The transportation ageney of a California county unilaterally created a voluntary affirmative action plan for the hiring and promotion of employees. One provision of the plan provided that, in making promotions to positions within a traditionally segregated job classification in which women have been significantly underrepresented, the agency was authorized to consider as one factor the sex of a qualified applicant. The agency noted in its affirmative action plan that women were represented in numbers far lower than their proportion of the county labor force in five of seven job categories. The stated goal of the affirmative action plan was to achieve a statistically measurable yearly improvement in the hiring, training, and promotion of minorities and women in all major job classifications where they were underrepresented. The long-term goal was to attain a work force whose composition reflected the proportion of minorities and women in the area relevant labor market. When a vacancy arose in the agency for promotion to road dispatcher, twelve county employees applied, and nine of them were deemed qualified and were interviewed. At the conclusion of the interviews, seven employees were certified as eligible for selection by the appointing authority. Two of the seven scored 75 and were tied for second, and a female applicant scored 73 and was ranked third. The director of the ageney, who was authorized to choose any of the seven candidates, chose not to follow a second interviewing board's recommendation to promote one of the second-ranked applicants, a male, but instead opted to select the only female candidate, who was the third-ranked applicant. In doing so, the director had taken into account the candidates' qualifications, their test seores, their expertise, and their backgrounds, as well as the affirmative action goal. Upon hearing that the female candidate had been selected over him, the male applicant who had been recommended by the board filed a complaint with the EEOC, claiming that he had been denied promotion in violation of Title VII on the basis of his sex.

a. Under Title VII was the county impermissibly using sex in its selection procedure? Why or why not?

b. Under the Fourteenth Amendment was the county impermissibly using sex in its selection procedure? Why or why not?

CASE STUDY:

Dell Technologies From unconventional PC startup to global technology leader...

From unconventional PC startup to global technology leader, the common thread in Dell’s heritage is an unwavering commitment to the customer. Explore the company timeline below to view how this guiding principle built Dell Technologies and inspired IT solutions and services that give customers the power to do more.

1984: At age 19, Michael Dell founded PC's Limited with $1,000 and a game-changing vision for how technology should be designed, manufactured and sold. As a pre-med freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, Michael starts Dell Technologies, then doing business as PC's Limited. He left his dorm room at the end of his freshman year to devote all of his time to growing the business.

1985: We design and build our first computer system, the Turbo PC, featuring an Intel® 8088 processor running at 8MHz, a 10MB hard drive and a 5.25" floppy drive. We establish customer experience as a Dell Technologies differentiator with risk-free returns and next-day, at-home product assistance, among the first in our industry.

1986: We unveil the industry's fastest performing PC — a 12MHz, 286-based system — at the Spring Comdex trade show.

1987: We open our first international subsidiary in the United Kingdom.


HISTORY Michael Dell is chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Technologies, a unique family of businesses encompassing Dell, Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, Secureworks, Virtustream and VMware. Dell Technologies is an innovator and technology leader providing the essential infrastructure for organisations to build their digital future, transform IT and protect their most important information. With revenues of $74B and more than 140,000 team members, Dell Technologies is one of the world’s largest IT companies serving the needs of global corporations and governments to small businesses and consumers. The company's unique structure allows innovative, fast-moving startups to co-exist with, and leverage, the global reach and trusted reputation of the large enterprise. Michael’s story started when he founded Dell with $1000 in 1984 at the age of 19. Notably quoted as saying that “technology is about enabling human potential,” Michael’s vision of how technology should be designed, manufactured and sold forever changed the IT industry. In 1992, Michael became the youngest CEO ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500. Known and admired for his astute business vision and bold moves, Michael took Dell private in 2013, setting the stage to architect the largest technology deal in history with the combination of Dell, EMC and VMware in 2016.
In 1998, Michael formed MSD Capital, and in 1999, he and his wife established the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to provide philanthropic support to a variety of global causes. Michael is an honorary member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and is an executive committee member of the International Business Council. He is also a member of the Technology CEO Council, the U.S. Business Council and the Business Roundtable. He serves on the advisory board of Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing, China and on the governing board of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India. He is a board member of Catalyst and also served as the United Nations Foundation's first Global Advocate for Entrepreneurship.

Every day, Dell Technologies is pairing technology with innovation to make a positive social and environmental impact – building a Legacy of Good. We are committed to putting our technology and expertise to work, where it can do the most good for people and the planet, making possible today what was impossible yesterday. Every team member at Dell shares this commitment because being a good company is the right thing to do, but it is also right for our business. We’re creating real value for our customers, employees, and partners while driving social and environmental good in the community.

Our customers expect Dell Technologies to think about environmental impact – that has always been a part of who we are. More than just creating eco-friendly products or one-off initiatives, we incorporate sustainability into everything we do – from design to recycling and every step in between. Through innovation and a relentless focus on efficiency, we are minimizing our footprint while helping customers reduce theirs.

Design for Environment: Innovative thinking and a lifecycle approach to how we design products and source materials are the first steps in delivering products that help you do more while minimizing your impact.    
Reducing our Impact: How products are made matters – to our customers, our communities and the planet. We focus on sustainable operations – using resources efficiently, managing wastes effectively and working to improve our local environment

Green packaging and Shipping: Our goal is to create a waste-free packaging experience, using recycled and renewable source materials, right-sizing to reduce waste, and making it easy for you to responsibly dispose of packaging through recycling or composting   

Reducing your Footprint. Energy efficiency is a top priority across all our product lines. It helps you get the most from your energy use, which saves you money, reduce risk, and meet sustainability goals or regulations.


Recycling your DELL TECHNOLOGIES: We go beyond green IT — technology that itself leaves a smaller environmental footprint — to help you look at IT that enables you to address your sustainability goals and take control of your resources in a way that creates value.

Ocean Plastics: There are more than 86 million metric tons of plastic in our oceans right now. See how Dell Technologies is removing that pollution from our waters and turning it into materials for our products

Net Positive:

Our strategy isn't to just reduce the bad we do, but to increase the good. Creating a balance that puts more into the world and society than what we take from it is creating a net positive. (Adapted: www.google.com)


QUESTION:

The business environment is defined as all the factors or variables, both inside as well as outside the organisation, which may influence the continued and successful existence of the organisation. The business environment consists of three distinct sub environments. Justify these sub-environments as they apply to Dell Technologies in terms of maintaining a competitive advantage.

Critical Thinking:-Leadership

The answering should be from your own words or any scientific references.

Question(s):

1. Describe directive leadership and supportive leadership, Explain their importance.

2. How organizations are benefitted from supportive leadership ? Give an example of such organization which you might have come across.

Kaizen Automotive, a Japanese automaker, has a production facility in Ohio that employees over 600 workers. In December 2013, it announces an executive position has opened at the facility and solicits applications. Among the finalists for the position is June, a Japanese citizen and graduate of MIT with four year's experience in automotive production. Another candidate is John, an African American who is also an MIT graduate and holds an MBA from Harvard. John has over ten year's automotive manufacturing experience. In very short order, Kaizen announces that June is the successful candidate and offers her the position. John files a charge with the EEOC alleging that he was not selected for the position because of his race and national origin. Kaizen states that it lawfully considered June's Japanese citizenship pursuant to a treaty permitting it to favor Japanese applicants. The subsequent EEOC investigation reveals that a Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation exists and that Kaizen has never promoted an American citizen to an executive level position in its U.S operations.

a. Does John have a viable Title VII complaint? Why or why not?

b. If June had been a U.S. citizen of Japanese ancestry, would the outeome be changed?

c. If June had been a Chinese citizen, would the outeome be changed?

Discluser Dilemma Case Study:

Dylan is a manager at a leading consumer electronics company. In his role, he must  frequently interact with industry partners and customers. One day, Dylan met with a customer of one of his company’s custom products. The custom product was a special chip for an electronic appliance that was currently in its final stages of review before market release. During the meeting, the customer wanted to know the method of making the chip, a process which was not specified in the given datasheet. The client claimed this information was needed to ensure that the chip would function properly when it was integrated with electronic appliances.

At first, Dylan was uncertain. He wanted to give his customer more details if it was for the benefit of his client’s final product, but, at the same time, was concerned because the requested information was protected under his company’s non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

Dylan decided to discuss the matter with his supervisor; however, Dylan’s manager was overseeing many projects and, knowing that Dylan was capable and experienced, entrusted him to take care of the situation. When he returned to work the next day, Dylan received an email from his customer. The message stated that, if the chip’s manufacturing methodology was not disclosed, the customer would cease further investments in the product.

Shocked, Dylan believed that if the customer could not abide by the NDA, he should tell the contract should be broken off. However, doing so would mean losing a significant amount of profit they had intended on garnering from selling the chip. On the other hand, sharing confidential information with his customer could cause negative repercussions, especially if his company were to discover the legal breach.

Although it is highly unlikely that the extra chip information would be used by Dylan’s client for malicious purposes, its disclosure co uld potentially affect his company’s reputation, lead to mistrust in the company and compromise Dylan’s position. What should Dylan do?

Question :

write the three different senarious describing what Dylan might do if he applied each of the three frameworks. More specifically decribe Dylan action if he applied the utilitarianism, the principle-based, and the virtue-based models.

Remember, a start-up is the early stage of a business in which it is searching for a scalable model, so consider what the most minimalistic version of your product or service is. Demonstrate your knowledge of bootstrapping, lean methodology techniques, and low-cost experimentation to keep your costs down. What is the start-up cost associated for a liquor store business. Make sure that your sources are credible and be sure to cite your sources. If you do not cite your sources, your answer will not be accepted. Solve in excel.

Describe an imaginary business organization and it's organizational change aimed at busting bureaucracy.

Specify which dimensions of bureaucracy are attacked and how (in which particular ways)

1. An analysis of the similarities and differences across the Zara’s international markets. This analysis should conclude with the company’s stance on a ‘glocalised’ approach to its marketing efforts.

Summarize the intelligence cycle and imagine a model that will better capture what really goes in the process of finished intelligence.

I need help with the second one in bold

Write Business Continuity Strategies that can be adopted by the following departments of an Organization.

1. Human Resources

2. Information Technology/Telecommunication

3. Manufacturing

4.Purchasing/Procurement

5. Accounts/Finance.

QUESTION 5

1. Which mobile phone service uses robots to greet people in some of their stores?  

QUESTION 6

1. Which of these does NOT affect a customer's perceptions of service quality?

QUESTION 8

1. The perceived fairness of the process used to resolve complaints is known as ____________________________.

QUESTION 9

1. When a customer's perception of the service delivered by a retailer fails to meet the customer's expectations, a ______________________ gap ensues.

Elon Musk has tweeted himself into trouble again. The SEC has asked a judge to find the Twitter-happy CEO of Tesla in contempt, claiming he violated a settlement reached last October. That settlement came after another Musk tweetstorm six months ago with his infamous funding secured claim, about a buyout deal for Tesla that turned out to be, well, far short of secure. Speculation now turns to whether the judge will find Musk in contempt and if so, what punishment he might face, with options ranging from a slap on the wrist to a bar from being a corporate officer. You have to ask why Musk feels it's necessary to court trouble just for the likes. He continued to taunt the SEC on Twitter after the complaint dropped and a perennial question, where is Tesla's board in all this? Regardless of what punishment the judge might hand down, Tesla appears now to be exposed to a chronic risk that emanates from its cofounder's very own thumbs. I'm Liam Denning for Bloomberg Opinion.

1. Is the conflict Elon Musk finds himself in with the SEC a dysfunctional conflict or a constructive conflict? If dysfunctional, how can Musk change the conflict to a constructive one?
2. Of the nine sources of conflict listed in the text, which seems to be the most appropriate in this example between Musk and SEC?
3. How is Musk escalating the conflict? What does he need to do to de-escalate the conflict?
4. Please answer all three questions above Thanks.

Explain some of the advantages and disadvantages of the single- and dual- rate methods.
Explain advantages and disadvantages og the direct, the step-down and the reciprocal methods.

May Gilbert began working for Amalgamated Baking Company (ABC) in May 2003 as a sales supervisor at its Vernon, California, facility. In May 2005, ABC promoted her to food sales account manager and in June 2006 promoted her again to conduct training for southern California distributors. Ken Weinzimmer, ABC's senior vice president for sales and marketing and/or Dwight Carnahan, ABC's president, approved each promotion.

ABC then offered Gilbert a job in Texas. She accepted the offer and in January 2007, with Carnahan's approval, began working as the first sales supervisor at ABC's Fort Worth, Texas, facility. ABC did not then have distributors, routes, or trucks in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. No employees reported to Gilbert. In February 2007, Gilbert hired her husband to work under her supervision as a distributor.

ABC promoted Gilbert in January 2008 to the position of district sales manager for the Dallas/Fort Worth area; she received a pay raise as well. Carnahan and Gilbert's supervisor, John Davis, approved the promotion and raise. Gilbert then supervised up to eighteen distributors, of whom up to ten operated out of ABC's Dallas facility. Although ABC eventually gave her a 4 percent raise in September 2008, she received lower compensation than did male district sales managers in other areas, and ABC did not give her access to a cellular telephone. Gilbert complained about this treatment, implying she was being treated differently because she was a woman. ABC informed her that the other districts had performed better than hers during the same period.

In January 2009, several distributors whom Gilbert supervised complained she was treating them unfairly by favoring her husband in assigning the best routes, providing him other activities, and giving him other considerations. The distributors also complained of her poor advance knowledge of sales contests and supervision.

They asserted that Gilbert was one reason for the high distributor turnover in her market area. A few days later, the distributors advised Carnahan of additional complaints of favoritism they asserted Gilbert had shown to her husband. Carnahan referred these complaints to

Weinzimmer. Carnahan and Weinzimmer then met with the distributors, taking their grievances seriously because they viewed them as ABC customers. After a more detailed internal investigation, Carnahan concluded that the distributors complaints were valid, and followed up by meeting with Gilbert. Carnahan discussed with Gilbert The possibility of transferring her to Houston and also offered her a distributorship, both of which she refused. Carnahan then terminated Gilbert's employment. Gilbert alleges ABC fired her as an act of retaliation for her previous complaints about sex discrimination in pay and not being given a cellular phone.

a. Has Ms. Gilbert been unlawfully

discriminated against because of her sex?

b. If so, which form of sex discrimination

applies?

11. You are responsible for the Demand Forecasting group at a mid-size company. Six weeks into the fiscal year, you are called to a meeting with two days of notice with the vice-president of sales, one of the finance directors and the company president. This is in reference to an email from executive leadership that the sales goals and plans are mis-aligned with your fiscal year forecast. It seems that your forecasts are 3.8% below sales plans and 3.5% below sales goals. How will you approach this meeting and what information will you use for the meeting?