Task Force and Baker
1. What were the main mistakes made by Keene & Ryan in the way they dealt with the different situations described in the case: from the discovery of significant losses in the first quarter of 1975 to their handling of the meeting during which the members of the task-force made their presentations? 30%
It was clear that Baker had little to no control over the task force. Baker had not created the team and had no real authority (aside from being designated as the head) over the task force. The task force was a formality in the Keene & Baker’s eyes, thus they concluded the area that needed to be studied was marketing division (market managers made final forecasts based on info from prod mgrs, VP of sales, VP of manufacturing, & econ forecasts from VP of econ). At this point Keene & Baker never gave much thought or importance to the task force therefore they were just content to “formally” state that the situation was being analyzed. In reality neither of the VP’s actually gave much importance to the two losing quarters situation. This in turn showed when the task force report meeting had gotten out of control and they were headed to a break, Keene told Baker “…you better figure out what you’re going to do at 3:00 (when they returned from the break)”. This statement from Keene showed that he had little authority or control over the situation, he was placing the blame on Baker instead of backing him up.
The following is a broken down analysis of the mistakes that Keene & Ryan committed:
Greenhorn choice (assigning David Baker to be in charge of the task force - taking it likely to not deal with it themselves - initial analysis and diagnosis of the problem):
The first mistake the Vice President’s made was to take the issue of sales dropping two straight quarters so lightly as to just appoint a task force. For a market leading company like Acton-Burnett to have the first two losing quarters in 39 years was a big issue, an issue large enough that there should be
It was clear that Baker had little to no control over the task force. Baker had not created the team and had no real authority (aside from being designated as the head) over the task force. The task force was a formality in the Keene & Baker’s eyes, thus they concluded the area that needed to be studied was marketing division (market managers made final forecasts based on info from prod mgrs, VP of sales, VP of manufacturing, & econ forecasts from VP of econ). At this point Keene & Baker never gave much thought or importance to the task force therefore they were just content to “formally” state that the situation was being analyzed. In reality neither of the VP’s actually gave much importance to the two losing quarters situation. This in turn showed when the task force report meeting had gotten out of control and they were headed to a break, Keene told Baker “…you better figure out what you’re going to do at 3:00 (when they returned from the break)”. This statement from Keene showed that he had little authority or control over the situation, he was placing the blame on Baker instead of backing him up.
The following is a broken down analysis of the mistakes that Keene & Ryan committed:
Greenhorn choice (assigning David Baker to be in charge of the task force - taking it likely to not deal with it themselves - initial analysis and diagnosis of the problem):
The first mistake the Vice President’s made was to take the issue of sales dropping two straight quarters so lightly as to just appoint a task force. For a market leading company like Acton-Burnett to have the first two losing quarters in 39 years was a big issue, an issue large enough that there should be