umuc bmgt364 full course latest 2016 november (except week 8 discussion)

Week 1 discussion Learning Activity #1 This week, students learn about organizational theory and
the relationship to the role of 21st century manager. A manager is a person
whose job it is to direct the implementation and achievement of a subset of
organizational goals. Organizational theory is a field of study that has
evolved in the last one hundred years to offer assistance to managers in the
way they approach their job in an effort to accomplish the organization’s
vision and mission. The 21st century manager is a person who organizes, executes,
and plans the process and production of an organization. Traditionally, the
role of the manager, as defined by organizational theory, has been the person
who sets short term goals for the organization to execute and performs tasks
that include the process, procedure, and production of the organization’s
purpose or vision. The modern role of the manager still includes these tasks
but has developed to include the role of facilitator in the way the manager
accomplishes the organizational goals assigned to his or her control.• With these ideas in mind, compare and contrast the role of
management, as reflected by management theory, in the 20th century organization
with the role of management in the 21st century. Include in your discussion the
theoretical schools of thought(s) that speak to the manager’s role in the
business environment as well as definition of the environment itself. • How has the change in business purpose (i.e. manufacturing
vs. service) and the business environment, worker attitudes, and behaviors
affected the role of the manager in an organization and how has the theory
evolved to cope? Discuss in detail. Be sure to use information from the
organizational theory timeline in your answer.Learning Activity #2 As we saw in theme one the role of the manager has changed
from the 20th century to the 21st century, with the manager becoming more
people-centric in the execution of their tasks.• From this week’s material identify and discuss 5 skills
that are unique to the successful manager of the 21st century. Consider in your
answer workplace dynamics of new organizations such as the change in
organizational structure (flat, horizontal, virtual etc.) and employee
expectations for the workplace environment.Week 2 discussion Learning Activity 1For businesses to succeed they must maintain a competitive
advantage in the marketplace. The key to
doing this has changed over the last century as illustrated in our discussion
in week one about the 21st century business environment and its challenges. In
theme one, we take a closer look at the way managers create competitive edge in
the 21st century organization.You have been hired by Baltimore Spring Waters, Inc. (BSW)
as a management consultant. The growing
demand for bottled water in the face of worldwide supply shortages has
management at BSW concerned about the future of the business. The company wants to remain competitive in
price knowing that sourcing difficulties will make it harder to do. The question posed to you is how can BSW’s managers help the
company maintain their competitive edge? Using this week’s course material and
the articles from last week on 21stcentury organizations, answer this question
for BSW.Learning Activity 2A challenge for the manager in the 21st century is to merge
the traditional functions of a manager with the new demands of workplace life.
The change of value regarding human resources to the organization coupled with
technology is shifting the design of organizations towards “boundaryless” and
flat organizational structures. In this
theme we examine Fayol’s five functions of management as well as the 14 lesser
functions of management upon which most management models are based today and
how they are bumping up against the constructs of 21st century management to
create tension in the workplace.Read the following articles on big business’ break with
telecommuting and managing with technology atWorking from home alone is the real culprithttp://fortune.com/2013/03/19/working-from-home-alone-is-the-real-culprit/Working from home: how Yahoo, Best Buy and HP are making
moveshttp://www.theguardian…./sustainable-business/working-from-home-yahoo-best-buy-hp-movesThe role of informational technology in virtual management
theoryhttp://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/abe/business/miller/virorg.htmlExamine the role of Fayol’s pillars of management and how
they may conflict or conversely fit with contemporary organizations and
management theories. Explain comprehensively why or how a manager might
reconcile happily the two approaches to management.Week 3 discussion Learning Activity 1The 21st century manager is the person tasked to implement
the leader’s vision and mission for the organization. The manager does this with the help of
Fayol’s theoretical framework known as the four pillars of management:
planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.
This week, we begin our examination of the four pillars of management
with the first function, planning.The planning stage of management is considered by most to be
the most important because of the advantages that planning has for achieving
goals. Due to the complexity of the
business landscape in the 21st century managers are faced with planning and the
need for quick change. The agile
organization attempts to address the advantages and disadvantages of planning.Explore the Internet and retrieve articles that discuss the
pros and cons to the planning function….pare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages to the
planning function and explain how the manager in an agile organization may use
both to their advantage.Learning Activity 2There are several elements that result from the planning
stage but for our purposes we will focus on the development of long-term and
short-term goals. Long-term goals are set by the owners, leaders or upper
management depending on the structure, size or type of organization. Long-term goals reflect the big-picture goals
and objectives are directly related to the purpose and vision that the leaders
and owners develop. In today’s
change-dominated business environment long-term goals are set to be
accomplished in 2-3 years’ time as opposed to the previous century’s 5-10
years.Long-term goals are often created through planning and
strategizing. The process begins with
the vision and mission of the business.
To understand the concepts of vision and mission and their role in the
process, you will take the role of the leader and formulate the vision and
mission of an organization.Create a vision and mission statement to fit the company
described below:Mohammed Abul and his family own the Long-lasting Boot (LLB)
store. LLB is a specialty boot store located in the downtown area in a medium
sized city Scottsdale, Arizona and sells a broad line of boots to all members
of the family including a novelty pet line.
The store sells boots for work and recreation as well as a line of
expensive cowboy boots for the tourist trade.
The business is twenty-five years old. It has a reputation for being the
best place to get boots in the community because of the selection, quality, and
customer service. LLB will even work
with custom designed boots for people with unusually sized feet or medical
problems. The boots in some instances,
work boots in particular, are considered expensive by middle class buyers but
the construction quality is so long-lasting that it makes the higher prices
seem worthwhile. The store is successful
but sales are very slow growing at the moment.
The family is looking to boost sales by developing a competitive edge
for the future.Hint: Before you begin be sure that you clearly understand
the difference between a vision and mission statement as well as the purpose
they each serve.Week 4 discussion Learning Activity 1As mentioned last week the planning process begins with an
environmental scan of the business and its relationship to vision and mission
statements. Read the following and
complete the activities below:Mohammed Abul and his family own the Long-lasting Boot (LLB)
store. LLB is a specialty boot store located in the downtown area in a medium
sized Scottsdale, Arizona and sells a broad line of boots to all members of the
family including a novelty pet line. The store sells boots for work and
recreation as well as a line of expensive cowboy boots for the tourist trade.
The business is twenty-five years old. It has a reputation for being the best
place to get boots in the community because of the selection, quality, and
customer service. They will even work with custom designed boots for people
with unusually sized feet or medical problems. The boots in some instances,
work boots in particular, are considered expensive by middle class buyers but
the construction quality is so long-lasting that it makes the higher prices
seem worthwhile. Abul, who is 32 years old and just out of the military after
10 years of service, has returned to find the business at a crossroad.The store is successful but sales are very slow growing at
the moment. The family is looking to boost sales by developing a competitive
edge for the future. Up until now the business has been successful because of
the company’s ability to anticipate changing boot styles. In the past three years, sales have remained
constant but growth has waned. Despite
sales, the use of loyalty reward cards and staying open later in the evening,
revenue has not grown. Yet, total sales in the Central City metropolitan area
including the suburbs have grown substantially.
Stores that sell in volumes like Wal-Mart and Payless have boot sales
that pull in three times the sales of LLB.Abul and his family are planning for the next three years
and want to find ways to increase sales.
They have come to you for advice.
As their consultant, you want to cover the following ideas in your
response:Create a SWOT analysis;Using the facts from the case study, discuss how you
determined the various elements of the SWOT analysisLearning Activity 2In the planning phase, managers create a detailed action
plan aimed at the organizational goals. Strategic
management, or what you will learn as strategizing, is what an organization
will do or not do to achieve the goals and objectives that lead to meeting the
stated mission and vision. Using the
vision, mission, and SWOT analysis from learning activity 1, complete the
following:Create three long term goals and objectives (3 each) for the
business (2 years forward);Create three medium term (operational) goals and objectives
(3 each) for the business (usually accomplished within the year);Create three short term (day, week, month) goals and
objectives (3 each)for the business; andCreate at least three contingency goals in the event that
the current strategy would fail.Week 5 discussion The organizing function is where management gathers and synchronizes
the resources of the organization (people, capital, and physical) to complete
the goals set out in the planning stage.Learning Activity 1One of the long-term goals set out by the LLB owners (from
wee k4) is to increase sales in the cowboy boot line by 15%. The short term goal to accomplish this is to
create a sales campaign that targets the tourist trade. This campaign includes:Creation of an Internet website (this is part of a larger
plan to instigate Internet sales in general)Create a Boot blogExposure to local hotels and tourist eateries through
pamphletsDiscount plans for hotel guestsBoot delivery service to hotelsFree shipping for purchasesThe current budget for the cowboy/tourist portion of the
marketing project is $40,000. Mohammed Abul is the marketing director. He wants
to hire an assistant to oversee the cowboy/tourist boot line. The assistant will be in charge of the three
current part-time sales associates, give purchasing direction to the purchasing
department, run the boot blog, create new copy for the Internet website on a
monthly basis, and execute all other duties related to the implementation of
new boot tourist campaign. Salaries for
the assistant and the associates are not included in this portion of the
budget. Additional useful facts include:
Currently the structure of LLB has been adhoc in nature. The
long-term decisions are made by the family, Joseph Abul (father, and his sons,
Mohammed Abul (marketing) and Ali Abul (store manager). Fatima Abul (mother) oversees staff and Adoul
Abul (brother of Joseph) does the purchasing.
Yara Abul (daughter) handles the finances. There are two full-time sales
associates and 8 part-time associates not including the new assistant and the
cowboy boot associates. Store hours are M, T, W, F, S 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Thurs
10:00 am to 8:30 pmComplete the following based on the information provided
above:Create a plan that organizes the physical and monetary needs
to accomplish the goal of 15% sales plan. This plan would entail defining the
physical and monetary requirements that must be used by the assistant to
implement the goal.Create an organizational structure for the business and the
cowboy boot project.Explain why you chose the structure as opposed to others
that you did not choose and what the decision making flow and job tasks are for
each person.Illustrate the structure in an organizational chartLearning Activity 2Explain the type of culture that will enhance the
organizational alignment of people in LLB;Explain what organizational culture is and how it relates to
the structure of the organization;Explain why you chose the organizational culture as opposed
to others that you did not.Week 6 discussion Learning Activity 1This week, we look at leadership from the manager’s
perspective and explore the differences from looking at leadership from a
leader’s perspective. Managers focus on
process, procedure, and implementation of the organization’s purpose. A manager’s perspective is about getting the
job done and keeping stability. The
leader’s mindset is about change and moving workers toward the organization’s
vision. The area of overlap comes in
terms of the need to use “soft or people skills” to get their job done. It is said that a manager motivates while a
leader empowers.In the following five quotes each leader is commenting on
the perspective of a manager in an organization as opposed to a leader. Define the difference between a manager’s mindset and a
leader’s mindset.Using the readings for the week, reflect and explain the
meaning of each quote. and how each
quote relates to a manager’s or leader’s mindset.“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.”Russell 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 IacoccaLearning Activity 2The manager must be able to solve problems, communicate, and
lead teams toward the completion of a task.
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
approximately 3 years. However, in your
branch, the average employee lasts only 8 months. Jill is concerned about the lack of retention
of concession employees especially since training new employees is costly to
the company and this high turnover is costing her money that could be better
spent elsewhere.You have talked with your current concession staff and have
learned that pay and scheduling may have some effect on the turnover rate. Employees feel that the pay is low and the
scheduling is erratic making it difficult to make plans outside of work. You know that employees do not benefit from
pay raises because they tend to leave before being at the alleys for a year. One worker indicated that many of the workers do not know
how to handle difficult customers. It
makes them not want to come to work. At
the time, the focus seems to be on getting the job done rather on customer
service.Using the employee’s feedback and other facts from the case
scenario, what ideas should you consider motivating or changing employee morale
that would encourage employees to stay longer in the job?Week 7 discussion Learning Activity 1In this article as well as your reading for this week the
balanced scorecard is explained: The Balanced Scorecardhttp://www.tutorialspoint…./management_concepts/the_balanced_scorecard.htm
.One of the best tools a manager has is a balanced
scorecard. Remember, our bowling alley
manager from week 6! Address how the scorecard approach fits in to the control
function of management.Create a balanced scorecard and explain how the use of a
balanced scorecard could help to measure and possibly improve the turnover of
employees. The scorecard will include objectives, measures, and targets.Just so you do not have to go back to week Six, here is the
case scenario: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 approximately 3 years. However, in your branch, the average employee
lasts only 8 months. Jill is concerned
about the lack of retention of concession employees especially since training
new employees is costly to the company and this high turnover is costing her
money that could be better spent elsewhere.You have talked with your current concession staff and have
learned that pay and scheduling may have some effect on the turnover rate. Employees feel that the pay is low and the
scheduling is erratic making it difficult to make plans outside of work. You know that employees do not benefit from
pay raises because they tend to leave before being at the alleys for a year. One worker indicated that many of the workers do not know
how to handle difficult customers. It
makes them not want to come to work. At
the time, the focus seems to be on getting the job done rather on customer
service.Learning Activity 2Traditionally, theorists suggest that the managerial
function of controlling should not be confused with control in the behavioral
or the 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 contribute toward the accomplishment of organizational and
departmental objectives.
Research the concept of the virtual organization. Then, explain how can a manager measure work
that is performed when the employee may be 5,000 miles away? Be sure to consider the virtual and global
organizations and how a manager would control and measure work from afar.Week 8 discussion Learning Activity 1 – Theme 1In 1988, Clark Material Handling Company sought to survive a competitive run on their
business from the Japanese. They
survived by using the systems thinking method.Google Clark Material Handling Company;Determine how they saved their company by using the systems
thinking method.Identify three to five major concepts of systems thinking
and then explain how when applied they worked for Clark;Evaluate the identified major concepts for success and
explain why this approach was a better fit than the more conventional theories
discussed in prior weeks.The Same Old Principles in the New ManufacturingClark Manufacturing CompanyClark Manufacturing CompanyCLARK MANUFACTURING CO.: Precision CNC Machining ServicesLearning Activity 2- Theme 2
When we started the class we learned that the 21st century
manager must be agile to survive the fluid and dynamic business environment of
this century. However, we established
that the foundation of management theory in most organizations today is the
traditional Fayol functions. Reflect on
the classwork and then address your comments to the articles from this week on
agile managers to debate this question: “Agile management is not the answer to
creating a facile and competitive business organization.”Assignment 1 The Role of The Manager and The Impact of
Organizational Theories on Managers (Week 3)
Purpose:
In the first assignment, students are given a scenario in
which the shipping manager who has worked for Galaxy Toys, Inc. since
1969. The scenario serves to set the
stage for students to demonstrate how management theories have changed over
time. For example, management 30 years
ago is different than management in the 21st century.
Outcome Met by Completing This Assignment:
integrate management theories and principles into management
practices
Instructions:
In Part One of this case study analysis, students are to use
the facts from the case study to determine two different organization theories
that are demonstrated. For Part Two,
students will compare the 21st century manager to that of the main character in
the case study and the implications of change in being a 21st century manager.
In selecting a school of thought and an organizational
theory that best describes the current shipping manager, students will use the
timeline to select a school of thought and a theory or theories of that time
frame. Students will use the course
material to respond to most of the assignment requirements but will also need
to research the theorist(s) and theories to complete the assignment. Students are expected to be thorough in
responding.
In Part Two, students are going to take what they have
learned and compare the management skills of the 21st century shipping manager
to the skills of the current shipping manager.
Step 1: Review “How
to Analyze a Case Study” under Week 3 Content.
Step 2: Create a Word
or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced, 12-point font. The final product will be between 4-6 pages
in length excluding the title page and reference page.
Step3: Review the
grading rubric for the assignment.
Step 4: In addition
to providing an introduction, students will use headings following this format:
Title page with title, your name, the course, the
instructor’s name;
Background;
Part One;
Part Two.
Step 5: In writing a
case study, the writing is in the third person.
What this means is that there are no words such as “I, me, my, we, or
us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you or your” (second person
writing). If uncertain how to write in
the third person, view this link:
http://www.quickanddirtytips…./education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person. Also note that students are not to provide
personal commentary.
Step 6: In writing
this assignment, students are expected to support the reasoning using in-text
citations and a reference list. If any
material is used from a source document, it must be cited and referenced. A reference within a reference list cannot
exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa. View the sample APA paper under Week 1
content.
Step 7: In writing
this assignment, students will use resources from the course material and no
more than 4 external source documents.
NOTE: The expectation is that
students provide a robust use of the course material
Step 8: In completing
the assignment, students are expected to use the facts from the case study and
company profile paired with the weekly courses readings to develop the
analysis. View the company profile
here: Galaxy Toys, Inc. Company Profile.