Case Treetop Forest Products Essay

Identification (20%) Facts, assumptions and problem identification Building-grade lumber industry is competitive and product being sold is not differential; only differentiation is due to product packaging and presentation. Product packaging is biggest factor when buyers are making a purchasing decision between buying from Treetop or competitors. Over the last 2 years, Treetop has declined in ratings for package of lumber products as a result lost customers to competitors . Treetop has six departments: boom, sawmill, planer, packaging, shipping, and maintenance. All other departments have a supervisor; however, packaging department does not have one designated supervisor. Possible solution is to convert one of the workers to supervisor, or dedicate a supervisor 100% of the time to packaging To solve the issue supervisor from sawmill and planer deparments cover the shifts. Due to distance between sawmill and planing divisions, the supervisors are unable given full attention to the operations of the packaging division. (assumption) Distance cause the supervisor to visit the departments not as often as they should. Productivity in 3 divisions remained constant, Sawmill and planing division productivity increased; however, productivity decreased in packaging department and caused the following: Stockpile up Risk of damaged stock increased the inventory cost Cost Competitiveness suffered due to management placing additional employees from other divisions to solve the backlog issue faced by packaging department. Packaging department run two shifts – morning and afternoon Productivity level of afternoon shifts is less than morning shift employees Reason behind the decreased in productivity level in the department is due to following: Employees takes extended lunch and coffee breaks Leave few min early, specially afternoon shift Reallocation of temporary employees from different productive departments also follow the same practise after being in the packaging department for few days. Based on the case facts, organizational effectiveness and productivity is being effected by the in place practises of Packaging  Department. Following two major problems should be resolved to overcome the issues faced by Treetop: Packaging department’s employees are effecting the working habits of other department employees. Department wide meeting communicating the company values, performance issues of packaging department, statististics proving decline in packaging, and initiatives to stop extended lunches, coffee breaks, leaving few minutes early especially in afternoon shift Produce daily backlog reports showing increase in backlog and spoilage statistics. Use negative consequences (firing), within union contract. and positive rewards based on production and quality targets being met. Methods and implementation of rewards can be determined by using Nominal Group Technique (variation of brain storming)- 1)silently and independently document their ideas, 2)collectively describe ideas to other team members without critique, and 3)silently ad independently evaluate the ideas presented Packaging division does not have a supervisor to oversee the operation on daily bases. This needs to change immediately. If costs can’t be justified, perhaps  ½ time position added, that also is in production the other half , or Bal Resolving the issues The packaging department is mostly at fault for majority of the Treetop Forest Productions Ltd recent decline of organisational success, not only are the packaging employees at fault, but also management for not monitoring the situation more effectively. It’s vital for Treetop Forest Products to improve and maintain their competitive edge within the building grade timber industry to ensure future success of the organisation. If solutions are not implemented immediately, the success of the organisation will continue to decline, placing Treetop Forest Productions Ltd in an unfavourable position where recovery may be implausible. Tackling the major issues illustrated within the packaging department will commence a strong positive path towards the future success of the organisation, placing them in a competitive position once again. There are possible solutions that can assist with effectively and efficiently dealing with this issue. Firstly, supervision and leadership needs a major  improvement within the packaging sector. As illustrated within all other fully supervised departments, work is completed efficiently and to a high quality standard. By providing packaging employees with the same supervision and leadership, near guarantees a positive change within the packaging department. Employing a leader with a with a transformational approach to leadership concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards and long term goals will help to improve the work ethic within the packaging department. A supervisor with transformational leadership involves an exceptional form of influence that moves followers to accomplish more that what is usually expected of them. Furthermore, by introducing a new leader, costs will decrease due to supervised workers and the decrease of overtime; it can be implemented quickly, improv e productivity and increase the equity of work. As also explained within the issues of the packaging department, there is a lack of employee motivation. This is demonstrated through the low quality of work produced, longer breaks and early finishing times. Its important for managers to understand that each and every individual employee will have a set of drives, needs, decisions and behaviours to be motivated. By following the below diagram, Treetop Forest Products managers can use this to understand different emotional responses and resulting needs in the same situation. promote group cohesiveness and a pleasant working environment. In the short term, upper management could host a meeting or assembly between all departments to make them feel interrelated and important to the company. This could be a great motivation for the employees. In the long term, group evaluations could be necessary to measure the group’s performance and to see if the actions taken are resolving the problems. supervisor of the department. Learned Needs Theory: The Learned Needs Theory has three â€Å"learned needs† that can be defined as the â€Å"Need for Achievement†, â€Å"Need for Power†, and the â€Å"Need for Affiliation†. A need is amplified or suppressed through self-concept, social norms, and past  experiences (Internet Center for Management and Business Administration, Inc., 2002), although needs can also be learned through training whether it be strengthening or weakening the need. The members of the packaging department could have been more aware of their needs whether it is affiliation, power, or achievement and if they were more aware of what was there, there could have been more motivation on the part of the members to excel. Also, with the appointment of an actual supervisor, instead of taking them from other departments, it could have ensured that these needs be amplified through some forms of friendly competition or rewards. The â€Å"Need for Power† is stated as the need to make an impact on others, influence others, change people or events, and make a difference in life. If this need was taught to the members of the packaging department by the supervisors of the other departments, there could be a chance someone internally would strive so much for the need of power that he or she would emerge as the leader in a department with a declining productivity level. Having the ability to control others is a very powerful characteristic which everyone strives for internally, so if this need was brought forward by executives there would be an increase in competition and drive between the members to claim that position of hierarchy in the department. The â€Å"Need for Achievement† is the need and desire for excellence, competition, challenging goals, and overcoming difficulties. With the simple action as a reward put forth throughout the company internally that the employees of each section could enjoy, it could ignite an employee’s need for achievement and desire for excellence which in turn could ignite the competition in every employee to achieve success like his or her fellow employee has. People strive for recognition and success and if this need was amplified in the employees who have made it clear that they want to enjoy the benefits that come from a high productivity level, and brought out of those who believe that they don’t need success, Treetop Forest Products could internally enjoy success of their own making their business profit at its maximum rate. The â€Å"Need for Affiliation† is defined as the need for individuals maintain close, intimate relationships, or approval of other people. If Treetop Forest Products could bring out this need in the packaging department by showing them how the other departments in the company get along which in turn brings the productivity level up within the  department. Although, the employees of the packaging do well of getting along with each other by performing bad habits such as leaving early or extending their breaks, if that could be  transformed through the training of good habits such as exceeding expected productivity levels and working hard, the affiliation that is present now could be that much stronger and emphasized in the department. Also, in addition to affiliation within the department, there is also the possibility with the rise of productivity level and affiliation within the The team has strong cohesion, but needs to be turned around. (employees transferred are confor ming to the team norms of lack of punctuality)† Norms are the informal rules and shared expectations that groups establish to regulate the bahavour of their members.† Padge 225 chapter 8 Canadian Org Behaviour . It has to be set as a rethink to the department and communicating the new norms and aligning the norms with the company goals and objectives is critical. Through these simple needs that can be taught or learned, Treetop Forest Products could experience not only success from their five already successful departments but from the packaging department as well. If amplified the packaging department would benefit from the affiliation they would gain from the other departments, the power that employees could possibly gain with the increase of productivity via promotions or recognition, and the rewards that the employees of the packaging could gain through increased productivity levels. If Treetop Forest Products were to implicate these two simple theories there is a possibility that the packaging department would no longer be a harmful unit but instead an asset that Treetop can rely on. Through the Situational Leadership Theory, Treetop has the opportunity to find a leader that can adapt to the group and individuals and convert the now declining productivity level of the packaging department to an increasing level of productivity like the f ive other departments in the company. With the Learned Needs Theory, Treetop has the ability to install the needs for achievement, power, and affiliation to the packaging department to encourage friendly competition between the employees while still steadily increasing the productivity levels of the  department. Conclusion: Treetop Forest Products and Westboard Co have been suffering the consequences of the lackluster performance from their packaging department since there is no authority figure to keep the employees on task and working hard to produce sellable products for Westboard. With the packaging department not having their own supervisor, Treetop has appointed the supervisors of the sawmill and planing department as the supervisors of the packaging department during their shifts. With the packaging department being in a different location then the sawmill and planing department, it has caused the supervisors to make the packaging department an afterthought and with the productivity levels of the packaging department decreasing it has shown. After evaluating the case of Treetop Forest Product and the issues with their packaging department, they have been using the Contingency Theory which states that there is no one best way of leading and that a leadership style that is effective in some situations may not be successful in others and that while a leader may be very effective at one place and point in time may become unsuccessful either when transplanted to another situation or when factors around t hem change. This was clear in the case of Treetop Forest Product’s case because  although the leaders were very effective with their own departments, increasing the productivity levels of their respective departments, when transferred over to the packaging department their effectiveness did not follow. Each leader has their own key characteristics that play a major part in how they lead, whether it is their personality, drive, emotional intelligence, self-concept, etc. so what may be high and effective in one leader and his or her department may not be high and effective in a different department’s leader. Since the sawmill and planing departments were so successful when implanted into a failing department, the situation as well as the effectiveness of the leader changed. Instead of the Contingency Theory, there were others that if Treetop were to implement it could have made the productivity level of the packaging department go up while creating a better atmosphere within the company. If Treetop were to take the leader who was most able to conform his or her leadership style to that of the packaging department instead of just taking the top two  departments supervisors without considering the important variables such as distance and drive, Treetop could have improved the situation within the packaging department. With these simple changes to the company, Treetop could have quite easily changed the atmosphere and effectiveness of the packaging department to better the profits and trust gained from Westboard. If Treetop were to dedicate an individual supervisor based on performance and authoritative qualities within the department instead of having an external employee take on the responsibility of turning the packaging department around, the chances of increasing the productivity level of the packaging department would increase which would not only benefit the department but Treetop Forest Products and Westboard Co. respectively.

Reading Response to Introduction in Handbook of Race and Ethnic Studies Essay

Upon reading the Collins and Solomos introduction to their Handbook of Race and Ethnic Studies, I soon realized that the field of race and ethnicity is a diverse, living thing that is constantly evolving. The authors make reference to the fact that the civil rights movement has been working for decades and it appears at times that no progress has been made. They make this point by mentioning the nightly newscasts on television that show global atrocities brought on by policies of ethnic cleansing or other forms of hate. This is proof that more work has to be done and we must continue to seek and promote understanding and equality. Collins and Solomos also mention the rise of more right-wing political groups that they refer to as the new right. These groups use the media to promote their ideas of an ideal state. They state that `for the new right` the appeal is by and large no longer to racial supremacy cultural uniformity` and they get around this by  ¨parading under the politics of nationalism and patriotism ¨. This reminded me of my history classes in school where I first learned of Hitler and how he used extreme nationalism as one of his tools to gain influence and power over a economically struggling Germany. There seems to be a great many voices and perspectives out there that may contradict one another at times, but I feel that the study or race and ethnicity must continue to be pursued.

Answer 9 questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Answer 9 questions - Assignment Example ironic, in that in its translation, it means It is sweet and glorious, while the actual theme of the story is to present the horrific incidence of a chemical weapon attack on a British soldier, who was unable to put on a protective gas mask. Referring to such a poem as sweet and glorious, yet presenting and condemning the horrific incidences of World War I is pure irony (660). 3. The point of view in the short poem â€Å"Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,† changes at the end, to indicate how the society loses interest in an individual after death, even after having considered them useful during their lifetime (652). 4. The flea in John Donne’s poem, â€Å"The Flea†, is an extended metaphor, which is used in this poem to represent sexual encounter (847), making the blood of the two individuals involved mingle and end up as one, through the divine act of nature where a child is formed, which the individuals cannot control. 5. The theme of â€Å"To His Coy Mistress† compares to that of â€Å"The Flea† in that, both poems present the theme of love. The narrators of these poems want to present their case for love, where the women they are in love with do not seem to satisfy their desires for intimacy (981). Both of these poems are an argument to the end, since the narrators are consistently presenting their interests to their love partners who do not seem to cater for such interest adequately. 6. The comparison in the treatment of fairy tales in the poems, â€Å"Snow White,† and â€Å"Cinderella is that, the beautiful girls, who actually belong to the throne, are mistreated by their stepmothers after the death of the queens, who were their mothers. However, due to their beauty, they eventually ended up being married by the kings of these thrones and become queens. The contrast is that while the girl in Cinderella is married by his father, the one in snow white is married by his stepbrother. The writers make the tales more realistic through having the mistreated girls

Should we be more suspicious of the benefits that Computer Dependency Essay

Should we be more suspicious of the benefits that Computer Dependency brings - Essay Example According to the research findings it can therefore be said that we live in a world where technological evolution dictates the next level of the evolution of the human race. Computers are at the forefront of each activity that is a part and parcel of our daily lives. From waking us up in the morning to heating up a bag of popcorn, the computer has taken over even the most menial tasks that used to define a person as a human being. Just like any other piece of technology or equipment that becomes an integral part of our lives, there are certain risks involved each time we use the gadget. It is this percentage of danger that the detractors of our society's dependency on computers use as the basis of their anti-computer campaigns. There are quite a number of valid yet controversial points of view when it comes to the benefits that we reap from the existence of computers versus the consequences that we face as a society as we become more and more dependent on software, hardware, and serv ers for storing and usage of our vital information. With the steady rise of computer crimes, hacking, identity theft, embezzlement, and fraud one cannot help but wonder if our implicit trust in the benefits of computer usage is not a misguided result of a well financed PR campaign. Looking deeper into the crimes and other problems associated with computer dependency, it does seem like the use of computers encourages crimes against the economy and man. The first argument against the growing intrusion of computers into our private lives has to do with online privacy concerns. We are storing more and more personal information on the internet in order to access the services that we need. Everything from our full name to our social security number floats around in cyberspace, waiting for us to use the information. That is if the information is not hacked from the system and used by other people in our name. Computer hacking has become one of the greatest concerns for those of us who have become reliant on the internet and computers for the accomplishment of tasks such as paying for our bills and updating our medical records. Cybercrime has become such a high profile problem for our country that the highest echelons of homeland security have become part of the government forces trying to secure the internet by combating internet related crime (Bell, Josephine Computer Economics A Great Dependence with Explicit Consequences) . On a personal level, computers have been proven to be beneficial to our society as it has given people a venue by which they can freely air out their grievances and demand action from the political leaders. It has allowed the masses to become empowered even as dictator governments try to crack down on them and silence their voices. The advent of social media has ensured that every man will have a voice that can and will be heard across the globe. Thanks to computers, changes for the better were seen this past year in the Middle East. That is a good thing. The whole world saw their struggles and pitched in whenever they could in order to insure that change would indeed be effected for the benefit of many in that region of the world. Computers have seen to it that a new era has dawned upon our society. We now live in the age and time of computers. Due to the multitasking capabilities of computers, we have seen the machine take over various work roles that were originally deemed to be done only by human beings. The technological advancements in the world of business has resulted in the loss of jobs of people due to the more efficient ways and means that computers manage to execute tasks. The loss of jobs to technological advancements have resulted in the fast changing pace and face of our society in the 21st century. These advancements were not all positive and neither were they all negative in the way that the existence of social networks have changed the way we interact with one another. The bad thing, is that the anonymit y that is offered by social media sites such as twitter and Facebook, has

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 342

Assignment Example Chronic bronchitis, emphysema are COPD related illness and these disorders are chronic in nature compared to asthma that is considered an acute condition. The most common symptoms during COPD are difficulties with exhalation, shortness of breathing, sputum production and productive cough. During COPD related illness abnormally high rate of mucus secretion in the airways occurs that predisposes the lungs to infections. The varieties of asthma types do not make it harder to diagnose compared to COPD. The most common problem of asthma and COPD related illness diagnosing is that symptoms are not regular and can be triggered suddenly by different environmental factors. That’s why usually such disorders are misdiagnosed accordingly to patient symptoms. To detect these respiratory illnesses appropriate tests are needed such as chest X-ray, pulmonary function test. In my opinion, complications during asthma and COPD related illness are quite serious and in both cases can provoke the d estruction of lung tissue and lung

Steam Engine Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Steam Engine - Research Paper Example The basic purpose of the stationary steam engines is to pump and drive mills by generating power. While introduced in the 18th century, these engines continued to be produced in huge numbers throughout the 19th century, and most of the part of the 20th century until advancements made in the electrical field leading to the practical application of electric power and the development of the internal combustion engine took their place. The use of the fixed steam engines accelerated between the time period of 1750 and 1850 but started to gradually decline afterwards when more advanced and adaptable electricity powered engines began to be introduced. Though the use of internal combustion engines became more widespread later, this paper aims at stressing the fact that the importance of efforts leading to the discovery of steam power and invention of first commercially successful steam engine cannot be denied and should never be overlooked when contemplating the technological inventions intr oduced prior to 1850. Stationary steam engines have often been mistaken for other kinds of engines introduced during the time steam engines were under development process. But a little research into this matter proves that they can be distinguished and stand in contrast to locomotive engines used for railways, traction engines used for manufacturing roads, steam cars, and agricultural engines used for ploughing and harvesting fields. The steam engine is arguably considered the most important technology of the industrial revolution and the literature reviewed in this paper aims at underlining this claim that the steam engine due to multiple factors was indeed an... This essay stresses that the world witnessed a sustained growth in the obvious influences exerted by technology related revolutions which begin to revolutionize every aspect of daily life for the better. Period extending from 1750 to 1850 is characterized by the transitional change of the manual and animal-based labor into critical machine-based manufacturing. This paper makes a conclusion that the steam engine has always remained in limelight in the history. After Savery, Newcomen played a gigantic role of critical nature in advancing the efforts initiated by the previous engineer and introduced a version of steam engine which not only overcame the issues associated with the earlier model but also helped in greatly facilitating the human life by fostering the transition of manual-based labor into machine-based manufacturing. Then Watt’s highly effective double-acting rotative steam engine and later versions of steam engines invented in later years served as the basis for a whole new wave of modern or revolutionary steam technology. General consensus is that though the steam engine was an essential early element of the industrial revolution, still this technology remained underused for most of the part of that period as most of the industries then continued to rely on wind and water power along with manual and animal-based labor to run machines. The discovery of steam power formed the backbone of the steam engine manufacturing process and multiple scientists and engineers whose work precedes 1850 are involved in continually developing this technology.

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 65

Case Study Example Therefore, for the company to counter the effect of unreliable profits, it should start introducing some other products. For example, USB drives, this because a wide range of products will increase the company’s sales (Milkovich et al., 2013). In addition, the company can build more companies in different continents. This will reduce the risks associated with currency exchange rates. The type of reward system that the company should give this group of employees should be based on money (Milkovich et al., 2013). This is because according to recent studies, some of the best performing companies reward their employees well. Employees who are rewarded very well are motivated and tend to be more creative and work with minimum supervision (Milkovich et al., 2013). In summary, there should be a component of large incentive, if the company wishes to retain the employees. One of the human needs is to live a good life, and most psychologists have argued that employers who invest in their employees’ wellbeing always tend to have very productive