Background:

As you watched this clip you noticed each person blamed the other or corrected the other on "whose fault" this problem is/was.  Notice the areas of the Supply Chain they speak to:

1. The Boss asks Berger why since his team closed the deal - Assume Sales

2. Berger then throws Hollander under the bus by saying she stated that capacity could be increased - Assume produciton planning & scheduling

3. Hollander corrects Berger & states that her comment was misinterpreted & that her #'s were only based on projections (last quarter's # plus 2%) - Assume forecasting

4. Finally the unnamed employee mentions that he only has so many components ordered & he based his #'s on projects (again) - Assume purchasing & materials management

In the end the discussion comes full circle back to the Boss as the unnamed employee states that the Boss gave him the projections when pressed on where he got them from.

Questions for Thought:

1. Can you think of a time when you were in a meeting like this one that went full circle or almost full circle through the blame game?

2. What is lacking between these managers in this example? Other than a better method than Hollander's for estimating capacity!

3. What can we learn from this albiet ficticious but very plausible example of how the planning process goes arwy?