When business picked up, the knives came out. Charlene Pedrolie had just introduced the latest management methods at the big, old flagship factory of Rowe Furniture Corp. Workers had been organized into "cells." Cross-training had been instituted. Four layers of supervision had been wiped out.
But when orders surged for the 1995 fall season, the cells couldn't keep up. Workers were pressured by stress under the new rules and frazzled by change; one had a nervous breakdown. Skeptics questioned not only the new processes but the new boss -- a 34-year-old Yankee female, a complete outsider in an old-line Dixie company.
Yet today, attitudes have changed 180 degrees. Output and earnings are surging, making Rowe a hot stock in the furniture group. How Ms. Pedrolie pulled it off teaches a valuable lesson not only in the management of change but also in the attainment of corporate power.
Rowe Furniture was stuck midway through a major transformation when it recruited her in April 1995 from a plant manager's job at General Electric. Rowe's research showed that people hate buying upholstered furniture. They want a much wider selection than any showroom can display, yet they refuse to wait months for a special order. So Rowe created a computer network on which customers could match fabrics and styles, promising speedy delivery and a midrange price.
The marketing solution, however, created problems upstream. Rowe's factory had to produce a much wider variety of products in much less time, all with no increase in cost. Making that happen was Ms. Pedrolie's assignment.
In her mind, there was a little mystery about the method. She would annihilate the inefficient old assembly line. Sewers, gluers, staplers and stuffers would be brought together in ...