Review Questions MGMT Essay Example for Free

Review Questions MGMT Essay 1) Scheduling and sequencing are typically viewed from a technical perspective; that is, they are focused on minimizing quantitative measures such as lateness or cost. However, schedules also have intangible effects on customers, employees, and the perception of service quality. Discuss what some of these intangible effects might be and how managers should consider them when constructing schedules. Some intangible effects of schedules on customers, employees, and the perception of service quality could be, employee morale (overworked, underworked); customer/buyer satisfaction with rate of production/delivery of service; perception of efficiency of potential clients and ancillary support systems. Managers need to take into account that constructing schedules will impact stakeholders in different ways (Collier Evans, 2013). Where a quicker delivery time might make a customer happy, a salaried employee working 14 hour days to meet that demand may ultimately be causing more harm to the company in the long run. One of the best methods for developing schedules is an Activity-on-Node model. In this model, we can see the earliest start (ES) latest start (LS) earliest finish (LS) and latest finish for each activity of the project. Some of they may be able to run concurrently, which leads us to determining what the â€Å"critical path† would be. The critical path is the shortest time between activities that the project may be accomplished (Collier Evans, 2013). 2) Select two of Demings 14 Points and discuss the importance of them to operations managers (as well as all managers) in todays business environment. Deming’s steps 13 (Encourage Education and Self-Improvement) and 14 (Take Action) are the two that I find the most respectable attributes in operations managers and normal managers, alike. I have seen first-hand what sort of morale detriment can occur when self-improvement and education are not fostered in top-performers. For example, employee John Smith decides  he wants to obtain his Project Management Professional PMPâ„ ¢ certification. His company has a training budget that allows for such training, but Smith’s manager cannot rationalize the need for the certification, based on Smith’s current duties. Smith then decides to take vacation time and pay out of pocket to achieve this certification, nearly $2000 of his own money spent on professional development. Several months later, Smith’s company is awarded a substantial Earned Value (EV) contract from the DoD, in which a requirement was that there needed to be a certified PMPâ„ ¢ on the project team. Smith’s manager lacked the foresight to see the benefit of such a certification, and to this day, Smith has not been formally reimbursed for what ultimately led to the acquisition of a multi-million dollar contract. Needless to say, Smith’s regard for that manager severely diminished. Taking Action stood out to me as well, because I have seen what cost-plus contracts can do to a company. The â€Å"chaos is cash† mindset that melds into the minds of managers whose incumbencies are those contracts can be sickening. I once witnessed a company with a directorate that was so focused on this mind-set that deliveries were constantly late or with error, and it was considered the norm to have such things occur. DoD contractors are normally evaluated by the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), and this company was consistently in the unsatisfactory rating. With a new directorate and management, this company was able to climb that rating system two levels for the first time in over a decade. I attribute this to those whom replaced the previous directorate and managements â€Å"Take Action† attitude in correcting that horrific â€Å"cost-plus† mindset. 3) Explain how service quality is measured. Specifically, discuss how you may have experienced each of the five SERVQUAL dimensions as a consumer of services. â€Å"Service quality is consistently meeting or exceeding customer expectations (external focus) and service-delivery system performance criteria (internal focus) during all service encounters† Collier Evans, 2013). The 10 dimensions of SERVQUAL are as follows: SERVQUAL Dimensions Reliability Responsiveness Competence Access Courtesy Communication Credibility Security Understanding/knowing the customer tangibles In regards to reliability, I have had amazing reliability with MESA/BOOGIE guitar amplifiers. My MESA amp has lasted over 10 years with no issues. In regards to competence, USAA’s customer service and knowledge of their own products/services continues to amaze me every time I speak to them over the phone. I would also attribute the courtesy, responsiveness, and communication dimensions to USAA, as well. Their representatives are always well spoken, pleasant, and prompt to return inquiries. With understanding/knowing the customer, I would say Pacific Caliber is high on my list. We at Pacific Caliber can recognize the true, earned-value potential in the candidates we place with our clients, because we have been subject matter experts in those fields already. Much of this has to do with military affiliations and core values, as well. Access would go to Cotixansâ„ ¢ Mexican Restaurant. They have amazing food, 24/7, and are adjacent to my home. Security would go to Lockheed Martin’s private flight-test facilities, that is all I can comment on that. References Collier, D., Evans, J. (2013). OM4 (4th ed., Student ed.). Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.

The Dutch Attack on Landguard Fort Essay -- Papers

The Dutch Attack on Landguard Fort Q 1. Source A tells us that the Dutch attacked with about one-thousand men, in five-hundred small vessels and landed near Felixstowe cliff. Many of these soldiers had pikes. Silas Taylor, the author of the source, says that "some part" of the Dutch army attacked the fort, which is an early indication of the rear guard left behind. This also points to a possible reason for the failure of the attack, in that the Dutch did not attack with the full force of their army. He says that one English soldier was killed, two were wounded and that the Dutch made two attacks. He says the Dutch attacked boldly, but were as boldly and resolutely answered. However, he could be saying that the Dutch attacked boldly to make the English defence sound even better. We are told that the Dutch were put to "fright and flight" by the small guns from a galliot. The small guns from this ship were fired into the area were the Dutch were taking cover, and pebbles were thrown up which made them retreat. This source gives the overall impression that the Dutch made a strong attack, but were "boldly" answered by the English. The reliability of this source, however, is questionable, as it was written by an English man, who is bound to be biased towards his own country. Also, he was watching form Harwich, which is roughly two miles from Felixstowe. Q2. Source F does not support source B. Source B says that the Dutch ships were "so close to Landguard Fort that we expect fire to be given at any moment". Source F says that the ships were so far away from the fort that their shots would "scarcely reach (the fort)." The Dutch ... ...re casualties. This also could have been linked to De Ruyter's reluctance to commit large forces to attack. It is likely he did not want to risk any unnecessary victims, especially when he was aware of the task facing him. Also, while this attack was happening, peace negotiations were being held in Breda. After the Dutch victory in the Medway, they had the upper hand in negotiating a deal. De Ruyter would have wanted to avoid a disaster at Landguard that could have changed the balance of power in the negotiations. This victory was not essential, but keeping his fleet together and in control of the English Channel was. Overall, I think that the Dutch attack was not committed enough, but this was planned by De Ruyter, He knew the strength of the English fort, and did not want to risk any unnecessary casualties.

Analyzing Ethical Behavior Essay

In the course of this report, it will show the comparison of the ethical aspect of two well-known corporate giants, Enron and Bernie Madoff. The first subject Bernard Lawrence â€Å"Bernie† Madoff, Broker, Investment guru, Financier. Once herald as a financial king, he in his reign overnight turned white collar criminal, which led to a quick and easy demise. Second, Enron Corporation, known for energy and commodities, services, and well known for being a major player in the electricity and natural gas, and communication, pulp and paper company, crumbled to its knees into bankruptcy in the early 2000s. The question is, at the height of both these two companies, what went wrong. Where was the ethical breakdown? The who, what when and the why will be the focus of this report. Bernie Madoff, former chair of NASDAQ, started his parent company on Wall Street Bernie L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 1960 it was as the top of its game-bypassing firms who were specialist in the field of finance. Hijacked by Madoff’s firm with their signature OTC†¦Over the Counter orders with brokers. The company employed family and close friends that comprised of his brother Peter, Managing Director, his niece (peter’s daughter) Shana Madoff, compliance officer and attorney, and his two son’s Mark and Andrew. It was told by Madoff’s sons that their father made damaging statements, and confessed to them that the business was a lie, that it was a Ponzi scheme from the beginning, which led Federal agents to arrest Madoff, and all those involved. Madoff told authorities that the scheme began in 1990, but according to the FBI, it was started early as the 1970s. It has been reported that Madoff’s trial of deceit led his scheme to accumulate as much as $65 billion, with a reported estimate loss to investor of $18 billion. â€Å"Reports of ethical violations by upper level managers continue to multiply despite increasing attention being given to ethics by firms and business schools. Much of the analysis of these violations focus on either these manager’s lack of operation principles or their willingness to abandon principles in the face of competitive pressures† (Ludwig, 1993). Enron Corporation is the second in this detailed report of the fall of power. Traded on the NYSE: ENE, and based in Huston, Texas was an energy, commodities, and services company. For six consecutive years, Enron was named by Fortune Magazine as â€Å"America’s Pioneering Business†, with claimed revenues of $101 billion in the year 2000. What do most companies base their ethics upon; Enron’s code was one of Respect, Integrity, Communication and Excellence, described as treating others as they would be treated. Apparently they did not abide by that one in particular because as we go through this report, it will soon show the where the breakdown began. Integrity, working along with customers through honesty, Communication, obligated to interconnect with one another, Excellence, Not accepting anything less than the best in all that we do. These are just a few statements from Enron’s code of Ethics handbook. Given this code along with the assurance to professional ethics, it causes one to ponder these questions. How could a company dramatically collapse with reported revenues of $101 billion? With an increase the first, three quarters in 2001, falling into major bankruptcy in December of that same year. Could it be that the answer to these questions is a failure of the top leadership, a corporate culture caused the demise in its ethical beliefs along with the complicity of investors and the financial institutions? Enron’s corporate culture is described as having an appearance of arrogance that caused the public to trust that they could handle the risk without stumbling upon any danger to the company and to investors. This type of thought would make one not to sleep at night, but the implicit message from Enron was make the numbers, if you are caught stealing or cheating, ask for another chance, you may get one. You can see that Enron did not do anything to promote integrity nor respect; it was undermined by the company’s emphasis on reorganization, presentation, reparation and its considerations. To conclude, the answer as to why CEO’s have bilked their companies and investors out of billions of dollars and brought a collapse of hundreds of corporate giants, it is because unethical and criminal behavior is the morals by which they do what they have done are doing, even as this report is being written. An epidemic could explode and if nothing is done about it†¦then the American system of High Finance and Big Business will crumble to a screeching Holt and affect this country’s economy†¦. God forbid. â€Å"Destructive leaders can cause hardship not only to immediate followers, but to the broader population. For example when a large company struggles financially, it is not only employees, but customers, suppliers, and shareholders that are negatively affected. The cognitive processes employed by the leader play a large role in how he or she gathers information, interprets it, and makes decisions toward a course of action (L. Eubanks, 2010).

Oil Spill Effect on Environment and Community Free Essay Example, 2000 words

Oil spilling affects the wildlife which moves upwards towards the food chain as they are eaten by other organisms. Breeding is also affected as it becomes difficult for them to breed which is due to the behavior causing the bird sitting along with the reduction in the number of eggs which are laid. Lungs and air passages are also affected of the mammals and turtles which cause pneumonia, congestion and also emphysema. Many bacterial infections along with fungal infections are caused. Skin damage, irritation of the skin, nasal along with mouth cavities. Red blood cells are damaged and the lives of many birds along with mammals are affected badly. An adrenal tissue of the birds is affected which affect blood pressure and also fluid and the concentration of the fluid being affected. The stress level for the mammals is increased and there is also a visible decrease in the eggshells thickness. Various damages are caused which includes the damage which is caused to the mangrove habitats a nd also the seagrass health 2012). The feeding system is affected as well through the feeding done to the children by their mammal s mothers. We will write a custom essay sample on Oil Spill Effect on Environment and Community or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page Oil gets stuck with the sensory hair which causes problems in eating and there is also an infection in dugongs and also there are inflammations. Seal pups are rejected, starved and also abandoned.