Organizing, decision-making, ethics, and the law in management - case study - the vacation request [s3]

Organizing, Decision-Making, Ethics, and the Law in Management – Case Study – The Vacation Request [S3]

Running Head: Case Study – The Vacation Request Case Study – The Vacation Request Management [Pick the Case Study: The Vacation Request
Q1. When small companies grow, one of the typical reasons for failure is the inability to
establish an effective management structure.
After successful establishment of a small business due to significant startup efforts of the team there comes a time that the initial worries of sustainability and profit making take a back burner and informal relationships are established within the organizations. These informal relationships although not always unproductive can result in practices that prevent an organization from adopting an effective management structure.
Why would this be the case and what should the owners do to avoid the problem?
The chain of command or hierarchy enables an organization to work as an efficient unit with staff following direction of the managers and managers looking up to leadership for guidance and strategic planning related to business. Properly communicated and followed reporting lines result in better clarity of objectives and lesser instances of mismanagement occur with effective controlling and monitoring mechanisms enhancing productivity of employees. Small businesses establish themselves quickly but most of the time they fail to convert themselves in to large enterprises as they fail to adopt or practice the formal management structures and reporting lines, hence decision making is ineffective or prolonged and the owner is involved in micro management of issues. With properly defined roles, job descriptions and established reporting lines small businesses can enhance their operations with supervisors entrusted to manage their staff while senior management concentrates on core business planning activities.
Q3. What should Harry have done?
In the case study Harry should have informed Tom to take approval from his reporting authority, i. e. Luther Jones. In this particular instance the decision on whether the leave should be approved or not was not made by the competent authority. In fact the authority of Luther was bypassed; this issue de-motivates the manager and encourages employees to reach senior management for their small issues this phenomenon shifts the focus of senior management from core business to micro managing and a loss of trust occurs amongst all three parties. Harry would not trust Luther’s ability to supervise Tom, Luther would not trust Tom in future and would develop negative feelings for Harry and Tom and other team members would always look up to Harry for trivial decisions related to their own employment.
Q4. Who is at fault, Harry or Tom?
All three parties share the blame in this instance, Tom should have followed the hierarchy, Harry should have consulted Luther or should have turned down Tom sending him to Luther for approval and Luther should have met and discussed his responsibilities with Harry in order to avoid such confusions. In light of modern management theories it is the responsibility of Senior Manager to introduce and maintain a culture of trust, inspire them when required but not indulge in their routine issues, letting supervisors manage their staff.
Q5. What if Luther confronts Harry with the problem and he simply brushes it off by saying he is
really only helping?
Luther should discuss this issue with Harry making him aware that due to three simultaneous absences the company had to lose a certain amount of revenue, pay overtime to other team members, compromise on customer services resulting in significant operational inefficiencies hurting overall organization. They should agree that in future such an approval should only be given by the reporting authority and that Harry should re-direct all such requests to Luther. Additionally in my opinion Harry should call Tom, cancel his additional leaves and inform him to report to work after availing the leaves approved by Luther, furthermore Harry should call a meeting or send a companywide memo clarifying that in future all such staff requests should be directed to the assigned reporting authority and only in absence of reporting authority can such requests be made to Harry.