- For each of the four situations noted, what organizational concepts apply? Identify the concept, explain the related problem, and identify how it influenced decisions in this case.
- As an adviser to President Ashley Korenblat, how would you resolve each problem?
Merlin Metalworks After getting a master's degree in business, spending time as a stockbroker on Wall Street, and working as a manager in a traditionally organized manufacturing company, Ashley Korenblat was hired as president of Merlin Metalworks. Korenblat, fresh from her experience at a large company, was anxious to try out her own theories of the small, Albany, New York‐based producer of bicycles. In short order, Korenblat had to contend with the following organizational problems.
• Two welders, unable to get a decision from their supervisor, requested time off. One welder had a dentist appointment and the other needed to leave early to pick up an anniversary present.
• A review of the previous day's shipping log revealed that nothing had been shipped. The reason? A customer had called about a problem bottom bracket ‐‐ the place where the bicycle pedals attach ‐‐ which made the customer's $4000.00 bike useless. The customer service department had the authority to stop everything to solve a customer's problem. In this case it meant turning off the final threading machine for a day which brought the shipments to a halt.
• After little discussion, Korenblat made a decision to redesign the brakes on road bikes, believing it would be less expensive. Shortly after the first production run began, the person in charge of purchasing insisted on rehashing the decision. It turned out that the new design would lead to a series of new expenses ‐‐ adding up to more than the expected savings.
• In an effort to have the employees make decisions and be more independent, the machine department was organized into teams. The teams were responsible for developing the production schedule, determining the size of the production runs, and coordinating the 35 operations in any given production run ‐‐ some of which were linear, others which proceeded simultaneously. All went well until the company approached a six‐month backlog in a seasonal business.
To respond, Korenblat kept increasing the size of the runs ‐ "I'll know you made 200 57‐ centimeter bikes." The result: the machine shop came to a standstill, waiting for the next command.