BUS 210 Project 1 Management Brief: SNHU Pet Supply Company Management

BUS210 Overview 

The SNHU Pet Supply Company is a 30-year-old organization based in Manchester, New Hampshire that produces and sells pet supplies. The company has 200 employees in Manchester; 100 employees in a satellite office in Denver, Colorado; and a remaining 300 employees who work remotely throughout the country. The organization has had to rapidly expand due to a substantial increase in consumer demand over the past two years.

Organizational Mission 

The SNHU Pet Supply Company’s mission is to provide high-quality pet food, treats, and toys to dogs and cats.

Culture Statement 

The SNHU Pet Supply Company is staffed by a diverse group of more than 500 employees who love pets and appreciate the joy and friendship they bring to our homes and communities. We are a passionate, friendly group of people who strive to provide high-quality products and customer-first services across the nation to our customers and their pets.

Organizational Goals 

• Make quality pet products easier for customers to obtain through decreasing production costs by 3% 
• Increase workplace efficiencies to deliver products more quickly and effectively
• Increase employee satisfaction ratings by 4%

BUS210 Organizational Structure 

The organization is divided into three divisions: food, toys, and supplies. Each division has its own product development, merchandising, marketing, sales, supply chain, and retail operations department. Although some of these departments collaborate on major projects, such as nationwide marketing campaigns, they usually work independently. The company also has other departments that cover all three divisions, such as Human Resources (HR) and Informational Technology (IT).

The Manchester and Denver offices are headed by the vice presidents (VPs) of each location. Most of the remote workers report to the VP at Manchester, although a handful are associated with the Denver office as well. Each office has its own divisional and departmental managers, and although these managers are given some independence on how to manage their teams, most decisions must be approved by their VPs or the executive leadership in Manchester.

A text-only version of the image above is available in the Supporting Materials section of the Project One Guidelines and Rubric in your course.

Organizational Communication 

The company primarily relies on formal communication methods such as email and in-person meetings; however, each colocated division also has its own preferred communication tools. Communication tools vary from comments in live documents (through Google’s G Suite applications or Microsoft Office 365) to instant messaging tools (through Skype, Teams, or Slack) to in-office whiteboards.

Employees and managers often note in feedback surveys that they do not receive information in a timely, consistent fashion, and that more often than not, they hear about major changes and initiatives through the grapevine or through informal conversations with coworkers. Employees on shared-services teams (HR and IT) also note that the different team cultures and communication preferences across divisions and locations make it difficult for them to collaborate and communicate with their coworkers.

Management Approaches 

As the company grew rapidly to meet consumer demands, it experienced rapid turnover. Leaders promoted veteran employees to management roles based on years of experience. These new managers were assigned direct reports at random, including direct reports from colocated divisions and fully remote employees working on colocated teams.