Have you ever worked in a management or leadership position and experienced situations in which employees were not meeting your performance expectations? Or, perhaps you worked under a manager who continually blamed problems of production, output, or sales on you and your colleagues. An important takeaway from the red bead experiment is to consider instances such as these and question whether the fault lies with the employees or with something else, such as management’s decisions or the system that is put in place. As you discuss the red bead experiment, consider how you might be able to relate the lessons learned to your own experiences.

In this Discussion, you will examine the red bead experiment and discuss the success of its implementation, as well as how the concepts derived from it can be applied to other aspects of the workplace.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources, focusing in particular on the resources on the Red Bead experiment in the Analyzing Process Variation Using SPC section. Be sure to review The Red Bead Experiment media piece and the Red Bead Experiment Control Chart document.
• Review the Academic Writing Expectations for 2000/3000-Level Courses, provided in this week’s Learning Resources.

By Day 3

Post a 225- to 300-word (3- to 4-paragraph) explanation of how successful the Red Bead experiment was and how an example of the experiment in the workplace can be fixed. In your explanation, address the following:

• Explain your thoughts on the working climate at the White Bead Company.
• Describe what the advantages and disadvantages of the inspection system are. Were the strategies that management tried successful in improving workers’ performance? Explain why or why not.
• Provide an example of a situation similar to the Red Bead experiment that you have experienced in the workplace or have heard someone else describe. Explain how you might improve it.
• To support your response, be sure to reference at least one properly cited scholarly source.