The General Manager Case Study

I. TIME CONTEXT

Acme Kemico, a small chemical outfit, was established in the early part of 1986. It was started as a single proprietorship selling paints and house sprays. The office set-up was composed of nine persons namely: a General Manager who was also the owner of the company; an Office Manager who served as the recruiting officer, accountant and overall supervisor; a lawyer who acted as the company’s legal counsel; five salaried salesmen who are directly under the office manager; and a secretary who was bookkeeper and typist for the company. The general manager was a young man of thirty and a chemistry graduate from one of the leading universities, the office manager as a Master in Business Administration degree. She was a part time professor in business school. A year after, she work as part time in the company and took a full time teaching job. In 1996, management converted the company into a corporation and consequently changed the name.

The General Manager-Proprietor became the President of the corporation and at the same time Chairman of the Board of Directors. An Executive Vice-President was hired to handle the financial and production functions of the corporation. He had five men in his staff. He was also a member of the Board of Directors. The Office Manager was promoted to the position of General Manager. The number of salesmen increased to eighteen. Additional product lines were acquired by the corporation and new channels of distribution were sought. Consequently, the President frequently traveled abroad to seek and follow up the foreign market for the various products.

The General Manager (formerly Office Manager) was in charge of maintaining satisfactory supplier-dealer relationships, the sales activities and internal supervision including all collection. She took over the general management of the corporation every time the President was out of the country. Account receivables with subsequent increase in bad debts. Court suits against customers who failed to pay or paid with bouncing checks increased in numbers. The General Manager directed the work of 18 salesmen who were assigned in Manila and suburbs. The salesmen were divided into six groups of three. These groups were given definite territories to cover. Each salesman acted also as bill collector and received additional commission on collections. The General Manager was often not around when the salesmen report back to office in the afternoon. The Secretary received the sales reports. The President practiced “hands-off” policy unless problems were really very complicated and urgent. The Vice-President attended only to financial and production problems.

II. VIEWPOINT

My viewpoint in this problem of The General Manager is that as the new General Manager of the company, I must consider the consequences and responsibilities for the duties I had been given to avoid conflicts and problems in the company. Performing these multiple tasks and duties is a hard thing to do and will likely result to my poor management so I must appoint some officers who will assist me and will hold these tasks and duties to do these jobs easier and to avoid any problems that will arise.

III. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study is focused on the management of the company and General Manager who was in charge of different tasks and duties in the company. Specifically, it answers the following questions:

1. What are the consequences that the General Manager must consider in holding all of these tasks and duties in managing the company? 2. What are the background performances and the capabilities of the General Manager to be able to perform well all of these duties and responsibilities? 3. How can we overcome the problems that will likely arise in the company because of the poor management and organizational structure in the company? 4. What plan of action can be formulated to improve the poor performance and the poor organizational structure of the company?

IV. OBJECTIVES

This study determines the management of the company and the General Manager who was in charge of different tasks and duties in the company.

A. Must of Short-Range Objectives

1. To determine the consequences that the General Manager must consider in holding all of these tasks and duties and managing the company. 2. To know the background performance and to identify the capabilities of the General Manager to be able to perform well all of these duties and responsibilities. 3. To specify the considerations in overcoming problems that will likely arise in the company because of the poor management and organizational structure in the company.

B. Want or Long-Range Objectives

1. To formulate and implement plan of action in order to improve the poor management and the poor organizational structure of the company.

V. AREAS OF CONSIDERATION/ANALYSIS

As analyst of the problem in the management of the company, I include the following sub-problems/objectives for the following reasons:

A. Must or Short-Range Objectives

1. The consequences that the General Manager must consider in holding all of these tasks and duties and managing the company. This is because performing all of these tasks and duties is a very hard and complicated job and one must be very skilled and knowledgeable in the areas of these different tasks because if not, performing these multiple tasks will result to poor performance and also in the poor management of the company. 2. Having information on the background performance and also identifying the capabilities of the General Manager. This is also considered an objective to determine the status of the General Manager and also her output and performance and managing these different tasks and responsibilities. 3. Identifying the considerations that will overcome problems because of poor management and poor organizational structure in the company. This is needed to identify in the sense that through this, the company will be able to determine the solutions in facing these kinds of problems.

B. Want or Long-Range Objectives

1. Formulation and Implementation of Plan of Action is needed to improve the poor management and poor organizational structure of the company. In this situation, there will be success in the operation of the company and is being assured to attain good performance.

VI. ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION

Based from the areas of consideration/analysis of the analyst, the following alternative courses of action were drawn: 1. In determining the consequences that the General Manager must consider in performing all of her tasks, her skills and knowledge in performing these tasks must be considered in a way that how she is motivated in doing all of these tasks because it is likely ineffective if she is not motivated even if she is skillful and knowledgeable. 2. Determining the status of the General Manager and her capabilities can be achieved through information on his bio-data or resume and or report from his subordinates on how she is performing. 3. Identifying considerations in overcoming the problems in the company can be identified through surveys and observations in the company in its operations. 4. Formulation and implementation of action plan is important for the performance of the company in its operations.

VII. RECOMMENDATIONS

From the alternative courses of action, it is recommended that identifying considerations in overcoming problems in the company can be identified through surveys and observations in the company in its operations to be selected for immediate solutions may be considered to assure good performance in the company.

VIII. CONCLUSION/DETAILED ACTION PLAN

Activities
Strategies
Persons Involved
1. Improving Company’s Management and Performance
1. Meeting of the President, Vice-President, the General Manager and the Secretary. a) Appointing officers who will take over some of the duties given to the General Manager b) Restructuring the organizational structure of the company and its policies. 2. Observing the company’s performance and the output of its employees.

1. President
2. Vice-President
3. General Manager
4. Secretary