analysis of the case

chattanooga using the

machine metaphor

Karlstad Business School

Handelshögskolan vid Karlstads Universitet

Course code: FEAD51

Course name: Competence and Leadership

Title: Analysis of the Case Chattanooga Using the Machine Metaphor

Date of Submission: 2013-01-29

Family name Given name

Shurrab Hafez

El Bouassami Mohammed

Name of the teacher: Markus Fellesson and Sofia Molander

Name of the administrator: Frania Johansson

I

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................- 1 -

2. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................- 1 -

3. THEORY ........................................................................................................................- 1 -

4. ANALYSIS .....................................................................................................................- 2 -

5. CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................- 5 -

6. REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................- 6 -

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1. INTRODUCTION

The implicit images or metaphors of organizations and management have been discussed

by Gareth Morgan in his book “Images of Organizations” (Morgan, 1997). Morgan exposed

eight metaphorical images of organizations including machine, organism, brain, culture,

political system, psychic prison, flux and transformation, and instrument of domination. Each

one of these metaphors creates insight, but also obscures some corners. They have both pros

and cons. They enable seeing, but also not seeing. No one of them is said to be correct and

right.

2. BACKGROUND

Chattanooga Ice Cream Division is one of three major incorporated industries to CFC,

Chattanooga Food Corporation. The division lost third-largest customer for no logical

reasons. Charles Moore, the president and general manager of the division conducted a

management meeting to discuss current situations, investigate the root causes, and find out

proper solutions. Many conflicts occurred during the meeting. The actions and reactions can

be projected to reflect how the division functions as one of metaphorical images. In this

report, the case is analyzed using machine metaphor. In other words, it discusses what we

could see and reflect when projecting the division’s behavior on the principles and approaches

of machine metaphor.

3. THEORY

The industrial revolution had a direct impact in matter of changing the organizations

function. The machine perspective was developed long time ago, and nowadays

mechanization invaded every part of our lives. By time there was a need to develop and

introduce some changes to organization (Morgan 2006). During eighteenth century, Adam

Smith in his book “The Wealth of Nations” developed a new theory based on the concept of

economic growth, which is essentially based on the theory of increasing division of labor.

This idea relates primarily to the specialization of the labor force, by breaking down of large

jobs into many small components. (Smith 1776)

Several theorists were preoccupied finding solutions for problems of practical

management, after several researches, they have reached a “road map” of a successful

organization, consists of the principles of classical management theory. But in fact, these

principles used as a mechanical tools for designing organization as it was a machine. Some of

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the principles of classical management to be covered later on are unity of command, Span of

control, division of work, authority and responsibility, and the initiative. (Morgan 2006)

Max Weber shares the same principles with other theorists of the nineteenth century from

other perspective when he noted that the bureaucratic forms routinize the process of

administration the same way as the machine routinize production. (Weber 1947)

Based on Frederick of Prussia approach of modern army, and by the beginning of the

twentieth century, a new organization theory, known as scientific management pioneered by

an American engineer called Frederick Taylor. This theory called also Taylorism, and which

is based on five simple principles: Shift responsibility from worker to managers, use efficient

way to do the work, right person to do the job, train the worker, and finally keep monitoring

workers (Taylor 1911).

4. ANALYSIS

The hierarchy of Chattanooga Ice Cream Division is divided into departments that deliver

specialized functions (marketing, sales, production, etc…). Under such organization each

member becomes an expert in one specific function. Division of labor relies on assigning

skills into its right domain of function. Another Tylor principle, could be projected on from

the case, is selecting the right person for the job. The meeting’s discussion reflects the

proficiency of management members at holding their own responsibilities. This is clear from

the reflection of Moore every time the meeting is over. He trusts Stephanie Krane, the vice

president controller, and Billy Fale, the vice president of production, as they used to deliver

their promises, and think that Barry Walkins, the vice president of marketing, is creative and

has a good sense of what consumers wanted, which is literally the essential potentials for

marketing responsibility. Les Holly, the vice president of sales, and other managers left

professional comments for what can make their departments function better separately.

On the other hand, the case clearly shows the miscommunication between departments.

For example, Holly spent most of the time outside his office, as his work required that. But

information such as budget records, resource allocations …etc. have to be updated in a daily

basis, especially for sales departments. Holly suggested more promotional allowances. He

would not probably have done so if he was familiar with financial records and current status.

Besides, the conflicts, in general, arose in the meeting expose not only the miscommunication

but also the power struggle among departments. They are more compartmentalized instead of

working together and viewing the whole picture.

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Projecting classical management theory on the division, we can notice that many

principles were used. Unity of command and span of control are explicit, where each

department manager receives orders from only one supervisor, who is Moore in this case. But

Stephanie Krane was an exception, since she had also a dotted-line reporting relationship with

Arthur Silver, the chief financial officer. That placed additional pressure on her and interprets

her persistent objection against any further spending on either investing or new promotional

allowances. Moreover, the responsibilities of each manger were only linked explicitly to their

authorities, and there were no other inexplicit responsibilities to hold, which extended the

compartmentalization within the organization. Additionally, the initiative is presented in this

case within the management level, where managers discussed and presented their initiatives

and reflections concerning with problem detection and solution suggestions that may retrieve

the profit margin.

There is no doubt that there are advantages of the bureaucracy including company

organization, standardization of the production, and assigning the right person to the job. But

in the case, things seem to be more complicated because, beside its benefits, bureaucracy had

negative side effects that caused instability in financial matters. In other words, the work

process in the company had been unchanged for decades, even after the promoting Moore to

be the head of the division. There was no serious willingness to introduce new responsive

products into the market, and be more competitive. That enabled other competitors to react

faster and capture larger market share. Apart from their willingness, the bureaucratic

production system made it difficult to change due to inflexibility and compatibility of its

elements.

One of the common features the organizations are characterized by according to the

machine metaphor is scientific management or Tylorism. The case reflects many projections

of scientific management. Considering the idea of increasing the market share by delivering a

half dozen of mixed-ins was not warmly welcomed by Fale due to the inflexibility of

information system. That reflected how the division relied on the information systems. Krane

mentioned that the ongoing system was not capable for accepting new product line, since that

was complex and needed long time to develop, test, and install. Therefore, what can be said

about this kind of organizations if viewed as a machine that the sophistication of a system

combined with the organization system as a whole could add some robust advantages

concerning with the ability to control and monitor, but it could be also a drawback for

responsiveness to future evolutions.

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The both meeting and empirical data, especially hierarchy of responsibilities, reflected

also the dependency of the division on other scientific methods than MIS. According to the

hierarchy, Ken Donaldon, the vice of R&D, is clearly responsible for managing

responsibilities of product development, process engineering, and quality assurance.

Moreover, Fale discussed operational cost reduction including packaging expenses,

production costs, and inventories. He estimated the cost reduction by 5% if the division stops

producing chocolate and coffee flavors, which account for 15% of the volume produced. He

built his suggestion on scientific methods, since that could reduce set-up and cleaning times,

which are not value-adding time from lean point of view. So, it is clear that the division in

general and Fale particularly have the concern of waste elimination and continuous flow.

Additionally, Holly discussed the problems of stockouts and backorders the division

frequently undergoes, which are also concerns of inventory leveling and supply chain

management. Holly had a conflict with Krane due to her striving to cut costs, especially

promotional allowances, and increase profitability. Krane had cut the costs of other sales

utilities by replacing their vehicles with smaller ones, which also reflects that the decisions

were based on scientific methods and cost efficiency. Krane did not care, or believed it did

need to do, for morals as much as for records and profit margins. And again, this might be the

pressure of collateral dotted-line reporting relationship with Silver. The meeting’s discussion

also indicates that they strive so that their inventory levels are kept in control with minimum

possible waste, which requires a stability of demand and accurate forecast records.

In our opinion, the conflict appeared during the meeting did not rise from their lack of

knowledge or experience in their job, but in setting conciliation between each department’s

interests and requirements. Each department required some basic requirements. For instance,

Hale needed more promotional allowances to increase the division’s market share, while

Krane strived to cut the costs radically. The same is for marketing and production

departments, Walkins updated the trends of the market, and came up with fresh ideas that

could keep the division competitive, while Fale’s major concern was about getting everything

under control and within convenient quality ranges. It could be viewed as a machine that its

parts could not be optimized. For example, we have to expose material’s ductility and

hardness to trade-off, and that kind of decisions are based on the major purpose of each

machine part and market qualifiers and winners. In other words, the current objectives of any

organization determine which performance of any department within an organization should

be given more attention.

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The case points out some problems occur due to the weaknesses of adopting machine

metaphor as organizational image. It is clear that it was difficult for managers to handle both

complexity and change. The division got into trouble because they were only interested in

getting everything stable and under control, regardless the real trend of market and

consumers. It is as same as a machine used to get some efficient results, while some other

machines can deliver more featured results.

Another limitation is undesirable effects on people working in the organization. The most

explicit translation from the case is some suggested solutions. For instance, more Krane

suggested freezing on salaries for one year and eliminating cost-of-living increases in retiree’s

pensions and health care insurance to cut costs. She also said that retiree had to deal with the

realities of the business. The reaction on such solution made it negotiable solution and even

closer to be undertaken, according to Moore’s reflections on overall suggested solutions. This

means that the people working in the division have to adapt to the division as same as what

happens under machine metaphor.

5. CONCLUSIONS

The behavior of Chattanooga Ice Cream Division has been drawn from discussions,

conflicts, actions, and reactions during the management meeting Moore conducted. Some

machine metaphor aspects were dominant including classical management, bureaucracy, and

Tylorism. The scientific management was represented by the quality assurance and

information system. While some principles of management, such as the unity of command

and span of control, were clear from the single relationship between Moore, who monitored,

and the other managers who reported, except additional dotted-line reporting relationship that

Krane had with the chief financial officer. The hierarchal structure of the responsibilities is

similar to the classic functional form that is built on the theory of Adam Smith. The

responsibilities were linked explicitly and exclusively to the managers’ authorizations, which

limited their willingness to cooperate with each other. The bureaucratic built-in production

systems of the division made it difficult to improve their market share, and even survive in the

long term. Despite of their loss of the largest-third customer, introducing mixed-ins as new

responsive products was not their first priority. Moore seemed to be comfortable with costs

cut Krane suggested. In our opinion, costs cut may work temporarily, since the scenario with

Stay & Shop could be repeated with other customers, as long as the competitors are able to

deliver more responsive products.

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6. REFERENCES

Morgan. G. (2006). Image of organization. Schulich School of business, Toronto. pp. 16

Morgan. G. (2006). Image of organization. Schulich School of business, Toronto. pp. 17

Smith, A. The Wealth of Nations. London: Stratton & Cadell, 1776.

Taylor, F.W. Principles of Scientific Management. New York: Harper & Row, 1911.

Weber, M. The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. London: Oxford university

Press, 1947.