design a Quality Control Program for your retirement finance management

Discuss your strategy, if you worked at a shipping company that wished to reduce transportation costs?

If a shipping company needed to move expensive (high value) goods that are small in size from Boston to Seattle, which shipping method would they likely use:

Team 3 answer the following questions

1-What are 4 key things you learned about the topic from reading their paper?

2-How does the topic relate to you and your current or past job?

3-Critique the paper in terms of the organization and quality.

Organizational Culture and its Effect on the Corporate Environment
           An organization is a commercial or non-commercial place of business created for a particular purpose, where individuals from many different backgrounds, both educational and personal, come together to achieve a common goal. This shared goal is based on organizational or management objectives, but the primary goal of most organizations is long term success by achieving productivity, profitably, and financial benchmarks set forth by company executives and shareholders. The organizational culture of the workplace encompasses the beliefs, values and guiding principles that help decide the way employees, and other stakeholders interact with one another, while pursuing a path towards long term success (Brown, 2011). Although company cultures are differentiated based on classification and function, every organization has a culture. There are many classifications of corporate culture from normative, to pragmatic, to club cultures, however there are two main categories of organizational culture which these classifications fall under; strong organizational culture and weak organizational culture.
            A strong organizational culture pursues corporate goals by ensuring that all employees conduct themselves in an ethical and professional manner to reach corporate benchmarks by promoting a shared set of values, beliefs, and principles described in the organization’s mission, vision, and values statements. A weak organizational culture does not. The organization’s culture is shaped by the members of the organization, and is subject to constant change based on who remains within the organization over time. In society today, corporate culture is said to be influenced by the motivation of the employees and stakeholders. As we examine in depth what exactly makes up a strong versus weak organizational culture, we can better prepare a strategic plan for an organization that is preparing for change, as well as determine the best possible solutions for an organization that is receiving resistance, and other challenges to change by its employees.

Characteristics of Strong Organizational Culture
            A myriad of traits and norms encompass strong culture, and a strong culture is something that is built over time. According to the Harvard Business Review (2017), “culture is among the primary levers at top leaders’ disposal in their never-ending quest to maintain organizational viability and effectiveness.” In order to have a strong organizational culture, a company should have these four characteristics: a strong purpose, a sense of enjoyment, a plan for learning, and evaluation of results.
           When discussing an organization’s culture, one of the most important characteristics is a strong purpose. As stated by the Harvard Business Review (2017), “work environments with a strong purpose are tolerant, compassionate places where people try to do good for the long-term future of the world. Employees are united by a focus on sustainability and global communities; leaders emphasize shared ideals and contributing to a greater cause.” When an organization has a clear and strong purpose, employees are attracted and motivated to work there, and are also easier to retain. Working for an organization with a strong purpose would be fulfilling that need of belonging and importance that most employees seem to be striving for today in the workplace.
            Another characteristic that makes up a strong organizational culture is enjoyment. A majority of the working class may have been working the same job for many years, and have become almost habitual in their everyday tasks. A company that can bring enjoyment to the workplace is taking one of the necessary steps to build a strong organizational culture. The Harvard Business Review (2017) stated, “enjoyment is expressed through fun and excitement. Employees are united by playfulness and stimulation; leaders should emphasize spontaneity and a sense of humor.” Businesses should strive to provide excitement within the workplace, whether its during work hours or after hours.
            Another important characteristic is learning or professional development. The Harvard Business Review (2017) wrote that, “work environments are inventive and open-minded places where people spark new ideas and explore alternatives.” When it comes to learning and training employees, one particular organization stands out; Keller Williams Realty. Training Magazine had named Keller Williams Realty a top five training organization for five consecutive years across all industries because of their incredible employee development programs called MAPS (McLaughlin, 2014). Today, people are always looking to grow both personally and professionally, so an organization that invests in the time, training and personal development of its employees is investing in its future.
            Lastly, a strong organizational culture is likely to produce results. Per the Harvard Business Review (2017), “results are characterized by achievement and winning. Work environments are outcome-oriented and merit-based places where people aspire to achieve top performance.” For example, I can reflect on a time with a past employer where I found no strong, meaningful purpose in the work I was performing. The organization also lacked a sense of excitement, and there were no employee development programs or promise of advancement. There was no desire from my employer to keep pushing the boundaries for better results, and organizational success. Maybe one day that will change for my former employer, but for organizations that have all four characteristics; purpose, excitement, learning and results, a strong organizational culture is attainable.
Characteristics of Weak Organizational Culture
               As stated by the Journal of Applied Psychology (2012), organizational culture is not a steady culture, but it is constantly evolving. It is important to stay up to date on current research as to what constitutes a strong or weak organizational culture, and how to maintain a strong culture within a company. Members of a weak organizational culture may have vastly different visions, pulling the organization in their own or opposite directions. A research study was published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (2012), which attempted to find a correlation between organizational culture and performance. The study used a sample of 138 different organizational teams within a Fortune 500 company. The study showed that there was a strong, positive correlation between a high-level performance and a strong cultural organization, and a negative correlation between low-level performance and a weak organizational culture.
             According to a journal article within the Global Business Review (2017), “the more the organizational members agree on, widely share and remain committed to a set of common values and practices, the stronger the culture tends to be.” Therefore, a weak organizational culture is when members do not share common values. A great example of a weak organizational culture would be the summer camp I once worked for. The camp did attempt to maintain a shared vision throughout all its members, but did lack some elements of a strong organizational culture. My camp attempted to attract international diversity within their employees, and I had worked with co-counselors from vastly different backgrounds. All of us had different values, attitudes, and beliefs, which contributed to a lack of similar vision of what an effective summer camp counselor should be. Therefore, no matter how much training was given to each of the counselors during orientation week, based on my observations, we were all fundamentally different in our styles of interacting and disciplining the children.
Impact of Change on Weak Organizational Culture
              A company, no matter its market share or competitive advantage, will always run the risk of falling behind the competition if it does not maintain a strong or effective company culture. According to the course content, many outside factors, such as the general health of the economy or societal strains, may have an impact on an organization’s culture. Problems in organizations are often shaped by a host of factors including, critically, those internal to organizations (Howard-Grenville, 2007.)
           Employees need to feel comfortable with the idea of organizational change in the workplace in order for executives to not be faced with resistance, or at the very least, face little resistance. The reason for resistance is that an organization’s employees are usually invested in the current policies and procedures that their organization currently operates under. If something were to change later on, whether suddenly or over time, they would have to adjust, which humans have a natural aversion to. According to the course lectures, the following are some common reasons for resistance to change, which may cause an organization’s culture to be weakened: fear of the unknown, complacency, poor communication, and lack of involvement.

          In regard to a fear of the unknown, employees are usually afraid of how a change will impact them. For example, their own job or pay will face the possibility of change, and it is also possible that the employees may even face termination or demotion. The term complacency refers to the employees being unaffected by the change, and may contribute to employees being indifferent about what management would like for them to change. These specific individuals will do the bare minimum, and be on their way. As for poor communication, a lack of clear direction will also cause employees a good amount of confusion, which can lead to them not being sure what is expected of them, and can lead to them being passively or aggressively reluctant to change. Finally, a lack of involvement refers to the importance of involving the entire team in process of the organizational change.
           For example, as a front of house manager at the restaurant I used to work at, I saw a huge need for cultural change to be implemented. There were many other operational changes necessary, however we could not tackle the issues together because everyone was divided due to denied promotions, pay discrepancies and a lack of motivation. Eventually our employee turnover rate almost tripled in my department. As a higher-level manager, I would have tried to repair the weak organizational culture by attempting to tackle majority of the issues as they became more prominent.

Impact of Change on Strong Organizational Culture
          A company’s culture is the DNA of the organization, and a strong culture is deeply engrained in the way a company conducts its business. There is cohesion around traditions, rituals, behavioral rules, and beliefs, and they usually will have more than one prominent leader who will articulate their rules, rituals, traditions and beliefs that are in line with the customer needs and the company as a whole. A strong organizational culture may not pay off financially from a short-term perspective, but the long-term results will be positive when you have happy and loyal employees (Dizik, 2016). To convert a weak organizational culture into a strong organizational culture, there are a few key details to focus on. First, as a manager myself, I would focus on the wellbeing of my employees before anything. An organization should begin by implementing a clear mission and vision statement that includes the company’s values. Employees should know what their direct manager or organization expects of them in terms of productivity and conduct, and how they can achieve those expectations or objectives. This step will give employees a sense of purpose and understanding of the managerial goals or objectives they should strive to achieve on a daily basis.
          Second, a manager or organization should have a clear and concise code of conduct. The code of conduct will set guidelines that will be used by all employees to specify how employees should conduct themselves when interacting with one another. The code of conduct should also bring the behavior of each employee into alignment with what the company goals are in dealing with day-to-day client, partner and third-party interactions. In other words, it should specify the behaviors or actions that should and should not be said or done.
           Third, a company should focus on pursuing a collaborative teamwork environment within the workplace. It is important to push for a synergistic environment, and to employ managers that will help employees work together as a team. Also, a company should be able to face challenges and adapt to constant change. When change arises, employees are usually distracted by the impending fear of the unknown. This fear debilitates development, and distracts employees from the mission and vision of the company, but by keeping a strong organizational culture, the organization should be able to face certain challenges with ease and advance through tough times.
            Lastly, organizations should offer a safe and healthy workplace for all employees. A safe and healthy environment demonstrates the corporate and social responsibility of the corporation for their employees. The well-being of the employees is just as much, if not more important than the high standards for product results. Physically and mentally, employees should feel well taken care of. But beyond that is the enhancement of their skills and talents through healthy venues. A safe and healthy work environment makes employees want to work harder, show up on time and stay motivated to finish the job at hand with utmost care.

Maintaining a Strong Culture & the Future of the Organization
            An organization’s culture can be seen as the foundation and driving force behind its practices, goals, and achievements. One of the main challenges is being able to comply with the company culture at any given moment, because changes do occur that can have either a positive or negative effect on the culture of the workplace and its employees. According to Chapter 16, it states that “organizational development is an ongoing process because an organization cannot remain static and be effective. In today’s changing environment, organizations must develop adaptive mechanisms and anticipative management systems,” (Brown 2011). This is true, because consumer preferences, the economy and supply chain systems are constantly changing, and these operations are a crucial part in the overall functionality of an organization. For a company’s culture to be able to remain strong throughout times of change, there needs to be a strong management system in place. Leaders of the corporation need to be headstrong with unique and effective strategies that will uphold the foundation of the company.
              Second, there should be a clear understanding of the ethics and values that remain true to the organization’s structure. Employees should consent to abide by this aspect of the work culture no matter what changes occur. Furthermore, relationships and a proper code of conduct need to be implemented. Given a circumstance, as if I were to be in a managerial position and had to handle changes that could affect the culture of my own team, I would be sure to inform my employees of what changes have or could be taking place that may have a direct impact on our company or team. Then, I would demonstrate how our organizational culture will successfully adapt to that change, and remain vigorous so that our working system, values, mission and procedures do not fail under the pressure of those changes. Workshops, programs and orientations are vital tools that can be used to make sure that employees stay up to date and be reminded of the culture so they can perform their duties for the company.

For eight straight years, Apple has been recognized as having the best worldwide supply chains in the "Gartner Global Supply Chain Top 25" ranking. In the most recent ranking, Apple was actually classified above the ranking as a "Master (Amazon.com was the listed the number one company). The Master status recognizes the accomplishments and capabilities of long-term global supply chain leaders in the Gartner Global Supply Chain Top 25. Companies qualify for the Masters category if their score places them in the top five rankings for at least seven out of the past 10 years. Numerous accolades have also been made about Apple's supply chain strategy, operations, and results. For example, Apple's supply chains "best demonstrate leadership in applying demand- driven principles to drive business results."Apple dominates because it consistently brings both operational and innovation excellence to bear in some of the most competitive markets in the world.* Basically, Apple gets a lot of credit in the supply chain profession for being able to ramp up volumes both in hardware and software while also uniquely helping redefine the consumer electronics market (e.g., iPhone, iPad, MacBook) Apple is the world's second-largest information technology company by revenue after Samsung and the second-largest mobile phone producer also after Samsung. In Interbrand's Best Global Brands report, Apple is now also the most valuable brand in the world. It overtook Coca-Cola in 2013 for the number one position after Coca-Cola's 13-year run at the top and has stayed at the top every year since that time. Apple has an estimated brand value of more than $170 billion. Few brands have enabled so many people to do so much so easily, which is why Apple has legions of adoring fans. These fans" or customers have downloaded apps for Apple's electronic gadgets more than 60 billion times The company's general supply chain model follows the path of most large multinational corporations' supply chains. They do research and development to cultivate new technologies and/or to acquire intellectual property needed for future products. They test the product concepts via marketing research, product testing, and total cost analysis. After that, Apple typically does a prelaunch of new products, where global production, sourcing commitments, inventory management, and so on are evaluated. The product launch involves doing demand forecasts resolving potential backlogs, and ensuring that the products are in the hands of its customers in as fast a cycle time as possible. After the launch, monitoring starts with periodic reviews of inventory, demand, life cycle status, and component cost forecasts. A number of factors make Apple's global supply chains world leading. First, early on, Apple took steps to manage the total value created in its global supply chains by managing its suppliers and all other providers within the chains. Predetermined expectations of suppliers, exclusivity in supplier arrangements, and volume guarantees ensured a supply chain infrastructure that could support Apple's aggressive market leadership. Apple's relationship building with its network partners is also a strength that has helped with increased scaling of production and resulted in improved quality in the manufacturing processes. Plus, and not to be underestimated, Apple has amassed lots of cash! The available cash funds have partially been used to place high-volume orders, which strengthen supplier relationships, and in other ways maintain global supply chain leadership.

here are some questions concerning apple's case study:

1.According to Interbrand’s analysis, Apple’s brand is valued at more than $170 billion, while Google in second place is valued at $120 billion and Coca-Cola in third is at $78 billion (2015). Do you agree that Apple should be so far ahead of its nearest brand competition? What about Samsung, which is larger in size (Samsung is valued at $45 billion)?

2. With Steve Jobs, Apple’s legendary founder and CEO, passing away in 2011, what can we expect from Apple in the future? Will they be as innovative? Will they remain brand value leadership? Will they run the top global supply chains in the world?

3. Apple products have usually been priced above their competition and sold for their value, intrigue, and market leadership. Some would say Samsung is catching up on many of these fronts and even passing Apple perhaps. Do you think Apple can charge a price premium for their products much longer?

4. Apple’s global supply chains make their business thrive. There is secrecy among suppliers, superior quality standards by every party involved in Apple’s supply chains, and a total value focus that ultimately makes the customers happy. Is this a sustainable business model for their global supply chains?

Answer each question in mini ESSAYS and in your own words

ALL QUESTIONS MUST ANSWER IN FORM OF ESSAY. IF YOU CANT ANSWER ALL , LEAVE IT ALONE PLEASE

1- What is meant “by sales force diversity? Do you agree? Where might you disagree?

2- Giving examples, explain the difference between Transactional Selling and Relationship Selling?

3- How E-Commerce changed the dynamics of sales management in today’s market place?

4- China has been your manufacturing base. Now prices are up, deliveries are late, vendors are refusing orders, what is going on? As a sales manager how might you attempt to deal with this critical situation?

Briefly describe what information a speaker should gather about the audience in regards to public speaking

You are an I/O psychologist consulting with an individual who wants to start a small business (two or more employees). Your client wants the business to be one in which the employees have a manageable level of stress, so you will need to consider the workload and environmental factors. Your client also wants to promote good communication among all employees, so you may need to consider the office layout, design, and other factors. Your client wants his/her employees to enjoy their jobs and be committed to the company. Consider the responsibilities of the necessary employment positions. Consider what needs to be included in the employee selection process (interview only, tests, screenings, etc.) and what types of training may need to be provided. Design a list of recommendations for your client’s basic plan for his/her small business.

Suppose Jones Company has orders from three customers located in the same market area. One order has a total weight of 3,600 pounds, the second weighs 8,300 pounds, and the third weighs 12,100 pounds. The transportation carrier quotes a freight rate of $20 per hundredweight (or cwt.) for direct shipment to the customer for shipments weighing 1,000 to 4,999 pounds, $18 per cwt. for orders weighing 5,000 to 9,999 pounds, and $16 for shipments weighing between 10,000 and 15,000 pounds. Alternatively, the carrier’s rate for shipments weighing more than 20,000 pounds is $13.00 per cwt. However, if the orders are combined into one consolidated shipment, the carrier will charge $260 for each stop it is required to make. Calculate the total cost with or without consolidated shipment charge.

a) total cost using separate shipments

b) total cost using consolidated shipment

Answer all questions in full answer

google the case

1- In continuing your understanding of IP protection you are to research the concept of trade dress and how this was a factor in the case of Knitwaves vs Lolly Togs. What was the basis of the case and what was the outcome.

2- Research the case of Louis Vuitton vs Dooney & Burke and post your understanding of the IP violation that was involved and what was the outcome?

3- Currently there are many discussions revolving around social influencers and their effect on the success of various brands. Name someone you identify as an influencer and why you are labeling that person in this role - what real results can you attribute to this person?

4- Recently many retail brands have announced the closing of a large number of their brick and mortar stores due to sales issues. What would you do if you were in charge to halt the continuing losses? How would you lead your company to successfully counter the Amazon and Fast Fashion challenges?  

Analyze how human information systems (HRIS) improve business-to-employee (B2E) communications, workforce productivity, and compliance with federal employment laws; and ethical issues related to the use of HIS data.

It would be great if you can add some sample to elaborate the explanation. (min 450 words)

Please, suggest me an outline for this presentation and the list of three Foursquare competitors. Thank you

You know those times when you are craving Thai food or the perfect fruit smoothie, but you don’t know where to go? Or when you’re out shopping or clubbing and you want to let your friends know where you are? Foursquare’s location-based services connect you with friends and companies that offer products and services of interest.

Your task: Create a brief presentation explaining the Foursquare concept and its features and benefits. List three Foursquare competitors and give a brief assessment of the one you would recommend to your classmates.

Given the following information set up the problem in a transportation table and solve for the minimum-cost plan:

Suppose that an inventory carrying cost is increased $2 per unit per period. What will the additional cost of the optimal plan be? (Omit the "$" sign in your response.)

Additional cost           $

I've asked this question a couple of times and it has been incorrect. So.. the answer is not 440 haha.. good luck! Thanks for your help!

What are different types of retails and the wholesalers? Discuss in detail

Identify and explain 3 requirements that personnel tests need to meet.