Dowling Flexible Metals Case Analysis
Central Issue
• The central issue is the lack of the company’s organizational hierarchy and structure.
• The problem owner is Bill Dowling, the owner and president of the company, who is
requesting the recommendations.
Underlying Causes
1. The company does not document and implement different procedures and processes
within completing a project for a customer. This causes friction in the relationship
between Bill, the engineering department, and the shop as a whole.
– For an example, the engineering department designs plans for a project and there is
no consideration for the practical aspect for the shop to follow said designs to execute
the completion of the project.
2. There are 3 parties that seem to be making the day-to-day decisions in the company –
Eve, Wally, and Gene (after speaking with Bill about the decision). There is not a single
primary person who is making the day-to-day decisions creating decentralized authority.
– Dowling does not have a figure of authority making important decisions on a daily
basis which creates work overload for the 3 parties because they are handling issues
in their own departments as well as attempting to handle executive tasks that arise.
3. The primary departments consist of engineering, the shop, and the office. Bill seems to be
handling all of the customer service, sales and marketing, and presidential aspects of the
business.
– The company does not have a specific set of tasks in relation of division of labor to
which the employees can adhere to. This simply creates a lack of morale within the
company culture where there are too many people double-handling tasks or taking too
much time to come to a consensus about a single decision.
4. There is an overall lack of communication across all departments creating a chaotic work
environment.
– For an example, if a customer calls for an update on a project, Eve in the office will
take the call, then call Gene in the engineering department to ask for an update, but
then the Gene will have to go to Wally, who is in the shop to ask for the update.
Viable Alternatives
