Materials management: The key is people management (five brief case histories)

This article outlines the basic functions of materials management and then comments on the state of affairs as currently experienced by companies around the world. It also points out that the findings of past research have not been very helpful to the practicing managers. Nearly 80% of the companies remain frustrated with problems in their materials flow systems in spite of their concentrated efforts and huge expenditures on consultants, employee training, and computers and software. The author of this article puts forth a hypothesis that ‘All the problems of materials management have their roots in management of people.’ He attempts to prove this hypothesis with the help of five case studies in which he has participated himself as a consultant. A brief description of each of these is provided, and certain descriptive analyses and arguments are presented to indicate that in every case, the root cause of failure of the materials management function could be attributed directly to loose discipline, poor employee training, ineffective reward systems, lower caliber of personnel, bad habits, misdirected motivations, or negative attitude of employees in general.