Choose any country except the United States, and your native country (if different from the United States). Describe the culture of this country in detail. What are some key cultural aspects of which a U.S. expatriate on assignment in this country should be aware? What aspects of this country’s culture could cause culture shock for a U.S. expatriate? What advice would you give to someone who was preparing for a long-term assignment in this culture? Finally, would you want to spend an extended amount of time as an expatriate in this country? Why or why not? Support your assessment.

Murray, the longtime lab director in the R&D (research and development) department, has announced his retirement. Marianne, the head of R&D for three years, has received great advice from Murray on every topic she has asked him about. Murray is a modest man, but she suspects that he knows more about their department than the rest of the group put together. They meet in his office to talk about ways Murray can document his knowledge so that it doesn’t “walk out the door” with him when he retires. Murray shows Marianne dozens of binders and several file cabinet field with one of a kind documents that predate the use of personal computer and electronic file. He suggests that he spend the rest of his time labeling everything and putting together a list of what he has. Marianne has a different idea. She appreciates Murray’s interest in preserving the past, but she believes it is essential to capture his perspective on the new technologies,

new products, and new processes that have been implemented over the years. She wants to put together an ad hoc committee to work with Murray. she asks him to meet with her in two days to talk about the committee and what can be accomplished before Murray retires.

1. Why does Marianne want to preserve Murray’s perspective on the changes he has been part of?

2. How can Murray and the committee accomplish Marianne’s goals?

Under this definition, what are Dell's core competencies? How can Dell exploit these competencies to gain or maintain a sustainable competitive advantage?

Many managers and executives are too rushed to read long journal articles, but they are eager to stay current in their fields. Assume your boss has asked you to help him stay abreast of research in his field. He asks you to submit to him one executive summary every month on an article of interest.

Your Task. In your field of study, select a professional journal, such as the Journal of Management. Using ProQuest, Factiva, EBSCO, or some other database, look for articles in your target journal. Select an article that is at least five pages long and is interesting to you. Write an executive summary in a memo format. Include an introduction that might begin with As you requested, I am submitting this executive summary of . . . . Identify the author, article title, journal, and date of publication. Explain what the author intended to do in the study or article. Summarize three or four of the most important findings of the study or article. Use descriptive, or “talking,” headings rather than functional headings. Summarize any recommendations made. Your boss would also like a concluding statement indicating your reaction to the article. Address your memo to Marcus E. Fratelli.

In the Connect and Develop article, Huston and Sakkab describe a "radical strategy of open innovation." Let's assume that Dell is interested in pursuing such as strategy. What would that look like? If you were a member of the management team, would you have any concerns?

You have been asked whether your organization should expand from selling its products only in North America to selling its products in Europe as well. What information would you want to collect? Who would you want to discuss the idea with before making a decisio

Suppose Michael Dell comes to you with a new strategic plan for the company and asks you to manage its execution. What are the most important elements for you to consider in executing this strategy?

6. Pieces produced per cycle: 8
   
   Average measured cycle time: 8.36 min
   Average measured effort time per cycle: 4.62 min Average rapid traverse time: 0.08 min
   Average cutting time power feed: 3.66 min Performance rating: 115 percent
   Allowance (machine time): 10 percent Allowance (effort time): 15 percent

The operator works on the job a full 8-h day and produces 380 pieces. How many stan-

dard hours does the operator earn? What is the operator’s efficiency for the 8-h day?

Manufacturing Organization: Caterpillar

Question: Differentiate at least two or three key elements for each of the four primary forecasting techniques and how they apply to your chosen organization.

Explain company analysis techniques that precede strategy selection to determine the appropriate organizational structure for its strategic plans. Outline the key issues behind the selection of organizational structure. Explain various international structures and types of work teams. Companies rarely remain static and thrive; describe a scenario in which a company might need to modify its strategy and, by extension, its structure.

Research, present, and assess information about Medicaid expansion in Georgia.

>> So Plant Fantasies, we're landscape contractors that are based out of Manhattan, and we do interior and exterior landscaping and maintenance, design, green roof, contract flowers, and holiday decorations.

>> Steve is like my right-hand person in selling, in handling the customers, and in execution.

>> I think we both listen differently. So a lot of times I go in meetings with her, and she'll hear some of it, and I'll hear, you know, other things. So we both take away different things from the meeting. Theresa tends to really get into the relationship, but I'm more into the specifics. You have only so much time face to face with the client. So you really need to get as much information as you can, you know. Just be really blunt --

>> We do need to communicate on what we're sending out this week --

>> Yeah --

>> Because I'm a little nervous that the flower department doesn't exactly know what the new design is.

>> I don't think they do. Yeah. Yeah.

>> So I'm not sure how that happens. How does that happen? I thought I went over it --

>> It's like you said before. They tell you they understand when they actually don't --

>> Okay --

>> Understand.

>> I'm a big communicator. I think I'm really clear. I do get the feeling that no one listens to me sometimes, but I think I'm pretty clear. I maybe communicate too much if anything. That would be a fault of mine. Two of the designers are taking an OSHA class. You know, I already e-mailed them, like ten times today because I got, we're bidding on Mount Sinai, which is a really great project that we want to do the landscaping for, and I got some updates on the blueprints, and I wanted to make sure that they got them. So, you know, that was, like three or four e-mails, and some other questions, and, you know, I'll have, I'll chirp them later when they get a break.

>> I think that for me, I'm somewhat of a control freak. That I always need to know what's going on. That I will, I constantly check in. You know, nobody's stopping to look at the clock, and see okay, it's 4:00, let's call Steve because everybody's busy. So I kind of beat them to that. I don't think you can be, I don't think you can ever be too annoying.

>> Out of anxiety, there have been times in my career, you know, maybe even last year where I wasn't handling that anxiety as well. I used to e-mail, like all night sometimes, but then I started to feel like it was invasive and not fair to my employees. So I started, so now I write the e-mails, and I save them, and then in the morning I shoot them all out. We all have BlackBerrys so we all do Direct Connect, which is really helpful for us because I've got the trucks going around and people going around, and there's a lot of Direct Connect.

>> I think e-mail is probably the best way to get the basic information across, but for me, the back and forth on e-mail for a conversation you can have on the phone that would take a minute is a waste of time. I'd rather just make the phone call, you know, and get the right information and just move forward with it. When you can do it, when there's time, I think it's a great idea to always try and do face to face. You know, it's good for the customer, too. They really, you know, you want them to see you. You want them to remember you. You want them to see that you went through the time to come there. You didn't just shoot them an e-mail, you know, in a cab going somewhere else. They want to feel important. When I first started, I used to send out brochures and then chase them down, and, you know, you get a few hits from that, but most people I don't think actually look at them, and I think, unfortunately, it's the same thing with e-mail. You know, I get some e-mails sometimes, and I don't even, I just delete them because everything happens so fast. You're, like, all right, I don't have time for this. It's an advertisement. I don't care, you know. I think it's more of a, you really need to, you need to meet these people, and, you know, put this, so I can put a face with the name.

1-When Teresa talks about communicating with her employees, she says, “Now I write the emails and I save them. And then in the morning I shoot them all out.” Teresa’s emails are an example of

Upward communication

Downward communication

Horizontal communication

Parallel communication

2-This form of communication might not be effective if Teresa

Is communicating the weekly inventory totals to all of her her project managers

Wants to share an article about “green” certification standards with all of Plant Fantasies’ landscaping customers

Needs to tell someone in the flower department that customers have complained about his or her work

Is telling Plant Fantasies’ website designer what blog posts to use to update the site

Where have you seen real people rise to power, only to abuse their power or fail to maintain a focus on others? What can you do to be more mindful of the paradox of power as you enter your next team experiance or start your career?