MNGMNT

Alvaro Pop
Case Study 2

i. Summary of case. Include a brief update.

Grafton Furnitures is a custom-made organization which includes sofas, chairs, and tables.

Business that is a generation structure started in 1964 by Estevan Grafton, passed on his son

Steve Grafton who oversees the current business. With his wife by his side Mary, they both come

up with the designs. When time goes by, they plan to pass it on their son Stevie. This business

consists of only 28 employees. The business, however, is not making profit as should be. The

reason for this is because the equipment’s, materials are old and outdated, which cause loss of

time and wasting it. Another reason is that the organization didn’t had a vivid structure/formality.

Mr. Marcus then decided to invest in the company to help them; starting with paying all depts,

mortgages that the company owed. This entailed to a high price of 1.5 million dollars. The

progress of the delivery at Grafton Furniture had backfired as they speed the process and make

promise that they couldn’t keep. Steve’s son Stevie did not cooperate as they should, it seems as

if Stevie’s father did not trust him on his judgement, discretion which cause minor setbacks. Mr.

Marcus helped them work together and even came up with the plan of Quick ship Line which

allows the company not only to sell custom furniture but to go abroad and be known to different

places. The entire place where they worked was renovated in order to be both efficient and

effective. In the end, the business went well, and Steve and his son worked better, and their

structure was well organized as before.

MNGMNT

ii. Why is structure important? Why did Grafton Furniture need a clear
structure? Are there any other reasons for organizational structures beyond
the formal arrangement of jobs, roles, and responsibilities? (LO: 4, Learning
Outcome: Describe traditional organizational designs, AACSB: Reflective
thinking skills).

Structure is an important asset to any company as they know how they are progressing and

knowing where to improve. Grafton Furnitures needed a clearer structure as everything was a

disorder. In the show, it was said that Steve’s son oversaw delivery and payroll as well. Another

point is the place they worked had limited space which makes the room occupied with other

materials that was not necessary. The most important structure that they needed was the recovery

backup for their work. Grafton Furniture had only a desktop containing all the company’s assets.

This contained designs, pays, and stock records. Without the data relevant to the business, they

would be lost and don’t where to start. Steve on the other hand should trust his only son Stevie as

he was under a lot of stress by his father. Whenever they had discussion, they did not include

Stevie which makes it hard to know what to do around the place. Because of this act, the

business was not making profit for years and exceeding on what they expected.

iii. Discuss why you think Grafton Furniture might be keen to increase Steven
Grafton’s (3rd Generation Manager) span of control. (LO: 1, Learning
Outcome: Describe six key elements in organizational design, AACSB:
Reflective thinking skills)

It is a high probability that Steven’s third generation (Grafton Furniture) will be successful and

increase in productivity as Stevie knows how the company operates to its full potential.

Especially now that Steven and his son are getting along great; they have a chance to be more

successful as Steven’s son is an open-minded person and well reasonable and is not afraid to take

responsibilities. Have not working together, the organization would just keep running but not
MNGMNT

having a relevant profit. In the show, it clearly demonstrated that Steven’s son was more than

capable of doing his own field of work and knows what he is doing. Without his judgement and

not telling his father that certain furniture is not completed, would have resulted in much more

complaints than ever. He knew how much the organization meant and was willing to take the

next step of running the organization till the next generation comes in. Mr. Marcus as well had a

lot of thing to do with this too. If not letting the two individuals gain their trust and let Steven

leave his bad habit of bugging his son on work site, the outcome of it would be worse. Stevie can

be more successful of running the business using his judgement much more, distributing specific

work to another member, knowing who had to do what. The structure had been more organized,

so the company knew where they are of one hundred percent making profit. Stevie on the other

hand; is familiar with the change, the infrastructure, what had to be done and surely knew what

was best for the business.

iv. What role do you think the changes in the organizational structure of Grafton
Furniture will play in its efficiency and effectiveness? Explain. (LO: 4,
Describe traditional organizational designs, AACSB: Analytical thinking)

The Major changes on Grafton Furnitures Structure and its effectiveness and efficiency is that…

Having new and upgraded machinery, more time will be deducted, so that means saving time and

doing something more for the day. Another is the space cleared. Before everything was

disorganized and crowded. With all the unnecessary equipment’s, there is a lot of free space that

the employees then can work and have different sections. One of them was a designing table.

The structure that I liked about the investment was having a backup on the cloud; so, in the event

the software, supercomputer is destroyed or crash, they can always go back and get their data.

Coming about the efficiency, saving their materials while cleaning their space is one of them.

Mr. Marcus mentioned that the materials and the dust from woodworks at time can damage the
MNGMNT

quality of the others. With the Quick ship Line as well is a big step up, being effective they

decided to go online to sell somewhere else.