Hypothetical Telecommunications Discussion

2929 unread replies.2929 replies.

Please read the case and answer the questions at the end. Please respond to two of your peers. Do you agree or disagree?

Sales at a large telecommunications company were down for the third quarter. Management reviewed several strategies to improve sales and concluded that one solution would be to improve training for the large, dispersed sales force.

For the sake of expediency, the training department began using a needs assessment it conducted several years before as a basis to develop enhanced training. The plan was first to update the original needs analysis, and then to develop new training strategies on the basis of what it found. The department also began investigating new training technologies as a possible means to reduce training delivery costs. However, management was so intent on doing something quickly that the training department was ultimately pressured into purchasing a generic, off-the-shelf package by a local vendor.

One of the features of the package that appealed to management was that the course could be delivered over the Web, saving the time and expense of having the sales force travel to the main office to receive training. Hence, even though the package was costly to purchase, the company believed that it was a bargain compared to the expense of developing a new package in-house and delivering it in person to the sales force.

Six months after the training had been delivered, sales were still declining. Management turned to the training department for answers. Because no measures of training performance had been collected, the training department had little information upon which to base its diagnosis. For lack of a better idea, members of the training department began questioning the sales force to see if they could determine why the training was not working.

Among other things, the salespeople reported that the training was slow and boring and that it did not teach them any new sales techniques. They also complained that, without an instructor, it was impossible to get clarification on things they did not understand. Moreover, they reported that they believed sales were off not because they needed training in basic sales techniques, but because so many new products were being introduced that they could not keep up. In fact, several of the salespeople requested meetings with design engineers just so they could get updated product information.

Questions:

1. Outline the key decisions made from the beginning to the end of this case. Who made each of those decisions, and why?
2. Describe the ideal process for handling the concern about declining sales, ignoring for now the pressure from management.
3. What arguments could be made to convince management that working with an outdated needs assessment is not wise?
4. If you were asked to develop a training program for these sales agents, what content, method, and media would you choose? Explain your answers as best you can, given the limited information provided.

Source: Excerpted from Eduardo Salas and Janice A. Cannon-Bowers, “Design Training Systematically,” in Edwin A. Locke (ed.), Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2000).

First Day on the Job Discussion

Please read the case and answer the questions at the end. Please respond to two of your peers. Do you agree or disagree?

Malik's first day as a new manager ended up more challenging than he expected. While having to adjust to a new workplace and new colleagues, he had an interesting management challenge thrown at him. Toward the end of the day, one of his employees came to him, looking frustrated and exhausted. Malik had heard that this employee was going to be one of his best, a high-potential employee who would be a great asset. On this day, the employee did not look to be an asset to anyone.

Without providing much history or detail, this employee explained to Malik that she is planning to quit her job. She is exhausted and frustrated, she explains because the work seems to be at once too much and too little. She feels overworked, but at the same time, she does not feel any excitement about her work. She doesn't feel she is being challenged to learn skills that will help her to reach the ultimate goal of owning her own business.

Unfortunately, Malik has to leave for the day before you can get more information. What should he do? Answer these questions, and formulate a plan of action.

Questions:

1. What might be the factors that are causing this employee's dissatisfaction?
2. Which of these factors could be addressed with improvements in the way the organization handles development as described in this chapter?
3. What should Malik do tomorrow with regard to this employee?
4. What long-term changes should Malik suggest for this organization, if it appears that this employee is not the only one with these complaints?

1. a) why is it important to plan communications on any project?

b) Why is it important that stakeholders validate documented requirements?

What's Tesla's Ansoff Matrix for growth strategies?

Best Buy Co Inc. headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota is a multinational American retailer of Consumer Electronics Corporation. It also retails home office products, entertainment products, appliances and its related services . They operate under different names through their call centers, retail stores and online retail operations e.g. Best Buy (Bestbuy.com, Bestbuy.ca, Bestbuy.co.uk, BestBuyMobile.com etc). In addition to this, it also operates under the names of Carphone Warehouse (CarphoneWarehouse.com), Five Star (Five-Star.cn), Future Shop (FutureShop.ca), Geek Squad, Pacific sales, the Phone House (PhoneHouse.com), Napster (Napster.com), and Magnolia Audio Video. Best buy operates in two segments; first comes the domestic segment and the other is the international segment .

The domestic segment as of FY 2011 operates in all the states districts and territories under various brand names, which are not confined to the ones that are mentioned above. Whereas, the international segment operates in Canada (Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, Cell Shop, Connect Pro, Future Shop and Greek Squad), Europe (Best Buy, The Carphone Warehouse, The Phone House and the Greek Squad), China (Best Buy, Greek Squad, Five Star), Mexico (Best Buy and Greek Squad) and Turkey (Best Buy and Greek Squad).

At present the operations under the domestic segment are carried by store brand name and district managers, which are overseen by the retail field officer. The manager and the officers meet regularly to discuss issues on how to manage process efficiencies. This has helped them in corporate retail management, by setting up standard procedures that has been adjusted according to local consumer demands. Moreover, the international operations are each carried in a different manner so as to facilitate consumers . For example, the European market is controlled through a corporate retail management program, which looks into the issues of advertising, inventory management, purchasing and price setting. The Canadian market uses a standardized operating system that employs an operating model, which is imitated from the U.S Best Buy Mobile stores (COMMISSION, 2011). The Chinese market operations are in practice to support Five Star and Best Buy; these are the two brands that are operating there. And lastly, the U.K, Mexican and Turkish markets operate on the U.S model of Best Buy Stores .

As the market is being strongly challenged by foreign and online operators using, how can best buy use concepts of LSS to ensure sustainability.

A hospital aims at providing patient-centered quality healthcare that is accessible and seamless, comprehensive, appropriate, and cost-effective. How can Lean Six Sigma help them achieve this objective.

1.In Canada and the United States, the use of technology for training has fallen below projections; in fact, the adoption of training technologies has been relatively slow and most training still takes place in the classroom. What are some of the reasons for this, and what are the potential barriers to the adoption of training technologies?

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?

A hospital aims at providing patient-centered quality healthcare that is accessible and seamless, comprehensive, appropriate, and cost effective. How can Lean Six Sigma help them achieve this objective

what are the three most common ways to deliver oral presentations

Hi, can you answer this question in more detail?

Subject: Quality Management and Practices

Task 1 - Prepare a Project Definition (approximately 500 - 1000 words). This is the “who, why, and what” part of the project. It defines all major aspects of the project and forms the basis for its planning and management:

Topic: Western restaurant

1. What are first-mover advantages? Discuss these advantages.

2.  Explain the idea of a turnkey project. Why should a firm use this arrangement to expand internationally? In what industries are turnkey arrangements most common?

Reflect on the recent coronavirus crisis and its potential effect on foreign companies with manufacturing facilities, retail outlets, or offices in China. What ethical responsibility do companies have to their employees and customers in China? What is the responsibility of companies to other stakeholders such as investors or workers in other countries?

In share economy there are ethical challenges to be considered. List one challenge and apply deontology or teleology to explain how these might be overcome.

The daily requirements for patrol officers are: Monday:4 officers Tuesday:5 officers Wednesday:6 officers Thursday:7 Officer Friday:10 Officers Saturday:9 officers Sunday:9 officers Question: Each officer works 5 days a week and must have 2 consecutive days off. You are scheduling officers to work the appropriate days of the week. The second officer you schedule is to work which days of the week?

Bronner’s Christmas Store is one of the largest in America. Bronner’s currently has one store located in Frankenmuth, Michigan. Bronner’s has decided to open up a second store in Heidelberg, Germany. Reflecting on each chapter in our textbook, respond to each of the following questions as though you were hired to be a consultant to Bronner’s.

What will be your staffing policy in Germany?