Report looks at changing roles of supply chain managers

PORTLAND, Ore. — A study by an Oregon State University researcher indicates just how important it is for supply chain professionals to keep their people skills well-honed — particularly during tough economic times.

In his new paper in the Journal of Business Research, Zhaohui Wu says supply chain executives must not only keep costs under control, but balance the divergent needs of internal customers, suppliers, and buyers. Keeping everyone happy, he finds, is even more difficult than previously thought due to recessionary conditions.

Wu and a team of researchers examined whether the skill that most supply managers need to master — the ability to wear many hats and take on multiple roles — should have a positive effect on their interpersonal relationships.

In-depth interviews with 11 supply managers and their key contacts in eight diverse U.S. companies, however, showed just the opposite. Suppliers believed that supply managers who excelled at these different roles were viewed in a more negative light by suppliers.

"Suppliers seem to think they are acting fake, that the supply manager is putting on different faces," Wu explains. "They questioned the sincerity of the manager, and the better that manager was at navigating between the roles, the more the supplier doubted his intentions." 

Supply chain management is a more cognitive,
sophisticated job than it was in the past

Wu found that being the middleman in a supply chain relationship is more complicated than ever. Both companies and suppliers want a supply manager with ability to take on multiple roles — to negotiate on behalf of the buyer as well as to work efficiently with the supplier.

The research finds that the four roles a supply manager needs to master are: a negotiator for the buyer, a facilitator between buyer and supplier, an advocate for the supplier, and an educator of internal customers.

"The nature of supply management has changed. Most of the time now, you are dealing with overseas companies, and price negotiation is just part of the job. There is more time pressure to get the product, more focus on quality control, and managing the expectation of both the suppliers and your internal customers," he says.

"It’s a more cognitive, more sophisticated job than it was in the past… Supply managers were largely seen as number crunchers, people who had to be good with negotiating contracts. This is no longer the case."

Because this juggling of roles is an aspect of the modern managers, Wu says, more research needs to be done to find out how managers can integrate their roles smoothly.

"Maybe some of the supply chain managers are like George Clooney, just naturally good at smoothly navigating relationships, we don’t know," Wu said. "Or perhaps there are tools that can help form a coherent identity. The cognitive aspect is missing in supply chain research; in this paper we are just measuring the behavioral aspect.