Butch's Boarding and Grooming

Butch’s boarding and grooming is located in Northwest, Arkansas. While Butch’s has been in business for over 50 years, there have been various owners since the passing of Butch. Lori and Jeffery Pitts, are the current Owners of the kennel, and take care of all aspects of the business. I began working for Lori about 3 years ago, at that time business was slower than what it normally was. In order to increase customer base Lori and Jay began advertising on the radio and in the newspapers. Shortly after beginning the advertising campaign, business began booming. Generally we groom about 10 – 12 dogs per day and the boarding fluctuates. During peek vacation times, it is possible to have up to 30 dogs boarding while at non-peek times it could be one or two up to an average of 15 dogs per week.

 The groups, which exist inside the organization, are natural work groups. Natural work groups are groups where “all report to the same person on a "permanent" basis.” Since Lori is the owner, and responsible for the grooming side of the business, anyone that comes to work for her belongs to the group that reports solely to Lori for any problems, decisions, or thoughts they may have as well as when tasks are completed. In this type of business, natural work groups are best since there is only one person to report to on a normal basis. Jay is responsible for the kennel part of the business, and all employees report to Jay for issues that arise on the kennel side of the business.

Some areas that need addressing are the issues with management. Decision-making is done through Lori, however; there are times that Lori is not available and it is my recommendation that some sort of process be implemented in times that Lori is not available. I believe a chain of command should be set in place for employees to follow in times that Lori is not around. Group decision-making needs to be implemented when Lori is around so there are no questions on what to do when she is not around. I would recommend that the employees sit down with management and discuss normal decisions on a weekly basis and employees should present their thoughts on what should be done so management is comfortable with employees making decisions as well, not just management.

 The teams found inside the organization would be grooming teams and boarding teams. Each team is dedicated to the work that needs to be produced and work towards a common goal of completing the daily requirements of what needs to be done. As for the grooming aspect of the organization, it is our responsibility to comb out, bathe, dry, and then groom the animal. This process starts with coming out to ensure the bath will be productive, and then the drying begins so the haircut is done properly. For the barding side of the organization, there special steps that are followed on a daily basis. Dogs are let out in the morning while the kennels are cleaned. After cleaning food and water needs preparation, and then the animals can come back in to eat. This process is done in the morning and then the processes of letting the animals out to use the bathroom are done periodically throughout the day. Both the grooming and boarding teams are an important part of this organization and are required to ensure business runs as smooth as possible with little or no conflict.