I’m trying to study for my Management course and I need some help to understand this question.
CASE STUDY -
The president of Simplex Mills sat at his desk in the hushed atmosphere, so typical of business offices, after the close of working hours. He was thinking about Raymond, the manager in-charge of purchasing, and his ability to work with George, the production manager, and Simon, the marketing and sales manager in the firm. When the purchasing department was established two years ago, both George and Simon agreed with the need to centralize this function and place a specialist in charge. George was of the view point that this would free his supervisors from detailed ordering activities. Simon opined that the flow of materials into the firm was important enough to warrant a specialized management assignment. Yet since the purchasing department began operating it has been precisely these two managers who have had a number of confrontations with the new purchase manager, and occasionally with one another, in regard to the way the purchasing function in being carried out.
From George's point of view, instead of simplifying his job as production manager by taking care of purchasing for him, the purchasing department has developed a formal set of procedures that has resulted in as much time commitment on his part as he had previously spent in placing his orders directly with vendors. Further, he is specially irritated by the fact that his need for particular items or particular specification is constantly being questioned by the purchasing department. When the department was established, George assumed that the purchasing manager was there to fill his needs, not to question them.
As Simon sees it, the purchasing function is an integral part of marketing function, and the two therefore need to be jointly managed as a unified process. Purchasing function cannot be separated from a firm's overall marketing strategy. However, Raymond has attempted to carry out the purchasing function without regard for this obvious relationship between his responsibilities and those of Simon, thus making a unified marketing strategy impossible. In his previous position, Raymond had worked in the purchasing department of a firm considerably larger than Simplex. Before being hired, he was interviewed by all the top managers, including George and Simon, but it was the president himself who negotiated the details of the job offer.