Reply to student discussion #4

week 1 Discussion

Alexander Bolt

Hello class,

1) The furniture manufacturing functions are very disorganized. It is not clear how to best organize these functions. For example, the varnish and dye experts each use a different method to complete all of their tasks.

The best person to do this task would be Frederick W. Taylor as he has a lot of first hand experience with hands on projects and working close to others and he really knows what he's doing and will be the best person to have making these hard decisions.

(2) The production schedule is a mess. It is not clear which projects should be completed first in order to ensure products are being delivered to customers on time.

I believe that Frank and Lillian Gilbreth would be the perfect people for this job as they were able to not only raise twelve kids which is an insane task, but they were able to use their kids to effectively get different tasks done quicker which would be the perfect people for this issue.

(5) While the company is financially successful, as it has grown from a small family-owned business to a large and complex enterprise, the organizational structure has not kept pace. Few formal rules exist and the keeping and maintenance of records are haphazard.

This task would be best suited for Max Weber as he studied industrial capitalism and he knows how companies are pretty selfish in the way they try to be successful, but they do not help the people such as the workers that helped them to get there.

(6) Employees are feeling overworked and losing satisfaction in the work they are doing. They believe their basic needs are not being addressed.

The best person for this task would have to be Henri Fayol and how he created the five duties of management which would help with this issue. The five duties are Foresight, Organization, Command, Coordinate, and Control.