Sundown Bakery Case Study - 1037 Words

Sundown Bakery Case Study Sundown Bakery Case Study Sundown Bakery reads like a typical small business story where rapid growth can be as detrimental and hard to manage as rapid contraction. Small business owners are typically the type of people who are rich with specific skills, but are missing fundamental management skills and are often ill equipped when it comes to managing rapid expansion of their individual business. Sundown Bakery is no different in my opinion. Through this paper it is my intention to clearly identify some of the issues resulting from the rapid expansion and to recommend some possible solutions that would have helped them avoid their current situation. As I read through the story of Sundown Bakery’s rapid†¦show more content†¦As the company grew the two owners clearly lost sight of what was important to their business from its inception. In a very poor attempt to restore and gain order they hired a man who had come from a very corporate background. Mikelson’s presence and management style created further distance due to the very impersonal manner in which messages were conveyed. Mikelson’s content message may have been positive, but his relational message was clearly lacking any sort of personal touch, and despite the size of Sundown Bakery at the time of his hire, he obviously did not recognize this as a company with employees who had become accustomed to a very personal type of management style. The diverse cultures also played a role in the tensions mounting as demonstrated by Jose’s reluctance to take direction from a woman due to his upbringing. In my opinion, early structure and recognition were keys to making Sundown Bakery as successful as it could possibly be. Carol and Bruce should have spent much more time interacting with their key employees as a way of keeping their fingers on the pulse of the operation as well as continuing to make the employees feel important and a part of the business. As the text states, â€Å"Communication is irreversible† (Adler, 2009, pg. 10) and in the case of Sundown Bakery, the communication thus far has followed a very negative path. Communication is a process, so in order to right the ship Carol and Bruce will need to make a concerted effortShow MoreRelatedSundown Bakery Case Study2167 Words   |  9 Pagesby considering the impact of the sender, message, decoding, feedback, context, and probable sources of noise. Describe how the problems you identified could have been minimized by different communication strategies. According to the case study, Sundown Bakery has been experiencing turmoil between its management and employees. The major catalysts of the situation involved newly hired operations manager Has Mickelsons decision to impose new rules on matters such as the compulsory use of uniforms