EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As a consulting firm, we were contacted by Janice who needed advice on issues she was facing at her workplace. As the Office Manager, her workload increased when a new Landscaping Manager, Sinclair, entered the company. He obviously lacks the experience and the knowledge to perform his job properly and forces Janice to take over many of his tasks. Since Sinclair is the president’s son-in-law, the situation seems complex. In analyzing the present problem in detail, we will provide Janice with three alternatives that will allow her to resolve the problem and will then elaborate on the one we find the most appropriate and efficient. The first strategy will involve only Janice. It requires her to perform only her tasks and let the problem become bigger. That way, her superiors would notice it by themselves and be forced to react. The second choice is most complex one. It involves a reorganization of the organizational chart. We would add a position between the General Manager and the Division Managers. That way, support and training could be provided. The last alternative is a meeting between the three parties concerned in order to face the problem and include everyone in the resolving process. In our opinion, the second alternative involving change within the organizational chart is the one that should be installed. Since our plan will be proposed to Janice, four steps will have to be followed in order to ensure the acceptation of the project.
1. List the current problems;
2. Define the new position;
3. Submission of the project to her superiors;
4. Installation of the project.
However, regardless of the alternative chosen, more than one person will be involved and each of them will have to change their working methods if it is deemed necessary. KEY POINT SUMMARY Garden Depot is a small family-owned floral company that was cofounded by Murray and Glenda King in 1985. In 2005, Janice was hired in the company. She had 13 years of operational knowledge in the industry that she gained within a competing company as a general manager. She was forced to leave due to personal differences with management. Now in 2006, her job title is defined as Office Manager and her tasks are the following: inventory management, computer system management and logistics. She also ensures that payments were received from customers. This changed the previous situation where she was involved in too many areas. Janice considers herself as a dedicated worker with highly positive performances and she is very customer oriented. After the hiring of the president’s son-in-law Derek Sinclair as the manager of the Landscaping Division, many issues arose. He has no previous experience in any of the required fields and is not able to answer specific customer questions and requirements. His lack of experience also prevents him from doing accurate and on time job pricing and invoices. He doesn’t seem concerned by the problem when has a negative effect on his employee. They take example on him and the quality of the reports such as the Sample Job Slip is affected. It directly influences Janice’s job where she need these documents to manage her inventory and ensure the customer’s payment. She elaborated a detailed binder with pictures and description of the pieces and took over the invoicing job, which resulted only in an overload of work. In addition to all that, many complaints are redirected to her as requested by the client since Sinclair doesn’t take them. She then turned to Sampson. As the General Manager of the company, he is responsible for insuring the overall financial health of the company. He also has a good relationship with all division managers including Janice. She told him about the issues and asked him to help her. Sampson reassigned the invoicing task to Sinclair and told him to manage the invoicing on his own. As a result, the Landscaping Manager asked John Campbell, a part time employee, to be responsible