In many colleges, universities, and other govemmental institutions, purchasing departments are a part of the administrative structure. The function of a purchasing department is to obtain goods and services for the school or institution at the best possible cost. The responsibilities of purchasing specialists are diverse and may run the gamut from buying toothpicks to placing bids for multimillion--dollar buildings. John Clark has been director of purchasing at Southwestern University, a large state university, for five years. Clark started as a buver ten vears ago and worked his way up to the directorship. He is we liked by his stoff and is considered to be an excellent administrator Clark is in charge of 30 employees. Ten of these employees are housed in the central purchasing department located in the university's administration building. Four purchasing agents and their staffs are located in other buildings on campus. These purchasing agents are responsible for specialized areas including food purchases for the dormitories, general supplies, scientific purchases, and technological equipment. All of the paperwork is processed through the central purchasing department. The department is responsible for processing requisitions, obtaining prices, placing orders, preparing invoices for payment. and making travel arrangements for university personnel. The staff in the central Purchasing Department office consists of an assistant director; his secretary, an administrative assistant to Clark; and seven clerical employees. Morale is high, and each person considers him/herself a team player. Pete Clemson, the assistant director, has been at the university for two years. He came to Southwestern from a similar position at Cannon College. Karen Martino, administrative assistant to John Clark, has worked in the department for six years. She was hired as a mail/quotation clerk and has been promoted to secretary to the assistant director and then to her present position as administrative assistant to Clark. The other employees have worked in the department from two to twenty years. Everyone is well trained and is very competent at his or her job. Employees are involved in making decisions regarding the manner in which work is handled at their desks The staff functions without a great deal of intervention from Clark. Clark maintains an open-door policy, and personnel feel they can go to him with any problems. Clark has been a mentor to Clemson and Martino. He believes that Clemson has the ability to become a purchasing director after he gains a few more years' experience. Clark trusts Martino explicitly. Because of her expertise and good judgment, he has entrusted her with several high-level responsibilities. In December, Clark is approached by a major university and offered a position. Although he loves his work at Southwestern, he cannot tum down this career advancement. He accepts the offer. His position at Southwestern is advertised, and Clemson applies. Because he has no experience as a purchasing director, he is not offered the job. The university's administration selects Brad Harris, the purchasing director from Cannon College, to fill the position. Clemson had worked under Harris' supervision at Cannon for several years before coming to Southwestern. He had resigned because he could not get along with Harris. From the beginning, the purchasing staff senses a dramatic difference in the way Clark had run the department and the way Harris is running the department. Harris is considered to be a shrewd businessperson and performs his major purchasing responsibilities well. He tends, however, to become too involved with tasks that have previously been handled by Clemson, Martino, or the clerical workers Everything has to be cleared through him, and the staff feels that he is always "breathing down their necks." They are no longer allowed to use their own initiative m handling many details of their work. Previously communications had been open; now communication is initiated by Harris with little opportunity for feedback. Clemson and Martino are becoming very dissatisfied with Harris. Harris has taken the more challenging tasks from Martino and does them himself. He continually criticizes Clemson's work. Dissatisfaction with Harris becomes evident among other staff members as well. He is the topic of discussion during many coffee breaks, and gossip runs rampant. Although Clemson and Martino do not contribute to this gossip, their dislike of Harris is evident. Five months pass and tensions mount in the department. Clemson, Martino, and three of the clerical workers give notice that they will be resigning effective the first week of June. The timing is unfortunate, as June is one of the busiest months for the department. Two resigning employees give adequate notice so that replacements can be hired and trained before they leave. Harris, however, does not hire replacements until after the five have left because he doesn't want these disgruntled employees to train the new hires. Two inexperienced clerical workers are hired soon after the old staff leaves. Harris is still in the process of hiring a purchasing agent, administrative assistant, and order clerk. At a time of peak workload. three key positions in the department are vacant and two positions are manned by inexperienced workers who are unfamiliar with the department. To get the work done, the workload is shifted to the experienced department personnel. Harris also announces that because work is piling up, vacations cannot be taken during the remainder of June or in July. All of these factors contribute to a further weakening of morale, feelings of resentment toward Harris, and an overall decline in productivity. Analysis this case using this formatting 1. State the problem concisely 2. Point out key issues; how did they influence the problem(s) 3. Determine management's and/or the company's objectives in this case 4. Analyze the facts of the case as they contributed to the problem 5. Consider and write the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative 6. Choose a solution, based on the evidence outlined in #5, and explain why you chose it