Operations Management and Productivity Essay Example for Free

Operations Management and Productivity Essay Service and product design decision is one of the very important issues of operations management. Indeed this decision determines the health and fate of any organization (Krajewski Ritzman, 1998). A company that designs products and services that are of superior quality and that click with the intended market, definately succeeds. Hard Rock Cafe’s operations management has been successful in designing products and services in entertainment hospitality sector. This sector is one of the most competitive sectors, but they have been able to design and offer quality products and superior services in cafes, hotels, casinos and lately in music venues, Rock museum and Rock concerts (Evans, 1996). To respond to changing customer needs and expectations, they have continuously changed their menus and the services they offer. Hard Rock’s success comes as a result of continuous monitoring of quality of their products and services (Saheli, 2007). Their Quality Management Department has devised techniques to continuously monitor quality so as to improve quality of products and services and also make timely corrective measures and hence reduce quality costs. In the cafe, regular surveys are done to evaluate quality of food and services, where a scale is devised to measure scores (Ibid, 2007). To ensure quality products and services, production processes and capacity have been enhanced by using state-of-the-art equipment in catering, entertainment services in casinos, hotels and music venues. Technology is also embraced to increase production capacity in cafes and hotels (Krajewski Ritzman, 1998). Hard Rock started its operations in London. However, in 1988 it moved its headquarters to Orlando, Florida as it targeted the booming US market (Evans, 1996). It has later spread its cafes and hotels to more than 40 locations in US. The decision of spreading its wings to many states is to tap into unsaturated markets as well as diversify operation risks (Ibid, 1996). Due to increasing customers and hence operations, Hard Rock has expanded their cafe facilities to handle their clients. For example at Orlando Universal Studios, their cafe serves over 3,000 meals a day with about 400 employees and the number is expected to grow especially during high tourist seasons (Saheli, 2007). To ensure high labor productivity, Hard Rock Cafe has provided their workers with excellent working conditions. This is achieved through good industrial relation management and employee-management relations. Human Resource Management has ensured that the company has the best of employees who are competent, skilled and fit for their positions, hence Hard Rock expects the best out of their labor force (Krajewski Ritzman, 1998). Productiveness is the main task of the supply chain management in Hard Rock. The department has developed supply chain strategies aimed at reducing procurement costs and value adding the process. Hard Rock has entered into strategic partnership with suppliers to improve efficiency and effectiveness of this activity (Evans, 1996). To effectively manage inventory, the company has inventory management system that guides the managers on when to order inventory and how much (Saheli, 2007). To increase efficiency and reduce costs, they have embraced Just-In-Time philosophy where the materials required are procured in time and used in time (Saheli, 2007). During low season, Orlando Cafe staff is scheduled down to 15-minutes intervals to meet seasonal and daily demand changes in tourist environment. Annual Routine maintenance is exercised in all their facilities. Maintenance department is charged with responsibilities of ensuring that Hard Rock Cafes, hotels, casinos, music venues and rock museum are renovated and machines maintained at good conditions (Krajewski Ritzman, 1998). The productivity of the kitchen staff and wait staff can be measured by dividing the number of meals they prepare and serve by the number of labor hours they input (Saheli, 2007). During low seasons wait staff may serve fewer meals as demand gets low and also kitchen staff prepares fewer meals. Nevertheless, they will also use less labour hours as they are scheduled and down-sized to respond to low operations (Evans, 1996).

Accounting Ethics :: Free Essay Writer

If someone were to ask you what you thought was the most deceitful profession, certified public accountants would most certainly not be the first to come to mind. That is because CPAs are known and respected for their honesty. The profession goes out of its way to project that image, and there is a certain amount of truth to it. However, not all CPAs are squeaky clean and respected for their honesty. Some are quite dishonest and are putting a black mark on the image of the entire profession. There is one area where the CPA profession has fallen short of protecting the public interest. There is a general duty that accountants owe to their clients and the other persons who are affected by their actions. Two elements compose the general duty of performance: skill and care. Another element and responsibility is owed to clients and other persons, that is that accountants should observe a standard of ethical or social responsibility. One set of difficulties concerns ethics education's ability to instill the chosen values and to make them stick after the educational process is completed. Instruction in accounting ethics is directed at people whose character-or lack there-of-has largely been formed by the time the instruction occurs. Even those who are positively influenced by ethics instruction, moreover, may still behave irresponsibly if their careers or their livelihoods require them to act in their client's financial interest. Recent pressure to include more ethics instruction in the accounting classroom has placed an emphasis on individuals who have a sense of moral responsibility. In accounting ethics education literature the benefits of teaching ethics have been greatly influenced by the following set of goals presented by Loeb(1988): 1. Relate accounting education to moral issues. 2. Recognize issues in accounting that have ethical implications. 3. Develop "a sense of moral obligation" or responsibility. 4. Develop the abilities needed to deal with ethical conflicts or dilemmas. 5. Learn to deal with uncertainties of the accounting profession. 6. "Set the stage for" a change in ethical behavior. 7. Appreciate and understand the history and composition of all aspects of accounting ethics and their relationship to the general field of ethics. An emphasis on codes of conduct may result in students' failure to "develop discretion and judgment. . .which are more than simply a matter of what acts are forbidden, which are required, and which are permissible" (Whiteck, 1992, 128). Emphasis on rules may quickly become training in how to get around the rules while remaining technically legal.

Presentation of Portnoy’s Complaint

Phillip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint is a part of a cultural movement of the 1960s, a raucous man’s story of his sexual obsessions, the plight of a son who has been dominated by his smothering mother and attempts to release his anxieties through masturbation. This story became famous overnight, receiving both wide acclaim and contempt. Roth is described as a product of the 1950s, the last decade in history when education, family values, high culture and high principles were still held in esteem—until demolished by the sexual and psychedelic revolution that followed. There are notable similarities between Portnoy and Roth himself, and the debate whether the novel is a thinly veiled autobiography still ensues among literary critics. A particular type of Jewish humor can be traced to the activities of Portnoy. Such humor, which features so prominently in the novel, has been effectively identified as a separate kind by Sigmund Freud, who wrote that Jewish jokes were usually directed inwards and characterized by profound self-criticism. The protagonist in Portnoy’s Complaint confesses that his entire life reminds of a Jewish joke, although it is not a joke. Thus, Alex Portnoy seems incapable of escaping any of the downsides of his cultural predicament. Immediately after the book was published, the novel quickly acquired a scandalous flavor, and Roth had to cope with a lot of newly acquired celebrity which he despised so much. This hymn to self-stimulation and liberation of repressed sexuality got reflected in both social sciences and popular culture of Roth’s era. Shades of Portnoy can be seen in Woody Allen’s films. Portnoy’s Complaint was attacked multiple times by the Jewish community for ridiculing their culture and heritage. Norman Podhoretz and Peter Shaw used their positions as editor and associate editor of the conservative Jewish journal, Commentary, to revile at Roth’s alleged hatred of Jewish history and identity. However, the most scathing vilification of the novel came in 1972 from Irving Howe in an essay titled â€Å"Philip Roth Reconsidered†, who accused the author of Portnoy’s Complaint of lack of taste, vulgarity and, above all, homeliness. Despite its central thematic preoccupations, which appear to be embattled Jewishness and masturbation, the novel’s popularity can be explained by the universalism of the issues author strives to explicate, such as the growth and decay of big cities, the difficulty of reconciling the sex urge and the love urge over time, and the painful need to outgrow one’s parents. While many literary influences can be traced in the novel, by far the greatest and the most important is that of Sigmund Freud. The views on Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis as expressed by Alex Portnoy are interestingly controversial: on the one hand, Freud is often alluded to as a source of wisdom; on the other hand, Portnoy seems to implicitly blame Freud for trivializing complex human relationships by his excessive and exclusive focus on sex. Essentially, the revolt against parental authority was very characteristic of the decade: the hippie culture, hitchhiking, and experiments with mind-altering substances were all manifestations of this revolt. Like many of his contemporaries, Alex struggles for his right to be bad, together with the entire generation that won the right to misbehave for their descendants. In this struggle, there were many obstacles Portnoy had to overcome, mostly of internal psychological nature, such as the fear of retribution, especially in the form of castration. It is necessary to note that Portnoy’s Complaint is a perfect illustration of the notion that literature cannot be fully understood without immersion into the cultural realities of the age when a certain work was created. Subtly autobiographic, the novel ought to be analyzed based on knowledge of Philip Roth’s own life and background. Although critics concur that there are notable differences between the loving and caring family Roth grew up in and oppressive and neurotic parents of Alex Portnoy, beyond reasonable doubt, Roth’s experiences with the mainstream American culture and the opposite sex have been reflected in the novel.

EXAMPLE ANSWERS TO EXAM ON LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1617 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Identify two very different organizations that compete on a cost leadership strategy and explain how they do this, i.e. find out what they do that enables them to keep their prices low. Introduction What is difference between manager and a leader? This is a question that asked more than one and answered in many ways. The big difference between manager and a leader is they motivate peoples who work or follow them. By the way , many peoples are act in both roles , they have the management jobs, but they realize that they can not buy heart ,especially follow them down a diffcult path, and so act as leaders too. 1.1 Manager Management which is the organization and coordination of the activities of an enterprise in accordance with certain policies and in achievement of defined objectives. A Manager is the person responsible for planning and directing the work of a group of individuals, monitoring their work, and taking corrective action when necessary. Mana gers have a position of authority vested in them by the company, and their subordinates work for them and largely do as they are told. As a manager, in all his work within the scope are under the management and administrative. Managers are paid to get things done, they are subordinates too, often within tight constraints of time and money. They thus naturally pass on this work focus to their subordinates. Work under the administrator is qualified for all work and maintain, without change. As a manager in the management all structures and systems are oriented. All the positions are set by the system, and work is also to go along with the system. In the management system, managers are being controlled, including time, work, and salary. In other way , the manager need to focus on bottom line and control the complete the attention of all the work off the assembly line. Leadership is just one important component of the directing function. A manager cannot just be a leader, he also nee ds formal authority to be effective. For any quality initiative to take hold, senior management must be involved and act as a role model. This involvement cannot be delegated. 1.2 Leader Leadership which is academics have great difficulty in defining what a leader is, or pinpointing the reason behind an organisations success. A leader who impact the realization of a goal to achieve a group of people. A leader by its meaning is one who goes first and leads by example, so that others are motivated to follow him. This is a basic requirement. To be a leader, a person must have a deep-rooted commitment to the goal that he will strive to achieve it even if nobody follows him. As a leader, should have innovative ideas and the establishment of a management system without having to be free of innovation. And this will improve a leaders ability. When a leader of the freedom of growth and development. Leader development focuses on the development of the leader, such as the personal attributes desired in a leader, desired ways of behaving, ways of thinking or feeling. The other set of behaviors is referred to as people-oriented style, where the leader provides a more supportive role in providing a positive work environment. In a group where all the members do not allow the system to be controlled, the development of all are free. And all the members are relying on trust to maintain. Besides , as a leader need take care of his own group and motivate the group. The leaders just need to focus on the horizon members only and teach the horizon members to lead their own groups. This will lead the team with team spirit. 1.3 Manager and Leader Managers think incrementally, whilst leaders think radically. Managers do things right, while leaders do the right thing. This means that managers do things by the book and follow company policy, while leaders follow their own intuition, which may in turn be of more benefit to the company. A leader is more emotional than a manager . Men are governed by their emotions rather than their intelligence . This quotation illustrates why teams choose to follow leaders. Leaders stand out by being different. They question assumption and are suspicious of tradition. They seek out the truth and make decisions based on fact, not prejudice. They have a preference for innovation. A leader is someone who people naturally follow through their own choice, and managers must comply. A manager may only be passed to give the company time and the power of loyalty to their own position, not because of his leadership results. A leader may not have organizational skills, but his vision of the people rally behind him. 1.4 Conclusion Management and leadership are two different ways organizations. Managers use a formal, rational method, and the use of the leaders of the enthusiasm and aroused emotions. William Wallace is a good example of a wise leader, but must not be considered manager. 2.0 Introduction Operatin g a successful business strategy is based. But there are, of course, different types of business strategy. Among one of the business strategy is cost leadership strategy. Companies choose cost leadership strategies unique features or customer can accept the relatively standardized product. In other words, with the lowest levels of differentiation and the lowest price competitive. Companies want to be a cost leadership strategy the following must be maintained at lower costs, create value for our customers ongoing efforts to target success. 2.1 Mass Market Mass marketing is product advertising maximum exposure to consumers. This is opposite to where the idea of niche markets and sell products is to promote a specific target market. The target market is identified through research as the most likely to buy a product to consumers part of. Mass marketing also operating the business with products caters for all or public which sell considerably cheap in the perception of consumers. Take a look in a example that Ramly burger and Macdonald burger , Ramly burger is cheaper than Macdonald burger because Ramly burger just a normal tiny business and Ramly burger just only can buy in Malaysia. Macdonald more expensive because it is an international networking business and their cost is higher , some more need register trademarks and a lot of law enforcements stuffs to protect their rights. Besides , Macdonald is one of the top global brands, branding is expensive need a lot of constant advertising. In other way , how does the Ramly burger to keep their price low? By reducing cost , Ramly burger no need to actually rent a land or building to sell , just need to place at a roadside stall to sell it. The supplier also will be cheaper and this make all the cost lower already. Ramly burger dint provide a good enviroment for customers just at the roadside , so the cost will reduce too. Some more , Ramly burger no need to register trademarks and a lot of law enforcement stuffs so their cost will be lower. Besides , process for make the burger is easier and faster also , customers just need to wait about few minutes only. Ramly burger provided a good services such as faster ,cheaper and easier. 2.2 Niche Market Niche market focus on a small population, but specific and clear of all marketing segments. Niches do not exist, but create to determine the needs, desires and not being addressed or not by other companies, and develop and deliver goods or services to meet their requirements. Niche market operating with products cater for a particular segment of consumers which sell at considerably cheap but premium in the perception of consumers. As a strategy, niche marketing is aimed at being a big fish in a small pond instead of being a small fish in a big pond. For example , Old Town Coffee Shop and Starbucks Coffee Shop , even though Starbucks more expensive than Old Town but still have many peoples willing to pay the premium price for the Starbu ckss coffee. Starbucks more famous than Old Town , can be compare with the brand. Then, Starbucks provide internet access and better enviroment compare with Old Town. Old Town cheaper than Starbucks and a lot types of drinks and foods to order too. Starbucks coffee is more expensive because the cost is higher and Starbucks there have varieties of coffee such as latte , cappuccino , espresso , blended and many more. Why peoples willing to pay premium price for the products? Now the people of this age, everyone says the standard of living, it is necessary to improve their standard of living, with a good eat well, so now the people of this age are willing to spend a lot of money in his own body, so let his comfort. Even the Starbucks productss price is higher but still have a lot peoples willing to pay the premium price for the coffees to improve their standard of living. Besides , starbucks coffee has many types of tricks such as latte , cappuccino , espresso , blended and many mor e, is because of this it has attracted many customers willing to pay premium price for the coffees. 2.4 Conclusion Whether expensive or cheap products, will have its own intrinsic value. Usually get a lot of people will put the lowest cost to the most appropriate price. Even then the high value products, it is still the same living standards in pursuit of will buy. Cost leadership strategy may have a low customer loyalty short comings, such as price-sensitive customers will switch a low-cost alternative product available. One as the cost leaders reputation may also lead to lower quality status, which may cause a company is difficult to rename itself or product in the future if it chooses to transfer to a different strategy. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "EXAMPLE ANSWERS TO EXAM ON LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT" essay for you Create order