First Lady Fashions and Frank Knight - Essay Example

First Lady Fashions and Frank KnightIntroduction First Lady Fashions is a US women fashion-clothing firm with an experience of twenty-five years in the fashion industry. The firm produces clothes of the middle price range under the brand name First Lady. The enterprise sells eighty percent of its production to large and medium-sized department stores while the company sells the rest to women specialty boutiques. Harry Gold is the company’s owner and primary stakeholder who accumulated savings from his previous job in the New York garment district and opened the firm.

Harry staffed the company with his friends and relatives. He is the pioneer of the “mix and match” fashion style. On the other hand, Frank Knight is Harry’s nephew and company’s treasurer. The paper will discuss the challenges that Frank faced in the enterprise.External interferenceSarah is Harry’s sister and is the corporation’s vice-president in charge of administration. The organizational structure clearly states that Frank and Sarah are at the same management level. However, apparently Frank is subordinate to Sarah.

Frank lacks independence in his position as the company’s treasurer. For instance, Frank is not allowed to approve any expenditure exceeding 30,000 dollars without Sarah’s informal approval. The fact that Sarah’s support is merely informal clearly shows that the management tends to undermine Frank’s authority. The need for Sarah’s assent poses a significant challenge to not only Frank but also the company as a whole. Sarah is rash, hires and fires employees without consulting anybody and objects any proposed changes without any reasonable explanation.

Sarah sacked the vice president of industrial relations despite the annual 170,000 dollar per year contract with the company. This action by Sarah negatively influenced the company’s expenses and financial welfare. Frank’s contribution to the wellbeing of the firm is inadequate merely due to Sarah’s interference in his job. Poor coordinationSecondly, lack of coordination among the firm’s department hinders Frank’s workmanship. Conflicts among the departmental managers occurred on a daily basis.

The managers would fiercely argue if any of them disagreed with the sales forecasts merely because the forecast jeopardised the interests of a departmental they were in charge. Moreover, the sales forecast are distributed to the top-level managers, including Frank, located in the firm’s headquarters offices. The constant disagreements and amending of the sales forecast interfered with Frank’s role as the Treasurer. Frank had to adjust financial plans continually in accordance with the frequently proposed changes.

Poor coordination among staff leads to a sharp decline in employee’s productivity (Bass, 2015, p. 1).Communication FailureCommunication failure is evident in the company. Neither Chris Barnes, Mike Preston nor Sol Green talks to each other. The communication failure was due to the introduction of a computerised sales analysis system, which failed to furnish the accounts and budgeting departments with sufficient information. As a result, Chris started producing two daily sales reports and distributed them to different levels of management.

The poor state of communication directly affected the Frank as he lacked the necessary, timely, and complete information essential for decision-making. The communication breakdown led to an increase in sales returns by customers and forced the company to sell the returned goods at a loss. Harry can blame Frank for low profitability of the business, but it is apparent communication breakdown causes reduced profitability.ConclusionSarah’s interference with his job limits his ability to steer the company to profitability and financial success.

Poor coordination affects negatively on the company’s performance, which puts Frank in the limelight. Communication breakdown also reduces Frank’s productivity.ReferenceBass, B., 2015. Signs and Symptoms of Lack of Coordination in an Organization. [Online] Available at :< http://smallbusiness.chron.com/signs-symptoms-lack-coordination-organization-13119.html> [Accessed 24 March 2014].