Overview of Management
Introduction
Kudler Fine Foods is the result of Kathy Kudler's vision to make a one-stop gourmet food shop that offers a wide selection of food and cooking tools for people who are tired of shopping all over town. Kudler Fine Foods went into operation in 1998; and due to the success of the shop, Kudler Fine Foods opened up two other stores in the San Diego area. The stores offer a variety of domestic and imported foods that are divided into five categories: bakery and pastries, produce, meat and seafood, condiments and packaged foods, and cheese and specialty dairy product. Kudler Fine Foods' organization structure is divided into six major departments: finance and accounting (F&A), sales and marketing, human resources (HR), operations, legal, and information technology (IT).
Functions of Management
According to Gomez-Mejia-Balkin, there are four management functions: planning and strategizing, organizing, leading, and controlling.(Gomez-Mejia and Balkin, 2002) At Kudler Fine Foods, Kathy Kudler is the president of the company, Harvey Stephens is the director of Finance and Accounting; Yvonne Reynolds is the director of Store Operations; Brenda Wagner is the director of Administration and Human Resources. To identify specifically who is responsible for each management function at Kudler is not possible because all departments have a role in the four management functions and all departments must work together to effectively perform the four management functions. For example, it takes the whole organization to arrange and coordinate the organization's human, financial, physical, informational, and technical resources; not the sole responsibility of the HR department. Similarly, it is ...