The Rose Company

Summary
This is a case concerning a manufacturing firm which has recently undertaken a
pilot project of setting up a new plant with completely revamped methods of
production, processes and management. The case revolves around Mr. James
Pierce who had recently received word of his appointment as general manager of
the Jackson Plant which as per the opinion of the top management the record of
the Jackson Plant had not been satisfactory for several years. The essence of the
case lies in the belief that the top management of The Rose Company was
beginning to question the advisability of the central control of manufacturing
operations. The officers had decided to test the value of a decentralized
operation at the Jackson Plant.
They also believed that a general management representative (Mr. James Pierce)
at Jackson was needed if the new experiment in manufacturing methods and the
required rebuilding of the organization were to succeed. So as to gain
competitive advantage for the firm

Facts

Mr. James Pierce was to be appointment as general manager of the

Jackson Plant
Prior to the new assignment, Mr. Pierce had been an accounting executive
in the controller's department of the company
Mr. Pierce had demonstrated analytical ability and general administrative
capacity. He was generally liked by people. He was regarded as the
company's efficiency expert. Others thought he was a perfectionist and
aggressive in reaching the goals that had been set.
He was personally acquainted with the home office executives, but had
met only a few of the Jackson personnel
The Rose board had recently approved the erection of a new plant in a
different part of the city and the use of new methods of production.
The proposed combination of methods of manufacturing and mixing
materials had not been tried elsewhere in the company. Some features
would be entirely new to employees.
For many years the company had operated a highly centralized-functional
type of manufacturing organization

Problem areas

Mr. Pierce will be going into a position involving a large number of

changes. he will be in charge of a new plant with completely new methods
and processes,

The Rose Company

Above all he will have to be dealing with new people i.e. all the heads of
departments in the plant who now will be reporting to him instead of their
functional counterparts at the home office.

Now the vice presidents in charge of production planning, manufacturing,

and industrial relations decide to issue all headquarters instructions that
Mr. Pierce will be the plant manager and they were going to cut off their
connections with their counterparts at Mr. Pierces plant. But the
executives at the plants proposed to follow a common practice of many
companies of maintaining a dotted line or functional relationship with the
respective VPs. now this would probably create administrative problems
for Mr. Pierce.

Analysis

Conclusion