Houghton refrigeration company builds refrigerators for large applicance companies. it employees about 300 people, mostely assembly like workers and is located in a small rural town in ohio. the company builds, on contract basis, chest freezers and small bar refrigerators. on occasion, however, it also builds standard size refigerators. the president of the company is a former engineer, as are most of the other executives. these individuals are very knowldgeable about engineering but have recived little training in the basic priciples of management. during the summer months, volume at the factory increaes significantly, and the company needs to hire about 40 new employees to handle the heavy workload. most of these new employees are college students who attend a small private college located about 15 minutes from the plant. some high school students are hired as well..when a new employee is hired, the company asks him or her to comoplete an application and to show up at the plant gate ready for work. employees receive no orientation. the worker is shown to a work station and after a minimum amount of on the job training, the new employee is expected to start performing a job. most of the jobs are quite simple, hence, the training is typicaly copleted within 10 minutes. the first-line supervisosr usually shows the employee how to do the job once, then watches while the employee does the job once, leaves, comes back after 20 minutes later to see how the employee is progressing. typical jobs at the plant include screwing 14 screws into the sides of a freezer, placing a piece of insulation into the freezer lid, and handing out supplies from the tool room. the company has had excellent experience with collge students over the years. much of the success can be attributed to the older workers coming to the aid of the new employees when difficulties arise. most new employees are able to perorm their jobs reasonably well after their on the job training is completed. however, wehn unexpected difficulties arise, they are usually not prepared for them and need assistant from others. the older workers have been especially to the students working in the press room. however joe gleason, the first-line supervisor there, finds it amusing to belittle the college students whenever they make a mistake. he relishes showing a student once how to use the press to bend a small piece of metal, then exclaims, "you're a hot-shop college student, now let's see you do it." he watches impatiently while the student invariable makes a mistake and then jokingly announces for all to hear,"that's wrong! how did you ever get into college anyway? try it again, dummy."one summer, the company, experienced a rash of injuries to its employees. although most of the injuries were minor, the company felt it imperative to conduct a series of short training programs on safe material handling techniques. ther president of the company realized that osha requires firms to maintain a safe and healthy work enviroment and that it is important that emplyees know how to lift objects safely. the major issue was who should conduct te training. the hr direcotr was a 64 year old former engineer who was about to retire and was a poor speaker. the only other employee in the hr department wasw a new 19 year old secretary who knew nothing about proper handling techniques. out of desperation, the president decided to ask bill young, the first -line supervisor of the "lid line" to conduct the training. young recently attended a training program himself on safety and was active in the american red cross. he reluctantly agreed to conduct the training. it was to be done on a departmental basis with small groups of 10-15 employees attending each session. at the first of these training sessions, young nervously stood up in front of 14 employees, many of whom were college students and read the presentation in a monotone voice. the speech lasted about a minute and was basic information. after bill's speech ended, the employees immediately returned to work. by the end of the day, however, everyone in the plant had heard about the training fiasco and all, except the president were laughing about it. questions explain the answers1. evaluate the company's on the job training program. should it be changed? 2. should the company install an employee orientation program for new factory workers or is one not necessary? 3. what changes should be made in the company's safety training program? 4. what other ways might a firm emphasize safety and curtail accidents, other than training?