Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
many of the disease problems they were encountering were beyond his experience and
expertise. Similarly, Marie had no formal training in accounting, but she did realize that
GreenThumb needed better fi nancial information to make good management decisions. She
had spent a lot of time learning the computerized records program they used, but this was
just not her area. This became extremely clear when fi nancial statements illustrated that
higher costs and lower sales had signifi cantly reduced profi ts—and neither Bob nor Marie
knew exactly why. To make matters worse, all the time with the topics kept Marie from
putting her marketing and sales skills to work.
After a careful deliberation of the problems faced by GreenThumb, Bob and Marie inter-
viewed and hired an aggressive young woman who had a degree in horticulture and had
completed an internship with a larger grower. They also hired an accountant who had gradu-
ated from a business college fi ve years before and had worked as an offi ce manager in a local
electronics store. Both Marie and Bob felt that these two new staff members, although rela-
tively costly additions to the payroll, would pay off in improved productivity and fi nancial
control within GreenThumb.
This plan worked well for GreenThumb for about a year. But then, early in March of her
second year, the horticulturalist walked into Bob's offi ce and quit. She said she was fed up
with the way things were done at GreenThumb. After a rather emotional discussion, it
became clear that her frustrations resulted from a series of incidents where she had strongly
recommended several cultural practices to the nursery manager, only to be ignored. Finally,
after she discovered that some new stock had been planted too deep and was likely to die,
she had taken matters into her own hands. The nursery manager had been away for the morn-
ing, and she felt it necessary to handle the problem immediately, so she told two part-timers
to spend the morning resetting the stock. When the nursery manager returned and found that
the horticulturalist had pulled the workers off the job he had assigned, he was livid and con-
fronted her. There had been quite a scene in the fi eld, and several workers seemed to enjoy
the very heated argument.
GreenThumb has reached a point where it is truly riddled with people problems. The
business has been profi table and has potential for considerably more growth. But, Bob and
Marie are almost overwhelmed—how did the people side of their thriving business get so
out of control? How should they structure the business to address these problems?
GreenThumb provides a good example of issues which organizational structure and people
can give agribusiness managers. These situations can often give managers their best
successes and some of their biggest challenges.
The formal organization
Organizations depend on two kinds of structure to operate effi ciently. We fi rst look at the
formal structure
that serves as the foundation for all activities. Then, in the next section, we
will look at the
informal interpersonal relationships
that also affect how work gets done.
In the U.S. business economy, the owners of a fi rm provide the fi rm with the fi nancial
resources with which to operate. They also set the general direction for the organization
either directly or through duly elected representatives (the board of directors). The owners in
turn delegate authority to managers to make decisions, and management is held accountable
for the success of the business. Management then develops an organizational structure spec-
ifying the various responsibilities, authority, and accountability of employees. Employees
help develop and execute plans for accomplishing business objectives. It all sounds
simple—but in practice things are rarely so.
