Reference no: EM133464583

Stephen Nash inherited Sunflower Seeds Ltd, a single-site nursery and garden centre, from his uncle. The business, set on the edge of a market town in south-eastern England, enjoys a good local reputation. At the weekends especially, large numbers of customers come from both the town and the outlying villages, and business is brisk.

However, it becomes clear to Stephen that everything is not quite as it should be. Sales and purchases are not properly recorded, and the only paperwork that is always retained are Visa card receipts and delivery notes.

The nursery employs 30 staff. Six of these are gardeners, who work tending the plants in allotments at the side of the centre before they are ready to be sold. A further ten are concerned with customer service and sales. Four work on the purchasing side: travelling to and from wholesalers, and making purchases as they see fit. There is an office staff of three who handle wages and other personnel matters, and also deal with the sales and purchasing reconciliation. The remaining seven are school and college students who work part-time on Saturdays and Sundays.

It seems to Stephen that some of the employees are a bit slapdash. One of the gardeners, an old gentleman who has worked for the company for forty years, clearly regards himself as the senior manager. Two of the others only came into nursery work after losing jobs in local factories. The part-time staff tend to turn up and leave when they feel like it on Saturdays and Sundays, and sometimes do not come in at all.

In the shop, things are not very much better. The appearance of the shop is treading a very fine line between being fully, if rustically, stocked, and being a mess. When Stephen has enquired politely about this, he has been told 'This is what the customers expect to see. This is the way that it always has been.'

Stephen has also looked at the books. The company's accountant has produced figures at the bottom of which he has started: 'These are accurate on the basis of the information that I have received. 'It is clear that while income turnover is rising, expenditure is going up much more sharply and the figures for this and the previous two years are as shown opposite.

There is a full canteen in which the staff eats their lunch and take their breaks. On the wall of this, there is a tatty old sheet, written by another of the uncle's old retainers. This person, a man in his fifties, seems to have assumed the general responsibility for everything, and oversees all of the financial transactions. He is very fierce about everyone starting work on time and not finishing until six in the evening. The trouble is that he himself is never there until 10.30 in the morning, and once he arrives he spends all his time either on the phone to his favourite contacts within the business, or else wandering round prying into everybody else's business.

This has rubbed off on the rest of the staff, and everyone seems to be a little careless. Garden tools are often put away dirty at the end of the day, and the whole nursery has a muddy, unkempt look about it. Overall, therefore, behind the scenes, the prevailing attitude is one of 'couldn't care less'.

The firm continues to have an excellent name in the neighbourhood, but it has become apparent to Stephen that the overriding reason for this is that there is no local competition.

Question 1

What leadership style should Stephen adopt and why? What actions is he going to have to take in order to make this acceptable to everyone involved?

Question 2

What responsibilities does Stephen have in tackling each of the problems indicated above?