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human relations question?

C & J is a manufacturing company that specializes in writing instruments. The past year was a difficult one for the company, as it sought to retain its share in a market in which the largest competitors were also rapid innovators. C & J introduced a new product late in the year, even though testing was not complete. It was a pen designed with two cartridges: one supplying ink and the other correction fluid. A person could then switch easily between writing and correcting errors. It was priced fairly high, and was never heavily advertised. Even so, the Correct-O-Pen, as the product was named, was an overwhelming success.

The success of the product has Fern Donald, the manager of the New Products division, worried, however. She was concerned that quality problems would begin occurring, since the longevity of the pen and stability of the correction fluid formulation has not been tested. She did not want sales personnel to get the bonuses that appeared to be indicated, since they might aggressively promote a product that would fail in use. She preferred to complete testing of the pen first, so that more confidence could be placed in the results.

Top management, however, declined the tests. Ms. Donald then instructed you, the accountant, not to prorate payroll taxes or rent expense for the rest of the year, but to show them as current expenses in total. In this way, the new product would appear to be only slightly profitable.

What if anything is wrong

1 Comment
  1. bigcherrybomb says

    oh there is a lot wrong in this thing.
    1) you should never put out a product that has not been fully tested and has passed. it then should do what you said it does. to not do that is to make a big mistake
    2) fern donald should not have done what she did either. she should have made her complaints known and documented but it was her bosses who made the final decision and she must then follow their orders. if she really was concerned greatly she could have gone over their heads.

    common sense people!

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