...Rocky Gagnon, General Contractor Rocky Gagnon is a 50-year old journeyman carpenter, laborer, and craftsman. Over the past 30 years, Rocky has worked in almost every job and phase of the house building process. Rocky is getting older and his back is getting sore. He loves the construction business and feels that now is the time for him to start working more with his mind than his back. Rocky wants to become a general contractor. Some general contractors have their own facilities, equipment and employees. Others simply work out of their homes and subcontract all of the work required to complete a particular project. Rocky has an idea and a vision for something a little different. He wants to put together a team of tradespeople who will agree to work together toward the successful completion of about eight to fifteen homes per year. At the same time, each individual will be able to continue to operate as an independent contractor during off hours. One of the results of working for 30 years in the local building trades is a large and varied network of friends and acquaintances. Rocky has enjoyed many a drink with the local plumbing and heating contractors, roofers, insulation people, land surveyors, and others. Rocky wants to take advantage of those relationships. The general profile of local contractors, according to Rocky, is that of a highly skilled, very independent group of people with poor communication skills. The workmanship is generally very goodwhen it finally gets...
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...PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT a) List and explain the four basic functions of managers. The 4 basic functions of managers are:- i) Planning and Decision Making - Setting the organization’s goals and deciding how best to achieve them. Managers need to plan so that worker’s activities are consistent with the organization’s goal the correct type and amount of resources can be acquired. Planning requires information, judgment and decision-making ii) Organizing - Determining how best to group activities and resources. Organizing also means creating and organizational structure that is suitable for the achievement of the agreed. iii) Leading - Motivating members of the organization to work in the best interest of the organization iv) Controlling and Monitoring - Correcting ongoing activities to facilitate goal attainment b) List and explain the 3 levels of management in an organization. The 3 levels of management in an organization are:- i) First-line Managers - They supervise and coordinate the activities of operating employees. Mush of their work involves personally checking the work of subordinates and helping them solve problems (e.g. supervisor, office manager) ii) Middle Managers - They primarily take the goals and strategies designed by top managers and put them into effect (e.g. plant manager, operations managers) iii) Top Managers - A small number of executives who control the organization by setting its goals, overall strategy and operating policies...
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...6.4 TEAMWORK Steve Youngblood Indiana Wesleyan University MGT 500 October 3, 2012 TEAMWORK – ROCKY GAGNON, GENERAL CONTRACTOR This situation is suitable for traditional work team arrangement with a project focus. Rocky leading this team from a general contractor perspective should incorporate a lessons learned approach that involves all the contractors so that each time they can make improvements to the process. The first challenge Rocky should address is the spirit of teamwork. He should be very selective on who participates on his jobs. The selection process should consider work ethic and teamwork as much as skill in a particular trade. He should find people of like values and attitudes (Bateman & Snell, 2013 p. 518). The fact that the members of this group are highly skilled in a particular area of construction would lead me to believe that they take a tremendous amount of pride in their workmanship. Any criticism by the other tradesman would probably not be accepted positively. Rocky would need to handle giving the constructive criticism personally as the General Contractor. As mentioned in the case study, adherence to schedules and condition the worksite is left are potential issues that may occur. There are several strategies that Rocky can employ to make sure he can build cohesiveness and high performance. As I mentioned before, he must develop a selection criteria that will support a teamwork culture among free agents. He must develop and communicate...
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...Concluding Case-Rocky Gagnon, General Contractor: 1) It is important to Rocky to assemble a good and qualified team. The team should be able to work together to increase productivity, improve quality and reduce costs. A good team would also be able to enhance speed and be powerful forces for innovation and change. The best team would be a self-managed team. Self-managed teams appear to be more productive, have lower costs, provide better customer service, provide higher quality, have better safety records and are more satisfying for members. These types of teams control decisions about acquiring raw materials, performing operations, quality control, maintenance and shipping. They are fully responsible for the full product. Rocky would still be responsible for hiring and firing team members, and deciding which tasks they should perform. 2) Some problems that the group may encounter include learning the art of diplomacy, tackling “people issues” and finding the right division between encouraging autonomy and rewarding team innovations without letting the team get out of control. In order to prevent this, teams should be empowered, as the benefit of teams is reduced when they are not allowed to make decisions. The management needs to trust teams with important responsibilities regarding innovation, or they will revert to making safe, traditional decisions. The best teams are those that have been given a performance challenge by management and have reached...
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...Educational Psychology: Developing Learners This is a protected document. Please enter your ANGEL username and password. Username: Password: Login Need assistance logging in? Click here! If you experience any technical difficulty or have any technical questions, please contact technical support during the following hours: M-F, 6am-12am MST or Sat-Sun, 7am-12am MST by phone at (800) 800-9776 ext. 7200 or submit a ticket online by visiting http://help.gcu.edu. Doc ID: 1009-0001-191D-0000191E DEVELOPING LEARNERS JEANNE ELLIS ORMROD Professor Emerita, University of Northern Colorado EIGHTH EDITION ISBN 1-256-96292-9 Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City São Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, Eighth Edition, by Jeanne Ellis Ormrod. Published by Pearson. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. Vice President and Editorial Director: Jeffery W. Johnston Vice President and Publisher: Kevin Davis Editorial Assistant: Lauren Carlson Development Editor: Christina Robb Vice President, Director of Marketing: Margaret Waples Marketing Manager: Joanna Sabella Senior Managing Editor: Pamela D. Bennett Project Manager: Kerry Rubadue Senior Operations Supervisor: Matthew Ottenweller Senior Art Director: Diane Lorenzo Text Designer: Candace Rowley Cover Designer:...
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