Harold Frankson is the CEO of Frankson Inc., a privately owned, medium-sized manufacturing company. The company is 17 years old, and until recently has experienced rapid growth. Mr. Frankson credits the Asian economy with the company’s recent problems. Six months ago Mr. Frankson hired Elizabeth Baresak as the director of corporate planning for the company. After reviewing the company’s financial statement and performance records for the last few years, Ms. Baresak came to the conclusion that the Asian economy was not the real problem impacting Frankson’s recent performance. Ms. Baresak felt that the Frankson Company’s products were out of date and the company had not done a good job of responding to its market. She found examples of the company not moving quickly enough when faced with a market threat or an opportunity. Ms. Baresak met with Mr. Frankson, told him her conclusions, and added that she believed that the strong functional organization of the company impeded the kind of action required to fix projects. Accordingly, she recommended that Mr. Frankson create a new position, Projects and Programs Officer, to use and promote project-management principles and techniques at Frankson. The PPO would also act as a project manager for several current critical projects. Mr. Frankson was pleased that Ms. Baresak found something that he could fix, but he did not care much for her solution. He believed that his functional department managers were capable, professional people who should be able to work together efficiently and effectively. He thought that he should work with his management team to provide them with the direction they needed what to do, when to do it, and who should do it. He would then put the functional manager most closely related to the problem in charge of the group. He was sure that if he gave them a directed push, the projects would get rolling. After this explanation by Mr. Frankson, Ms. Baresak is more convinced than ever that a separate, non-functional project manager is necessary for the company.
1. In what ways is Ms. Baresak correct? In what ways is Mr. Frankson correct?
2. If you were Ms. Baresak, how would you sell your idea to Mr. Frankson?
3. Are there other organizational ideas worth considering?
4. If a new position is created, what other changes would you recommend making?