business management assignment

Assignment 3: Implementing and Evaluating – The Future at Biotech Health and Life Products, Inc. (Week 8)

Purpose

The third assignment covers the last three functions of the P-O-L-C, Organizing, Leading and Controlling.  Students will look at the production floor through the lens of the organizing, leading and control functions.

Outcome Met by Completing This Assignment

• Integrate management theories and principles into management practices
• Organize human, physical, and financial resources for the effective and efficient attainment of organization goals
• Demonstrate leadership skills by communicating a shared vision, motivating and empowering others, and creating a culture of ethical decision-making and innovation
• Develop measures and assess outcomes against plans and standards to improve organizational effectiveness
• Identify the essential characteristics of decision making and indicate the range and types of decisions a manager makes

Step 1:  Company Profile

Use the Biotech Company Profile in completing this assignment.

Step 2:  Write the Introduction

Create the Introductory Paragraph

The introductory paragraph is the first paragraph of the paper but is typically written after writing the body of the paper (Questions students responded to above).  View this website to learn how to write an introductory paragraph:

http://www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/donelan/intro.html

Step 3:  Organizing

Read critically and analyze the following scenario:

The Boomer Bangs projects presented to the Strategic Planning Committee were accepted for production and roll out by the company is scheduled for January of 2019.  The first product scheduled for production is a pill that helps reduce blood sugar levels. Market studies predict that this pill likely will be the most successful of the three products, which is why it is the first product to roll out.

Upper management decided that Luis Montego of the Los Lunas, New Mexico Branch Production Team will take the lead for this project.  The plan is for Luis to serve as a model for organizing that will be copied by the rest of the branches so that roll out can be concurrent.  Luis knows that his production floor is set up exactly like the rest of the plants. Luis has put some thought into the fact that the new pill production will require additional production lines requiring changes to the existing set up.  Luis believes space could be a problem.  Luis estimates he will need 200 sq. ft. for the additional line set up. He will also need two conveyor belts as well.  Luis knows that some relocation of machinery or line set up will have to be done because pills have to be produced away from direct sunlight and stored at low temperatures.

Luis has also come to the conclusion that he will need additional personnel – one pharmaceutically trained pill machine operator for the day shift and two operators for the night shift.  Trained line workers cost $3 more per hour than untrained line workers.  Luis also knows that these new workers will need supervising.  He may have to restructure the floor staff.

Primary pill ingredients bitt goud, spreading hogweed, Chinaberry (mostly found in India) and burra gokhru will be shipped from Madras, India.  However, sourcing of the Chinaberry has been a little difficult for Luis and he suspects the cost of production will have to increase the estimated R&D cost by $0.075 per pill.  Additional labor costs and costs of the rare Indian ingredients places the overall production cost of one bottle of 60- pills at $5.75, which includes packaging. 

Step 4:  Assume the Role of Luis Montego

Task 1:  Identify and discuss six major areas of the organizing process that Luis Montego must address in organizing the production floor for both existing production and the new project.

Task 2:  What specific area needs immediate attention?  Why?

Step 5:  Leading

Read critically and analyze the following scenario:

Biotech has always told workers that they want to keep people in the Biotech family.  The company encourages employees to get additional training and will pay for college tuition for those who want to advance their career opportunities within the company.

During the course of production older line staffers became aware that the pharmaceutically trained line workers made $3.00 more per hour than they did.  The workers were unhappy.  They felt that it was unfair that Biotech hired from outside rather than provide training to existing workers who would want to take over the jobs and earn the extra salary.  An obvious concern began to surface among the workers.  Several of the workers questioned whether Biotech is being truthful with them and wonder whether they will really help the workers advance in the company.   Morale of plant workers began to suffer.  One floor supervisor told Luis that one of his workers refused to help develop a new process that would increase the speed of moving the pallets on the new floor scheme.  He said, “Why should I help Biotech make more money if I don’t get any of the money?”  Luis knows that this concern must be addressed and morale needs to be improved.  Luis also knows that only HR in headquarters can make decisions regarding benefits so he cannot offer pay raises.  Luis wonders what he can do to motivate workers and build trust in the production department.

Task 1:  Identify and discuss the reasons for the morale problem;

Task 2:  Discuss specific ways Luis can motivate his existing employees that will build morale while ensuring production levels stay on track for the current contracts and the new project;

Task 3:  What critical factor could interfere with Luis’ attempt to build morale?

Step 6:  Controlling

Read critically and analyze the following scenario:

The following chart displays the results of the first year’s production of the new pill, Boomer 1.  The table was created from data supplied by the production department managers of the Biotech branches making the pill.  The data was collected for the purpose of controlling production output.   The data will be used by the Vice President (VP) of Production, Arthur Miller to identify areas of improvement, change, or to provide kudos for the success of the processes used by the Production Department in the production of Boomer 1.

The chart describes the standard goal (identified as standard) set by the department and the results of each branch.  A comparison of the standard to the results allows the reader to form conclusions about the success or failure of the Production Department to meet the goals envisioned by the company.  It also allows the reader to recognize patterns from the data so conclusions can be drawn as to the relationship between elements (e.g. cost expended vs time expended; those who spent more time had a higher cost).

Step 7:  Standard Specifications/Results

Compare the standard specifications data set with the results from each of the results for the five branches.

Task 1:  Interpret the results for the new product production chart above;

Task 2:  Discuss the problematic areas;

Task 3:  Discuss the areas that showed positive results.

Step 8:  Corrective Action

Task:  Do you suggest Arthur Miller take corrective action?  If yes, why and what action should be taken?  If not why not?

Step 9:  Morale

Read critically and analyze the following scenario:

The next meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee for Biotech is scheduled for next week.  All of the VP’s will be there and a report must be given by all as to the viability of the Boomer 1 roll out and the success or failure of the long-term goals and objectives.

Miller reviewed his meeting notes with his branch managers when the production results came out.  The most important conclusions mentioned below are presented to the team:

• Most all the managers seem to feel that the project was well worth the effort. 
• The most significant problem was the lack of space on the production floor.  
• Los Lunas and Sao Paulo managers indicated that they had floor space issues and quality control was the most significant issue because of the level of heat in the plant.
• The standard had been met by everyone.
• Three of the plants reported morale problems with older workers wanting to be trained for the higher paying line jobs.

Step 10:  Potential Concerns

Prepare a report for Keith to present to the planning team:

Use the conclusions drawn by Miller from the Manager’s Meeting (noted above).

Task 1:  Identify at least three conclusions that have potential concern for the long-term future of the project and or company.  Explain why and how each of the factors identified would affect the future long-term strategic planning;

Task 2:  Explain the relationship between the control process and long-term planning;

Task 3:  Provide at least two recommendations for solutions to address the implications of the factors chosen.  Explain why these recommendations are viable and would be an effective solution.

Step 11:  Review the Paper

Read the paper to ensure all required elements are present.  Use the grading rubric to ensure that you gain the most points possible for this assignment.

Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues, and third person writing.

• Read the paper aloud as a first measure;
• Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a second measure;
• Have someone who has excellent English skills to proofread the paper;
• Consider submitting the paper to the Effective Writing Center (EWC).  The EWC will provide 4-6 areas that may need improvement.

Step 12:  Submit the paper in the Assignment Folder (The assignment submitted to the Assignment Folder will be considered the student’s final product and therefore ready for grading by the instructor.  It is incumbent upon the student to verify the assignment is the correct submission.  No exceptions will be considered by the instructor).

How to Set Up the Paper

Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced.  Use 12-point font.  The final product will be between 8 and 10 pages in length excluding the title page and reference page.  Write clearly and concisely.

Use the following Report Format.

• Introduction
• Organizing
• Leading
• Controlling

Completing the Paper

• Read the grading rubric for the project.  Use the grading rubric while completing the project to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible grade.

• Third person writing is required.  Third person means 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.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person.

• Contractions are not used in business writing, so do not use them.

• Paraphrase and do not use direct quotation marks.  Paraphrase means you do not use more than four consecutive words from a source document, but put a passage from a source document into your own words and attribute the passage to the source document.  Not using direct quotation marks means that there should be no passages with quotation marks and instead the source material is paraphrased as stated above.  Provide the page or paragraph number when using in-text citations.  Note that a reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa.

• You may not use books as source material.

• You are expected to use the facts from the case scenario paired with the weekly courses readings to develop the analysis and support the reasoning.  No more than two (2) external resources can be used in completing the assignment.  The expectation is that you provide a robust use of the course readings.  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.