Corey
11/10/2009
Written Case 1
Fancy Footwear
Clearly the problem that this company faces is mainly a battle between old against new. Betty is a young a manager who has just taken charge of the shoe company, Fancy Footwear. Despite what Betty may think of her predecessor’s way of handling things, it seems she is ultimately trying to do too much, too fast. Don’t get me wrong here, the title of the case pretty much explains it all. Betty is a good boss but seems to be in the wrong company.
Fancy Footwear’s working staff seems to be used to a routine that has been going on for several years now. Although I personally don’t agree with the way Max Worthy was running the show, he definitely implemented a routine that his workers got accustomed to and enjoyed. Now that Betty has taken over the business, her first move was to change all that. Instead of Betty trying to do this all so quickly, she should of done some more strategic planning. In general, most people dislike change. When there is a change present, it sure does take people out of their comfort zone. This gets to my point of why Betty should of taken her change of things step-by-step.
The workers are probably overwhelmed with all sorts of the new things going on. These include Betty being by their side a portion of the day, group work, and meetings. If Betty had started with being around the workers for a portion of the day then slowly started to establish a worker productivity group, then the reaction of these workers wouldn’t be so hectic.
The four management models can contrast the differences between how Betty and Max manage the company (pg.38). Max is clearly an internal process manager, who dwells on stability, control, and routine. Betty on the other hand is definitely a human relations type manager. She is all about the effectiveness of commitment, cohesion, and morale. These are two totally different ways of managing a business and the people to take the biggest hit...