The central problem the company faces

The company’s annual stock-taking takes place today, tomorrow and over the weekend. All staff have to take part. The work is fairly dirty (the warehouses are not kept very clean), tiring (you stand up all day), and repetitive (all you do is count stocks of one product after another – for all twelve thousand products!).

However, the most depressing aspect is the complete lack of organisation. No-one really knows what they are supposed to be doing. The two managers in charge (IT Manager Jeremy Gadd and Commercial Manager Mike Slattery) are so woefully inadequate as project managers and such poor motivators that the whole stock-taking operation has become a shambles. Their attitude is one of: Trust us, we know what we are doing (except that no-one trusts them, and their credibility is close to zero).

Things came to a head when warehouse operative Frank Benn (in his fifties, very scruffy in appearance, has a history of alcohol abuse, but is usually very mild-mannered and inoffensive) went to lunch at 12 o’clock (his usual time) and was called back by Mike Slattery and told he had to go at 1 o’clock. Frank Benn almost exploded with anger, so that Mike Slattery (who is a very bombastic and loud person) was momentarily humbled.

Events such as stock-taking highlight the central problem the company faces – none of the senior managers have enough confidence to take decisions without the input of Trevor Bush, the Managing Director and Owner. And as Trevor Bush can only be at one location at a time, things just seize up whenever he is not around. For a multi-million pound enterprise, with numerous operations and locations, this is a very serious problem.

There is one other factor that influences the paralysis at the heart of the company. Trevor Bush has, in recent months, become distracted. It is a distraction so secret and sensitive that I hardly dare write about it, even in the obscurity and anonymity of this weblog…