Case Study: Casual Togs Inc.

Background

Organizational behavior is the study of human behavior in an organizational setting. It is defined as an understanding, prediction and management of human behavior both within the individual employee and groups in an organization (Carpenter, Berry and Houston 2014). The intension of this study is to describe the major issues of Casual Togs. Casual Togs is a 20 years old firm, which manufacture women apparel. Moreover, the objective of the study is also to explore the issues of organizational behavior behind the major issues of the organization. The study will assess the major issues faced by the organization and explore the reasons that have led to those issues. The study will suggest the ways of persuading the business owner for making organizational change for resolving the issues. Apart from that, this study will provide some suggestions to the organization in terms of management practice, structural change and response to market change for having competitive advantage in the market.

Major Problems Facing the Firm

The major problem faced by Casual Togs is forecasting issue of product deliver. The departmental heads of the sales department are not capable of pinpointing and accurately forecasting the sales demand of the customers. Hence, it ultimately hampers the product system of the organization. Moreover, most of the apparels delivered to the customers are being returned back to the organization. The departmental heads of the organization are also incapable of pinpointing the proper reasons for late delivery to the customers. Cy Geldmark, the owner of the organization, has exhorted the departmental heads to take decision as they feel fit. However, the departmental heads are not capable of taking their own decision and use to consult with the Cy for every decisions to be made. Lack of confidence among the departmental heads weakens the backbone of organizational success (Morgeson et al. 2013). Likewise, such lack of confidence of departmental heads makes delay in important decision making process of Casual Togs.

Another problem faced by the organization is lack of coordination among the decisions made by different departmental heads. Furthermore, Cy is too lenient and allows emotional outburst in the meeting for approval of departmental decisions. In such case, the departmental heads used to make clash with each other, when the changes brought by one departmental head influence on another department. Moreover, there is disagreement among the decisions made by various departmental heads. Clash in decision making process always hampers ultimate result of organizational decision making process (Lam et al. 2015). Hence, it is being quite difficult for Cy to implement the decision of preparing the daily printout towards forecasting sales volume.

Competition and Expansion

The other problem of Casual Togs is Judy, the Vice President of the organization and the sister of Cy. Judy is extreme autocratic in his leadership style for managing the employees of the organization. Autocratic leaders do not delegate any authority of decision making on the employees and rule the employees only per their instructions (Lazaroiu 2015). Likewise, Judy often countermands the instructions of the managers and hires and fires employees without the knowledge of managers. On the other hand, the promotional opportunity of the organization is not equal to all employees. Such unequal promotional opportunity leads to egotistical conflicts among the employees and even between the employers and employees (Lindebaum and Geddes 2016). In case of Casual Togs, the sales forecast/budget manager named Andy Johnson never gets any promotion despite of having rapport with Cy. It hampers his self-esteem needs and de-motivates him for performing at his best level. Overall, the organization is facing the issues of late product delivery, organizational conflicts, issues in sales forecasting, production and poor quality.

The sales teams of the Casual Togs are incapable of assessing the sales forecasting as per the demand of customers. Moreover, the departmental managers of the organization are not capable taking decision by their own. They have lack of confidence in making proper decision for which they are not capable of finding any proper solution for resolving the late delivery problems. The organization is also facing the issue of implementing the daily printed sales report for forecasting the sales in the five season cycles. High level of conflicts among the employees in regards to make organizational decision leads to poor organizational decision (Tian and Peterson 2016). Likewise, the conflicts among the departmental heads of Casual Togs have hampered its organizational decision. While one departmental head agree with preparation of printed daily sales report, then other departmental heads disagree with this decision. It ultimately hampers the implementation of organization regarding preparation of printed daily sales report. It also has led to sales forecasting issue during five season cycles.

Lack of coordination among the nine production shipping is also the reason for ineffective production system and late delivery to the customers. Emotional argument among the departmental heads regarding decision making leads to deviation of focus from the actual target of the organization. Moreover, such clash among the employees hampers the productivity and quality of the products. Furthermore, the autocratic leadership of Vice President is also discouraging the employees, which can hamper the product system of the employees leading issues in product quality and volume. On the other hand, unequal promotional opportunity hampers the self-esteem needs of the employees, which hinders their production capability (Lee, Kim and Kim 2013). Likewise, the unequal promotional opportunity for the sales forecast/budget manager has made him de-motivated to work and led him make clash with others.

Production and Delivery

Framing Suggestions for Changes to Match Organizational Goals

The suggestions should be provided to Cy, which would actually help him in solving the sales forecasting and late delivery issue. Clear plan for resolving problem can convince the business owner for implementing any organizational change (Coccia and Rolfo 2013). Likewise, the new and changed decision of suggestion provided to Cy should have clear idea about resolving sales forecasting and late delivery issue. Moreover, the suggestions should be made as per Cy’s perspective for persuading him for change.

A business owner is more likely to implement any organizational change, when the change particularly pays attention to the critical problem of his organization (Huang, Wang and Xie 2014). Likewise, the suggestion should pay clear attention to the sales forecasting issue of Casual Togs. It will encourage Cy towards implementing organizational change.

Decision makers are more likely to trust on the great performers than the average employees. They always get praise and attention of the business heads (Wine, Reis and Hantula 2014). Hence, in case of Casual Togs, the suggestion for organizational change should be offered from an effective performer. In this way, Cy can trust upon the suggested changes and be willing to implement the change.

The business heads can agree to an organizational change, where there is a sense of urgency for that change towards dealing with organizational uncertainties (Grau, Back and Mejia-Aguilar 2017). Likewise, it is extremely important for creating a sense of urgency in Cy for an organizational changes towards dealing with the uncertainties of sales volume and late product delivery. It would definite persuade him for the change.

It will always be advantageous to convince Cy in groups rather than in alone. Moreover, the suggestion for the change should first be communicated among some of other staffs and they should also be convinced for the change. After that, the group should try to convince Cy with all the advantage of the change. The pitch for the convincing Cy should be positive enough for exploring all the positives of the change. It would add to the way of persuading Cy for the change.

Objective data is always better that subjective data for creating trust among the business heads for any organizational change (Conard et al. 2016). Likewise, it is required to present Cy with objective data of organizational change. Such objective data would show the actual credibility of the change towards resolving the issue of sales forecasting and late delivery of the products. In this way, the objective data would be helpful for persuading Cy for the change.

Sales Forecasting

The vice president should empower the employees and delegate some authority to the employees for taking their decision by their own. It would enhance the confidence of the employees for taking their necessary work decision by their own (Mo and Shi 2017). Hence, they would be capable of finding effectively solution for erroneous sales forecast and late delivery. On the other hand, the business owner Cy should not be too much lenient for the employees and should not allow emotional outburst in important business decision. Moreover, he should provide kind support to the employees, while taking any decision regarding resolving sales forecasting issue. It would enhance the effectiveness of decision making, which would ultimately give solution to the problem (Hong, Wayne and Liden 2016). Furthermore, the organization should also foster shared value among the employees for making effective coordination among them. The management should ask the employees to find the solution of sales forecast, late delivery and implementation of printing daily sales report in a group manner. The management body should ask the employee to make decision by group having shared value among them rather than making decision by individual departments. It will also minimize the conflicts among the employees.

Unlike the Vice President Judy, the management of the organization should allow the departmental heads and other employees in decision making process. Furthermore, the vice president should also welcome the decisions made by the managers. Moreover, the vice president should follow transformational leadership style for allowing the employees in decision making process. Organizations are more likely to get unique ideas for resolving business problems, when they allow employees in organizational decision making process (Mai et al. 2016). Likewise, Casual Togs will also get proper solution for sales forecasting issues and late delivery issue by allowing the employees in decision making process. Furthermore, the managers of the organization should offer equal promotional opportunity to the employees for encouraging them towards increasing productivity and quality of work. It will resolve the issue of quality and production for the apparel products to be provided to the customers.

Casual Togs should frame flat organizational structure within the organization. In flat organizational structure, there are little or no middle level managers between the higher level management and lower level employees (Lind and van den Bos 2013). Flat organizational structure has short chain of command and wide span of organizational control over the business process and the employees. Likewise, flat organizational structure would facilitate the high managers of Casual Togs in keeping direct observation on the sales trends. Hence, they can better understand and forecast the sales trends in the five season cycles. Furthermore, as per Herzberg Motivation theory, less rigid company policy and structure are always more likely to motivate the employees towards better performance (Ljungholm 2014). Hence, such organizational structure having less numbers of organizations head would encourage the employees towards better performance.

Management Issues

Flat organizational structure facilitates in greater level of communication between the employees and management (Talukdar 2015). Moreover, communication is generally faster, more effective and more reliable than the matrix organizational structure. Hence, the high level managers would be able to better communicate with the sales teams and production team. In this way, reliable communication with the sales teams and production team would help the managers towards effectively identifying the reasons of late delivery of products to the customers.

In flat organizational structure, decision making process is much quicker than the matrix organizational structure (Kilburg and Donohue 2014). Hence, such flat organizational structure would also implement the preparation of daily sales report immediately. Moreover, in such structure, there will be no middle level managers and departmental heads. Therefore, there will be less chance of clash among the departmental heads regarding the implementation of daily sales report for effectively forecasting the sales. It will also minimize the conflicts among the departmental managers and lead to proper organizational change. Furthermore, direct observation on the employees will help the high level managers in identifying the issues of the individual employees and resolving those issues for minimizing the employee conflicts.

Employee motivation and Enhancing Product Quality

Customers in today’s market are more concerned about the about the quality of products rather anything else (Mayfield and Mayfield 2014). Moreover, in fashion industry, quality is the first factor, which customers are seeks within the apparels during their purchase. Hence, Casual Togs should conduct an effective market research for understating the level of quality needs for the customers. In this way, such quality should be incorporated within apparel products of the organization. Unique quality of the apparel products will position the organization uniquely in the market by meeting the changing quality needs of the customers. The organization should motivate the employees through meeting their individual needs for aligning their efficiencies in production system for improving product quality.

Proper Sales Forecasting 

The major problem of Casual Togs is to assess the uncertainties of the sales trends in the market. Moreover, the organization is not capable enough to forecast the sales in the five seasons. It actually hampers the production system and leads to late delivery of products to the customers. Hence, the organization should immediately implement system of computer printed daily sales report for identifying the sales trends of the customers. It would definitely help the organization in identifying the changes in the sales demands and making proper product process as per the demand.

Employee Empowerment

Employee empowerment can be the best tool for making the employee responsible for completing their own jobs effectively by their own (Mo and Shi 2017). It would also help in making the employees more flexible towards accepting changes as per business requirements with changing market condition. As per Maslow’s motivational theory, employee empowerment encourages an employee towards being highly efficient in their work. Likewise, employee empowerment to the employees of Casual Tog will encourage them to be adaptive with the changed organizational process for meeting the changing needs of market.

Affordable Price

Casual Togs is facing deadly price competition from the major competitors of fashion industry in the market. Such deadly price competition has increased the bargaining power of the customers for the organization. Hence, the organization should use affordable price for winning the deadly price competition and increasing the overall sales volume.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Conclusion 

While concluding the study, it can be said that Casual Togs is facing major issue of sales forecast and late delivery of products to the customers. The business owner has decided to implemented computer printed daily sales report for forecasting the sales volume. However, the clashes among different departmental heads are hampering the implementation of this change. Apart from that, the departmental heads are not capable of taking decision for their own work. The organization is also facing deadly price competition from the competitors in the market. Hence, the business owner of the organization should be willing to change the business process for resolving the current issue.

Recommendation for CasualTogs
Implementation of Daily Sales Report	Casual Togs should immediately implement the computer printed daily sales report for forecasting the sales volume. It will lead to effective production system and delivery of products to the customers on right time.
Delegate Authority to Employees	The employees of the organization should be delegated with the enough authority for making proper business decision for their own work. It would help the organization in getting prompt solution for the organizational problems from those employees.
Integration among Nine Production Shipping	There should proper integration among the nine production shipping offices of Casual Togs for timely delivery of product to the customers. It would ultimately reduce the issue of product return from the customers.
Enhancing Product Quality	Casual Togs should also enhance the quality of the apparel product. It would attract huge customer groups to the organization, which will help in beating the deadly price competition.

Table 1: Recommendation for Casual Togs

(Source: Created by Author)

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