CASE STUDY R.E. Construction: It’s Now or Never When Engineer Romeo Estabillo finished his Civil Engineering course at Mapua Institute of Technology, he took the board examination and passed it in 1981. Wanting to start independently, he went back to his hometown (Santiago City) to organize his own construction firm. In his first few years of operation, he accepted contracts for the construction of residential houses. As he gained experience, his clients grew in number, and even the most prominent persons in the province of Isabela availed of his services At the start, he hired two assistants to help him in his daily routine as a contractor. One of the two assistants, Mr. Silvino Santiago, was a third year civil engineering student who had stopped schooling due to financial difficulties. His main task was a draftsman. His duty was to produce all documents relating to the physical requirements of the various contracts entered into by his boss. Among, these documents are the building plan, specifications, bill of materials, building permit, etc. his additional duty was to assist Engineer Estabillo in supervising the foremen and workers at the various construction sites. The second assistant, Mr. Romulo Mamaril, was assigned to coordinate purchasing bookkeeping, and other related administrative activities. At the third year of operations, Engineer Estabillo was already directing operations in his newly constructed office inside his residential compound. By this time, two more female employees were hired to assist in the various tasks performed in the office. By 1994, Engineer Estabillo reviewed his company’s payroll. It indicated that he has in his employ six full time civil engineers, two draftsmen, ten administrative personnel, one messenger and one security guard. The foremen and laborers working at the various projects were contractual. By June 1996, Engineer Estabillo felt that business was continuously growing, so he will have to secure the services of four civil engineers on a full-time basis. As he was directly supervising all operations, he now feels that he may not be able to perform his functions effectively if he will push through with the plan. He wants to make a decision, but he is apprehensive. He thinks operations are now more complex that decision- making must be a little scientific. With this thought, he pondered on how he will go about solving the problem Discussion Items: Does Engineer Estabillo have to secure the services of four additional civil engineers on a full-time basis? If he decided to push through with the plan of adding four full-time civil engineers, will he be able to perform his functions effectively?