| Final Exam | AMBA 610 | April 16, 2013 |

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Issue 1 – Ethics and Legal Environment The Badaracco’s video file from 2002 lists many important and critical analysis methods for finding a solution to right vs. right problems. He lists four main questions and three tests that will be answered in this answer to find the solution to how the HR should handle the situation with Sansa.
Which way of proceeding will get the best net-net consequence? Badaracco’s (2002) right vs. right framework has the first question as what will get the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. In this question, Sansa’s pros and cons are to be compared with the pros and cons of other employees of Iron Throne Industries (ITI). If HR lets Sansa to work as senior VP at ITI without her having an MBA, many other employees who have worked hard to get an MBA to apply to such positions might feel angry and distrust. Others might feel the credibility of their company has gone down. If she can falsify on resume, she could falsify other documents as well. On the other hand, if Sansa is let go for the reason of lying on the resume and not having an MBA, which was a requirement when she was promoted, the company would be losing an excellent employee who has shown that she is more than capable of her job. In this case, letting Sansa continue to work as a senior VP not only helps Sansa but also to all the employees of ITI as she has been an outstanding worker and would further increase revenue in the company. Which individuals’ rights cannot be violated, no matter what? First and foremost the rights of all employees and ITI cannot be violated. Although each employee should have an equal opportunity at the senior VP position based on their educational requirements set by the company and their work history, a decision has to be made such that the company’s well-being and the employee’s jobs are insured. Having stated that, the employees of ITI have the right to have a leader who is most capable of leading them. As is with many other senior VPs at ITI, non-MBA holding person has been proven to lead the company and so for the wellbeing of the company, Sansa should be allowed to retain her position as a senior VP. What messages do I want to send about my ideals and principals? Badaracco (2002) asked a sub-question for this issue, what is the uncrossable line? As an HR representative, Targaryen should send the message that the company’s principals and ideals are to follow the truth. Since Sansa initially lied on the resume of having an MBA, she cannot be given that position until she has met the requirement. The company cannot allow someone who has falsified documents to work for them. Their principals would be threatened. What will work in the world as it is? To answer this question, Badaracco (2002) suggests thinking outside of the box, having an imaginative idea. The solution for HR of ITI would be to allow Sansa to work as a temporary senior VP while she completes her MBA and would regain full senior VP status once she has obtained the degree. This way the company can keep their principals and ideals while satisfying the economic freedom of its employees. The three tests. Badaracco (2002) specifies three tests that could help in getting to the most “right” answer. The first test is the newspaper test (Badaracco, 2002). This test can be understood as, find the solution that would work best if it were to be published in the newspaper. From the answer of the fourth test above, if Sansa is allowed to work and study at the same time, this news headline would make ITI look very friendly and positive. It would show that they care for their employees and they value results as well. Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes (Badaracco, 2002) is the second test. Or as Badaracco (2002) said how would you like your kids to be treated? Having Sansa shown the company that she is more than capable of work as a senior VP, even if Joffrey was my child, I would have Sansa work for the company as she has out worked him. The final test is the obituary test (Badaracco, 2002). As the times moves on, the HR representatives can look back and see that they made the right choice by allowing Sansa to study and work at the same time. Allowing Sansa to work, might have ensured the future of ITI to be positive and also ensured that the employees of ITI had a company with lots of opportunities.
Issue 2 – Organizational Environment
In deciding whether or not to produce larger quantities, what factors should this organization consider? One of the first factors they should consider is to look at their general and specific environment. General environments include political, international, technological, economic, environmental, and cultural forces while specific environments include the customer, competitors, distributors and suppliers (Jones, 2013). The first thing is to check if there are any competitors; assuming there is competition in quality made stuffed snakes, the resources will be scarce and valuable. If the company can install the new non-customized machinery for mass production, they still need raw materials from suppliers. The company needs to analyze and examine the cost of obtaining raw materials from suppliers at lower costs if they intend to sell the new snakes at only $20. It can be assumed that an organic structure is currently in place because of highly customized products offered, but according to Woodward’s argument of technological imperative, the company has to adopt a mechanistic structure in order for it to be effective (Jones, 2013). The company should be ready to accept these changes and be prepared to change their organizational structure before investing in mass production technology. The cost of buying new technology is also a big factor for the company. The capital of the company needs to be examined and see if it can afford buying new technology and labor skills. A new programmable method also needs to be created for the mass production of snakes. The cost of this non-customized manufacturing method creation will have to be added to the total cost. Since it is assumed that there is demand for the snakes, the company has to consider the overall transition cost and see if it still can be profitable.
What additional factors should be considered if Snuggly Snakes decides to expand to Poland, Armenia, and possibly Asia? The company should have a specific plan or strategy in place for their organization before considering expansion into Asia, Poland and Armenia. The company should decide and assign authoritative duties and responsibilities between home and abroad managers for an effective global operation. An organizational structure must also be decided that best connects domestic and global divisions for a smoother exchanges of values and core competences. An effective coordination would lead to better transfer of core competences and cultural values. Jones (2013) mentions four specific strategies for global expansion; multidomestic, international, global and transnational. In multidomestic strategy, the values are duplicated and authority is decentralized at each overseas divisions. A global geographic structure is used in multidomestic strategy. It is mostly used to make and sell the same products in different countries. Since there is no contact between each division, no integrating mechanism is needed (Jones, 2013). In international strategy, companies use global product group structure and international managers are controlled by product group managers (Jones, 2013). In global strategy, the manufacturing is located at a single global location that would maximize efficiency but this creates coordination and integration problems (Jones, 2013). The transnational strategy uses the matrix structure and it solves the problem of centralized structure by having multiple divisions per product group in each country (Jones, 2013).
In order for them to expand globally into markets such as Asia, Poland, and Armenia, they must look at the environments in these locations. As mentioned above for mass production, environmental forces also play a role in global expansion. The company must also look at environmental complexity, dynamism, and richness as well. These three factors cause uncertainty in the environment. The company should analyze these factors and see how the strength and interactions of general and specific forces change overtime in specific global locations. The global supply chain management must also be established to direct exchanges of raw materials and finished goods. The company must also look at from where the cheapest raw materials can be bought. In global environment, the raw materials could be bought from anywhere so they need to find the most efficient way to produce the snakes. It could be such that the cheapest way to produce snakes would be to move the manufacturing to another country. A lot of factors need to be analyzed such as tariffs on imports and exports, marketing costs, labor costs, production costs and other costs before the company decides to go abroad. Although one marketing method may work domestically, they might not work internationally. The company also needs to factor in local businesses in other countries that could help them sell and market the snakes.
Recommendations. Assuming the company can buy raw materials to manufacture the non-customized snakes at low costs and assuming there is high demand for them across the borders, the company should invest in mass production initially for the domestic market all over America to analyze if the product is profitable. If the company finds the costs of production to be very high compared to their selling price, the company may need to adjust their organizational strategy. If they are found to be successful, the company should initially duplicate similar methods abroad for selling the snake. Of the four strategies talked about, global strategy might be a better choice because the manufacturing would remain at home while they could still gather resources from around the world to lower costs.
Issue 3 – Critical Thinking
What are the issue and conclusion? The issue here is clear and stated in the first line of the paragraph; “who is the greatest director in the history of the movies?” The author provides many reasons as to why s/he believes that Stephen Spielberg is the best film maker ever. The author emphasizes that no one even comes close to Stephen Spielberg.
What are the reasoning fallacies in the argument? The argument is full of fallacies; in almost each sentence, there are no credible reasoning provided by the author. Using the approach provided by Browne and Keeley (2011), there have been several fallacies identified; one of them is “appeals to questionable authority” (p. 80) that is the author tries to use authority figure that might not have any expert knowledge on the issue at hand. In this case, the author uses “cousin Vinnie” who has seen more movies than anyone the author knows, but just by seeing more movies does not make one an expert in critiquing movies. Therefor Vinnie’s suggestion that Spielberg is the best film maker has no credibility. Next fallacy is “ad populum” (Browne and Keeley, 2011, p. 79) where just because majority of people favor a decision does not mean it’s the right one. Even though there is no reference to the claim that Spielberg has had six movies that were top grossing in their respective years, if it were to be believed true, that still does not make him the best film maker. Many people watch his movies but that doesn’t make him the best. Another fallacy is “ad hominem” or name calling (Browne and Keeley, 2011, p. 75) and is seen when the author suggests people who do not see Spielberg as the best film maker is an “idiot.” The author attacks others and appeals to emotions of readers by using such words as “idiot” or in other case “bogus.”
What is the value assumption? Value assumptions, according to Browne and Keeley (2011), are specific beliefs and preferences over another. In this case the author values movies that are more action packed, that include “cool special effects” and “fantastic adventure.” Clearly the author depicts other forms of genre to be boring as s/he describes them as “artsy” and “have subtitles.” The author values movies that have action and adventure more over movies that entice emotional feelings and “make you think.”

References
Badaracco, J. (Host). (2002). Defining moments [Video file]. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct =true&db=fsv&AN=2861c&loginpage=login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Browne, M. N., & Keeley, S. M. (2011). Asking the right questions: A guide to critical thinking. Boston: Pearson
Pearson custom resources, AMBA 610. (2013) Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions. Jones, G. R. (2012). Organizational theory, design, and change (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.