XYZ Federal Agency has multiple locations in different parts of the United States. It is going to start a BPM project for its Office of Human Resource (OHR/HR) functions.
The Human Resource system is currently on a thirty-year old mainframe that is shared by another large user. The other user of the mainframe is in the process of redesigning to another platform. That will leave the huge cost of the legacy system to be paid by the HR function.
A cost-benefit analysis was completed that determined it was not cost efficient for the HR function to pay for the entire mainframe. It will cost them the same amount of money to move to a different platform that is more agile, and can provide more reliable real-time metrics for managers to make decisions.
Here is some background information you need to better understand the hiring and onboarding processes in OHR:
? Executives are complaining about the length of time it takes to fill positions when an employee leaves, however, reliable metrics are not available to determine where the delays are occurring. It is probable that there is joint responsibility for the delays. On average it takes 4 months to fill a position.
? In some instances, employees do not have provisions such as computers, passwords, and identification badges when they begin work.
? Applications are accepted either electronically or through the mail. Sometimes the same application comes in through both channels.
? On an annual basis the finance office is given approval for a certain fill level (head count of employees) for each functional area of the agency. This targeted fill level does change unless there is a budget cut, or unless a division reaches its target and has extenuating circumstances allowing them to exceed their target. OHR accomplishes filling above the target by“borrowing” an unfilled position from a different unit.
The process
There are multiple steps required to hire and onboard an employee.
The hiring manager in the functional area must request replacement staff after a current employee gives his two week notice. The position cannot be filled by two employees at the same time. Once the hiring manager requests the staff, the head of the functional area must sign off on the request. The request must include the current job duties, and set up interview questions. The hiring manager must show how he/she is going to score the interviews prior to having the request approved.
Once they place the request, finance reviews and approves the request based on the targeted fill level for that functional area by checking the current number of employees plus outstanding fill requests and comparing it to the
target at the time of the request. They currently keep track of this information in a spreadsheet.
Once finance approves the request, OHR must approve the request for control purposes. They check the information about the position to make sure it agrees with the current job duties.
Once all of the approvals are received they can recruit for the position by posting it for a minimum of 2 weeks. This is a civil service requirement for the federal positions at this agency. They are unable to hire prior to the end of the posting period.
Once the posting period is complete, OHR staff review the candidates’resumes and other supporting documentation to verify they meet the qualifications of the job.
The list of verified candidates is provided to the hiring manager so they may contact the candidate for interviews. The hiring manager must choose a minimum of 3 candidates to interview.
Interviews are held using previously-created criteria for scoring. Once a selection is made, candidates are nominated, and OHR reviews the nomination to ensure that all of the hiring documents are in order. They also run a background check to determine if they misrepresented themselves on their application.
If OHR approves the nomination, the hiring manager can call and offer the position.
The position may be declined, in which case, the hiring manager can choose his second choice or start the process over.
If the position is accepted, an email is sent to Information Technology Assistance for a laptop request and system passwords. Another email is sent to the Office Services Department to request an employee identification badge. For the purposes of this assignment, you may assume that all offered positions are accepted.
The employee is required to complete information on his first day of work related to employee benefits and mandatory tax forms. An orientation session is held where the employee must complete the forms.
Question:
Propose a set of changes in the process. For each change, you should provide:
? A brief description of the process change
? Which issue(s) are being addressed by the proposed change
? How feasible is this change? In other words, how likely it is that the change can be implemented in a way that the benefits of the change exceed the costs in the medium-term (six months to one year timeframe). If the change requires an upfront investment, describe what investment is needed and how likely it is that this investment is justified given the impact of the issue that is being addressed.
In: Operations Management
The charts show results of studies on four-year colleges in the United States. You want to portray your college in a positive light for an advertising campaign designed to attract high school students. You decide to use hypothesis tests to show that your college is better than the average in certain aspects. EXERCISES
1. What Would You Test? What claims could you test if you wanted to convince a student to come to your college? Suppose the student you are trying to convince is mainly concerned with (a) affordability, (b) having a good experience, and (c) graduating and starting a career. List one claim for each case. State the null and alternative hypotheses for each claim.
2. Choosing a Random Sample Classmates suggest conducting the following sampling techniques to test various claims. Determine whether the sample will be random. If not, suggest an alternative. (a) Survey all the students you have class with and ask about the average time they spend daily on different activities. (b) Randomly select former students from a list of recent graduates and ask whether they are employed. (c) Randomly select students from a directory, ask how much debt money they borrowed to pay for college this year, and multiply by four.
3. Supporting a Claim You want your test to support a positive claim about your college, not just fail to reject one. Should you state your claim so that the null hypothesis contains the claim or the alternate hypothesis contains the claim? Explain.
4. Testing a Claim You want to claim that students at your college graduate with an average debt of less than $25,000. A random sample of 40 recent graduates has a mean amount borrowed of $23,475 and a standard deviation of $8000. At a = 0.05, is there enough evidence to support your claim?
5. Testing a Claim You want to claim that your college has a freshmen retention rate of at least 80%. You take a random sample of 60 of last year’s freshmen and find that 54 of them still attend your college. At a = 0.05, is there enough evidence to reject your claim?
6. Conclusion Test one of the claims you listed in Exercise 1 and interpret the results. Discuss any limits of your sampling process.
College Success
Freshman retention rate
73.9%
4-year graduation rate 5-year graduation rate
39.8%
5-year graduation rate
55.3%
6-year graduation rate
59.6%
Recent graduate employment rate
94.4%
_______________________________________x
0 20 40 60 80 100
College Cost
Annual tuition, public, In-state
$9130
Annual tuition, public, Out-of-state
$21,303
Annual tuition, private
$33,635
Amount borrowed
$29,411
Need-based scholarship or grants
$14,719
________________________________________x
0 10,000 20,000 30,000
Amount
Student Daily Life
Sleeping
8.8
Leisure and sports
4.0
Educational Activities
3.5
Working
2.3
Traveling
1.4
Dining
1.0
Other
3.0
_____________________________________x
0 2 4 6 8 10
Average (in hours)
In: Statistics and Probability
Viet Catfish Case
Sixteen years after the end of the
Vietnam war, the United States and
Vietnam signed a free trade agreement.
In December 2001, Vietnam
agreed to lower import tariffs and
restrictions on U.S. investments in
that nation. In return, the U.S.
agreed to dismantle discriminatory
trade barriers on Vietnamese
exports.
The trade pact was an instant
success. Vietnamese exports to
the U.S. more than doubled in the
first year after the trade pact was
signed, led by exports of textiles,
seafood, shoes, furniture, and
commodities. U.S. investments
in Vietnam also surged.
Catfish farmers in the
Mississippi Delta weren’t happy
about this surge in Viet-U.S. trade.
In fact, they were downright angr y.
For well over a decade, catfish
farmers in Mississippi, Arkansas,
and Louisiana had been struggling
to preserve their profits. As
reported in Chapter 23 of The
Economy Today (Chapter 8 in
The Micro Economy Today) low
entry barriers kept persistent
pressure on prices and profits.
The early entrepreneurs in the
industry had to contend with a
stream of cotton farmers who
sought higher returns in catfish
farming. Despite an impressive
rise in market demand, prices
and profits stayed low as the
industry expanded.
Surging Imports
The Viet-U.S. pact intensified competitive
pressures on Delta catfish
farmers. In 1998, only 575,000
pounds of Vietnamese catfish were
imported into the United States,
mostly in the form of frozen fillets.
Viet imports surged to 20 million
pounds in 2001 and jumped again
to 34 million pounds last year.
That was more competition than
domestic catfish farmers could
bear. The price of frozen fillets fell
by 15 percent in 2001, to a low of
62 cents a pound. Prices kept
falling in 2002, hitting a low of 53
cents a pound at years end. With
average production costs of 65
cents a pound, U.S. catfish farmers
were incurring substantial economic
losses. Suddenly, cotton farming
started looking better again.
Comparative Advantage
Shifting domestic resources from
catfish farming back to cotton
farming is consistent with the
principle of comparative advantage.
Most farm-raised U.S. catfish
are grown in clay-lined ponds filled
with purified waters from underground
wells. The fish are fed
pellets containing soybeans and
corn and are subject to regular
USDA health inspections.
Vietnamese catfish, by contrast,
are grown in giant holding pens
suspended under the free-flowing
Mekong river and other waterways.
The Vietnamese production process is
much less expensive, giving Vietnam’s
catfish farmers an absolute advantage
over U.S. farmers. Given the relatively
high costs of cotton farming in
Vietnam, the Vietnamese also have
a decided comparative advantage in
catfish farming. Because of this, both
the U.S. and Vietnam could enjoy
more output if the U.S. specialized
in cotton farming and Vietnam
specialized in catfish farming. That
is exactly the kind of resource
reallocation the surging Vietnamese
catfish exports was causing.
Trade Resistance
The 13,000 workers in the U.S.
catfish industry don’t want to hear
about comparative advantage.
They simply want to keep their jobs.
And their employers want to regain
economic profits. They aren’t willing
to sacrifice their own well-being for
the sake of cheaper fish and so-called
gains from trade.
Economic theory may not be on
the side of the domestic catfish
industry, but U.S. politicians
certainly are. At the urging of Trent
Lott, the Senate majority leader
from Mississippi, the U.S. Congress
decided that of the 2,000 or so
varieties of catfish, only the North
American channel variety of catfish
could be labeled as “catfish.”
Vietnamese catfish had to be labeled
as “basa” or “tra,” as in
the Vietnamese language.
To further discourage consumption
of imports, the Catfish Farmers of
America, an industry lobbying group,
ran advertisements warning American
consumers that “basa” and “tra” “float
a round in Third World rivers nibbling on
who knows what.” Arkansas
C o n g ressman Marion Berry warned that
Viet fish might even be contaminated by
Agent orange-- a defoliant sprayed over
the Vietnamese countryside by U.S.
f o rces during the Vietnam war. None of
these nontariff barriers halted the influx
of Viet catfish however.
Dumping Charges
U.S. catfish farmers decided to mount
a more direct attack on Viet catfish. The
Catfish Farmers of America filed a complaint
with the U.S. Department of
C o m m e rce, charging Vietnam of “dumping”
catfish on U.S. markets. Dumping
occurs when foreign producers sell their
p roducts abroad for less than the costs
of producing them or less than prices
in their own market.
On its face, the complaint seemed to
have no merit. Export prices were no
lower than domestic prices in Vi e t n a m .
Plus, Vietnamese farmers were evidently
e a rning economic profits. Hence, neither
form of dumping seemed plausible.
The Department of Commerce found a
loophole to resolve this contradiction.
C o m m e rce officials decided that
Vietnam was still not a “market econom
y.” As a “nonmarket economy” its
prices could not be regarded as re l i a b l e
indices of underlying costs. Instead, the
U.S. Department of Commerce would
have to independently assess the “true ”
costs of Vietnamese catfish production.
To determine the “true” costs of
Vietnamese catfish farming, U.S.
investigators went to Bangladesh!
Bangladesh is widely regarded as a
market economy, with a level of
development similar to Vi e t n a m ’s.
So Bangladesh prices were assigned
to Vietnamese farmers. With no fully
integrated firms and fewer natural
resource advantages, Bangladesh
ended up with hypothetical costs in
excess of Vietnamese prices. With this
“evidence” in hand, the Commerce
Department concluded in January 2003
that Vietnamese catfish were indeed
being dumped on U.S. markets.
Anti-Dumping Duties
To “level the playing field,” the
U.S. Commerce Department leveled
temporary import duties (tariffs) of
37-64 percent. Importers of Viet
catfish had to deposit these duties
into an escrow account until the
U.S. International Trade Commission
(ITC) reviewed the case. The ITC
must not only affirm the practice of
dumping, but must also determine
that U.S. catfish farmers have been
materially damaged by such unfair
foreign competition. If the ITC so
rules, then the duties become
permanent and payable. If the ITC
rejects the dumping or damage
charges, the duties are rescinded
and the escrowed payments are
refunded. The odds are never
good for foreign producers: The
Commerce department ruled in
favor of domestic producers 91
percent of the time and the ITC
concurred 80 percent of the time.
The catfish case was similarly
decided: on July 23 of this year
the ITC unanimously ruled that
Viet catfish had injured U.S.
catfish farmers. The temporary
duties of 37-64 percent were
made permanent and retroactive
to January.
With your knowledge of comparative advantage and international trade – explain who were the winners and losers and why in this Catfish Case? Use economic terms and concepts to expain and support your answer. (5 points)
In: Operations Management
A 20 year old student returned to the United States after a three month stay in Guatemala. She had visitied rural villages during her stay. She had lost weight, complained of fever, shortness of breath and had upper and lower eyelid edema in her right eye. She had hepatosplenomegaly with lymphadenopathy. EKG tracings revealed abnormal P, T and QRS peaks and an enlarged heart. Thick and thin Giemsa blood stains showed a flagellated parasite shown in the figure. 1) What is the name of this patient's illness? What is the parasite causing the infection (Genus and species)? 2) How did the patient acquire this infection? 3) What is the name given to the lesion that may develop at the site of innoculation of the parasite? 4) What is the name given to the unilateral edema of the eye seen in this patient? 5) What other complications could occur in this patient?
In: Biology
A recent debate about where in the United States skiers believe the
skiing is best prompted the following survey. Test to see if the
best ski area is independent of the level of the skier. (Use a
significance level of 0.05.)
| U.S. Ski Area | Beginner | Intermediate | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tahoe | 20 | 28 | 39 |
| Utah | 11 | 29 | 62 |
| Colorado | 11 | 41 | 52 |
Part (a)
State the null hypothesis.Ski area is dependent on the level of the skier.Ski area is independent of the level of the skier.
Part (b)
State the alternative hypothesis.Ski area is independent of the level of the skier.Ski area is dependent on the level of the skier.
Part (c)
What are the degrees of freedom? (Enter an exact number as an
integer, fraction, or decimal.)
(No Response)
Part (d)
State the distribution to use for the test.χ22
t4
χ24
t2
Part (e)
What is the test statistic? (Round your answer to two decimal
places.)
(No Response)
Part (f)
What is the p-value? (Round your answer to four decimal places.)If H0 is false, then there is a chance equal to the p-value that the value of the test statistic will be equal to or less than the calculated value.If H0 is false, then there is a chance equal to the p-value that the value of the test statistic will be equal to or greater than the calculated value. If H0 is true, then there is a chance equal to the p-value that the value of the test statistic will be equal to or less than the calculated value.If H0 is true, then there is a chance equal to the p-value that the value of the test statistic will be equal to or greater than the calculated value.
Part (g)
Sketch a picture of this situation. Label and scale the horizontal axis, and shade the region(s) corresponding to the p-value.Part (h)
Indicate the correct decision ("reject" or "do not reject" the null hypothesis) and write the appropriate conclusion.(i) Alpha:reject the null hypothesisdo not reject the null hypothesis
Since α < p-value, we do not reject the null hypothesis.Since α > p-value, we reject the null hypothesis. Since α > p-value, we do not reject the null hypothesis.Since α < p-value, we reject the null hypothesis.
The best ski area and level of skier are independent.The best ski area and level of skier are not independent.
In: Statistics and Probability
|
Relaxation |
Pharmaceutical |
|
98 |
20 |
|
117 |
35 |
|
51 |
130 |
|
28 |
83 |
|
65 |
157 |
|
107 |
138 |
|
88 |
49 |
|
90 |
142 |
|
105 |
157 |
|
73 |
39 |
|
44 |
46 |
|
53 |
194 |
|
20 |
94 |
|
50 |
95 |
|
92 |
161 |
|
112 |
154 |
|
71 |
75 |
|
96 |
57 |
|
86 |
34 |
|
92 |
118 |
|
75 |
41 |
|
41 |
145 |
|
102 |
148 |
|
24 |
117 |
|
96 |
177 |
|
108 |
119 |
|
102 |
186 |
|
35 |
22 |
|
46 |
61 |
|
74 |
75 |
In: Statistics and Probability
Refer to the following information on full-term births in the United States over a given period of time.
| Type of Birth | Number of Births |
| Single birth | 45,500,000 |
| Twins | 200,000 |
| Triplets | 2000 |
| Quadruplets | 150 |
Use this information to estimate the probabilities of the following events.
(a) A randomly selected pregnant woman who reaches full term delivers twins. (Give the answer to three significant figures.)
(c) A randomly selected pregnant woman who reaches full term gives birth to more than a single child. (Give the answer to three significant figures.)
In: Statistics and Probability
What is one of the major economic problems facing the United States today? Explain at least one instance of how this was a problem in the past, drawing on the past semester and the past three centuries of US economic history that we’ve studied. Although we have focused on many of the problems the US has faced and continues to face, we have also discussed several of its major successes. Pick one of these successes and discuss its economic effects.
In: Economics
Data from n = 113 hospitals in the United States are used to assess factors related to the likelihood that a hospital patients acquires an infection while hospitalized. The variables here are y = infection risk, x1 = average length of patient stay, x2 = average patient age, x3 = measure of how many x-rays are given in the hospital. The Minitab output is as follows:
Regression Analysis: InfctRsk versus Stay, Age, Xray
Analysis of Variance
|
Source |
DF |
Adj SS |
Adj MS |
F-Value |
P-Value |
|
Regression |
3 |
73.099 |
24.366 |
20.70 |
0.000 |
|
Stay |
1 |
31.684 |
31.684 |
26.92 |
0.000 |
|
Age |
1 |
1.126 |
1.126 |
0.96 |
0.330 |
|
Xray |
1 |
13.719 |
13.719 |
11.66 |
0.001 |
|
Error |
109 |
128.281 |
1.177 |
||
|
Total |
112 |
201.380 |
Model Summary
|
S |
R-sq |
R-sq(adj) |
R-sq(pred) |
|
1.08484 |
36.30% |
34.55% |
30.64% |
Coefficients
|
Term |
Coef |
SE Coef |
T-Value |
P-Value |
VIF |
|
Constant |
1.00 |
1.31 |
0.76 |
0.448 |
|
|
Stay |
0.3082 |
0.0594 |
5.19 |
0.000 |
1.23 |
|
Age |
-0.0230 |
0.0235 |
-0.98 |
0.330 |
1.05 |
|
Xray |
0.01966 |
0.00576 |
3.41 |
0.001 |
1.18 |
Regression Equation
|
InfctRsk |
= |
1.00 + 0.3082 Stay - 0.0230 Age + 0.01966 Xray |
In: Statistics and Probability
1. Since the end of the Civil War, real GDP per capita in the
United States has grown at roughly
2 percent per year. Some scholars argue that the true standard of
living for Americans has
increased faster than 2 percent per year, while others believe that
standards of living have
increased more slowly than 2 percent per year. What types of
arguments are used to justify
a higher or lower rate in the increase in the standard of living
than that indicated by real
GDP per capita? Where do you stand on this issue, and why?
In: Economics