LET'S PARTY!
"Let's party!" is still echoing in your head as you leave your Principles of Buying class. Again you ask yourself, "Why did I ever let myself run for class president?" Most of the people in the class were good, level-headed individuals who enjoyed a good time and you enjoyed working with them. But a small group from your class, who were known on campus as The Rowdies, often bullied their way on decisions affecting class activities. The decision to have a year-end party was right up their alley, and class had ended with a chanting session of "Let's party." It sounded like a wrestling match to you. Fortunately, your professor had left the room early to let you discuss with the class the idea of some kind of year-end get-together.
The Rowdies had immediately suggested the Goat's Ear, a local hangout with not much to offer but cheap drinks. The rest of your classmates had put forth some other suggestions, but no consensus on a location could be reached between the members of your executive committee or the rest of the class. If you went to the Goat's Ear most of the sane people in your class wouldn't attend, and even when you suggested more conventional locations, people couldn't agree because of factors such as the type of music played.
Since there were only two weeks left until the end of regular classes, you felt that you had to make arrangements in a hurry. It wasn't difficult to identify the most popular possible locations, but getting agreement from this group was going to be difficult.
One of your recent lectures was on supplier selection, and your professor had demonstrated the technique called the ranking or weighted-point method. It seemed simple enough in the lecture, and you had almost embarrassed yourself by asking the question "Why not just pick the least expensive supplier?" The thought occurred to you that there just might be some solution to your current problem in the professor's response, "One of the hardest things to do in any group, whether a business or a social club, is to get consensus on even the simplest choices."
Case Analysis
For this exercise, put yourself in the position of the class president described in this case and complete one of the two following exercises:
Exercise 1
1. Perform a supplier rating analysis for the situation. Include at least ten factors and four possible locations.
2. Make the selection as indicated by the analysis.
3. Discuss why the analysis led to your selection in step 2 and whether you would change any of the criteria or weights. Perform a supplier rating analysis for the situation. Include at least ten factors and four possible locations.
Exercise 2
1. Prepare a transparency to be used in class to make a selection for a year-end get-together.
2. Lead a discussion to determine at least four possible locations and ten factors.
3. Have the class agree on weighting factors for each criteria.
4. Perform the calculations and make the selection.
5. Discuss with the class why the analysis led to the selection in step 2 and whether you would change any of the criteria or weights.
6. Ask the class members whether they feel more in agreement with the decision after going through this process.