4 The new managing director outlined a threepoint plan. What was the rationale behind each of the...
Question:
4 The new managing director outlined a threepoint plan. What was the rationale behind each of the points and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
In the spring of 1995 one of Dan Carpets’ employees, Jean Pelletier, decided to start up his own business. He established JP Carpets in the small town of Val-des-Marnes. Neither the management nor the employees of Dan Carpets were surprised by his decision, because Dan Carpets had been going through a long period of problems and conflicts. Pelletier (‘JP’) had long voiced his dissatisfaction with what was going on in the company. As a person who emphasized working in the most appropriate and efficient manner, he simply could not live with the present situation.
After heavy criticism of Dan Carpets’ management, Pelletier had reached the conclusion that its managers simply could not effectively manage the company.
He believed that its (matrix) structure was totally inappropriate and had given several examples of how its working spirit was, in fact, destructive. ‘We cooperate ourselves to death’ was one of JP’s favourite mottos.
On several occasions he had shown that the company lost orders because its employees found it more important to cooperate than to produce and deliver the carpets which its customers (primarily interior design shops, private customers or public institutions)
wanted. Furthermore, the company structure with two managing directors did not function at all. Very often they gave contradictory orders and directives to the staff, and to avoid facing the ensuing problems, they simply let the employees choose their own (and sometimes more suitable) production method. As the employees did not have sufficient knowledge of the company’s customers and their needs, their decisions often turned out to be wrong and did not stand up to reality. Both sides feeling responsible for the poor decisions, management and employees easily agreed to forget the whole matter, only to see the same problem surface again shortly afterwards.
Step by Step Answer:
Organization Theory And Design An International Perspective
ISBN: 9781473765900
4th Edition
Authors: Hugh Willmott, Richard Daft, Jonathan Murphy