All entries for Wednesday 10 September 2008

An interesting case in organisational behaviour

Franz K. was really upset after the phone call with the administration office. Placing a purchase order had never been easy, but now it has become impossible. Up to last year the procedure had been the following: first, you had to get an offer from a supplier. This offer had to be on paper, signed personally by the supplier. A fax was tolerated, but an email wasn't acceptable. Then, you had to fill in a request on a paper form, and give it to Administration. You had to go physically there, because there wasn't an internal mail service.
Then, a person of Admin had to type your order request into their closed computer system. A three-copy paper order was then issued. This had to be signed by the head of Admin and subsequently by the Director. Finally, one of the copies was sent to the supplier by ordinary mail.
All this process took normally a minimum of ten days to one month. And this procedure was only for small purchase orders. If you had to buy something more expensive than 2500€ it became more complicated.  And then, last year, a further complication came in. This was the reason for the  call from Admin:  "Hi Franz, there's a problem on the order of that new laptop", had said Joan, one of the administration clerks. "The one I filed in three weeks ago?", answered Franz, slightly uneasy. "Yes, that one....look, on your account there's no money under the code 1520110, machines and office furniture, you've got money only under 1520130, machines and equipment for research. But, as you should know, computers cannot be purchased with this code. But probably in a couple of months, with the next balance adjustment, you will be able to swap some of the money and top up your 1520130 account. But unfortunately  the order cannot be issued now. Sorry about that".
Franz put down the telephone, feeling really upset. He needed that laptop to work and frankly,  couldn't care less under which stupid code that order should have been filed.


Outline the problems facing this organisation in the short and long run and give recommendations for their solution.


A fantasy case study?
No, it’s real: it’s my organisation, the italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics, which claims to be one of the world’s top research organisations in particle physics.

F.A.

Francesco Arneodo : 10 Sep 2008 20:47 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem