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DASHMAN Company-Case Analysis

SUMMARY OF THE CASE:


The Dashman Company was a manufacturer of equipment for the United States
armed forces. It had a decentralized structure and each plant functioned as a
separate independent unit. Due to the current structure the purchasing procedures
of the units had never been completely coordinated which would create increasing
difficulty in securing certain essential raw materials. A new VP of purchasing had
been appointed and his initiative to centralize the companys purchasing procedure
had not been perceived well.
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION:
The directive to clear with the head office all purchase contracts worth in excess of
$10000 atleast a week before they were to be signed was not followed by the
independent units.
PROBABLE CAUSE AND THEIR RESPECTIVE SOLUTIONS:
1. Problem with the mode of communication.
Mr. Post had not met more than a few of the purchasing executives personally
before passing the change in the purchasing procedure. This did not bode well with
the executives since such a massive change in structure would have needed
personal visits to explain them the reason and vision behind such a change.
It is advisable that all the purchasing executives may be briefed in personal so that
the process can be streamlined and can be convinced of the probable benefits of the
new policy. Else the most feasible communication channel should be chosen
considering the urgency of the decision.
2. The organisations resistance to change.
A probable cause may be the age group to which the executives belong. If they
belong to a higher age group, they may be more resistant to changes in their role in
the organisation and the organisation structure. If they are, then they would not
have taken well to being given directives as to how to operate in such a case.
The president Mr. Manson should have convened a meeting of all executives to
appoint Mr. Post as VP of purchasing. In such a situation, the stand of the president
would have been evident to all the executives. In such a scenario, there should be
proper flow of communication and information down the hierarchy.
3. Timing of the announcement.
The peak period of purchase was hardly 3 weeks away. Therefore, its entirely
probable that the purchasing executives wouldnt have had enough time to clear
contracts with the head office and making purchasing decisions in time. A
thorough investigation should be done to find out the root cause of the problem and
the executives should be made to understand the gravity of the decisions they take
and how it would affect other plants and the entire organisation as a whole.
Further it could be entirely probable that $10000 could have been a pretty big
amount in those times and all individual orders would have been under that limit
leading to no communication to the head office.
4. Alienation of plant heads
Regular follow up and follow up reports can be submitted by the plant heads. This
would help being transparency to the system and the issue of alienation can be
approached by this system.

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