...Assignment: Ethics, Responsibility & Governance – Prof. Swati Panda Case Study - Martha McCaskey 1. As Martha McCaskey, what is your plan of finishing the silicon 6 project? Please map out your detailed plan of action. The case in question requires Martha McCaskey to perform tasks in relevance to the Silicon 6 project that might hamper her integrity towards work. However, there is a major stake of her losing the promotion that she is expectant and has been promised. Furthermore, Mr. Phil Devon’s eagerness to help her in a sincere way is killing her more in the process of getting the information that she needs from him. Very primarily, our task, in imagining ourselves as Martha McCaskey lies in making sure to get the insider information from the target competitor of our company’s client. The insider information that we are now seeking is about the manufacturing of a chip for our client, so as to help our client. The constraints and challenges that lie before us in obtaining that information are as follows: 1. The potential information provider, Mr. Phil Devon is sincere in his attempt to share the information, provided that we come forth with specific information, provided by our clients. 2. Our integrity in asking for insider information, the consequence of which might invoke bad temper in Mr. Phil Devon and which might also lead Mr. Devon complaining to the concerned authorities about the whole set-up. 3. The prime challenge ahead is to get the information...
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...Abstract: Martha McCaskey has been consistently outperforming herself maintaining high levels of integrity in each project assignment. Currently, she was the project lead for a critical project entitled ‘Silicon 6’ which apart from having high significance for her personal career also had high significance from her company’s future perspective. The project required Martha to research upon manufacturing technologies and plant setup costs for a computer chip that the client’s competitor was planning to launch soon. Martha has been promised a promotion to group manager and the organization has been offered interest in assigning approximately 10 new projects. The project presents an ethical dilemma in front of Martha wherein she needs access to what constitutes proprietary information of the target company [client’s competitor] in order to complete the project. In addition to this, she might have to pay someone to gain access to the proprietary information. Stakeholders: Following are the stakeholders of the case • Martha McCaskey: Project Leader- Silicon 6 project • Tom Malone: Chief Operating Officer, Industry Analysis Division [IAD], Seleris Associates • Bud Hackert: Top Manager, IAD • Ty Richardson: Head of IAD • Phil Devon: Semiconductor Industry Consultant, [VP of target company 12 years ago] • Chuck Kaufmann: Senior Associate, IAD • Seleris Associates • Seleris Associates’ client Key Issues: • Completion of Silicon 6 project would require Martha to compromise...
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...Ethical problems: • At Hackert’s team, agree Rendall’s behavior, which is routinely paid ex-employees of the target companies to obtain highly sensitive information of Seleris’s clients. • Senior associates had been upset over the previous year’s bonus. The senior management explained to all of them how the division was going through a growth phase and they all given the same bonus, however, Richardson and Malone showed up with a brand new Mercedes at New Year’s party. So they may take bonus for themselves. • On McCaskey’s second assignment, she tried to gather information with two old guard, however, one was out of town and the other guy Rendall trend to be difficult and uncooperative. • Many of her projects required detail information about a client’s competitors. Where to draw a line on proprietary information? Was she about to engage “gentleman’s industrial espionage”? • Its unusual for IAD to hire consultants for $4000-$5000 but in one case, Rendall had paid an ex-employee of a target company a “consulting” fee of $5000. And the management seems ok with that. • There’s no formal and written policies’ regarding the solicitation and performance of IAD’s contract. • On McCaskey’s current’s project Silicon 6, she find Devon a consultant in southern California. Devon was being too helpful and make she wonder if he might be leading her on to find out whom she was looking for. • After the senior management knew she found ex-employee of the target company, they offered...
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...This Questions are based on the “Martha McCaskey” case. Question 1 Seleris was a medium sized consulting firm based out of Chicago with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Industry Analysis was the youngest and smallest of Seleris’s four divisions and was a separate, autonomous unit operating exclusively out of San Francisco. IAD consisted of 15 professionals, 12 analysts and 6 support staff. IAD has a formal organization structure but becomes blurry on the projects. Richardson was the senior vice president for the IAD with Malone as vice president and two group managers for the division. The remaining 11 professionals formed two groups of senior associates who reported to two group managers. The groups were divided based on who worked with Richardson in the past and others who joined the firm from top-tier MBA schools referred as the “new guard” with significantly higher starting salaries. Another difference between the groups was that while members of new guard tended to spend their time equally between individual and team projects, the old guard worked strictly on individual projects. Roles and reporting relationships among the professional staff were loosely defined. Senior associates discuss the status of their project directly with Malone or Richardson rather than with the group managers. Both group managers and senior associates served as project leaders. On team projects it was not unusual for the group manager to be part of a team on which a...
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...| The Case of Martha McCaskey | Week 3 Assignment 1 | | | Martha’s predicament is a very difficult one, however, not very uncommon. Picturing myself in her predicament, I can see why she would be troubled and I understand how she would get into this situation in the first place. The situation I would be placed in would be because Malone guaranteed results to the marketing manager in exchange for more funds and the guarantee of more lucrative projects. Instead of taking time to come up with alternative methods, Malone quickly committed us to finishing the project, even though there didn’t seem to be an ethical way of doing so. In neither any of the actions did Malone stop and think of the ethical dilemma I would be put in. He is assuming that I would do exactly like he would, which is do anything to get the job done. I would be stuck factoring the loyalty to my company to the sacrifice of what I believe is right. There are many things that are troubling me from this situation. The most obvious thing that is troubling me is the fact that I do not believe this is right. The fact that I was misrepresenting myself to someone who was earnestly trying to help me made me feel very uncomfortable. Also, my actions made me feel low and petty, and I believe after all my accomplishments that I wouldn’t have to represent myself in such a low standard. As a graduate from Harvard, why would I have to conduct myself so pettily by being deceitful? After going through such an uncomfortable...
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...MARTHY MCCASKEY* Martha McCaskey1 felt both elated and uneasy after her late Friday meeting with Tom Malone and Bud Hackert, two of the top managers in Praxis Associates’ Industry Analysis division. Malone, the division’s de facto COO, had said that upon successful completion of the Silicon 6 study, for which McCaskey was project leader, she would be promoted to group manager. The promotion would mean both a substantial increase in pay and a reprieve from the tedious field work typical of Praxis’ consulting projects. Completing the Silicon 6 project, however, meant a second session with Phil Devon, the one person who could provide her with the information required by Praxis’ client. Now, McCaskey reflected, finishing the project would likely mean following the course of action proposed by Hackert and seconded by Malone to pay Devon off. Praxis’ client, a semiconductor manufacturer based in California, was trying to identify the cost structure and manufacturing technologies of a new chip produced by one of its competitors. McCaskey and the others felt certain that Phil Devon, a semiconductor industry consultant who had worked in the competitor’s West Coast operation some 12 years earlier, could provide the detailed information on manufacturing costs and processes required by their client (see Exhibit I for a summary of the required information). Her first interview with Devon had caused McCaskey to have serious doubts both about the propriety of asking for such...
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...Introduction Martha McCaskey, who had been working for Seleris Associates, a medium-sized consulting firm based in Chicago, for 18 months in the Industry Analysis Division (IAD) faced a difficult situation. Having been assigned the role of project leader in a study to be conducted for one of Seleris’s most lucrative clients, McCaskey was assured that, upon successful completion of the project, she would be promoted to group manager. Seleris’s client, a semiconductor manufacturer based in California, was trying to identify the cost structure and manufacturing technologies of a new chip produced by one of its competitors. Martha McCaskey was challenged with the task of obtaining sensitive information from Phil Devon, a consultant in southern California, who had recently been involved in the design and start-up of a plant for a European firm. If successful in obtaining such information the marketing manager, in charge of the Silicon 6 project, proposed to double the original fee agreed upon. The marketing manager also stated that he had 10 more equally lucrative projects like the current one. Problems faced by Martha McCaskey Martha McCaskey had serious doubts as to both the propriety of asking for such information and Phil Devon’s motivation in so eagerly offering to help her. McCaskey had two options. With the additional funding available from the client, she could have Phil Devon provide analysis of several alternatives for manufacturing state of the art chips, including...
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...Martha McCaskey, a project leader at a consulting firm, is asked to complete a project at a crucial point in her career. Successful completion of the project would gain McCaskey a promotion and a significant raise. McCaskey, however, cannot see a way to complete the project without compromising her values. She must decide whether to maintain the high degree of integrity that has always characterized her work or to compromise and "play the game." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://prezi.com/exwgygeusxjg/martha-mccaskey/ Transcript of Martha McCaskey Table of Contents •Introduction: Seleris, Martha, and Keys to Success •Context: Overall Goal •Context: Current Project •Your Dilemma •Alternatives and Reasoning •Proposal and Implementation •Summary •Recap Seleris: Silicon 6 •Martha McCaskey has been given the lead on the Silicon 6 Project. •Very difficult to collect information on the target company •Discovered that she could receive information from former vice president of the target company, Phil Devon •Martha McCaskey completed her undergraduate degree at Caltech in the field of electrical engineering . •After attending Harvard to pursue her MBA. Martha decided she wanted to pursue a career in consulting. Martha McCaskey Education Alternative 2 What is best for McCaskey? Martha McCaskey Team H Martha McCaskey Work Experience •Martha currently works at Seleris...
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...Parts Emporium. A recent graduate of a prominent business school, McCaskey is eagerly awaiting her first real-world problem. At approximately 8:30 A.M. it arrives in the form of status reports on inventory and orders shipped. At the top of an extensive computer printout is a handwritten note from Joe Donnell, the purchasing manager: “Attached you will find the inventory and customer service performance data. Rest assured that the individual inventory levels are accurate because we took a complete physical inventory count at the end of last week. Unfortunately, we don’t keep compiled records in some of the areas as you requested. However, you’re welcome to do so yourself. Welcome aboard!” A little upset that aggregate information is not available, McCaskey decides to randomly select a small sample of approximately 100 items and compile inventory and customer service characteristics to get a feel for the “total picture.” The results of this experiment reveal to her why Parts Emporium decided to create the position she now fills. It seems that the inventory is in all the wrong places. Although there is an average of approximately 60 days of inventory, customer service is inadequate. Parts Emporium tries to backorder the customer orders not immediately filled from stock, but some 10 percent of demand is being lost to competing distributorships. Because stockouts are costly relative to inventory holding costs, McCaskey believes that a cycle-service level of at least 95 percent should...
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...distributor of auto parts in the north central region. Recently, Parts Emporium relocated to a sparkling new office and warehouse complex off Interstate 55 in suburban Chicago. The warehouse space alone occupied more than 100,000 square feet. Although only a handful of new products have been added since the warehouse was constructed, its utilization increased from 65 percent to more than 90 percent of capacity. During this same period, however, sales growth stagnated. These conditions motivated Block and Spriggs to hire the first manager from outside the company in the firm’s history. It is June 6, Sue McCaskey’s first day in the newly created position of materials manager for Parts Emporium. A recent graduate of a prominent business school, McCaskey is eagerly awaiting her first real-world problem. At approximately 8:30A.M., it arrives in the form of status reports on inventory and orders shipped. At the top of an extensive computer printout is a handwritten note from Joe Donnell, the purchasing manager: “Attached you will find the inventory and customer service performance data. Rest assured that the individual inventory levels are accurate because we took a complete physical inventory count at the end of last week. Unfortunately, we do not keep compiled...
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...Functions of Management Emerson McGhee MGT/330 Version 7 07/09/12 Jonathan Graff, MBA Functions of Management Before the four functions of management can be defined and talked about we must first begin by discussing management. What is and what is its function? Management is a set of functions and tasks performed by individuals and groups for the purpose of enabling an organization to achieve its objectives. From one perspective, management consists of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling (Koontz and O’Donnell 1982). The goal of any manager or management team must be the attainment of specific goals that have been previously agreed upon. Without clear goals which are reasonable and attainable there can be no vision, which must be transmitted to the staff that is to carry out the wishes of management. The four functions of management are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. I work as a substance abuse counselor in a non-profit men’s residential treatment facility. I will show and explain how each of the four functions operates in the facility. Planning is basically defined as the specifying of goals to be achieved, and deciding in advance of the best methods of achieving those goals. In the past planning would normally operate from the top down, now it must operate in a lineal horizontal manner so that all management and staff can contribute ideas that may benefit the organization. In my organization planning comes down from the top...
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...Chapter 13: Parts Emporium* A. Synopsis This case describes the problems facing Sue McCaskey, the new materials manager of a wholesale distributor of auto parts. She seeks ways to cut the bloated inventories while improving customer service. Backorders with excessive lost sales are all too frequent. Inventories were much higher than expected when the new facility was built, even though sales have not increased. Summary data on inventory statistics, such as inventory turns, are not available. McCaskey decides to begin with a sample of two products to uncover the nature of the problems—the EG151 exhaust gasket and the DB032 drive belt. B. Purpose The purpose of this case is to allow the student to put together a plan, using either a continuous review system (Q system) or a periodic review system (P system), for two inventory items. Enough information is available to determine the EOQ and R for a continuous review system (or P and T for a periodic review system). Because stockouts are costly relative to inventory holding costs, a 95 percent cycle-service level is recommended. Inventory holding costs are 21 percent of the value of each item (expressed at cost). The ordering costs ($20 for exhaust gaskets and $10 for drive belts) should not be increased to include charges for making customer deliveries. These charges are independent of the inventory replenishment at the warehouse and are reflected in the pricing policy. C. Analysis We now find appropriate policies for a Q...
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...capacity rose from 65% to 90% and sales growth has stagnated causing Parts Emporium to hire an outside manager to figure out where the problem lies. Parts Emporium Inc. is currently facing numerous problems in relation to their inventory system. Each problem could be considered both short-term and long-term because both problems need focus immediately but may take an extended period of time to furnish. The first problem is in relation to their customer service department. The customer service department puts orders on backorder that are not immediately filled from stock. This mistake is leading to 10% of the demand being lost to competitors. The next problem is the need to change the inventory management system. When the new manager, McCaskey, requested inventory and customer service data from the warehouse, several areas did not have inventory records. Without a full functioning system in place that takes inventory of all the products in the warehouse, there is no way to tell where money is being lost and how to rectify the situation. Two alternatives the managers of Part Emporium Inc. should consider are two different inventory systems. First, a continuous review inventory system uses an items SKU, or stock-keeping unit to determine when it is time to reorder. Each time a withdrawal is made, the remaining stock is tracked which helps determine when the item is running low enough to reorder. Within this inventory system, the amount ordered each time is fixed but the...
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...capacity rose from 65% to 90% and sales growth has stagnated causing Parts Emporium to hire an outside manager to figure out where the problem lies. Parts Emporium Inc. is currently facing numerous problems in relation to their inventory system. Each problem could be considered both short-term and long-term because both problems need focus immediately but may take an extended period of time to furnish. The first problem is in relation to their customer service department. The customer service department puts orders on backorder that are not immediately filled from stock. This mistake is leading to 10% of the demand being lost to competitors. The next problem is the need to change the inventory management system. When the new manager, McCaskey, requested inventory and customer service data from the warehouse, several areas did not have inventory records. Without a full functioning system in place that takes inventory of all the products in the warehouse, there is no way to tell where money is being lost and how to rectify the situation. Two alternatives the managers of Part Emporium Inc. should consider are two different inventory systems. First, a continuous review inventory system uses an items SKU, or stock-keeping unit to determine when it is time to reorder. Each time a withdrawal is made, the remaining stock is tracked which helps determine when the item is running low enough to reorder. Within this inventory system, the amount ordered each time is fixed but the...
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...Deepesh Rana EGMT 501 – 912 Prof Thomas Edwards Mid-term Project BACKGROUND INFORMATION REGARING THE ISSUE The issue I will be analyzing and investigating will be when an organization or department receives minimal or no funding whatsoever, how does the manager or the president of the organization keep everyone motivated enough to continue working with the same zeal and vigor. In addition, how can the team leader bring out the best in his/her subordinates despite all of them knowing that they have no money to play with and invest in activities that their organization is involved in. Being a student, I’ve mostly been involved in issues related to student organizations I’ve been a part of. The management issue I will be throwing light upon will be from one such organization. The Drexel Indian Undergraduate Students Association or DISHA is a student organization on campus that’s been in existence since the late 1990’s and comprises of approximately 15 e-board members. As a campus organization, DISHA receives yearly funding to help its members organize a variety of events ranging from cultural and religious to fun filled excursions. Every year, DISHA organizes anywhere from 10-12 events for a student base of about 250 people on average per event. This not only requires leadership, teamwork and team management, but also requires a good sum of money: about $12,000 - $15,000 on average. However, last year, because of certain members’ inability to follow the correct procedure...
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