THE WOODS MANUFACTURING COMPANY OBJECTIVE To use what you have learned about structure and responsiveness by designing the Woods Furniture Company.

TASK 1 (INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT)

a. Read the case study that follows.

b. Recalling the chapter, choose the ideas that you think will work best in developing the design for Mr. Woods.

c. Make notes to prepare for your team discussion, including an organization structure and suggestions from this chapter.

TASK 2 (TEAM ASSIGNMENT)

a. Meet with your team and develop a proposal that you feel will best help Mr. Woods fulfill his vision.

b. Prepare a 3- to 5-minute presentation and a one-page outline of your proposal prior to your presentation.

Creating a New Furniture Company

Mr. Woods is the owner and operator of a small furniture company that specializes in the production of high-quality barstools.
Over the past few years, he has experienced an overwhelming demand for his products. He currently has orders totaling $750,000. Therefore, Mr. Woods has made the decision to expand his organization and market his barstools more aggressively;
in his words, Mr. Woods’s mission is “to manufacture world-class products that are competitive in the world market in quality, reliability, performance, and profitability.” To that end, Mr. Woods wants to hire employees who take as much pride in the company as he does. He envisions a culture where “pride, ownership, employment security, and trust” are second nature. Mr. Woods has exhaustively interviewed and hired 32 new workers, all of whom have various skill levels:
Four expert craftspeople.
Ten people with some woodworking experience.
Twelve people with no previous woodworking experience.
One nurse.
One schoolteacher.
One bookkeeper.
Three people with some managerial experience in nonmanufacturing settings.
Mr. Woods will need your assistance in determining how to design this new organization. This design will include the management structure and the allocation of work to individuals and groups. The barstool-making process has 15 steps:
1. Choose the wood.
2. Cut the wood to size.
3. Remove any imperfections in the wood.
4. Plane the wood according to exact specifications.
5. Cut joints.
6. Glue and assemble tops.
7. Prepare legs/bases.
8. Attach legs/bases to tops.
9. Sand the fully assembled barstools.
10. Stain the barstools.
11. Varnish the barstools.
12. Re-sand the barstools.
13. Re-varnish the barstools.
14. Package the barstools.
15. Deliver barstools to customers.
Mr. Woods creates three kinds of barstools (pedestal, four-legged corner, and four-legged recessed). While the three kinds of stools take the same amount of time and labor to create, there are major cost variations due to defective wood, incorrect cuts, and longer delivery times.
Mr. Woods will need to decide how to organize his company to maintain both high-quality barstools and his profits.
Mr. Woods has many options, including using some employees to undertake the first step for all types of bar stools; using one employee to undertake several steps for one type of barstool; or having a team of employees undertake a combination of steps for one or more barstools. However, he is concerned about how such organizing might affect quality or costs. He also understands that demand for one type of barstool could occur, even though demand for all types of barstools has been about equal of late. Because Mr. Woods wants to use his employees effectively, he has brought on an expert to help him set up an optimally responsive organization.