Mattel and Toy Safety (Case Study Sample)

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Mattel and Toy Safety
Introduction
In business, management can be defined as the process of getting employees together to achieve a desired organizational goals and objectives by using the available organizational resources more effectively and efficiently. Typically, it involves interconnecting functions of establishing organizational policy and planning, controlling, organizing as well as directing the company’s resources to attain the set objectives of the policy. Effective organizational management is essential to the success of any organization (Griffin 65). It should be in a position to make decisions, resolve conflicts to be beneficial and effective. However, it is no doubt that most organizations have undergone through various management issues at some point in time.
Regardless of the market size, the organizational brand or nature of the industry, management issues are inevitable. The way an organization handles this management issues will depict the success or the failure of the business. Therefore, effective conflict management is essential to the success of an organization. Issue management can be termed as the process of thinking about the challenges that may befall the organization and affect its operations. There ae various forms of management issues ranging from ethical issues, leadership issues, teamwork and globalization issues (Griffin 66). This research paper seeks to discuss various management issues. The paper will focus on the Mattel and Toy Inc.’s management issues with a focus on ethics and corporate social responsibility, globalization, leadership and teamwork. Subsequently, the corporation’s current situation, highlighting its advantages and problems, will also be looked into. Moreover, the company’s future challenges and recommendations are also discussed.
Overview of the Mattel and Toy Company
Before analyzing the company’s management issues, it is important first to have an overview of the company. The Corporation is an American-based multinational headquartered in California. Mattel Company was established in 1945 by Harold Matson Matt and Elliot Handler. The company’s name originated from their names (Oppenheimer 89). The corporations primarily deal with the designing, manufacturing and marketing of Toy products across the world. The products are directly sold to the consumers.
It is the leading corporation in the manufacture of kid’s toys in the world. Last year it was ranked on the Fortune 500. Some of the products produced by the corporations include Monster high dolls, Hot Wheels, Barbie dolls, Matchbox toys, Winx Club, Fisher-Price, WWWE toys, American Girl, Master of the Universe, board games and video games. It operates mainly through three segments. The first segment is North America that comprises of U.S.A and Canada. The other segments are American girl and international. Both the International and North America segments mainly sell their products in the Fisher-Price Brands, Mattel Girls & Boys Brands and Construction and Arts & Crafts Brands categories. The company has grown its market to over forty countries and supplying its products to more than 150 nations (Oppenheimer 91).
Management issues at Mattel Inc.
Just like any other corporations, the company has experienced several management issues that have hampered its operations to some extent. The company has reacted differently to the issues and has been successful in managing some of the issues.
Ethics and corporate social responsibility
The company has experienced various management issues that are related to ethics and corporate social responsibility. The most serious management issue that faced the corporation was in August 2007. They had a major issue with the manufacturing of their products throughout the industry. Despite the company always being considered as an epitome of effective management, at this time is was greatly affected. The company had always focused on ensuring quality and safety of their toy products that are produced by their manufacturers; there were some shortcomings in their management system that allowed under quality products to reach their clients. Due to the increased production of undesired quality toys the company was forced to recall its products. It was the largest recall in the American history. It involved a recall of over twenty one million toys. Most of the recalled toys had been manufactured in China. There were two main reasons that made the company’s management team to recall the toys.
The first toy recall was because the toys contained high quantities of lead paint that were found on the surfaces of the toys. The Mattel Company had instructed manufacturers from China to only use paints from eight approved suppliers, however, they ignored the instruction and instead decided to use unapproved paint suppliers in order cut costs (Weiss 109). Some of the toys products were found to have more lead content of over 100 times the required limit. Typically, lead-based paint is harmful to young children. It is dangerous because high levels create behaviorally and learning problems, results into slow and bone growth, anemia, seizures, hearing loss, brain damage, coma and in some instances might lead to the death of a child. The incidence resulted in a bad reputation of the company. Most of its clients lost trust and developed a bad attitude about its products. Moreover, the incidence was considered unethical and against corporate social responsibility requirements. In a bid to regain its lost reputation in the Chinese market and comply with ethical laws and regulations, the company was forced to recall over ninety models of toys that were in circulation because they contained high levels of lead paint which were dangerous to children.
The second toy recall was because of defective magnets. Some of the toys were designed in a way that some parts included high energy magnets. Such high energy magnets were only meant for industrial use. The defective magnets used in some of the toys came loose which can be detrimental to young kids who could easily be tempted to eat the magnets. If young children or infants swallow a magnet, they can adhere in the food tract and affect the stomach tissues.
Both incidences, the poor design of the toys and the strength of the magnets made the company’s products hazardous for kids. Mattel Company had to react to the crisis as quickly as possible to recover from the crisis. It was open and appeared to be in the forefront about the huge recall. At the moment, the company’s website contained a bold red link to that contained information about the recall, the countries that were affected and the type of toys recalled. It further stated where the recalled toys were to be taken. In a bid to comply with the stipulated ethics and CSR, the company came up with a three-point safety check system. They included;
The company increased control on every production level and conducted an unexpected inspection at all of its vendor facilities. The second point stipulated that the corporation will only use paint from certified paint suppliers. Furthermore, its quality assurance department was tasked with the role of testing paint from its vendors. After testing, if the paint does not meet the requisite standards stipulated by the company, it will be rejected and not be used. The last point gave the pledge to test all its fully furnished products extensively before they get dispatched to the customers. It pledged that they will ensure that the toys meet a series of stringent safety standards before distribution for use by the consumer (Oppenheimer 79). Consequently, it assured the general public that all its vendors around the world were aware of the new strict procedures and the strict rules that demanded them to comply with the regulations.
It is no doubt that by recalling the products, the company showed they are responsible for the products they produced. They corrected the issue of toy safety showing a higher level of corporate social responsibility. Moreover, it showed a great sense of ethics by solving the problem for their customers. They acted both ethically and displayed being socially responsible by first voluntarily recalling its toy products then by correcting the lead paint challenge that they gave to the consumers.
By acting ethically and being socially responsible after the crisis, they were able to regain their reputation as being an excellent corporate company. They resolved the lead problem ensuring no child was in danger by using their products. Despite the challenge, the company has showed their compassion in delivering quality products as well as behaving socially and ethically.
Leadership
Typically, leadership is the ability to give direction. According to the company’s principles leadership is the ability to establish and communicate a persuasive image of the future that motivates and inspires others top take action. Managers and employees are working for the corporation aligns themselves with the company’s basic or core values and principles; they portray leadership capabilities that drive them to success and implementing the company’s strategies. The company’s vision is to ‘establish a future of play’. Its employees across the world are working to realize that vision and being guided by its leaders. The company has had challenges with the main being the lead problem and poor design problem experienced in 2007.
However, the company’s leadership has thrived in ensuring they provide top notch management to manage conflicts effectively. The company has unwavering integrity that defines its culture at every stage and guides the operations at the company. The companyâ€&tra...