Case Analysis: The Rose Co.

Due Date: July 27, 2014

Executive Summary
The Rose Company is building a new plant to reduce cost, improve the quality of products, and maintain competitive leadership by gaining a slight production advantage. The main obstacles to be overcome are the commissioning of a new plant, new methods and process, and administrative reporting issues. As the newly hired General Plant Manager, I plan to resolve these issues by insisting that all plant communications flow through me, instituting training for plant personnel and setting operational expectations.

Situation Analysis - The Jackson Plant an older, established unit in the Rose Co. has not operated satisfactorily for several years. The Board of …show more content…

While the issues above will require attention, the administrative reporting issue is most pressing. The functional VPs have agreed me to issue all instructions to me and have agreed to cut off their connections with their counterparts in the plant as part of the new structure. However, the home office executives have proposed maintaining a dotted line relationship with those individuals. This arrangement sets up two different patterns of home office/plant relationships and having dual reporting relationships at the plant level is troublesome and will lead to confusion and dissatisfaction. This type of arrangement could potentially undermine my power at the facility regardless of my accountability or ability to manage performance. If individual plant level managers do not agree with decisions I make, they may attempt to circumvent my authority by working directly with home office executives. In the event home office executives support the plant level managers, I will have no enforcement powers and many initiatives that I start may fail before they are given a chance.

This administrative issue is best resolved by severing the functional relationship between the executive office and the plant level managers. Decision-making authority is power and people are often reluctant to give up that power. One of the main rules for making good decisions is the involvement of the right people at the right