After the first interview, ABC Telecom could not decide whom to hire as the new project manager. Since Tom did well in his first interview, he was invited back to attend the second interview. He was given the following problem to solve:  The company is bidding for a tender to install and commission a fibre communication network at the new headquarter for AIG Australia Ltd located on Park Street, Sydney. The new headquarter occupies five (5) floors in a 20-storey commercial building and has a combined floor area of 4,000 sq. metres.  As the project manager, Tom is asked by his supervisor to provide an estimate of how long the project might take since the client has requested this information specifically for the kick-off project meeting in a week’s time. Tom’s supervisor told him that what the client wants are probabilities of finishing the project within a specified period of time, such as in four (4) weeks, five (5) weeks, or six (6) weeks’ time, for instance. a) If you were Tom, what would be your approach in calculating these probabilities. To receive full marks, you must describe your approach fully. [10 Marks] b) Below are listed the figures which are needed to come up with the measures that he could report to the client. Project initiation, scoping and planning estimates  6 weeks: 10%  7 weeks: 50%  8 weeks: 40% Project execution, closure and handover estimates  10 weeks: 20%  11 weeks: 40%  12 weeks: 40% For his report to the client, Tom decided to present those measures in a tree diagram that highlighted the estimates. i. Please help Tom draw the tree diagram. [3 Marks] ii. What would be the chance of finishing the project within 16 weeks? 21 weeks? To receive full marks, you must show your steps clearly.

Ramsey Corporation acquired a machine (7-year property) on December 31, 2017, at a cost of $2230000. Ramsey Corproation has a taxable income from its business in 2017 of $1000000 and elects to expense the maximum amount under section 179 but elects out of bonus depreciation for the machine. Compute Ramsey's allowable expensing deduction under Section 179 and MACRS depreciation deduction for the machine for 2017. Assume the machine is the only depreciable personal property acquired by Ramsey Corporation during 2017.

PROBABILITY. Archibald Haddock is arrested in Borduria and has a trial. The jury system in Borduria is somewhat different than ours, where lawyers interview perspective jurors and select 12. In Borduria, the judge calls in 6 professors from the nearby college faculty and 8 idiots from the street. The runner-up in the Miss Borduria beauty pageant randomly picks 6 of these 14 people for the jury. What is the probability that the jury will be 3 professors and 3 idiots? What is the probability that the jury will be 1 professor and 5 idiots? Bonus points. Who is Archibald Haddock? (without Googling his name, honor system) Where is Borduria?

Red Carpet LLC is a national hospitality and entertainment company with headquarters in Philadelphia, PA with national operations in the US. Historically, the company has had 3 divisions: hotels, food service, and cruise lines. However, it recently completed the acquisition of Sparkstar theaters, a movie theater company, that it is slated to become its 4th division. Red Carpet now owns 200 hotels in 48 states, 4 brands of restaurants with 1776 locations, 4 Buoy Bay branded cruise ships, and 300 Sparkstar theaters.

Its matrix organizational structure consists of a central HR, accounting, business development, sales, marketing, and research and development departments located at the headquarters in Philadelphia that serve each division. Each division is located in a different part of the US and lead by a VP that reports to the President and CEO. The company is privately owned by a consortium of investors and investor groups.

Red Carpet has 16,000 employees, 1000 of which work at its corporate headquarters. The organizational culture of the headquarters is informal and organic and there are few policies and processes that guide employee behavior. The company, as a whole, does not value HR so employees struggle with many employee relations and employment law concerns. The company outsources all of its training to one of the investor group companies, however this training is commonly not customized to the needs of Red Carpet.

As a whole, Red Carpet struggles with its business to business partners and suppliers because of its reputation for being nonnegotiable. Red Carpet would rather disrupt the quality and availability of its only products and services rather than partner for the supply chain resources that it needs. Likewise, Red Carpet does not hold many of the General Managers in its hotels, restaurants, and its cruise ships accountable for performance, opting instead for a weaker political strategy of blaming and gotcha games.

Being aware of these challenges, Red Carpet acquired Sparkstar for their strong industry reputation and financial performance in the hopes that merging the structure and culture of Sparkstar into Red Carpet would change the organization for the better. Historically, Red Carpet has been a highly successful company, however in recent years, its mismanagement has created noticeable effectives in product and service quality and its bottom line.

Divisions

Hotels: Red Carpet branded hotels are mid-price semi-luxury hotels known for high quality. Each customer is given a red velvet cupcake upon checking in. Red Carpet relies on its General Managers to micromanage the hotel. Despite its corporate parent owning a restaurant division, no Red Carpet hotels have restaurants. The Red Carpet division headquarters are in Sedona AZ. Many of the hotels are in need of refurbishment.

Food Service: Chicken Heaven is a fast-food chain with a long tradition of quality, large customer base, and 1000 locations. It is a solid overall performer for Red Carpet with high employee satisfaction. Burger Blast is another fast-food chain recently launched to cater to upscale customers who seek customized, gourmet-style burgers. It has 200 locations, however General Managers are struggling with budget and supplies causing a poor customer experience and high employee turnover. Food Park is a buffet-style restaurant with 500 locations that has been recently struggling because of high competition and poor marketing. Delicacy is a high-end restaurant with an urban theme. It has 76 locations, is the oldest of Red Carpet's food service operations, and provides a unique dining experience for customers. However, General Managers have a high turnover at Delicacy because of the grueling schedule. The food service division is located in Burke, ID.

Cruise Ships: Buoy Bay cruise ships offer low-cost, short-term cruises from Port Canaveral, FL only to the US Virgin Islands. Buoy Bay offers customers average quality staterooms and food from Chicken Heaven, Burger Blast, and Food Park. However, it does not offer a non-buffet formal dining option such as Delicacy. Although they are known for their over-the-top entertainment, employee turnover is very high relying primary on seasonal employees who are poorly trained. Buoy Bay has had much controversy. Just 5 years ago, the Buoy Bay cruise ship, Garland of the Sails, hit a reef, partially sank, and had to be salvaged in a 1.5 billion dollar operation. This resulted in a Federal investigation that is still pending. The Buoy Bay division is located in Lapsowanne, OR.

Movie Theaters: Sparkstar theaters were recently purchased from the Vegamega group for 2.3 billion dollars. Sparkstar is the highest rated movie theater chain the US. It has high customer and employee satisfaction, an efficient organizational structure, and solid financial results. Sparkstar's culture is one of high HR involvement including a strong training and development department, Sparkstar Institute. Sparkstar has a customer rewards program that provides a free movie rental of the film that the customer saw in the theater which has been very popular and has increased its strong customer base. Sparkstar has its divisional headquarters in Pasadena, CA.

The Issues

With the purchase of Sparkstar theaters, Red Carpet is hoping to redefine its operations in the next 5 years. It sees opportunities to integrate its divisions, products, and services to better serve its customers and employees. Here is a summary of some of the issues that Red Carpet must address in its strategic plan:

Internal politics and communication
Improved HR and training
Employee relations issues
Federal investigations
Product and service quality
Marketing support
Performance issues
Redefining the organizational structure
Improving its organizational culture
Integrating products and services
Resource and supply chain issues

Your Role

Leroy Banks, the Director of Change management at Red Carpet is seeking an Organization Development Consultant to address Red Carpet's need for change. You've just received a consulting contract from him to help prepare a plan to assist Red Carpet. You're excited about the opportunity and are motivated to work on this project. You know that your insight will assist Red Carpet with managing organizational change.

Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 300-400 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

Additional Information:

The VP of HR reviewed the executive summary and decided that your recommendation was a strong course of action for the change process. In her discussions with Leroy, she mentioned that it would be good to have you participate in a focus group to discuss your experiences with the change process. She was interested in discovering some best practices for change and felt that your experiences would be very valuable to Red Carpet’s approach to change. To guide the discussion, she recommended addressing a few points that should be covered in the focus group. Leroy will gather the results of the focus group and share it with the VP of HR.

Review the Red Carpet scenario for this course and with your classmates; discuss the following questions that will provide insight into your own change experiences:

Describe a successful change initiative from your own experiences and why it worked well.
Describe an unsuccessful change initiative from your own experiences and why it did not achieve its intended objectives.
From your own experiences, summarize the key success factors for change at Red Carpet that you would recommend to Leroy.

3. If you need P15,000 now (April 1, 2020), how much loan should you apply for from a friend who charges 12% simple discount if the loan is payable on July 1, 2020?  

Sally was hired at an annual salary of $60,000 on 1/1/20.   She elected to contribute $2000 to her Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and her employer contributed $500 to the plan. She contributed $5,000 to the company’s 401(k) plan and the company contributed $2500.   In addition, she contributed $100 from her payroll to the local United Way campaign. Compute the amount of her 2020 compensation that is subject to FICA taxes and the amount subject to income taxes.

The following transactions occurred for X Company in May 2020:

What was the net effect of these transactions on May profit?

Your company's CEO is concerned that the large, mature business is falling behind in its level of innovation and organizational learning. He would like to promote increased intrapreneurship and has asked for ideas. Prove two viable suggestions you would give the CEO.

Aftron is a very famous US company producing auto spare parts. They produce parts on large scale
and sells all over the country. Most of the US car manufacturing industries place orders with them
in advance for the various auto parts. For these advance bookings, companies make payments for
the pre booking of delivery of parts. Aftron are known for their efficiency and reliability among
the business communities. One-day news breaks out for the default of Aftron. The news turned
out as a shock for the auto industries. There seems to be multiple reasons for the default. In such
a situation it is hard to blame someone for the failure. Investors are assuming that the financial
statements fail to present the performance of the company. The disclosures are insufficient in
highlighting the key assumptions and judgements made when estimating the fair value of assets.
The management of the company blames the financial team and internal control system. The
financial team are unable to provide realistic calculations to the management and does not follow
the correct practices.
a. In your opinion, what information could be presented by the company to cover up their flaws?
Being an internal control officer, what strategy you would follow to investigate the internally
generated failures?
b. What suggestions would you like to provide to the management to make themselves aware of
the company’s activities in order to save the Aftron from such happenings in the future.