4.If you had the choice, would you choose a computer-based training program or a traditional classroom program? Which would you prefer, and why? Do you think your satisfaction, learning, and performance would differ in a computer-based program versus a traditional classroom program? Explain your reasoning.

8.Research on the effects of computer-based training has found that it is more effective than classroom instruction when trainees can choose the program (computer-based or classroom) and when the instructional methods used to deliver the programs are different. What are the implications of these two findings for understanding the effects of computer-based training and for the design and delivery of computer-based training programs?

10.What does learner control refer to and what role does it play in technology-based training? Why is learner control not always effective? What can be done to make it more effective?

Define Pick-Density and suggest three ways to improve it?

Sara’s Ice Cream Shop is closed for six months out of the year but has had the monthly sales amounts listed below for the last four years.

Asssuming that there is both seasonality and a trend, estimate monthly sales for each month of the coming year.

Herman, the owner of a furniture store, and Walt, owner of a website that sells furniture, spoke on the telephone about the possibility of Walt selling an Acme brand table to Herman. They orally agreed that Walt would sell Herman the table for $750 to be delivered in one month. After finishing the phone conversation, Walt wrote a note to Herman saying, “This is to confirm our contract for the sale of one Acme brand marble table for $750. (signed) Walt.” Walt sent the letter to Herman’s office in an envelope marked “Important: contract confirmation enclosed.” Herman received the letter the next day, read it, and put the letter in a file although he was not happy with the terms of the deal. Two weeks later, Herman called up Walt and told him that he (Herman) did not intend to be bound by their agreement. Walt then sues Herman for breach of contract. Herman pleads the Statute of Frauds as a defense.  

a.      Judgment for whom? Explain.
b.      If you were Herman’s lawyer, what would you have advised him to do to protect his rights? Explain.
c.      Would it change your answer to (a) if neither Herman nor Walt were professionally involved in the sale and purchase of furniture? Explain.

On, February 1, 2017, Marty, the chief fruit buyer at ACME supermarket entered into a signed and written contract with Bruno, a Florida-based orange supplier, to purchase 1,000 crates of oranges for $75 per crate, to be delivered to ACME on June 1, 2017.

a.      Unfortunately, the weather in Florida was colder than usual that spring and Bruno’s orange groves produced 10% fewer oranges than in the average year. Because of the shortage, by May 15, the market price for oranges was $85 per crate. On May 31st, Bruno told Marty that he must pay $85 per crate or Bruno would not deliver the oranges. Marty sues Bruno for breach of contract and Bruno asserts “commercial impracticability” as a defense. Judgment for whom? Explain.

b.      Instead of the facts in (a), assume that an unprecedented fruit disease killed 95% of the Florida orange harvest during the Spring of 2017. By May 15, no oranges grown in Florida were available to be delivered to Marty. However, oranges grown in New Zealand were available at a price of $800 per crate. On May 31st, Bruno told Marty that he would not be able to perform the contract because he would be losing many thousands of dollars on the deal. Marty refuses to accept this and sues Bruno for breach of contract and Bruno asserts “commercial impracticability” as a defense. Judgment for whom? Explain.

c.      Later the same year, Marty decides that ACME should start selling apples. In September, he drives to an apple orchard in upstate New York to negotiate the purchase of apples. Farmer Suzie takes Marty around her orchards and shows him ten rows of Cortland apple trees. While all of the apples appear to be of high quality, Marty is very impressed with the healthy look of the apples in row 7 which gets more direct sunshine than the other rows of the orchard. Marty says to Suzie, “I offer to pay $10,000 for all of the apples in row 7 of the orchard.” Suzie accepts this offer and the contract is put in writing and signed by both parties. The apples from row 7 are picked and put into a truck for delivery to Marty. On its way to New York City, the truck suffers an accident and all the apples are destroyed. Suzie immediately gathers all the apples from row 8 in the orchard and attempts to deliver them to Marty. Marty refuses to accept delivery or to pay for the apples and Suzie sues Marty for breach of contract. Judgment for whom assuming that Marty argues “destruction of subject matter”? Explain.

Mention A Company with the Best Supply Chain Management Practice. How did they achieve a strategic fit,
Lean or Agile and why do you think they fall under lean or agile.

What are the six stages of the personal selling process? What is the objective of each stage? Would you like a career in sales?  Why or why not?

Describe the key elements of the communication process and draw a diagram. Why does the model fail to work sometimes?

What are three general approaches to obtaining an expert system? Give one advantage and one disadvantage for each approach.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITION

DEUTSCHE BANK AND BANKERS TRUST

Deutsche Bank was in the process of strategic transformation from a German bank to Global organisation but lacks sufficient present in the USA. Ed acquired Bankers Trust to address this and was particularly interested in the investment Bank Alex Brown acquired by Bankers Trust 2 years earlier.The success of the position has been largely attributed to the pre-integration period or courting phase. Here during the due diligence period the period of time between announcing and closing the m&a deal, Can any pendant cultural assessment exercise was commissioned by Deutsche Bank senior management. The cross organisational perceptions of employees revealed that:

1.Deutsche Bank employees did not feel the acquisition of Bankers Trust will enhance their business.

2.The integration of Alex brown and Bankers Trust had not been managed effectively causing internal conflict and a loss of identity among Alex Brown employees.

3. Bankers Trust felt that Deutsche Bank typified the traits of bureaucracy hierarchy and slow decision making that are associated with German companies.

This finding led senior management to:

• Enhance employee communication to close what was perceived to be a validity information gap by sharing the Rationale behind the acquisition.
• Name the merged company in the USA. The Deutsche Bank Alex Brown Investment Bank to Reinforced the brand identity that was one of the prime moves behind the acquisition in the first place (This led to the perception among Alex Brown employees that they had been rescued from Bankers Trust by Deutsche Bank)
• Start challenging the prevailing at the Deutsche Bank working values and embracing alternative ones.

During the integration phase: the marriage a number of HR initiatives were introduced to facilitates organizational integration:

• The establishment of an integration team comprising key executives, charged with making the tough integration decisions, one of which was the decision to ‘strip out’ those parts of Bankers Trust that could be integrated into the new business.
• Redundancy packages incorporating incentives for ‘redundant’ Bankers Trust employees to work through until the acquisition process was completed;
• Incentive scheme to encourage keep Banker Trust staff only to commit to the new organisation in order to avoid damaging employee turnover.

BRITISH PETROLEUM AND AMOCO

The merger between two large British and US Petroleum Companies has been hailed as a success by its managers because it was achieved faster and created greater synergy than forecast.As with Deutsche Bank, The management of the pre-merger phase was seen as crucial to the success. This involved the creation of an integration team who use the due diligence period to assess the potential synergies that could be produced by combining head offices and merging operating divisions.

Managing the post-merger “marriage phase” revolved around five areas:

1. Integrating areas of duplication where continuing the marriage analogy, partners analysed and dealt with duplication of assets brought into the marriage and work from current patterns of behaviour to develop and pursue desired behaviours.
2. Appointing into managerial roles in a way that creates opportunity for employees from both constituent companies. Here, for example the top 500 appointments in the new company were source 60% from BP and 40% from Amoco directly in line with thier respective share of the business.
3. Integrating systems and processes on the basis of what was considered the best practice across the constituent companies. hear integrating HR processes such as job grading and remuneration management were particularly problematic not because of any technical complexity but because of strong emotional attachments of employees to HR heritage
4. bill building new corporate culture regular meetings of the top managers were used to explain the operating philosophy of BP and to encourage socialisation and the breakdown of barriers between BP and Amoco managers.
5. regular monitoring of employee attitudes as the merger unfolded so that managerial action could be directed towards influencing their hearts and minds and obtaining full commitment to the new company.

VOLVO AND FORD

This merger between a large Swedish organisation and Huge Anglo-Saxon Corporation had to confront many cultural differences between the two. employees perceived Volvo as operating Within decentralized and participated management philosophy where teamwork and devolved decision-making were the accepted norm and where personal credibility was derived from expertise not position in the organisation hierarchy. these characteristics were reflected in the management of Industrial relation where Union Representatives and management work closely together to improve business performance. In contrast, Ford what perceived as highly structured in hierarchical, with status differential between blue and white collar workers and with a more confrontational industrial relation climate. For Volvo employees, the transitions was also more marked as they moved from a position where a Volvo represented 51% of the previous AB Volvo group to where it represented only 8% of Ford’s total business.

Structural reorganisation was a key outcome of the mergers. 2 major divisions were created. The first brought the premium products under one roof (Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and Volvo)- The Premium Automotive Group. The second Ford cars covers the more traditional mass market product offerings.

The due diligence period focus on exploring the potential for financial synergies cultural issues were not explored at this time but immediately after the merger was finalize an integration team comprising 18 matched pairs of Ford and Volvo executives was formed. They were task to work together on an equal basis to establish further synergise in specified areas such as marketing, purchasing and research. The integration team was seen as an important vehicle for overcoming cultural differences.

Case study questions

If you had been responsible for the HRP dimension of each of the three mergers situations which do you think was handled effectively? and why?

Please provide very detail and comprehensive answer.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITION

DEUTSCHE BANK AND BANKERS TRUST

Deutsche Bank was in the process of strategic transformation from a German bank to Global organisation but lacks sufficient present in the USA. Ed acquired Bankers Trust to address this and was particularly interested in the investment Bank Alex Brown acquired by Bankers Trust 2 years earlier.The success of the position has been largely attributed to the pre-integration period or courting phase. Here during the due diligence period the period of time between announcing and closing the m&a deal, Can any pendant cultural assessment exercise was commissioned by Deutsche Bank senior management. The cross organisational perceptions of employees revealed that:

1.Deutsche Bank employees did not feel the acquisition of Bankers Trust will enhance their business.

2.The integration of Alex brown and Bankers Trust had not been managed effectively causing internal conflict and a loss of identity among Alex Brown employees.

3. Bankers Trust felt that Deutsche Bank typified the traits of bureaucracy hierarchy and slow decision making that are associated with German companies.

This finding led senior management to:

• Enhance employee communication to close what was perceived to be a validity information gap by sharing the Rationale behind the acquisition.
• Name the merged company in the USA. The Deutsche Bank Alex Brown Investment Bank to Reinforced the brand identity that was one of the prime moves behind the acquisition in the first place (This led to the perception among Alex Brown employees that they had been rescued from Bankers Trust by Deutsche Bank)
• Start challenging the prevailing at the Deutsche Bank working values and embracing alternative ones.

During the integration phase: the marriage a number of HR initiatives were introduced to facilitates organizational integration:

• The establishment of an integration team comprising key executives, charged with making the tough integration decisions, one of which was the decision to ‘strip out’ those parts of Bankers Trust that could be integrated into the new business.
• Redundancy packages incorporating incentives for ‘redundant’ Bankers Trust employees to work through until the acquisition process was completed;
• Incentive scheme to encourage keep Banker Trust staff only to commit to the new organisation in order to avoid damaging employee turnover.

BRITISH PETROLEUM AND AMOCO

The merger between two large British and US Petroleum Companies has been hailed as a success by its managers because it was achieved faster and created greater synergy than forecast.As with Deutsche Bank, The management of the pre-merger phase was seen as crucial to the success. This involved the creation of an integration team who use the due diligence period to assess the potential synergies that could be produced by combining head offices and merging operating divisions.

Managing the post-merger “marriage phase” revolved around five areas:

1. Integrating areas of duplication where continuing the marriage analogy, partners analysed and dealt with duplication of assets brought into the marriage and work from current patterns of behaviour to develop and pursue desired behaviours.
2. Appointing into managerial roles in a way that creates opportunity for employees from both constituent companies. Here, for example the top 500 appointments in the new company were source 60% from BP and 40% from Amoco directly in line with thier respective share of the business.
3. Integrating systems and processes on the basis of what was considered the best practice across the constituent companies. hear integrating HR processes such as job grading and remuneration management were particularly problematic not because of any technical complexity but because of strong emotional attachments of employees to HR heritage
4. bill building new corporate culture regular meetings of the top managers were used to explain the operating philosophy of BP and to encourage socialisation and the breakdown of barriers between BP and Amoco managers.
5. regular monitoring of employee attitudes as the merger unfolded so that managerial action could be directed towards influencing their hearts and minds and obtaining full commitment to the new company.

VOLVO AND FORD

This merger between a large Swedish organisation and Huge Anglo-Saxon Corporation had to confront many cultural differences between the two. employees perceived Volvo as operating Within decentralized and participated management philosophy where teamwork and devolved decision-making were the accepted norm and where personal credibility was derived from expertise not position in the organisation hierarchy. these characteristics were reflected in the management of Industrial relation where Union Representatives and management work closely together to improve business performance. In contrast, Ford what perceived as highly structured in hierarchical, with status differential between blue and white collar workers and with a more confrontational industrial relation climate. For Volvo employees, the transitions was also more marked as they moved from a position where a Volvo represented 51% of the previous AB Volvo group to where it represented only 8% of Ford’s total business.

Structural reorganisation was a key outcome of the mergers. 2 major divisions were created. The first brought the premium products under one roof (Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and Volvo)- The Premium Automotive Group. The second Ford cars covers the more traditional mass market product offerings.

the due diligence period focus on exploring the potential for financial synergies cultural issues were not explored at this time but immediately after the merger was finalize an integration team comprising 18 matched pairs of Ford and Volvo executives was formed. They were task to work together on an equal basis to establish further synergise in specified areas such as marketing, purchasing and research. The integration team was seen as an important vehicle for overcoming cultural differences.

Case study questions

Compare and contrast the three outline cases from a HRP perspective, what are the main similarities and differences between them?

Please provide very detail and comprehensive answer.

Identify five websites and or resources that would be highly beneficial for the OD practitioner.

GreenGrass is a manufacturer of lawnmowers. GreenGrass needs 40 pounds of aluminum to manufacture one lawnmower, and there is maximum 2,000 pounds available per month (you cannot store more). The manufacturing cost is $1,200 per unit during the first month, and $1,500 during the second month. Your cost of holding 1 lawnmower in inventory is estimated at $100 per month. You have to meet a demand of 30 lawnmowers in month 1, and 60 lawnmowers in month 2. In addition, GreenGrass’ plant manager wants to produce at least 20 units per month.

GreenGrass would like to minimize its total cost while meeting demand. Formulate this problem as a linear program. By following the 4 steps, write out the linear model. (25 pts.)

How does technology effect businesses? With technology constantly changing, how should business leaders respond to the acquisition of technology.

Consider the make-or-buy decision. Give three examples of situations which a business should make rather than buy. Give three examples of situations in which a business should buy, rather than make.