Now You Try It: Planning and Controlling

Organizational Planning and Controlling

Gaming the System

James is an owner and operator of a small 25-person factory of a boardgame he co-developed. He got into the business when he and one of his friends, Shelly, decided they would make their own boardgame. They named it Cosmic Quest. James and Shelly created the physical parts necessary for Cosmic Quest by hand and released an online instruction manual. They talked about their boardgame on the popular website Reddit, and Reddit users asked James to send a copy. It was just a few people, so he agreed to sell them for $100 each plus shipping.

James wanted small, modular pieces that were essential to the Cosmic Quest's proper functioning. No manufacturer would create the boardgame and these pieces for a reasonable price. Therefore, he and Shelly decided to manufacture it themselves.

At first only one copy every other day sold. James and Shelly would manufacture the game in James' basement the weekend after the order was made. With experience, they were able to manufacture each copy of Cosmic Quest in about 1 hour. People commented on the wonderful handmade quality that the game had. Within a few months, word of Cosmic Quest spread online. Demand started taking off. Shelly was flattered, but she had another career to be concerned with. She became a silent partner in the unexpected new business she and James owned, and left James to manage.

James had a problem. He couldn't do all this manufacturing, shipping, marketing, and selling by himself. Further, established manufacturers he looked at to create the game had unreasonable demands. James made the bold decision then that he would start his own factory to manufacture Cosmic Quest.

Over the next year, James found investors and took on the massive job of creating his factory, although he and Shelly still owned a majority of the business. James hired his 25 staff (20 people involved in different parts of the manufacturing line, and 5 administrative staff). At first, the factory was doing well. Product quality remained high and people were happy. Over the next 6 months, however, customers started to complain about the following issues:

1. Some copies of Cosmic Quest that customers received were missing key components.
2. Critical game pieces would sometimes break too easily.
3. Some customers received service via the company email within hours. Other times, they may not hear back from a customer service representative for weeks.
4. There were large amounts of wasted materials every day that had to be thrown out.

Employees were indifferent to whether they were doing a good job. "Oh well – it doesn't affect my pay or performance feedback" one was overheard saying. That's when James knew something had to be done. James phoned you for help. "This factory is only 6 months old. I don't understand – how can this be happening?" "What quality controls do you have in place?" you responded. "What's a control?" James inquires. You sigh, "We have a lot of work to do".

James tells you that he trained every one of his employees to do their job. He trusted that everyone takes sufficient pride in their work, and that should be enough to see that the job is done right. "I didn't implement any controls. I didn't know they were something people did because I didn't have time to learn. Can you help me implement some?"

Questions

1. There are 4 issues that have been identified. Create a specific control that will remedy each of the following issues:
   1. Missing key components in copies of the game.
   2. Game pieces breaking easily.
   3. Customer service being inconsistent and taking a long time.
   4. Large amounts of waste.
2. How is employee performance assessment related to the controls you have recommended?

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Source: Scott van Dyk, https://collection.bccampus.ca/course-packs/introduction-to-management/#module-13
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.