This week’s discussion is a case analysis of Smithfield Custom Furniture developed specifically for this course. Your posting should answer the questions posed using this week’s course materials to support your answers. It is important to write concisely and to follow the detailed instructions provided below. Include in-text citations and references in a reference list. For APA citation examples, follow the link to the Library under Resources on the homepage.
Case Discussion
SMITHFIELD’S CUSTOM FURNITURE
It is 1901. Alicia Smithfield, daughter of the founder of Smithfield Custom Furniture, just inherited the company. She is the only surviving heir to the furniture empire her father built.
Headquartered in upstate New York, the company has grown significantly over the past 60 years. Began in a shed built next to his log cabin, Jonas Smithfield’s quality furniture developed a huge following among New York City’s wealthiest residents.
After being educated in the best business schools in Europe and America, Alicia has run the business side-by-side with her father for the past 15 years. When there were many issues confronting the business, a tree being felled took an unexpected route and brought Jonas’ life to a surprising end.
The company had just moved to a facility large enough to house its workers: 10 carpenters; 5 furniture designers; 5 wood finishers (varnish and dye experts); 10 machine operators to assist with the various equipment needed to cut the wood into various designs, polish and sand the wood; 5 mechanics to keep the vehicles (5 trucks) and boats (7) that transported wood from upstate New York and Canada to the work area in good repair; 15 lumberjacks who cut wood in nearby areas and moved it downriver by boat or over the rugged highway by truck; and 5 office personnel who assisted with filing, invoicing, drafting and responding to correspondence, handling customer inquiries, and performing other necessary office functions. More than half of these employees were hired in the past 5 years.
Alicia’s Big Issues
The major issues confronting Alicia Smithfield are these:
(1) The furniture manufacturing functions are very disorganized. It is not clear how to best organize these functions. For example, the varnish and dye experts each use a different method to complete their tasks.
(2) The production schedule is a mess. It is not clear which projects should be completed first to ensure products are being delivered to customers on time.
(3) The lumberjacks, both cutting trees down and shipping them by truck or boat, differ on the best methods to perform these tasks.
(4) Tempers are flaring as a result of the disorganization. The office, clerical, and support workers are rude to each other and can’t seem to act as a cohesive work unit.
(5) While the company is financially successful, as it has grown from a small family-owned business to a large and complex enterprise, the organizational structure has not kept pace. Few formal rules exist, and the keeping and maintenance of records are haphazard.
(6) Employees are feeling overworked and losing satisfaction in the work they are doing. They believe their basic needs are not being addressed.
Alicia’s Proposed Issue Solutions
Alicia Smithfield is familiar with all of the contributors (e.g., Weber, Gilbreath, Taylor, among others) to the management theory you have read about this week. She has decided to hire six (6) of those contributors to management theory from the week’s readings as consultants. (We shall now refer to those contributors (e.g., Weber, Gilbreath, Taylor, among the others) in this week’s readings as “consultants.”)
Each of the six (6) consultants selected will be assigned to solve only one of the six (6) issues listed above. Alicia’s problem is that she is unclear as to which of the six (6) contributors selected from the week’s reading to be her consultants are best matched to solve each of the six (6) specific issues listed above.
Your Task for Your Initial Post
You are to answer four (4) of the above-mentioned six (6) issues identified by Alicia Smithfield. Specifically, she has asked you to recommend a consultant to solve four of the six issues confronting her. You have been requested to explain to Alicia why you selected the four consultants you chose to solve each of the four selected issues. Each consultant will solve one of the four issues you identified that particular consultant to address. You must explain the major contribution/idea of the consultant selected and how that contribution/idea applies to the specific issue you have recommended that the consultant solve. You must identify the school of thought that each consultant represents.
Note: You may not use any of the individuals in the readings to solve more than one of the four (4) issues. If a person you select is deceased, do not let that inconvenience stand in your way. You may still use that individual to solve a specific issue.
For research associated with this discussion, you must use course materials only. You must provide APA formatted in-text citations and references for each of the four (4) issues you select.
Format for Your Initial Post
You must use the exact numbers and corresponding headings for your initial post for each of your 4 selections. For example, one student’s post may be numbered 1, 3, 5, 6; another student’s post may be numbered 1, 2, 4, 5; and so forth. Any four of the six issues listed that a student selects to answer will be acceptable.
1. Manufacturing Functions are Disorganized
2. Production Schedule is a Mess
3. Lumberjack Disagreement Methods To Cut Trees/Load Boat
4. Tempers Flare among Office Support Staff
5. Lack of Formal Rules/Record-Keeping Processes
6. Basic Needs and Job Satisfaction Overlooked
The topic must clearly relate in some clear way to homeland security, and preferably also to critical infrastructure protection.
The topic must clearly relate in some clear way to homeland security, and preferably also to critical infrastructure protection. I need to approve the choices, so the earlier you select, the better.
When selecting a topic, keep in mind that your paper must analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information in a logical fashion. A topic that presents the application of concepts, for example, would be too shallow because it lacks evaluation of the information. Also not acceptable are papers that are basically mash-ups or “regurgitation” of information copied-and-pasted from various sources; your paper must demonstrate your own original work and critical thinking.
Required Elements of the Research Topic Descriiption
1. A thesis statement or abstract, describing the problem area you intend to address. The problem area should be focused rather than broad and suitable for you to evaluate information gathered in your research and cogently analyze that information. For example: This paper will examine the history of regulations, standards, industry collaboration, training and exercising for crisis communications and public warnings involved with nuclear power plant drills and incidents.
2. Your research strategy, which may include one or more of the following:
a. Gather information from sources such as academic journals, books or government publications;
b. Conduct interviews with, for example, subject matter experts;
c. Collect data for analysis, whether through surveys, observations, or experiments.
3. The names of at least 2 scholarly articles or books or substantive government documents (not just informational websites or fact sheets) you intend to use as sources of information. (For the final paper, you will need at least 5 scholarly or government items as sources, plus 5 more sources = a total of 10 sources minimum.)
analyze a quarterly dashboard develop a presentation your plan for how performance improved.
Management Assignment Help Part I: Analysis of the Dashboard
Review the sample quarterly dashboard (uploaded), which contains a variety of clinical and administrative indicators. Look for areas where there is good performance and areas where performance could be improved. Select one of the performance areas that needs improvement as the focus of your presentation
Based on your analysis of the dashboard, develop a performance-improvement plan based on evidence-based practice. Use a minimum of three references from the professional literature. Remember that you will be presenting your findings during a staff meeting, so keep your presentation between 11 and 15 slides. Include the following slides in your presentation:
Title slide (1 slide)
Explain the quality indicators used in the dashboard (1–2 slides)
Analysis of the data (4–5 slides)Analyze the purpose of the dashboard.
Explain what is needed to create a dashboard.
Analyze the dashboard and describe areas that need improvement and areas where performance is good.
Describe the findings from the dashboard.
Explain why these areas were selected for indicating performance improvement.
Performance improvement plan (3–5 slides)Outline a performance improvement plan on the selected indicator. Be sure to include a minimum of three evidence-based practices that could be implemented to improve performance.
Explain how each suggestion could address the selected performance indicator.
Support each selected practice suggestion with references from the professional literature.
Summary (1 slide)
References (1 slide)
you will analyze a quarterly dashboard to find areas where improvement is needed and develop a presentation that details your plan for how performance can be improved.
Learning Reflections
InstructionsMust use APA formatting for your answers including the use of in-text citations and referencing as needed. This includes using a title page, double-spacing, numbering pages, referencing sources properly both in-text and in the reference page, and using headings where appropriate to help with reading clarity and to identify which question you are answering. Pay attention to your spelling and grammar as you will be penalized as described in the marking rubric. Do not repeat the question as this will increase your Turnitin score. You will lose at least a format mark if you do not follow instructions. *One page for every three questions.
1 Learning Reflection
Milton Friedman argued that, “Few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible” (Friedman, 1962, p. 133). Why is this argument no longer socially acceptable?
Briefly define the most important argument for CSR and critically reflect on why you think your choice is the most important.
Give a current example from Canadian society or businesses to support your reflection in question 2 (you will need to search the internet for an example).
2 Learning Reflection
Make a list of the rights of a corporation and a separate list of its responsibilities. Which list is longer? Reflect on why that is?
Refer to the Calton et al. (2013) reading. Reflect on which one of the three ‘communities of practice’ frameworks would be your preferred way to address the base of the pyramid (BOP).
Reflect on the UN SDGs and describe which one of the targets appeals to you and why?
3 Learning Reflection
Watch Michael Porter talk about how business can be good at solving social problems. Reflect on your one key take-away from this TedTalk?
Simon Zadek (2004) identifies the stages of learning that organizations go through in developing a sense of corporate responsibility (this is also discussed in Chandler, 2020, pp. 64-65 or Chapter 3 in the online version). Provide a critical reflection as to whether this is a useful way to describe organizational learning in the context of CSR.
Reflect on the University of Guelph as a provider of education. Use the principles of power, legitimacy, and urgency described by Mitchell et al. (1997) to describe who should be the dominant stakeholders in the firm.