U. S. Steel was having some significant problems with the relationship between management and a labor union at one of its tin mills. With CEATH Company partner, CORE/ROI, the company’s Factory on a Desk-Top™ simulation was customized to emphasize the sources of the disagreements and problems between the two groups.

The simulation cast management in the roles of workers in the factory and placed union leaders in the role of management. Together, using a “safe” subject that was not their own environment, the groups explored the behaviors and processes that were creating the problems.

Then, using this experience as a springboard for discussion, the group turned its attention to the real problems at the real plant and began, for the first time, a productive dialogue about how to solve the problems at the tin mill.