Operations Management: An Integrated Approach, 5th Edition

CASE: The Research Office Moves

Jeannette, the senior administrative assistant, has just learned that she is in charge of the upcoming move of the research office at Southwest University. She has coordinated several such moves before and immediately begins organizing her thoughts. Determining what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and who needs to do it are critical to a successful move. From past moves, Jeannette knows the first step is having the management team allocate the offices available to the different departments. She knows that each department manager fights for the best office space. Because of the politics, Jeannette expects this activity to take three weeks.

After the management team finalizes departmental allocations, each department manager allocates office space to individuals within the department. This is also quite political and typically takes two weeks. Individuals often take the office space allocations personally, and each manager needs time to smooth any ruffled feathers. The allocation decisions are returned to Jeannette so that she can develop an overall layout for the move. She normally does this in about four weeks. During the first week of this phase, Jeannette sends each individual a printout of the floor space they will have and requests that they determine how the furniture is to be arranged. Individuals inform her of any additional or replacement office furniture needs. They indicate where phone jacks and computer hookups should be. Each ...