

Iloilo Province Branches:
Aganan, Pavia, Iloilo
Tibiao, Antique
Culasi, Antique
Companys Business Strategy: To provide affordable and outstanding
quality products for everyone.
Page 2
Tibiao Bakery, Inc: Training & Development

Figure 1: Bread Manufacturing Process at

Tibiao Bakery Production Department
Despite having a special work schedule, there are still instances when the company wasnt
able to meet the quota. In conclusion, the said Holiday Work Schedule is ineffective and
needs revision.

Lack of Training and Development for Blue-Collar Workers. This covers most of the
internal issues in the production, retail, delivery and maintenance departments. The prob-
lems in the production department were already discussed on the first issue. The same
manufacturing process is applied all throughout (See Figure 1). The only difference is
there will be only one team which works for eight hours on regular days. These are the
following observations in the production department:
The workers tend to chitchat during work hours and extend their break time.
The wasted hours affect the companys sales and productivity.
The presence of either the production manager or supervisor is necessary.

From the production department, the finished products are brought to delivery for ship-
ment. There are four delivery trucks which are assigned with specific timetables and desti-
nations. These trucks are expected to be on time. As mentioned earlier, Tibiao Bakery has
nine store outlets, the rest are establishments which depend on the companys bread
supplies. Punctuality is a must. Unfortunately, if delay occurs in the production department
delivery schedules are also disrupted.

The employees on the retail department comprise of the bakers, cashiers, cooks, mainte-
nance and waitresses. The maintenance, in general, are tasked to clean workspaces, re-
pair and maintain company equipment and machinery at the factory and the store outlets.
However, Tibiao Bakery often receive customer complains that employees on the retail
department are rude and unresponsive. Moreover, maintenance employees sometimes
refuse to do their tasks claiming that its beneath them.

The companys HR department hires people with minimum qualifications because most of
the major departments require manual labor. 70% of the population are blue-collar work-
ers. These employees are not aware of the companys short-term and long-term objec-
tives. They do not strive for personal development. In a nutshell, blue-collar workers at
Tibiao Bakery lacks employee satisfaction and motivation from the management.

Outdated Technological Structure and System at Tibiao Bakery. Tibiao Bakery exists
for 62 years. It is already a mature organization with a predominantly hierarchical culture. It
is a continuous challenge for the company to cope up with the moving society most espe-
cially with technology. The structure and system of Tibiao Bakery remains the same for 62
years. The management is hesitant to change because everyone is used to the routine
and the same practices for a long period of time. The management believes that changing
will disrupt the operations.

Page 3
Tibiao Bakery, Inc: Training & Development
Tibiao Bakery still uses human labor unlike the current trend of big businesses in utilizing
machineries for manufacturing. It also employs manual input of data, the traditional pen
and paper, while other businesses are into paperless data records. Nonetheless, Tibiao
Bakery is not entirely against technology change. It already uses email in communication
and it has its very own Facebook page. It also recently installed WIFI on some of its store
outlets. The management knew that innovation is expensive, hence, it is only taking baby
steps towards technology development.

This paper seeks to address the lack of training and development for the blue-collar work-
ers at Tibiao Bakery. The company is largely dependent on human labor to operate. This
issue encompasses almost all areas of the company. Tibiao Bakery has an outdated orga-
nizational structure without a definite employee training and development program to be-
gin with.

Without training, these blue-collar workers will never learn how to communicate to their
superiors and with each other. They will simply go on with their everyday tasks without
searching for meaning in what they do. Communication and training are necessary to gain
clarity, to bridge the gap between the management and employees as well as to increase
productivity.

It is important for the management to motivate the employees by setting a specific goal for
the day. People often have the desire to accomplish something at work and this is their
need for achievement. The more committed employees are to reaching a goal, the more
motivated they will be to reach it (Dyck & Neubert, 2012). Motivated employees also has a
direct impact on a companys productivity.

Problem Statement
What necessary steps should Tibiao Bakery management take in order to:

incorporate a comprehensive and structured employee training and development

program at Tibiao Bakery

address the lack of work satisfaction and motivation on the part of the blue-collar
workers

increase employee competency and skill

increase company efficiency and productivity

bridge communication gap between the management and the workforce

Page 4