Ch. 5-8, 10
What benefits do firms typically use to attract and keep productive workers? What are some of the less traditional benefits that firms are using?
Typically benefits to attract and keep productive workers include health, life, and disability insurance as well as paid time off and counseling services. Some less traditional benefits include payroll deductions to buy the stock at discounted prices, on-site childcare, and even gyms or health membership clubs.
What are three kinds of utility and give examples of each.
Utility comes in terms of form(converting raw materials and human skills into finished goods and services), time(if a theatre offers the showing of a movie at three different times per day all week), and place(theater offers 15 movies at one popular location).
Why is a company's informational organization important?
A company's informational organization is important because it is how employees communicate and can greatly affect the office moral and productivity.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a decentralized organizational structure?
A decentralized organizational structure is very effective but not very efficient. It is where most decision-making authority is delegated to levels of management at points below the top, like a sign-up sheet.
What are the major differences between high-contact and low-contact service systems? Give an example of each, comparing and contrasting them.
A low-contact system means that there does not need to be a lot of customer interaction, like getting an oil change. Conversely, a high-contact system means that the customer is very involved during the service delivery, like at the hairdresser.
Describe the roles and responsibilities of top, middle, and first-line managers.
A top manager is responsible for setting general policies, formulating strategies, approving all significant decisions, and observing the firm's overall performance and effectiveness. Middle managers are responsible for implementing strategy and working toward goals set by top managers. Finally, first-line managers are responsible for supervising the work of employees who report to them and ensuring employees understand and are appropriately trained in company policies and procedures.
Describe the "big five" personality traits and how they contribute to employee performance.
Agreeableness(ability to get along with others), conscientiousness(number of things a person tries to accomplish at one time), emotionality(view of the glass ½ full vs empty), extraversion(comfort level with relationships), and openness(how rigid a person is in their beliefs) are the "big five" personality traits. Different people work best in a variety of jobs and some of this performance can be attributed to their personality.
How much will benefit considerations affect your choice of an employer after graduation? What type of benefits would be most and least appealing to you, and why?
Benefits will greatly affect my choice of employer after graduation. I think a good 401k and insurance plan would be the most appealing to me. The more lavish like child care, stock, and counseling would not be as important to me.
Describe the meaning and significance of business operations. What do we mean when we talk about business operations?
Business operations is a broad term that describes everything that happens within a company to keep it running and earning money. Operations are managing the inner workings of your business so it runs as efficiently as possible. This can help streamline costs, allowing you to do more with less and reducing the need to secure small business loans.
What are the three structural components of an attitude. Describe each one.
Cognition is the knowledge a person presumes to have about something, a person's affect is their feeling toward something, and their intent is part of an attitude that guides a person's behavior.
What would you tell a worker performing a simple and routine job who wants more challenge and enjoyment from work?
Consider if it is worth it to work your way up the job ladder of your current job or if there is another profession that has been catching your attention that you can start making steps to have the qualifications.
What contingencies would a major retailer of home improvement supplies need to consider in planning? How do you think the organization would address those risks?
Contingencies like a dip in the economy, supply-chain issues, and the demographics of consumers near their shops would all need to be considered in the planning. The organization should build in fail-safes that would allow them to red flag the problem while they still have time to catch the small issue before it becomes detrimental.
What is corporate culture? How is it formed? How is it sustained? How does it relate to the corporate mission and vision?
Corporate culture is the shared experiences, stories, beliefs, and norms that characterize an organization and helps to define the work climate that exists in an organization. Business culture can come from the days of an organization's founder or be forged over a long period by constant and focused business strategy. The culture is sustained through the managers having a good understanding of the culture, the culture must transmit to other employees in the organization, and managers should reward and promote those who work toward the goal. Corporate culture should reflect the corporate mission and vision as it shows employees what is expected of them.
Some business people claim that "culture trumps mission." What do you think that statement means and how would that affect the corporate strategy?
Culture trumps mission means that employees are more likely to follow the example that the work culture has set rather than what the mission states. This affects the corporate strategy because the organization should structure the culture to reflect the mission statement. By rewarding employees who set a good example of what they want the culture to be, the organization can use culture to get employees to better reflect their mission without punishing or seen in a harsh light.
What type of business strategy does Disney use to attract customers to its theme parks? What does the company do to implement its strategy? What are the key operational characteristics?
Disney uses flexibility to attract customers to its theme parks. By constantly adding onto the parks and expanding as new movies come out Disney makes sure that their parks are always introducing something new for guests to experience.
Choose three different businesses that you frequent and rate the quality of their service or product on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being poor quality and 5 being high quality. Explain the standard that you applied for each business to determine quality. Was it the same standard, or did you apply a different standard to each one? If so, why?
Dunkin, Planet Fitness, and D'Lorenzo's are three businesses that I go to frequently. On a 1-5 quality scale I'd rate Dunkin a 3, Planet Fitness a 4, and D'Lorenzo's a 4 as well. I applied a similar standard of food quality for Dunkin and D'Lorenzo's and as one is fast food and the other is homestyle cooking it makes sense that D'Lorenzo's rated higher. Planet Fitness I rated on a scale of service where they ranked high as they have good quality, clean equipment that is easy to use.
Identify and explain the three basic steps in strategy formulation.
First you set a strategic goal, then you analyze SWOT, and finally you have to match the organization and environment. The strategic goal is derived from the mission statement and is what you are trying to achieve. Analyzing SWOT means looking into the organization's strengths and weaknesses as well as the environmental opportunities and threats. In the final step, you should cross-check the organization and the environment's positives and negatives to find the best possible solution.
Why is the formal training of workers so important to most employers? Why don't employers simply let people learn about their jobs as they perform them?
Formal training is very important because it lets the new employees know what will be expected of them and is the time to showcase the company's values. If people simply learned on the fly then no one would be things the same way which would lead to disorganization and chaos.
What are the four main purposes of setting goals in an organization?
Goal setting provides direction and guidance for managers at all levels, helps firms allocate resources, define corporate culture, and assess performance.
What are the major differences between goods-production operations and service operations?
Goods production produces storable, tangible products while service operations produce unstorable intangible and tangible products.
What are some of the strategic considerations in human resource management?
Human resources, human capital, and talent management are three of the strategic considerations in human resource management.
Do you think you would want to work in a matrix organization, such as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, where you were assigned simultaneously to multiple units or groups? Why or why not?
I do not think that I would want to work in a matrix organization like Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Having to report to so many different managers and leads seems like it would take a long time to get everything done as well as having to keep everything very organized depending on which manager you were sending all your different information to. I would rather work in a functional structure.
Describe a hypothetical organizational structure for a start-up Internet marketing firm. Describe changes that might be necessary as the business grows.
I think a functional structure would be best for a hypothetical organizational structure for a start-up Internet marketing firm. As a start-up there would be few employees to start with and as they grew it would be easy to position new employees with direct managers who can look after each individual part of the firm.
What are your views and feelings about collective bargaining? What reasons can you give for your opinions?
I think that collective bargaining can be helpful to the employees as it allows them to get their voice heard in an impactful way, however, this can also backfire and end up hurting the employees more than the organization so I think collective bargaining should only be used in certain situations.
Do you think that most people are relatively satisfied or dissatisfied with their work? What factors do you think most contribute to this satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
I think that most people are relatively dissatisfied with their work, our economy, and society are causing people to live to work instead of working to live. Many people hate their jobs but are either scared they won't be able to find anything better or can't afford to do anything other than work thus having no time to job search.
Describe your most recent job in terms of your contributions and the organization's inducements.
I was expected to make drinks and food of a certain standard and have a bright, positive attitude toward the customers and my coworkers at all times. In return, we would get tips added to our paycheck.
What is a knowledge worker? What strategies do companies use to retain knowledge workers?
Knowledge workers are employees who are of value because of the knowledge they possess. In order to retain such workers lavish perks are offered like free massages, laundry services, gourmet meals, premium coffee beverages, and top-of-the-line training to keep updated on the most current trends.
Describe the difference between leadership and management.
Leadership is the processes and behaviors used by someone to motivate, inspire, and influence the behaviors of others. Management on the other hand is the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling an organization's resources to achieve its goals. At its core leadership is a part of management and is all about galvanizing the people while management deals with leading an organization/company.
If you were a member of a quality improvement team at your college or a local business of your choice, what would be 5 specific high-impact recommendations that you would support? Of those 5, which two would be the most important?
Looking at my local small business coffee shop my recommendations would be to have a menu by the drive-through window, to keep their kitchen open for longer, to cater the baked goods more towards the customer's requests, to get more indoor seating, and to advertise their seasonal flavors more. I think that the drive menu and indoor seating are the two most important as they would both cause a spike in customers.
Why do some managers have difficulty delegating authority? Of these reasons, which do you think would be the most significant issue for you?
Managers often have difficulty delegating authority because they believe that employees cannot do the job as well as the manager can, it takes less time to do the work than it takes to delegate the responsibility, and a lack of trust in employees' motivation and commitment to quality. I think that if a manager doesn't have faith in his employees then they will not follow him and their team will be putting out subpar work as no one is performing to their full potential.
Describe several strategies and techniques for enhancing employee motivation and give examples of each.
Positive reinforcement uses a reward to encourage desired behaviors, punishment is the unpleasant consequences of undesirable behavior, and social learning is learning from others' bad decisions. By using goals to motivate behavior managers can use management by objectives where they manage and evaluate employees based solely on goals. By asking employees for their opinions management can allow the lower bands of the hierarchy to participative management and empowerment which makes the employees feel more empowered by the goals they helped shape. Work teams and team structures allow professional relationships to form which builds more loyalty to the company and can greatly increase communication. Job enrichment and redesign can help employees enjoy their job more, and if someone likes their job they usually do a better job at it.
What are the advantages and challenges of recruiting a diverse workplace?
Recruiting a more diverse workforce has many positives but the main benefit is that a company is able to get many more fresh ideas is you hire people that have different backgrounds and thus vasty different thought processes. The negative is that affirmative action is often used to recruit this diverse workforce which holds different groups to varying standards which can be unfair in certain lights.
What is the difference between responsibility and authority?
Responsibility is the duty to perform an assigned task while authority is the power to make decisions necessary to complete tasks.
What are some significant legal issues with regard to recruiting, hiring, and managing employees?
Some big legal issues would be to make sure that no discrimination is happening, training is being thoroughly completed so no employees get hurt, and making sure that HR is keeping up with complaints to ensure a safe workplace environment.
Relate the five basic management skills to the four activities in the management process. For example, Which skills are most important in leading?
Technical and conceptual skills go with planning, human relations skills match with leading, decision-making skills pair with controlling, and time-management skills are best suited for organizing.
How would you describe the 5 major operations planning activities to an administrator of your college or to a local business owner? Use specific examples as they apply to your chosen organization.
The 5 major operations planning activities are capacity planning, location planning, layout planning, quality planning, and methods planning. Capacity planning is how much of a product a company can produce in normal working conditions, so using the example of a coffee shop how many drinks you can sell per week. Location planning is determining where production will happen, so where your store will be. Layout planning is planning for the layout of machinery, equipment, and supplies, deciding where your register, tables, and barista station will be inside the shop. Quality planning is the activity of ensuring that products meet the firm's and customers' quality standards, so make sure that you are cleaning your station in between rushes and using a thermometer to not burn the milk. Finally, methods planning is the step-by-step procedure for performing all services, like a written recipe and a checklist of chores that must be done every shift.
Describe the five basic forms of departmentalization. Give examples of each.
The five basic forms of departmentalization are functional departmentalization, product departmentalization, process departmentalization, customer departmentalization, and geographic departmentalization. Functional departmentalization is grouped together by functions or activities like operations, IT, or marketing. Product departmentalization is grouped by specific products or services being created, for example, within Tastykakes all the krimpets are grouped separately from the swiss rolls. Process departmentalization is grouped by the process used to create a good or service like shipping. Customer departmentalization is grouped to offer products and meet the needs of individual groups like the "old man department". Finally, Geographic departmentalization is grouped by areas of a country of the world, the New England plant.
Make a list of the pros and cons of participative management.
The pros would be increased job satisfaction and the employees would feel like they have a voice and thus are loyal to the company. The big con is that participative management takes a long time to make decisions.
What is the psychological contract? Describe the psychological contract you currently have or had in the past with an employer, or describe the psychological contract you have with the instructor of this class.
The psychological contract is the set of expectations held by an employee concerning what contributions they will bring and what inducements the organization will provide. For example, in return for doing a good job at work and keeping a positive energy my work will pay me and set measures to ensure my safety.
