Fidelity Leasing Company (FLC) leases office equipment to a variety of customers. The company’s organization chart is shown on the following page. The responsibilities of the four positions in blue in the chart are:

● J. P. Chen, assistant controller—special projects. Chen works on projects assigned to him by the controller. The most recent project was to design a new accounts payable system.

● Betty Hodge, leasing contracts manager. Hodge coordinates and implements leasing transactions. Her department handles all transactions after the sales department gets a signed contract. This includes requisitioning equipment from the purchasing department, maintaining appropriate insurance, delivering equipment, issuing billing statements, and seeking renewal of leases.

● Larry Paperman, chief accountant. Paperman supervises all the accounting functions. He produces reports for the four supervisors in the functional areas.

● Dawn Shevlin, director of human resources. Shevlin works with all departments of FLC in hiring personnel. Her department advertises all positions and screens candidates, but the individual departments conduct interviews and make hiring decisions. Shevlin also coordinates employee evaluations and administers the company’s salary schedule and fringe benefit program.

1. Distinguish between line and staff positions in an organization and discuss why conflicts might arise between line and staff managers.

2. For each of the four managers described, identify whether their position is a line or staff position and explain why you classified it that way. Also, indicate any potential conflicts that might arise with other managers in the organization.

Transcribed Image Text:

Chief Exeautive Officer Vice President Purchasing Controller Vice President Marketing Vice President Administration Assistant Controller- Special Projects J. P. Chen Chief Leasing Contracts Betty Hodge Director of Accountant Larry Papeman Data Processing Director of Accounts Receivable Advertising Manager Human Resources Dawn Shevlin Accounts Payable Leasing Sales General Accounting