Global/Multicultural
References Work Place Case (First Item)
September 22, 1994
To avoid an "us-vs.-them" tone, Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc., a Florida architectural, engineering, planning and environmental-services concern, set up a management team to represent its eight locations. "It's one person, one vote," says Leerie Jenkins, head of the outfit. The group meets monthly at the Jacksonville HQ, "but we talk almost daily," he says.
Nearly one-third of branch offices of design and environmental service companies say they get mediocre headquarters support, according to Mark Zweig of Mark Zweig & Associates, a Natick, Mass., management consulting and publishing concern. It adds that the best home-office support is in the areas of finance and accounting. While their field is specialized, Messrs. Zweig and Jenkins say, the basic tenet of good branch tending holds for other types of businesses as well: Communication is crucial. Also vital: linking electronically to chat and move around workloads via computer.
Little things give branch folks heartburn, says Mr. Zweig, like getting handme-down computers from the home office.