Reference no: EM131683144

Assignment : Implementing and Evaluating the Future at Galaxy Toys, Inc.

Purpose:

Continuing with the saga of Galaxy Toys, Inc., the third assignment covers the last three functions of the P-O-L-C, Organizing, Leading and Controlling.

Students will look at the production floor of Galaxy Toys, Inc. through the lens of the organizing function, create an organizational chart, and assess the decision-making authority associated with the organizational structure.

Students will then assess change, discuss motivation from a leadership perspective, and delve into the control function by looking and projecting specifications, interpreting data, and assessing corrective measures.

In completing this assignment, students will demonstrate an understanding of the major content areas of the course and use critical thinking and writing skills.

Outcome Met by Completing This Assignment:

integrate management theories and principles into management practices

organize human, physical, and financial resources for the effective and efficient attainment of organization goals

demonstrate leadership skills by communicating a shared vision, motivating and empowering others, and creating a culture of ethicaldecision-making and innovation

develop measures and assess outcomes against plans and standards to improve organizational effectiveness

identify the essential characteristics of decision making and indicate the range and types of decisions a manager makes

Step 1: Preparation for the Assignment

Before you begin writing the report, you will read the following requirements that will help you meet the writing and APA requirements. Not reading this information will lead to a lower grade:

Read the grading rubric for the assignment. Use the grading rubric while writing the report to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible grade.

Third person writing is required. Third person means that there are no words such as "I, me, my, we, or us" (first person writing), nor is there use of "you or your" (second person writing). Contractions are not used in business writing, so you are expected NOT to use contractions in writing this assignment.

You are responsible for APA only for in-text citations and a reference list.

You are expected to use the facts from the case scenario paired with the weekly courses readings to develop the analysis and support the reasoning. No more than two (2) external resources can be used in completing the assignment. Books cannot be used as resources for this assignment.

The expectation is that you provide a robust use of the course readings. If any material is used from a source document, it must be cited and referenced and the page or paragraph number must be provided.

A reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa. View the sample APA paper to gain a better understanding of how to use APA within the paper and the How to Cite and Reference file located under Week 4 content.

In completing the assignment, students are expected to use the facts from the case study and company profile paired with the weekly courses readings to develop the analysis. View the company profile here: Galaxy Toys, Inc. Company Profile.

Step 2: How to Set Up the Paper

Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced, 12-point font. The final product will be between 10-12 pages in length excluding the title page and reference page and appendix. Write clearly and concisely.

Use the following format:

Create a title page with title, your name, the course, the instructor's name and date;

Introduction

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Step 3: Create the introductory paragraph.

The introductory paragraph is the first paragraph of the paper but is typically written after writing the body of the paper.

Part One

Step 4: Organizing

Now, that the major short term production goals and objectives have been determined, for Project MMTJE1 it is time for implementation of the plan. The process starts with the production manager, Itza Yu. Yu has been tasked with the job of organizing a plan for implementing the production goals. This plan is part of the organizing function. The production managers of each plant will execute Itza Yu's organization scheme.

Doing so requires managers to organize the people, resources, and capital to begin production in a way that will implement the short-term production goals in the most cost efficient, quality oriented, and timely manner as possible. The project is designed to have Itza Yu create an organizational plan for him and the other branch managers to follow.

Explain the role of a manager in the organizing phase of the POLC. Be sure to explain in detail how the manager takes the goals and objectives set out in the planning stage and establishes the organization of resources that will complete the goals.

Step 5: Organizing People, Physical Resources and Money

Assume the Role of Itza Yu. Carefully read and review each area.

Money: The budget for each production department at Galaxy is $650,000 per year. This is an increase over last year of $300,000 to accommodate the new production costs of MMTJE1. Salaries of existing personnel and physical resources are currently running effectively under budget by $10,000.Yu does not want to touch this cushion.

People: Current positions on the plant floor are filled. Turnover is infrequent. Yu anticipates that the following new personnel will need to be hired: Four trained print operators with computer expertise per shift ($40,000 salary each) and one new IT person ($65,000 salary) to liaise with the IT department software and workers on the floor. Yu also anticipates that training for backup personnel for existing staff ($25,000 cost) is likely but is not sure at this point if more education than current personnel have will be required.

Physical Resources: Existing: Two conveyor lines with 100 foot clearance for printers and forklift, pallets and people to easily work with the product, 4 compatible computers (between the 4 branches), and upgraded printers at approximately $1500 per computer.

Needed: Four printers ($6100 each including software and 14 hours of training for each branch), 2 additional computers ($6000 for both), printer material for the creation of the toy and packaging, service contract for the computer (years material is estimated at costing $40,000 and prototype material costs estimated at $4,000.

Step 6: Organizing People, Physical Resources and Money

Yu must make initial notes before finalizing his plans for production. First, he must prioritize the objectives so that the work can flow easily. Yu has decided that the following four objectives are the most important.

Short Term Objectives:

1.5 million Toys will begin production by January 2018.

·    Each plant must produce 375,000 toys by May 31, 2018.

·    Prototype toy trials will be completed and approved by QC by October 31, 2017.

·    Shipment to customers will begin June 2018.

Bearing in mind the research material above, Yu must organize the three areas: physical, monetary, and human resources in concert to complete the tasks. In one page, answer the following questions to create Yu's notes for his first Branch Manager's meeting. Yu hopes that this will give the other branch managers some preliminary idea of how the project will operate.

Look at the short-term objectives identified above. Which objective of the four listed must be accomplished first? Why? Prioritize the remaining objectives.

For each objective, use the above research by Yu to identify at least five (5) tasks that must be completed to accomplish each objective (at least 20 in total).

Part Two

Step 7: Leading Motivation

During production, older line staff and machine workers began to see the speed and accuracy with which the 3D printers make the MMJTE1 toys.

An obvious concern began to surface among the workers, "Will I still have a job next year?" Morale of plant workers began to suffer. Itza Yu knows that this concern must be addressed and morale needs to be improved. Yu also knows that the business must innovate to keep growing. The workers concern is a real one.

Acting as Joyce Barnhart, what advice should she give to Yu.

In discussing the advice, first identify the reasons for the morale problem, explaining why and how motivation relates to change. Be sure to address change and the worker's reaction to implementing change.

Discuss the actual ideas and the specific ways Yu should take to motivate his existing employees in an effort that will build morale and keep production levels on track for the current contracts and the new project.

Part Three

Step 8: Control:

Read critically and analyze the following scenario:

The following chart displays the results of the first year's production of MMTJE1. The table was created from data supplied by the company's entire production department managed by Keith as a means of controlling production output.

It will be used by the VP in his evaluation of areas of improvement, change, or success to processes used by the production department in the production of MMTJE1. The chart describes the standard goal (identified as standard) set by the department and the result each branch obtained.

A comparison of the standard to the results allows the reader to form conclusions about the success or failure of the production department to meet the goals envisioned by the company. It also allows the reader to recognize patterns from the data from which conclusions can be drawn as to the relationship between elements (e.g. cost expended vs time expended; those who spent more time had a higher cost).

Answer the following required elements making sure that the facts of the scenario and the course readings support the reasoning of the answers provided.

Measurable Factors	Standard	Toledo	Dayton	White Plains	Huntsville	Juarez
Cost	5.56	5.67	5.87	5.45	5.52	5.01
Time	2.36	2.32	2.46	2.31	2.32	2.69
Quality Control Problem Ratio (per 500 units)	1	2.5	4	1.5	1.75	8.75
Training Time (per hour)	30	35	38	45	48	25
Shipping Problems/Damage (per 10,000 units)	1	0.333	0.222	0.133	0.178	0.4
3D Problems (per 10,000 units)	0.2	0.25	0.286	0.111	0.1	0.4
Total Number of Pieces Produced per year	375,000	435,000	455,000	550,000	525,000	378,000

Step 9: Standard Specifications

Yu compares the standard specifications data set from the chart with the results for each of the five branches. Yu has to interpret the results.
Interpret the one-year data production results for the MMJTE1 found in the chart above.

Draw conclusions from the data. What does the data tell Yu about the production of the new toy? Examine each standard and explain the results that Yu conclude. Make sure to detail the areas that need improvement as well as those positive conclusions that the data suggests.

Step 10: Corrective Action

Define what "corrective action" means to the manager in the control function of the POLC.

Do you suggest Yu and his fellow managers take, if any, corrective action for this report? Be sure to discuss all the options a manager can take in addition to corrective action.

Step 11: Long-Term Planning

Read critically and analyze the following scenario:

The next meeting of the long-term planning team for Galaxy Toys is scheduled for next week. All the VP's will be there. Everyone must give a report about the success of the "Moon Mission Jupiter's Europa 1" toy roll out and the success or failure of the long-term goals and objectives.

Keith video conferences with his branch managers once the production results were released. The data looked good to Keith but he wanted to get additional "human" feedback on the data. The managers seemed to all talk at once. All the managers felt that the project was well worth the effort. They saw great potential for production of all the products.

It appears that several managers felt that training on the 3D printer was the biggest problem. Back up trained personnel in Huntsville and capable-trained personnel in Mexico was a real problem.

There was a lack of skilled IT people in these areas. The Mexico manager, Hernando Gonzalez, said that they lost their trained personnel to a software company almost from the start and had difficulties finding replacements. The company that supplied the 3D printers provided initial training but follow up training thereafter proved a problem when original staff was lost.

Gonzalez explained that there was a serious shortage of skilled IT personnel in Juarez. Consequently, finding qualified workers and keeping people without paying more than the budget permitted was a major problem. It took Gonzalez four months to train four of his workers to do the job.

Thus, both the production and the IT departments lost money. However, Gonzalez said that once they got started the workers caught up quickly so he saw tremendous potential for the future.

Step 12: Prepare Three Recommendations for Keith to Take to the Long-Term Planning Meeting.

Explain the relationship between the control function and long-term planning

Use the conclusions drawn from the table in Step 8 as well as Keith's notes from the meeting (noted above) with the branch managers on the production results to identify at least three recommendations that have potential concern for the long-term goals of the company.

Explain why and how each of the recommendations chosen would affect the future long-term strategic planning of Galaxy. Be sure to make sure the recommendations have long-term implications rather than solving project issues.

Step 13: Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues, and third person writing.

Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a first measure;

Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the paper;