Management 3001 Paper

11/28/2015

The case for critical analysis, “The Office”, found on pages 253-254 of Understanding Management by authors Richard Daft and Dorothy Marcic poses an opportunity for in depth analysis of the essential functions of management and methods for improving management skills. Krista Acklen is an extremely qualified and competent manager who is employed by the department of parks and recreation in a Midwestern town in development of arts programming. One day, she is asked to meet with the director of parks and recreation, John Mitchell. He informs her that he has recently made a decision that is going to affect Acklen and her team. Mitchell was pushed by the mayor of the town to make Acklen agree to give up half of her office space for a new project that is increasingly successful, Greenways. He explains that the decision is final and he is not going to accept her objections. She was furious that Mitchell did not let her help because she believes she could have helped develop an alternative that would have pleased all parties. Acklen believes that Mitchell simply wanted to please the mayor and gave in very quickly. Acklen consults one of her best employees, Joanne Franklin, and explains that they need to let Mitchell know that in the future they need to be treated with more respect and that this situation was handled inappropriately. This situation demonstrates several concepts of management. The environment that this occurred in, a nonprofit organization, greatly affected how things were dealt with and why such harsh decisions needed to be made. The environment is one of growth and the public is demanding more programs in the parks department. This affects the planning that goes into the organization. John Mitchell had to turn to the organizational goals of the department and adjust what is happening due to the expansion of several programs. There are several aspects of planning that could have been improved, mainly the strategic management involved. The...