Respond to…

Discuss a possible negative managerial scenario that the regional manager may be sensing. Might the manager of Store 9 be an exceptional manager?

Zoya, the regional manager may be sensing that the manager of Store 9 is mishandling the store’s controllable costs.  These types of costs are considered the expenditures to which a manager is responsible (Schneider, 2017). At the store level the manager would be the individual whom would handle such actions as setting up training, community outreach and advertising and therefore would also be the one that would ensure the payments or any incurred cost associated with these activities get accounted for and paid.  Subsequently, while Store 9 may have the outer appearance that it is doing well and is profitable that may not be the actual case and the manager of Store 9 may not be an exceptional manager at all. 

What are the ethical implications of the scenario?

It is the duty and responsibility of the manager to be ethical and have a practice of ethical behavior when conduct every realm of their position’s responsibilities.  However, the case study gives the strong implication that there is an ethical issue in regards to her colleague’s behavior and their adherence to the business practices and policies of the company in order to personally advance. The reasoning for this is that Store 9’s manager appears to not have spent funds on training or community events in the possible intent to save the money and reallocate in order to make the store appear as profitable.  Also the manager may be mishandling the advertising money in that it spent the majority of the budget in a short period. 

What is the regional manager’s ethical responsibility in this scenario?

The regional manager has the responsibility to further investigate her suspicions to determine if they can be substantiated and to ensure that there is no logical and reasonable explanation for the issues.  If her allegations are founded then she must report any irregularities and/or findings up the chain of command.  By not doing this Zoya compromises the integrity of the store, the overall company and its employees and most importantly her own. 

References:

Schneider, A. (2017). Managerial Accounting: Decision making for the service and manufacturing sectors(2nded.) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Respond to…

In this scenario is appears that the manager of store 9 is mainly concerned about their personal success in the business rather than the success of the store as a whole. I have gathered that assumption through their lack of training and community events. This manager has a strictly “business” outlook rather than a compassionate, caring management style.

According to Schneider (2017), “Cost control is the measuring cost incurred; comparing these costs with budgets, goals, targets or standards; and evaluating differences or variances” (sect.1.2). Clearly the manager is able to effectively manage cost control because every store they have been employed at is a success, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are an exceptional manager. A management position entails more than just reaching success goals. They need to keep employee morale up and make the store an inviting work environment. This is where I feel that the manager is lacking in. Many of the budgets were spent early in year therefore their operating expenses were high, but I’m sure they were able to meet quarterly goals which is the managers ultimate goal because that is a win for them for a promotion.

The regional manager has every right to ensure their store managers are acting in an ethical manner. I think the best option for Zora Arbiser is to experience the manager’s style of leading and also do an audit of the year’s cost. That way there can be an examination of the personalities and the cost being incurred and it might help to clear up questions that have arose.

Schneider, A. (2017). Managerial Accounting: Decision making for the service and manufacturing sectors (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/