Rondell Data Corporation

The Rondell Data Corporation was founded in 1920 to manufacture the electrical testing devices invented by Bob Rondell. Over the years, Rondell built its reputation as a source of “high-quality, innovative designs”. Delays in releasing the new Model 802 wide-band modulator has begun to put that reputation at stake and caused increased pressure among production and engineering staff. (Daft, pg 531-538) Rondell operates with the functional structure (Daft, pg 107), that doesn’t appear to function effeciently. The Director of Engineering has seen high turnover having had a new leader each of the past three years.

It appears that this position is been designated as the company “scapegoat” (McGinnis, 2009) and therefore being blamed for all the problems that Rondell is facing with releasing the 802 modulator. Rondell has failed in adapting to the changing environments (Daft, pg 149) that can keep the company moving in a forward direction. There is an appearance that the company’s departments still operate in their specific silo’s (BusinessDictionary). According to the Production Supervisor, Dave Schwab, “to be efficient, production has to be self-contained” and “other departments should be self-contained as well”. Daft, pg 537) As such, they do not share needed information across departments or assist in problem solving by offering solutions based on their department observations.

A prime example lies in the opening portion of the case study in which Frank, the Director of Engineering services, received a message back that the model released for production “can’t be produced either…” . (Daft, pg 531). While the reader is not given the full content of the message, I was left with the assumption that it did not go much past what is shown. Ideally, the note would have contained information that said “this can’t be produced because…. however, if we try to…. ”. Not only would the message relay the problem as to why the design couldn’t be produced, it might provide a direction for engineering to pursue. “People at the grassroots level are often able to see and interpret changes or problems sooner than managers”. (Daft, pg 151) Rondell continues to be mired in it’s past successes. The culture leaves it difficult for them to change based on the established view points of their leaders – the old timers. (Daft, pg 188). Doc wants to move at his own pace and to do “his own thing” (Daft, pg 532).

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He doesn’t feel the same pressure as his boss and doesn’t have a sense of accountability to the company. Frank Forbus was just the latest in the line of scapegoats to go through Rondell. Jim Kilman most likely would have been successful but the sense is Rondell is extremely reluctant to change. Rondell should research other organizational structures such as a horizontal structure (Daft, pg 125) which would promote team work and collaboration throughout the organization to stop the engineering revolving door and restore the company’s reputation.

References

BusinessDictionary. (n. d. ). Retrieved November 10, 2012, from BusinessDictionary. com: http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/silo-mentality. html Daft, R. L. (2008). Organization Theory and Design (Vol. 10). South-Western Cengage Learning. McGinnis, A. (2009, November 24). The Scapegoat Theory; Are You or Someone You Know a Scapegoat. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from Yahoo Voices: http://voices. yahoo. com/the-scapegoat-theory-someone-know-a-4951510. html? cat=5

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