IT USED TO BE FUN When he first opened his own business, Roger Anzar loved it. He went to work early in the morning and did not leave until after 9:00 p.m. In order to spend time with his family, he would take off a few hours in the afternoon and then return to the store after supper, staying until closing time. While he was gone from the store in the late afternoon, part-time personnel handled the operation. That was five years ago. Since then, Roger's business has grown tremendously. Now he employs eight full-time people and sells seven times as much as he did originally. With this increase in business, however, have come a lot of headaches. In particular, Roger has to make many more decisions than he did before. Additionally, although he wants to get his employees involved in the decision-making process and not do all the work himself, he feels he must do many tasks on his own. He does not believe he can delegate much authority. For example, Roger still makes all decisions regarding purchasing, pricing, advertising, hiring, firing and merchandise display, and he still sells goods in the store. Recently, Roger went to the doctor for his annual physical. The doctor told him he was working too hard and had to start slowing down. "You've been running that store single-handed for as long as I can remember," the doctor said. "You've got lots of help in the store. Start relying on them to help you out." Roger does not disagree. The doctor is offering good advice, and Roger knows he has to start delegating more authority and getting out of the actual hustle-bustle of daily activity. However, this worries him. A few months ago, he tried turning over more work to his employees and staying in the background. During that time, he concerned himself with the overall operation of the store and left the minor day-to-day business to the staff. But Roger was bored with this side of the operation. He wants to be actively involved for two reasons. First, he believes the owner-manager's job is to play an active role in the business, not just to sit on the sidelines. Second, he wants to be in the forefront of the action, like he always has been. Roger does not know how to resolve this dilemma. He would like to maintain his level of involvement at the shop but realizes that, for health reasons, this is inadvisable. However, to be a manager in the true sense of the word seems boring to him. YOUR CONSULTATION 1. Explain to Roger some key elements he should consider in planning and organizing his company for the next one to three years. Be specific. 2. Explain how important it is for him to delegate work for his company to continue to grow. 3. Give Roger some specific recommendations on ways to reduce burnout and fatigue in addition to delegating some of his responsibility. 4. Do you agree or disagree with Roger's final statement - "to be a manager in the true sense of the word seems boring to him." Explain your answer.