Toby Johnson was a change agent for the Williamsport Frito Lay plant. She came into a situation where there was a lack or communication and motivation among workers. Many felt there was not a clear and open communication between management and front line workers. The personal touch was also not seen between management and the factory workers. However, when Toby came in, she knew things needed to be done “right” and if they were, everything else would fall into place. Toby also went out of her way to involve many of the workers that did not feel involved before Toby took over.
She created the team coordinator role and it was used to involve many front line workers that had not felt the involvement that they desired. Toby worked with each of the Williamsport workers to demonstrate a caring for each individual and as a result built a level of trust among the plant and ultimately motivated everyone to work to a Level 3 CI assessment in 2008. As for the Team 4-Ward plan, I do not believe I would go through with it yet at the Williamsport plant.
I feel that the plant has achieved a lot up until this point and am not sure if they are ready to jump into a different type of situation which will require many changes too their standard functions. Though I think it has the potential to work in the Williamsport plant, I do not feel it would be a good place to test out the effectiveness. The changes Toby has made in her time in Williamsport have transformed the factory into one of the best in the company and it would be a shame if the Team 4-Ward plan was not successful and the progress achieved at the Williamsport plant was lost.
