Running Head: Module 1: Choosing an Organization and Situation

PCA: Choosing an Organization and Situation

Patrick Spooner

Arizona State University

OGL 481: Pro-Seminar I

Dr. Kate McCain

5/23/21
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The Organization that I was a part of was called Spooner’s Woodworks Inc. They are

a commercial Cabinetry and Architectural Millwork Manufacturing Firm, located in San

Diego, California. The company started as a small, family owned business 40 years ago and

has grown to 120+ employees, with 11 different departments. Those departments being:

Administrative/HR, Sales, Project Management, Engineering, Production, Custom, Finish,

Countertops, Doors, Shipping/Receiving and Installation. The company completes most

manufacturing duties internally and then ships finished products to various project sites

around the country to be installed. The company operates on a contractual basis on all projects

they are a part of, where they are considered sub-contractor partners to the General Contractor

on the project, who have their contract’s with the Owner.

My final role in this Organization was that of an Assistant General Manager for the

Door Division, where I co-managed the department of 20 employee’s alongside the GM. The

duties of this position included planning, coordinating and directing estimating and project

management functions, as well as administering operating budgets, staffing, work assignment,

salary and performance reviews, etc. I hand a large hand in developing and implementing

department standards and procedures, and was responsible for final review of all sales quotes

and presentations of final bid packages to customers.

The situation that I’d like to describe from my time at Spooner’s Woodwork’s was the

final, very large project that I was Managing that had a series of ups and downs and many,

many challenges to overcome. More specifically, I would like to describe the final change

order, resolution meeting that took place between our company and the General contractor,

whom we had our signed contract with. In addition, the President of the wood door, window

and frame supplier that we partnered with on the project was also at this meeting. The meeting

was held to resolve pending project change order requests that our company had issued to the
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General Contractor, in order receive payment for additional materials and services that were

rendered, outside of the original signed contract agreement. The General Contractor had also

issued back charges to our company at the end of the project, due to project schedule delays

that they said our company was to be held responsible for. I would like to describe this

meeting and the various points of view that were expressed by the various parties and

individuals in attendance and my thoughts and feelings on these discussions, as well as the

final takeaways and lessons learned.