Learning Team Case Study

Learning Team Case Study

Team A selected a situation that Shannon Payne is currently experiencing at her workplace. The problem is with the two-person accounting department where the person in charge has poor interpersonal communication skills and the other member of the accounting department just fills in as-needed. The problem occurred when the company had some problems with the company’s credit card; therefore, causing problems with ordering parts as well as using UPS to ship and receive packages. The problem was so severe that the company had to start using FedEx because the UPS account was not being paid. The FedEx alternative was more expensive for the company also. The problem in the accounting department was finally sorted out, but it did cause a lot of frustration and embarrassment for the company as well as the employees. Because of this problem, orders had to be placed again and Shannon felt that the situation wound up reflecting poorly on the company, as well as herself as an employee.

First, we must identify the problem that Shannon and the other personnel are facing in the organization. At times we may come in contact with individuals that consider themselves fully qualified to perform the duties set before them; however, this presents a situation where you may have to get the job done yourself to ensure it is done correctly.

The company has been told by the vendors that their payment was not made; therefore, UPS has suspended their account until unpaid items are rectified. Due to this inconvenience, the company had to contact a different shipping organization, FedEx, and pay their inflated prices in order to ship their packages at the end of each day. Embarrassment has settled in with the individuals that are ordering the parts and some tension has risen among the co-workers and management. Eventually the problem was resolved but not before causing embarrassment and headaches for the co-workers who endured them every day. Even though the problem is not currently an issue, will it happen again? What are the steps that can be taken to prevent this problem from recurring? We will now look into the decision-making process to determine what actions could have been taken to prevent this situation from occurring.

Was the accountant accurately tracking the credits and debits of the organization? It is apparent that the accountant was not keeping good records of the day-to-day activities involving the use of the credit card. If she had an accurate ledger she would have been able to see that the credit card payments had not been made; therefore, jeopardizing the future purchases for the parts department. The owner, after this situation was identified, called the accountant into his office to inquire why the payments had not been made. Her response was that she was on vacation and felt that the transactions could wait until after her trip. This disgusted the owner and yet the repercussions were not harsh enough in the minds of the employees.

The parts department orders parts on a daily basis. These parts are not paid for by the customer in advance; therefore, the company cannot afford to have financial issues that hinder the delivery of the merchandise. The parts are required to perform the service on the planes which, in turn, brings in revenue required to pay the company’s accounts and employees. Because the credit card was denied while trying to order parts, the scheduled maintenance came to a halt. The employees had to find alternate means of payment to order these parts. Eventually, it was found that a few companies were willing to do a Net 30 account where the airport would receive a statement of billing at the end of the