...Kiani Lane and Chelsea Carey October 28th 2015 Deepwater in Deep Trouble Summary: On April 20th 2010, the United States faced not only on of its largest environmental disasters but the biggest offshore oil spill in its history. Off the Gulf of Mexico a large oil rig, Deepwater Horizon, operated by British Petroleum, exploded killing 11 employees and leaking an estimated 4.9 million gallon of crude oil into the ocean. Furthermore, the explosion caused a subsequent fire resulting in the ultimate sinking of the Deepwater Horizon. Although this disaster was accidental there were many warning signs that BP neglected which could have prevented it. To begin with, the construction of the underwater drilling pipelines were shoddy and a vital valve was installed backwards. Consequently the pipelines became brittle, full of cracks, and flooded. In addition, equipment readings, internal documents from BP engineers, and other red flags warned that the rig wasn’t operating correctly and that there was potential for a dangerous explosion. However, all these signs were ignored and not addressed as threats by managers. In an effort to avoid incurring costs and to maximize profit, BP cut corners and underestimated the importance of safety. After initial investigations it became clear that BP not only missed significant signs but staff did not have proper training, maintenance of the rig was inferior, and overall BP lacked formalized emergency responses and a safety culture. As a result BP...
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...Feedforward control is one of the most desirable controls because it allows management to take action before a problem occurs and before damage happens (Coulter & Robbins, 2012). Many organizations require new hires to go through training. Some training is brief and some extensive. Training is an essential part of how successful the employees will be. The employee needs to understand the goals, culture, and mission of the organization first. Then the job will align with that. During new hire training, employees need learn and absorb as much information as they can that will aid them in carrying out their job duties successfully. It is important to note that training occurs throughout the employee life cycle and is not limited to new hires. Training new employees for a timeshare call center will require training guidelines that will educate the new hires on what timeshares are, how the company promotes timeshares, the company’s mission, the job expectations and what their role will be within the company. Communication skills should also be a part of training. This should include how to communicate effectively with clients, sales techniques, and how effectively to address potential conflicts with clients. In a timeshare call center environment, quality assurance is essential. Because the interaction with clients is primarily over the phone, there needs to be a system in place to evaluate the employees and how effective are. Management must listen to calls to ensure that...
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...Jamie Roberts 9/16/13 Management 105: Deepwater in Deep Trouble 1. What type(s) of control—feedforward, concurrent, or feedback—do you think would have been most useful in this situation? Explain your choice(s). Feedforward control would have been the most useful type of control in this situation. The Deepwater Horizon accident had massive implications for the health of workers and nearby residents, the economy, and the environment. BP had a responsibility to take the potential dangers of their drilling operation seriously and plan for potential problems. There should have been backup protections to prevent accidents like the one that occurred. At the very least they should have practiced concurrent control. At the first signs of a problem they should have taken whatever actions were necessary to prevent the type of disaster that occurred. 2. Using Exhibit 18-2, explain what BP could have done better. First the company needed to measure their actual performance. They needed to look at their practices and analyze the data that they were receiving from engineers on the site to determine whether or not the work was being completed in the proper manner. Once this data was collected it needed to be analyzed in an objective way and compared to both the internal standards and the external regulations set by governing bodies for oil drilling operations. When issues were discovered they needed to be taken seriously by people at all levels of the company and appropriate...
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...DQ 1 How could benchmarking be effectively used to achieve competitive advantage? Provide an example MGT 521 Week 5 DQ 2 One standard corporations use to evaluate their performance against their competitors is the set of rankings developed by Fortune magazine. These include the Fortune 500, the 100 Best Companies to Work For, and other lists. The public also uses these rankings to decide to what companies they should give their business; however, should they? Is there an intrinsic value in these rankings, or are they subjective? Should a business set a specific ranking on a list like this as a standard to be met? Support your assertions. MGT 521 Week 5 DQ 3 The text states that a multinational corporation may need to adapt its control measures across the different locations where it operates, to ensure each measure is relevant in each location. Given this, how can a manager at the home office recommend appropriate actions to reduce performance gaps for the other locations? Is this possible? Explain and support your answer. MGT 521 Week 5 DQ 4 How has the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) changed the system of corporate governance in publicly traded organizations in the United States? How has SOX adjusted the decisions managers must make when recommending actions to reduce performance gaps? MGT 521 Week 5 Individual Team Leadership Your manager tells you about a new department the company will be adding that is part of the company’s strategic plan to enter a particular...
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...1) Feedforward control would be the most effective type of control in this case. Knowing that this control takes place before the actual activity, it allows detecting and preventing possible issues. Since the first day for the T5 was very important for its reputation ,and that solving problems as they occur in an airport can take too much time and therefore cause frustration for passengers.(concurrent control) 2) Information controls, customer interaction controls, and benchmarking Information controls could provide the managers with accurate information about the problems that the passengers face and have a clear idea about the occurring events and deviations in the Terminal. Customer interaction is crucial in this case because the satisfaction of the passengers with the quality of the services provided is the best indicator for the managers to estimate the effectiveness of the organization and to improve the actual performance. Benchmarking which is searching the best practices among competitors or non competitors could have helped the managers to choose better equipment and prevent problems such as understaffing or lack of communication. 3) British Airways ‘controls have been more effective with: Better and more realistic tests could have prevented the under-staffed teams. Communication with the passengers and especially the inexperienced ones could have limited this chaos and limit their disruption. More realistic and harder tests could have shown...
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...Assignment: Case Study - Deepwater Naftali Rabinowitz 1) What types of control-feedforward, concurrent, or feedback-do you think would have been most useful in this situation? Explain your choices? The Deepwater Horizon failed to reach numerous protocols involving health and safety. The most useful control technique would be with feedforward control, this is because it would have provided better results for testing and requirements for deep water drilling platforms and machines. There was no excuse for BP on why they weren’t keeping concurrent control so at least they would know what to do and be able to react in a timely fashion. Things which they could have done include capping the well or controlling the flow of the oil leakage. Feedback controls could have been implicated to determine that all the equipment and personnel are fit for the job and would be able to respond to these types of incidents in the future. 2) Using exhibit 10-2, explain what BP could have done better? First BP would have to actually measure their real performance and practices. This would have consisted of receiving information from their workers on the rig to know if they are actually productive in a proper manner. Once that information was sent in and analyzed by BP it should have been compared to both the internal requirements and the external regulations for oil drilling operations. When all of the issues had risen they needed to be taken with extremely high regard by all employees...
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...CP: What alternative control measures should Mrs. Bello impose in order to control the records and transactions in all her store branches? MP: How to go about the time-consuming physical counting procedure or how to keep track of inventory more conveniently? How to have harmonized daily cash deposits with the tally on the sales notebook? How can Mrs. Bello avoid occurrences of fraud among her employees? Objectives: -To have effective control measures. -To minimize losses. -To have a convenient inventory tracking procedure/system. -To have coordinated tally and cash deposits -To eliminate fraud in the workplace ACA: 1: Hire employees that will work as record keepers of inventory, separate from the salesgirls who will work on the transactions. Advantages: - Lesser possibility of fraud - Effective control - Enables updated stock card postings Disadvantage: - Human factor causes effectiveness to diminish - It adds more expenses - More employees will make it difficult to handle 2: Use a tear-off tag system: Salesladies will detach a paper/stub attached to every item. Each item has a unique code. Advantages: - Helps salesladies to keep track of items sold and be able to compare it with their books/records - It's inexpensive - It is easy to do/apply - It is systematic Disadvantages: - There is a possibility that stubs will be lost. This disadvantage can be offset by imposing sanctions/penalties to sales personnel who lose them 3: Use computer inventory system/program. Advantages:...
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...situation? Explain your choice(s). Feedforward control would have been the most useful type of control in this situation. The Deepwater Horizon accident had massive implications for the health of workers and nearby residents, the economy, and the environment. BP had a responsibility to take the potential dangers of their drilling operation seriously and plan for potential problems. There should have been backup protections to prevent accidents like the one that occurred. At the very least they should have practiced concurrent control. At the first signs of a problem they should have taken whatever actions were necessary to prevent the type of disaster that occurred. 2. Using Exhibit 18-2, explain what BP could have done better. First the company needed to measure their actual performance. They needed to look at their practices and analyze the data that they were receiving from engineers on the site to determine whether or not the work was being completed in the proper manner. Once this data was collected it needed to be analyzed in an objective way and compared to both the internal standards and the external regulations set by governing bodies for oil drilling operations. When issues were discovered they needed to be taken seriously by people at all levels of the company and appropriate action needed to be taken to prevent the explosion which endangered both BP employees and residents in the area. Management needed to act quickly and in whatever manner was necessary to...
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...1. What type(s) of control—feedforward, concurrent, or feedback—do you think would have been most useful in this situation? Explain your choice(s). Feedforward control would have been the most useful type of control in this situation. The Deepwater Horizon accident had massive implications for the health of workers and nearby residents, the economy, and the environment. BP had a responsibility to take the potential dangers of their drilling operation seriously and plan for potential problems. There should have been backup protections to prevent accidents like the one that occurred. At the very least they should have practiced concurrent control. At the first signs of a problem they should have taken whatever actions were necessary to prevent the type of disaster that occurred. 2. Using Exhibit 18-2, explain what BP could have done better. First the company needed to measure their actual performance. They needed to look at their practices and analyze the data that they were receiving from engineers on the site to determine whether or not the work was being completed in the proper manner. Once this data was collected it needed to be analyzed in an objective way and compared to both the internal standards and the external regulations set by governing bodies for oil drilling operations. When issues were discovered they needed to be taken seriously by people at all levels of the company and appropriate action needed to be taken to prevent the explosion which endangered both...
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...1 . The control process assumes that ________. • A. employees require clear directions from management • B. employees are underqualified and require training • C. specific goals for performance were already created during the planning process • D. employee monitoring costs are part and parcel of doing business 2 . An example of control criteria that can be used in any situation is ________. • A. number of calls taken per day • B. employee satisfaction • C. average time to process paperwork • D. client requests completed per hour 3 . In reviewing the result of the control process, managers could choose to avoid taking action when ________. • A. an employee fails to attain the standard because of internal problems • B. the variance between actual performance and the standard is acceptable • C. performance standards are acceptable, though the employees have not attained it • D. the variance observed from the expected performance is caused due to unrealistic standards 17 . If a manager rationalizes that he does not have time to investigate the source of a problem and instead resorts to “putting out fires,” the manager is missing the use of ________. • A. bureaucratic control • B. immediate corrective action • C. basic corrective action • D. concurrent control 4 . Which...
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...MANAGEMENT: SUMMARY FOR FOUNDATIONS OF CONTROL NAME OF TUTORIAL LECTURER: ENCIK SATHISWARAN A/L UTHAMAPUTHRAN TUTORIAL GROUP: L1T3 NAME: CH'NG WEI MING MATRICES NUMBER: A13A0122 SUMMARY In chapter 14 for the fundamentals of management, the important thing that we will learn after studying is : explain the nature and importance of control; describe the three steps in the control process; discuss the types of controls organizations and managers use and discuss contemporary issues in control. For explain the nature and importance of control, control is the management function that involves monitoring activities to ensure that they're being accomplished as planned and correcting any significant deviations. The purpose of control is to ensure that activities are completed in ways that lead to accomplishment of organizational goals. Control is important because it's the only way that managers know whether organizational goals are being met and if not, the reasons why. The value of the control function can be seen in three specific areas which is planning, empowering employees, and protecting the workplace. As the final step in the management process, controlling provides the link back to planning. If manager didn't control, they'd have no way of knowing whether goals were being met. The second reason controlling is important is because of employee empowerment. An effective control system can provide information and...
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...The first thing I would like to do is describe what kind of organization that IM runs with Deluxe Tool. Looking at Deluxe Tool, it is easy to see that this company operates under a bureaucratic control. This organization is very formal. Clearly IM has rules and regulations that are expected of his employees. These formalities have allowed the organization to be successful and to grow. Mr. Tycoon practices the art of Gemba Walking, because as stated in the case details he is very involved in the day to day operations of the company. Now, with the responsibilities of Safe Buy Insurance and MicroAge Software, he must now look at those organizations and figure out a way to manage them under his style of leadership. We first review the Safe Buy Insurance Company. (Brasfield, 2013 p. 347) Safe Buy Insurance is the actual name of the company, however according to the details of the case none of the agencies up under Safe Buy carry the Safe Buy brand. It was mentioned that many of the agencies are not making the profit that they made in the previous years. It was mentioned that there are issues with the processing of paperwork. IM’s first point of business is to establish a mission statement, vision, and goal for this company. Right now, it is stated that this business is market controlled. There needs to be a standard through the agencies under Safe Buy. The company needs to know what they stand for, where they are at, and where they are going. Providing a standard, with...
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... Tesi di laurea FEED-FORWARD CONTROL APPLIED TO THERMALLY ACTIVATED CONCRETE SLABS – A CASE STUDY Relatore: Correlatori: Prof. Ing. Roberto ZECCHIN Dott. Ing. Michele DE CARLI Dott. Ing. Dietrich SCHMIDT Laureando: Alessio PULLIERO Anno accademico 2003-2004 To my parents …. ABSTRACT The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate different control strategies for the heating and cooling system of the ZUB (Centre for Sustainable Building), situated in Kassel, Germany. It is an experimental office building, with a very detailed monitoring system for studying low-energy and low-exergy building technologies. The conditioning system is a TABS (Thermally Activated Building System), with water pipes embedded in the centre of a structural concrete slab, thus resulting in a ceiling radiant system. The high thermal capacity of the slab offers great opportunities to store heat, to dampen temperature fluctuations or to shift the peak-load; but, on the other hand, it implies a slow response of the system, which requires an accurate regulation strategy to front the variability of several factors, and to achieve the desired indoor temperature. A TRNSYS model of an office room has been developed, thus allowing to implement several regulations in the software and to test their performance. The main conclusion, carried out from the simulations, is that the implementation of a Feed-forward controller gives appreciable advantages in the temperature control, achieving both a...
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...Description / Structure III. Market Analysis 1. Competitive Analysis 2. Demographics & Target Market 3. Entry Barriers IV. Marketing Strategy V. Management & Operations Plan VI. Financial Plan 1. Assumptions 2. Funds I. Executive Summary The following business plan outlines the details and implementation of a business plan for an e-commerce website and online retail company called “Made to Order Pet Food” that will offer customers custom and made to order pet food options for their pets. This company will bring a new aspect to the canine and feline food market where the owner is in complete control of what they feed their pet. We have partnered with multiple pet food suppliers, veterinarians, and chefs to offer a wide array of both dry and wet food options that are both delicious and healthy for your pet. All of our freshly prepared products are priced well below that of premium over the counter or in-store purchased national brands. Our customers will not only have a happier and healthier pet but also save money. 1. Business Owner(s) & Product/Service This partnership is owned and operated by two entrepreneurs by the name of Jamie Ramsey and Joseph MacQuarrie. Both owners met and collaborated while working on their MBA’s online at Southern New Hampshire University. They have extensive business experience in management...
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...Control Mechanism For Best Buy Joanne Forde MGT/330 March 7, 2011 Dorothy Galiger Control Mechanism For Best Buy An effective control system within any organization must provide detailed information that is both valuable in its measure and consistent in its delivery. Such qualities of a control system are essential for management to harness it for the greater good of the organization. Control systems must be a fluid expansion of the control aspect of the organization’s strategic planning. Best Buy is a good example of a company that utilizes control systems to assist in company operations. These controls are not without their negative consequences, but for the most part, they serve as a beneficial tool for the company in achieving its goals. Control systems specify standards of performance, monitor, and measure company performance, and use data collected to compare the company outcomes to internal standards. Controls also assist in making steps toward continued improvement by reinforcing successful techniques and revising the less successful ones. Best Buy uses four distinct types of controls to maintain and drive the success of their organization: Feed forward control, market control, financial control, and Bureaucratic control. Feed Forward Control is aimed toward preventing problems before they begin by setting standards in place to reduce company loss. For example, Best Buy offers customers a return policy, but only gives cash refund with a receipt or...
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