bmgt364 full course latest november 2015 [ all week discussions and all assignmentts]

THEME One

Organization is the phase in which the manager allocates resources both human and capital within the organizational structure to best forward the vision and purpose of the organization.

LA1

Annie is considering amending her current organizational structure. Using your reading try to advise her on what structure might work well to help solve her project problem.

Annie currently has four leadership team members that each head up one division: rifle design, rifle manufacture, rifle customer service, and sales. They each have final decision making authority within their departments. Annie says that she is thinking of creating an additional link in the decision train for the new project with one department head that like the others reports to the leadership team. Alternatively, should she feel the need to disband the project after the client sale is complete Annie would like to know what would happen if the fifth link were self-contained. Explain how you would allocate the resources of the company to make the new link in the train work on a daily basis? Be creative and practical think of the types of people you would need to accomplish the goal, money, resources of the business etc. Be sure to consider the various other departments and how they would interface with the project team. Alternatively, how would the link work if it were self- contained?

THEME TWO: How has technology changed the way in which the manager defines how tasks are performed and completed within the organizational structure? What happens to structure when the walls are missing? How do the tasks get complete and by whom?

LA2

Choose one of the two questions below and answer it through your readings and at least two additional sources from the Internet.

1) How has technology changed the way in which the manager defines how tasks are performed and completed within the organizational structure?

2) The manager’s job is to keep stability within an organization. What happens to structure when the walls are missing? How do the tasks get complete and by whom?

THEME ONE: What is the manager’s perspective of leadership? How does it differ from the leader’s perspective? Managers focus on process, procedure, and implementation of the organization’s purpose. Their perspective is on getting the job done and keeping stability. The leader is about change and moving the people toward the vision. The area of overlap comes in terms of the need to use “soft or people skills” to get their job done yet even there a difference in perspective is seen. The manager motivates while the leader empowers.

LA1

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

Peter Drucker

“Leadership is working with goals and vision; management is working with objectives.”

Rusell Honore

“When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.”

Warren Buffett

“Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.”

Paul Hawken

“Management is nothing more than motivating other people.”

Lee Iacocca

In the five quotes above each leader is commenting on the perspective of a manager in the organization as opposed to a leader. Keep these quotes in your mind when reading this week’s material and formulate your management perspective. How should a manager approach his or her job? What ideas should be their watch words? Think of things like setting goals, making decisions, motivating employees and allocating resources. What mindset should a good manager have to approach these tasks?

THEME TWO

The manager must be able to solve problems, communicate, and lead teams toward the completion of a task.

LA2

You are the manager of the northern branch of the Laurel City bowling alleys. The owner, Jill Espy, has 4 other bowling alleys around town. The average employee assigned to the concession stand of all the Laurel City bowling alleys lasts 3 years. However, in your branch the average employee lasts only 8 months. Jill is concerned about this huge discrepancy and wants to know your explanation for the difference and what you can do to correct the problem. Training new employees is costly to the company and this high turnover is costing her money that could be better spent elsewhere.

You have tried talking with your current concession staff and have learned that pay and scheduling may have some effect on the turnover rate. However, one person indicated that many of them do not know how to handle difficult customers. It made them not want to come to work.

From your reading this week on a manager’s need to lead their people how would you solve this problem? Consider motivation techniques, mentoring or other ideas from you reading to effectuate a positive change. Think outside the box. Be sure to look at all your resources including those within the organization and those without

week 7

THEME ONE: Known as the critical thinking phase of the management functions the “Control” function is designed to evaluate the goals to see what and who works and doesn’t and why? In the traditional definition controlling involves ensuring that performance does not deviate from standards. Controlling consists of three steps, which include (1) establishing performance standards, (2) comparing actual performance against standards, and (3) taking corrective action when necessary. Performance standards are often stated in monetary terms such as revenue, costs, or profits but may also be stated in other terms, such as units produced, number of defective products, or levels of quality or customer service.

The measurement of performance can be done in several ways, depending on the performance standards, including financial statements, sales reports, production results, customer satisfaction, and formal performance appraisals. Managers at all levels engage in the managerial function of controlling to some degree.

Effective controlling requires the existence of plans, since planning provides the necessary performance standards or objectives. Controlling also requires a clear understanding of where responsibility for deviations from standards lies. Two traditional control techniques are budget and performance audits. An audit involves an examination and verification of records and supporting documents. A budget audit provides information about where the organization is with respect to what was planned or budgeted for, whereas a performance audit might try to determine whether the figures reported are a reflection of actual performance. Although controlling is often thought of in terms of financial criteria, managers must also control production and operations processes, procedures for delivery of services, compliance with company policies, and many other activities within the organization.

The Organizational Control Process

The control process involves carefully collecting information about a system, process, person, or group of people in order to make necessary decisions about each. Managers set up control systems that consist of four key steps:

1. Establish standards to measure performance. Within an organization's overall strategic plan, managers define goals for organizational departments in specific, operational terms that include standards of performance to compare with organizational activities.
2. Measure actual performance. Most organizations prepare formal reports of performance measurements that managers review regularly. These measurements should be related to the standards set in the first step of the control process. For example, if sales growth is a target, the organization should have a means of gathering and reporting sales data.
3. Compare performance with the standards. This step compares actual activities to performance standards. When managers read computer reports or walk through their plants, they identify whether actual performance meets, exceeds, or falls short of standards. Typically, performance reports simplify such comparison by placing the performance standards for the reporting period alongside the actual performance for the same period and by computing the variance—that is, the difference between each actual amount and the associated standard.
4. Take corrective actions. When performance deviates from standards, managers must determine what changes, if any, are necessary and how to apply them. In the productivity and quality?centered environment, workers and managers are often empowered to evaluate their own work. After the evaluator determines the cause or causes of deviation, he or she can take the fourth step—corrective action. The most effective course may be prescribed by policies or may be best left up to employees' judgment and initiative.

These steps must be repeated periodically until the organizational goal is achieved!

LA1

Below are five questions that are set to challenge your understanding of the control process management function. If your last name begins with A-M answer the questions AND EXPLAIN WHY YOU CHOSE THAT ANSWER. Be sure to reference the class material to prove your selection is correct. If you last name begins with N-Z Grade at least one main post (if you notice over the week that some answers haven’t been graded be sure to grade them so that everyone has peer feedback) and explain how you arrived at your answers. Be sure to reference the class material to prove your selection is correct. Answer each question and explain how you arrived at your answer.

1) Taking corrective action is required when the process is:

A. Unpredictable and risky.

B. a new leadership team is required.

C. measured and the results don't meet company standards.

D. in its early stag

2) In measuring ____________, it is useful to evaluate internal operations and core processes against benchmarks such as past performance, industry standards, and legal expectations.

A cost effectiveness

B control processes

C best practices

D organizational impact

3) ________ define how a business should act, while ________ underline what actions should be taken operationally.

A Strategy; goals

B Standards; objectives

C Controls; management

D Objectives; standards

4) Utilizing specific performance metrics, such as ________, organizations can control processes through measuring the relative effectiveness of internal processes.

A strategy

B earnings

C processes

D employees

5) Coca-Cola is thinking about entering a new industry, creating their own branch of convenience stores. As a result, they should conduct:

A internal research of operational efficiency.

B financial objectives research for their R&D department.

C industry process standards research.

D competitor research in soft drinks.

LA2

In this article as well as your reading this week the balanced score card is explained:http://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_concepts/the_balanced_scorecard.htm .

One of the best tools a manager has is a balanced score card. Remember our bowling alley manager from week 5? Explain how the use of a balance score card could help him to measure and possibly improve his problem. How does the score card approach fit in to the control function of management? Be specific and attempt to think through the manager’s problem using the scorecard. How can it potentially fix the turn over problem he has in the branch?

(Just so you don’t have to keep going back to week five)

You are the manager of the northern branch of the Laurel City bowling alleys. The owner, Jill Espy, has 4 other bowling alleys around town. The average employee assigned to the concession stand of all the Laurel City bowling alleys lasts 3 years. However, in your branch the average employee lasts only 8 months. Jill is concerned about this huge discrepancy and wants to know your explanation for the difference and what you can do to correct the problem. Training new employees is costly to the company and this high turnover is costing her money that could be better spent elsewhere.

THEME TWO: Traditionally theorist suggest that the managerial function of controlling should not be confused with control in the behavioral or manipulative sense. This function does not imply that managers should attempt to control or to manipulate the personalities, values, attitudes, or emotions of their employees. Instead, this function of management concerns the manager’s role in taking necessary actions to ensure that the work-related activities of employees are consistent with and contributing toward the accomplishment of organizational and departmental objectives.

Research the idea of controlling from afar in the virtual organization on the Internet and answer the following question: How can a manager be assured or measure work that is performed when the employee may be 5,000 miles away?

THEME ONE: Revisit the 21^st century manager as an individual. Who is s/he? What does s/he do? How does s/he accomplish their job within the organization? What challenges are unique to the manager in contemporary business?

LA1

Go back through the class and select 5 of the most important themes and explain why you feel they best illustrate what you will take away from this class.

THEME TWO: What is the 21^st century organization? What challenges does the manager face with this new organization?

Take the attached personality test http://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=3873

Take the linked management style quiz

http://www.quotev.com/quiz/481888/What-Is-Your-Management-Style/

Share with the class your results and explain to the class how you think your personality is reflected in your management style. Also discuss if you think that your personality and your management style will allow you to be a good modern day manager? Be sure to reference the material in your discussion.

Project 1 Organizational Theory (Week 3)

In the first assignment, students are given a scenario in which the shipping manager who has worked for Recycled Furnishings since the inception of the company is getting ready to retire. The scenario serves to set the stage for students to demonstrate how management theories have changed over time. For example, managing 30 years ago is different than managing in the 21^st century.

In selecting an organizational theory that best describes the current shipping manager, students have to use the timeline to select a school of thought and a theory or theories of that time frame. Students will need to research the theorist and theories to complete the assignment and answer the questions below. Students are expected to be thorough in responding to Part One.

In Part Two, students are going to take what they have learned in weeks 1 – 3 and compare the management skills of the current shipping manager to that of you as the new shipping manager.

Scenario:

Recycled Furnishings is a division of an international home furnishing company called Thor Enterprises. Recycled Furnishings makes glass sofas for outdoor use from recycled bottles and glass. The business has grown rapidly in the last thirty years and now that it has become a division of Thor Enterprises, the company is going international. The shipping manager for Recycled Furnishings, Robert, has been in his job since the start of the company. Prior to coming to Recycled Furnishings, Robert worked as a container manufacturing engineer at Damco, a local shipping company and worked his way up to supervisor prior to joining Recycled Furnishings. Robert, a baby boomer, quickly rose to supervisor at Damco because his ability to optimize the way tasks were performed and implemented processes so workers could be trained to perform their specialized sequence of motion in one best way. He brought this management style to Recycled Furnishing and helped to improve the methodology of furniture assembly as well as the shipping processes.

A major shift in management occurred in the late 1980’s and early 90’s that caused Robert to reconsider his management approach. For example, advances in technology, the organization joining a union, change in the value systems, organizational design and globalization all affected the culture of Recycled Furnishings. Robert was successful with this transformation and contributed greatly to the company’s success.

Part One

• Select an organizational theory that you believe best describes Robert’s management style in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s;
• Identify the theorist(s) who proposed the theory;
• Discuss how the selected organizational theory and theorist fit into the school of thought of that time period.
• Address the principles of the theory and how the manager would do his job and interact with his staff.
• How does this organizational theory differ from Robert’s early thinking;
• Using the course readings and your own research, explain in detail how you arrived at your conclusions.

Part Two

Recently Robert announced his plans to retire. You have been hired as his replacement and with the international launch on the horizon you have big shoes to fill. You feel you are more than capable of handling the management position and characterize yourself as a 21^st century manager.

• As a 21^st century manager, compare the way you would manage versus the way of Robert;
• What implications do the changes in management have for the future of Thor?
• How will the new approach to the job likely change the shipping division?

Required Formatting of the Project 1:

• This report should be double spaced, 12-point font, and four to five pages in length excluding the title page and reference page;
• Include an introduction and a summary paragraph;
• Title page with your name, the course name, the date, and instructor’s name;
• Use headings;
• Write clearly and concisely;
• Write in the third person;
• Use APA formatting for in-text citations and reference page. You are expected to paraphrase and not use direct quotes. Deductions will be taken when direct quotes are used and found to be unnecessary;
• Outside resources may be used but the majority of the support will come from the course readings with a wide array of readings used;
• Submit the paper in the Assignment Folder