Question: Henderson Printing si a smal - ot medium - sized manufacturer of account books, ledgers,and various types of record books used in business. Located in

Henderson Printing si a smal- ot medium-sized manufacturer of account books, ledgers,and various types of record books used in business. Located in Halifax, the company has annual sales of about $12 million, mostly ni the Atlantic provinces.The owner, George Henderson, si afirm believer ni making a high-quality productthat wil stand up to many years of use. He uses only high-grade paper, cover stock, and binding materials. Of course, this has led ot high production costs and high prices. eH also believes in ahigh level of customer service and si willing to make the products t o customers' specifications whenever they so request. However, resetting the equipmentfor relatively short production runs of customized products takes considerable exarttime and, of course, also drives up costs.The firm employs about 80 people, most of whom work ni production. The firmsaha few supervisors to oversee production, but their responsibilities aer not clearly speledout, so the supervisors often contradict one another. There si no system for scheduling production; ni fact, there are few systems of any kind. Whenever there si aprobelm, everyone knows that you have to go to George fi you expect adefinite answer.The company also has several salespeople who travel throughout the Aaclnitregion; most of them are relatives of George or his wife. The company has one book- keeper to keep records and issue the paycheques, and several office employees to handle routine administrative chores. The firm has no specialists ni accounting, marketing human resources, or production; George handles these areas himself, although he hasno real training and little interest in any of them except production. He focuses most o fhis attention on ensuring product quality and on dealing with the countless problemsthat everyone brings to him every day. He has often been heard to exclaim, ni his usual good-natured way, "Why am I the only one who can make decisions around this place?"as he deals with each of these problems.are l the to hte m ptoeearly in lawithlot), ful that e m ! m u thattive befoand herbirt a c cIt i acc hacligl theInv patpro ofclu Co tho froy o attdo texstafo sa.NELWhen George was growing up, both his parents (his father was a printer and his mother was a seamstress ni a garment factory) had to work hard in order to scratch out a living for their family. nI those days, employers who showed litle consideration for their employees were the norm, and George resolved that things would eb different fi eh ever became an employer. Today, George tries hard to be abenevolent employer. Althougheh feels the organization cannot afford any formal employee benefits, he often kepssick workers on payroll for a considerable time, especially fi he knows the worker has a family to support. George si wel liked by most employees, who have shown little inter-est ni unionization during the few approaches made ybunion organizers.George has no formal system for pay and tends to make al pay decisions on the spur of the moment, so almost everybody has a different pay rate. He has never goten around to giving annual raises, os any employee who wants a raise has to approach hmi .He gives raises ot most people who approach him, but het amount depends on his modat the time and on how wel he knows the employee. For example, fi the firm has just lost a major customer, raises are lower, and fi the frim has just booked alarge order, yhet are higher. They are also higher fi he knows the employee has a family to support, or fithe employee's spouse has been laid of, or fi the employee has added anew memberto the family.George believes that agood employer should recognize the contributions made by employees during the year. So every Christmas, fi profits allow, he gives merit bonusesto employees, which he says are based on their contributions to the firm. One day ni early December, he sits down with his employee list, ni alphabetical order, and pencilsin an amount next to each name.Everybody gets something, but the amounts vary greatly. fI he can associate aface with the name (which is difficult sometimes, because new employees sem to turn over a lot), eh tends ot give larger bonuses. And fi eh can remember something such sa a cher-ful attitude, the bonuses are higher still. But fi he remembers anyone complaining aboutthat employee for some reason or another (he usually can't recall the exact reasons), the employee gets a smaller bonus. Not surprisingly, longer-term employees tend to receive much higher bonuses than new employees. He has noticed this tendency, but assumesthat fi an employee has been with the firm longer, that person must eb more produc-tive, so this si fair. He personally distributes the bonus cheques on the last working day before Christmas.Since eh has just turned 60, George si planning ot retire ni the next year ro twoand turn the business over to his daughter, Georgette Henderson, who si just finishingher commerce degree at Dalhousie University. Ironically, ti was on the day of his 60th birthday that his bookkeeper informed him that there wasn't enough money ni the bank account to meet payroll.MULTI-PRODUCTS CORPORATIONtI si early February. Late last year, the firm you work for, Multi-Products Corporation, acquired hte rights ot a new type of golf club, invented yb aretired machinist who had been a lifelong golfer until his untimely demise (it turns out that golfing during a lightning storm si not such agreat idea). The machinist had produced only aewf sets of the clubs, but their superiority over existing clubs was so pronounced that word of hsi invention had spread far and wide. Fortunately for him (for his estate, actually), he had patented the design of these clubs, so nobody could copy them.Multi-Products Corporation has numerous divisions, each producing different products ni the sporting goods field. The company has never produced golf equipmentof any kind, and plans to set up a separate division to produce and distribute the new clubs. You found out yesterday that you have been selected to head the new division. Corporate management wil provide you with al the financial resources you need to gethte division going and wil also help you staf the division with experienced managers from the parent corporation. Because of their confidence ni you, management has given you complete freedom to organize and operate the division as you se fit, as long as you attain the financial goals that have been set for the division.Your first task si to design the organization structure. But you recognize that before doing so, you need to understand some key aspects about the organization and its con- text. Market research suggests that the demand for your product wil be strong and stable. This demand wil not be very price-sensitive, since golfers who want your product wil generaly be willing ot pay what it takes ot get .ti Therefore, ti wil eb relatively easyfor you to secure distributors. In fact, one distributor si willing to agree to a four-year sales contract for your equipment, with afixed volume and afixed prcie. This distributor
Suggest solut solutions for george to develop A compenstion policy for his company

Step by Step Solution

There are 3 Steps involved in it

1 Expert Approved Answer
Step: 1 Unlock blur-text-image
Question Has Been Solved by an Expert!

Get step-by-step solutions from verified subject matter experts

Step: 2 Unlock
Step: 3 Unlock

Students Have Also Explored These Related General Management Questions!