Category: Business and Management

Identify a problem or issue that is impacting performance in the organization.  The identified management problem you will investigate and for which you will provide recommended solutions is the on-boarding and off-boarding process for the Director of Staff entails many variants such as the initial security briefing, personnel intake, and coordination with several divisions.  It is imperative that these divisions connect with incoming personnel in order to completely close the loop on new members and gain all the needed information for in-processing.  A successful process entails obtaining and entering the required information to support the individual throughout their stay in the organization as well as ensure internal systems and procedures are followed to ensure quality control measures are met.  The problem within the Director of Staff office is the lack of authority and understanding of the position of directive leadership within the organization. The results are reactive rather than pro-active behaviors and cultivates a culture of high stress and poor quality relations among group members.  This paper identifies the lack of support from division leadership for on-boarding and off-boarding tasks that contributed to the breakdown of personnel systems, poor quality of work, and information that is inaccurate. 

Read the materials attached and the ‘Lesson One’ doc for sites to help guide you in identifying a management problem in your work environment. This paper will be one of seven discussing the client and the management problem you will explore.

Some questions you can explore to help you are:

    What are the goals of the company/division/work group?
    In considering the goals, where does progress halt?
    Is there data to substantiate this or is it a perception of the manager?
    Who is involvedthe manager, the employees, stakeholders?
    How long has this problem existed?
    What and how are expectations and requirements communicated?
    When expectations or key deadlines are missed, what happens?
    What factors contribute to the problem (politics, structure, decision-making factors)?j
    Are technical skills or training contributing to the problem?
    Are there ethical issues relating to the problem?
    If so, how have those issues been handled to date?

These questions do not all need to be answered nor is this list all inclusive; they are provided to help get started and inspire your own questions to explore while completing this paper.

As you think about this consider:

When relationships experience roadblocks of any sort we can say there is a problem in the relationship.  This is true for both personal and professional relationships.  When identifying and analyzing potential problems one would start first with symptoms of the problem.  This is sometimes a difficult process as it can be easy to confuse symptoms with the problem.  For instance, perhaps as a manager you are dealing with a lack of acceptable productivity with two of the ten people who work in your area of responsibility.  Maybe one of those people is cranky and difficult to work with. 

In this case the problem you need to solve as a manager is one of increasing productivity in your area to an acceptable level.  Managers respond to this issue in many different ways depending upon their skill, ability, knowledge and maturity.  Some managers may transfer some of the work from the two problem employees to some or all of the eight other employees.  This solution will, in turn, produce additional symptoms that now are visible in the behavior and productivity level of the other eight employees in addition to the original two employees.  You can see that this solution will only continue to affect productivity in a negative manner and never really solves the problem.  This is why, during the problem identification stage, one ought to be certain they are looking at the problem and rather than trying to reduce or eliminate symptoms.

NOTE:  Research is required and must have a minimum of two unique sources each week, neither of which can be Wikepedia.

Each paper builds upon the previous paper in order to complete a comprehensive project.

RUBRIC Standard:
Theories and Approaches
Writer differentiates and evaluates theories and approaches to complex problem within the major field and provides insight that clarifies the usefulness of approaches.

Sources
Evaluates and selects more than two resources using multiple criteria, including relevance, currency, authority and purpose.

Identification of Issues
Presents accurate and detailed descriptions of the problems and issues central to the case study; provides a well-focused diagnosis of strategic issues and key problems that demonstrate an excellent grasp of the present situation and strategic challenges; descriptions are compelling and insightful.
Context of and Purpose for Writing
Demonstrates a thorough understanding of context, business acumen, audience (executive team, consultant and stakeholders), and purpose that is responsive to the assignment and focuses all elements of the work.

Organization of Ideas/APA format
Effective organization and development contribute to an appropriate introduction, conclusion and smooth transitions. Writing includes cover page, and follows APA formatting of references and page set up

Mechanics and Grammar
The writing is free of spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and grammatical errors; evidence of proofreading.

Requirement: Give us an example of a skill that you have acquired through self-learning, and explain the process in which you taught yourself the skill? (250 words maximum)

Hi, I applied to master of business analytics and this is one of my admission essay. I hope you coudl write an eample of a self-learning based on my internship. I interned in a securities company, so I hope the experience is related to this aspect. Of course, if you have any other good idea about business analytics, you could tell me first. And I will make a decision for it. Thanks a lot.

Discussion General Forum Week 1
Post your first forum comment by Thursday & response by Saturday. You must respond to at least one post from a classmate.

There are 2 forums due each week: Faith Integration forum & General Discussion forum. Please refer to the rubric for discussion forums for posting guidelines.

Rubric discussion forum.pdf Preview the document

Message delivery is a critical component of managerial communications. Our course textbook states:

“Before you decide what to tell them, you need to think about what your audience already knows and expects” (Munter & Hamilton, 2014, p. 11).

“Another aspect of communicator strategy involves analyzing your audience’s perception of you ( their belief, confidence, and faith in you)” (Munter & Hamilton, 2014, p. 8).

View the video below where Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan  apologizes to the public.

Comment with a focus on the textbook quotes above.

Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbn_LSvI5X8&feature=youtu.be

Discussion Forum Faith Integration Week 1

Post your first forum comment by Thursday & response to a fellow classmate’s post by Saturday. You must respond to at least one post from a classmate.

There are 2 forums due each week: Faith Integration forum & General Discussion forum. Please refer to the rubric for discussion forums for posting guidelines.

Rubric discussion forum.pdfPreview the document

“May the Lord now show you kindness and faithfulness, and I too will show you the same favor because you have done this.” – 2 Samuel 2:6

Discuss how this proverb could guide you as a manager in your communications within your organization.  What do you think this scripture is telling us?

The paper will consist of a full analysis of Transportation management. The paper should be written from a transportation management approach. The paper should be written using APA format. The word count for the research paper should be a minimum of 2000 words with a minimum of 5 references to your work. Articles selected for references should be peer-reviewed and from the University library, Government websites, and/or GAO Reports. The paper will be graded on contents, grammar, and format.

The criteria a transportation manager might use when making strategic transportation decisions. In this PowerPoint presentation summarize the advantages and disadvantages of each mode of transportation. (road, maritime, air, rail, intermodal, and pipeline.)

This presentation should consist of a minimum of 10 slides in APA format. There should be a title page and reference page. Your work should be support by appropriate references.  Government websites, and/or GAO Reports can be used as references.

This case studies are designed to promote critical thinking of the topics within this text. The cases are created from real examples, some fiction added, to help the reader in solving similar real-world problems in implementing RFID technology.

Case study 1 Smart pallets for Harman’s Repair Station, Inc.

Barry Benton walked into Harman’s Repair Station a very excited man. He had just completed a class in how to use RFID for supply chains and he thought that RFID would be a perfect fit to save time and money at their igloo repair shop. All he had to do was convince the president, Don Harman, that RFlD was something he should jump on right now.

Current situation Today was Saturday, and Barry was the first to arrive, open the door to the repair warehouse, and start the coffee. Today was to be a slow day, one filled with paperwork from last week’s netting, pallets, and igloos for luggage storage repaired from several Air Force and commercial cargo planes. Barry walked around the warehouse inspecting everything to make sure the week’s workspaces were clean and ready for Monday morning. The forklift was at the dock door readied for moving in the next igloo or metal pallet after Monday’s pickup. He thinks the Monday load will be from the Air Force; they have some metal pallets to be sandblasted and cleaned. The bins for repair tickets were full of blank of blank forms; there were a few boxes left over with some netting material in them and a packing slip to check once more before mailing; the sewing machine and strapping material were wrapped to protect them from dust. Everything looked spotless and clean.  The repair orders were coming in regularly now, but they still only used one shift, 5 days a week. With their staff of college students, Harman was repairing from two to four cargo nets and straps per day, performing sand blasting, cleaning, and minor repairs on two Air Force metal pallets per day, and fixing about five igloos from commercial cargo carriers every few months. The record keeping was simple; using a mixture of Excel spread
sheets to keep track of the different nets, pallets, and igloos repaired. They kept track of brand name, the owner of the item (usually just the Air Force), and two to four air cargo carriers. The bin of common replacement parts stayed full enough to cover a week’s worth of work: metal fasteners, thread, all sorts of metal pins, and different toxic paints. The hazmat drums were taken away about once every 3 months, filled mostly with old paints and cleaning materials. Although the business seemed to be moving smoothly, and cash was flowing in, there was a concern Barry had. He thought that he could double the work they had with some new contracts, especially for the air cargo igloos. That was what he wanted to sell to Don: how to increase repair sales to the major cargo carriers by using RFID. Of course, one major problem was to find the right performance metric to use to sell Don the idea, and then for Don to sell the airlines. Barry had told Don over the last few months that RFID could be a way to improve business.

The sell Don came in a few minutes later, a box of doughnuts in hand, ready to settle in, checking over last week’s work orders, and hearing what Barry had to say. “So, what’s all this about RFID, and how’s it going to change our business?” asked Don, as he sat down at the former dining room table, now a conference table.  Barry said, “We have a good system at work, making money and doing a good job for the Air Force and a little work on the commercial side. But we can double our business if we just start using RFID tags to track the igloos we’re repairing.” Barry went on to explain how he had heard about the airlines were investing in RFID tags to track luggage, and the pilot studies would be completed very soon. Additionally, from his friend in baggage handling, he had overheard three airline executives talking about getting ready to invest several million to expand into RFID research in other areas. The airlines, though, were not sure in which area to invest other than luggage. The summer tourist season was ending, so he would give them time to get ready for next summer and convince the airlines to invest some of that money into Dons repair business. Barry said, with a little checking, he found out that the airlines send their igloos to China for repair. The few that come to Dons were those that need instant repair, those that cannot wait for shipment to China. But there are over 500 igloos across the street at the airport at any one day, and we get over 600 widebody jets in here weekly, Barry said. Barry continued that with the large amount of cargo movement at the airport, an opportunity was just there for the picking, even if the air carriers thought they could get cheaper repairs in China rather than here in Anchorage. Don asked how using RFID tags could possibly make them money, because the nets, pallets, and the few igloos that came in only had an order number to identify them for repair. There were no bar codes, even. In fact the repair shop had no facility to use bar codes, so why upgrade to some wireless tag technology, which was supposed to be the future beyond codes? The manual method of tracking and tracing the pallets and igloos inside the warehouse seemed to be working just fine. Barry tried to explain that if they were to use RFID tags on the igloos, the minute they came into the warehouse, they could code the repair order number, the airline that owned the container, the type and make of the igloo, and the type or category of damage to the igloo. As the igloo moved through the warehouse, they could also update the passive RFID tags to their own database with the type of materials used to repair the
igloo. There would be an accurate time stamp for when the igloo entered the warehouse from the receiving dock and the time it left by the shipping dock door. He said all they would need is an antenna and reader at the two dock doors. Barry said, “While we move the igloo around the warehouse for repair they do not need to do anything but update the inventory items used for repair and record the workload time for the employees.” Don replied, “I still don’t see the need for these RFID devices. I know all about then from reading a magazine I picked up the other day, and I know how great they seem to be at saving retail stores like Wal-Mart on inventory items, but we are a small shop. So, why do we need RFID?” Don was interested, however, in the possibility of increasing the size of the repair business with the addition of the igloos from the airlines. Moreover, yes, he understood that the airlines were investigating passive RFID tags for luggage, because so many hundreds of thousands of bags are lost each year. Stretching from lost luggage to the luggage carriers, the igloos, was something else. He could see no connecting thread. When the igloos are damaged, they put them aside and ship them to China. Some few find their way to Don’s repair shop. Barry said that if the airlines were investing in RFID technology, it would not be too far a stretch to track passengers, luggage, and the luggage and cargo containers. They just needed to be sold on the idea. In addition, Don’s repair facility was a perfect place to demonstrate this capability. The repair shop was right across the road from the runways and hangers. The igloos would come in, get tagged, and then leave with a permanent license plate of information that the airlines could them track for themselves. We would do the initial tagging of all their igloos, as well offer to provide a history of types of igloos used ant that needed repair, he said. The airlines would reap a benefit in data mining on igloo conditions. Also if the airlines were to RFID readers in all their airports, they could track and trace each igloo and cut down lost igloos, which seems to be an industry wide problem. Therefore, Barry said, “All we have to do is convince the airlines to let us tag their igloos.” Don still looked skeptical. “I am still not convinced that we need RFID tags,” Don said.

Case analysis
What do you think the problem is for Don with the use of RFID for igloos? 
What false assumptions, if any, did Barry make in trying to sell RFID to Don?
How could Barry have sold this idea any better to Don?
What advice would you give Don on his company’s investing in RFID?

Review the 3 cases that are attached. 

For each of the cases:
1. Describe, through a story, the leaders use of the leadership style in response to the situation. Use various action verbs in the story.
2. Explain what makes the selected leadership style effective for the particular situation.
3. Compare and contrast the leadership styles leaders chose for each case.
4. Explain why the leadership styles should differ for each case.

Provide at least two scholarly references to include the reference that is listed with the cases.