Overview

Any Company, Inc. (a fictitious, but typical corporation) is an international manufacturer of mechanical and electronic devices. While this company has been in business for over 100 years, increased worldwide competition has recently squeezed its profit margin, and significantly decreased its ability to differentiate its products from others on the market. As would be expected of a company with a reputation for innovative leadership, Any Company has responded to its changing environment with new work systems and a revised organizational structure. These moves were designed to improve product quality, better understand customer needs, and reduce product development time and costs.

It was quickly recognized that implementing these new work systems would significantly change the day-to-day work expected of most Any Company employees around the world. The new systems would increase the need for employees to work together in a team environment, and for each employee to take on greater decision-making responsibility. Every employee would be required to learn the concepts and application of total quality system procedures. Every employee would be expected to gain a greater understanding of how Any Company products are used by its customers, and what the customers expect from Any Company. Finally, it was recognized by the astute Any Company leadership that technological change was occurring at an ever more rapid pace, and that remaining competitive would require employees to continually learn the application of new technology. In short, Any Company was faced with the need to create a learning environment, and ensure that...