A key element of good management and good labour relations is to remove "demotivators," Gordon Forward, president of Chapparal Steel Co., told a recent gathering of the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction in Banff.
Mr. Forward explained how a new, imaginative management style helped to improve labour-management relations and increase productivity in his company. Integrated mills in the United States average approximately eight man-hours per ton, but Chaparral (a joint venture of Texas Industries of Dallas and Co-Steel International of Toronto) has cut the number of man-hours per ton of steel to 1.8. Forward explained that a great deal of the company's success is due to what he called a participatory management structure, which includes the following features:
Mr. Forward said that most demotivators can be eliminated even in an entrenched operation, but that the biggest obstacle to overcome is the old-line manager who is afraid that any change will jeopardize his position.
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