CASE STUDY - Western Power
In response to the steady growth in southern California, Western Power decided to build an innovative $ 1 billion power plant near San Diego, as this new plant will not only generate high levels of clean electrical energy using new technology, but rather the energy generated by some cities will suffice. Nearby, enough energy could also be generated to sell to other utility companies in the rest of southern California and parts of neighboring states.
Therefore, the executive management of Western Power was keen to complete the project as soon as possible due to the large returns expected from these additional sales.
Nevertheless, as soon as news of the proposed power plant construction began to spread, the company found great opposition, especially from residents near the construction site of that station. Once construction began, many proceeded to institute several lawsuits in an attempt to halt construction, and the "Western Power" was only adopting an intensive campaign to build public relations through which the local population could be persuaded of the benefits of this project.
After several months of delay, work on the project continued and the marketing department of the company began contacting other public utility companies so that contracts could be signed to sell energy to them. Then it became clear that the returns resulting from electricity sales would not be as large as expected, and therefore the administration asked Rob Hedge, the project manager, to find ways to reduce the construction budget so that the expected level of profitability from that new plant could be maintained.
Unfortunately, Rob was unable to find different ways in which to reduce construction costs due to the presence of strict regulations from environmental protection organizations and many other government agencies regarding the foundations of building power plants, so he was only asked by architects and designers to suggest some changes in designs Through which construction costs can be reduced, the designers made a number of suggestions that would reduce costs significantly, but unfortunately construction engineers were unable to make the proposed changes due to the advanced technology used to generate power at that plant. In spite of this, they finally agreed to make some changes, which were implemented immediately. Rob called on architects and construction engineers to be present on the construction site permanently so that other ways to adjust design can be sought to reduce costs.
After one year of a five-year project, the head of the construction company requested an urgent meeting with the head of the "Western Power" company, where he complained about the numerous design changes that caused severe confusion to the workers as well as overtime. He explained that the building engineers make changes during construction on the site without informing the design engineers so that they can update the plans. Also, construction managers are often unaware of these changes, which means that some tasks were sometimes done in error. In addition, design engineers have made some inappropriate design changes without consulting construction engineers, causing them to be re-worked more than once.
Also, after extensive investigations, the Western Power administration received notifications from government oversight agencies that two essential parts of the first phase of the project did not meet government standards and had to be rebuilt. When the administration also learned that the project was six months behind schedule, and there was an additional 10% cost to the budget, it fired the project manager.
If you are appointed as a new project manager. What actions will you take to better address problems and control this project?
In: Operations Management
You are a manager at Marée Rouge Cosmetics International for five years now. When you first began at Marée Rouge, there was a marked lack of communication between the product development and marketing departments, and a good bit of distrust or actual hostility between members of these departments. Why these problems existed was not clear, and often even people in long-standing feuds seemed to have forgotten the original causes of these disputes. While these conflicts did not prohibit professional working relationships, it was obvious that they were hurting the overall operational effectiveness of two departments that needed to work closely together. About three years ago, Marée Rouge leased a new building and was able to house the two departments on the same floor while also giving all areas greater office space. (In the old building, the departments had been housed on separate floors.) Largely due to the greater physical interactions between the departments, you have seen a marked improvement in the communications and work relationships between departmental members. Now there is a strong working relationship between the two areas, and this relationship has lead to faster product development and deployment as well as the initiation of several innovative (and strong selling) new products. However, partly due to this improved firm performance and revenues, Marée Rouge has increased its workforce and needs to find new office space. Currently, the company is looking at a small office park location where each of the major areas can be housed in separate facilities. The office park is beautiful, is located more centrally to most workers’ homes, will be far more comfortable than the existing location, and provides easy access to major suppliers and customers. However, you worry that physically separating the two divisions will destroy their current strong working relationship and may even lead to the same problems that existed before between the divisions. While you know that the move has already been decided on by top management, you feel sure that they will be willing to listen to well thought out suggestions for maintaining the good relationship between the divisions. In order to develop such relationships, you have asked some of your colleagues to help you draft an overview of the situation and suggested methods for avoiding problems. Instructions: Develop a presentation to detail your desired goals for the move, what potential problems you see the new physical location creating, and suggestions for preventing (or reducing) these potential problems. Use all appropriate chapter concepts in developing this presentation. Also, due to the nature of the link between organizational design and organizational behavior, you should draw upon appropriate concepts from other chapters for your answer as well. Questions: What new links did you see between organizational design and organizational behavior? What organizational behavior principles could be used to overcome problems with a given organizational design? What organizational design principles could be used to improve organizational behavior problems? Could communication technology be used to help overcome the expected organizational design problems? Why or why not?
In: Operations Management
COURSE: COMMERCIAL LAW
In your answer, please refer to judicial approaches to statutory interpretation, intrinsic and extrinsic aids for interpretation, and any relevant maxims of interpretation.
After a series of fights at children’s weekend sports games Parliament passed the Safety in Sports Act 2012. The Minister of Sport and Recreation during the Safety in Sports Bill’s first reading stated that:
“This Bill will protect players, spectators and officials who attend sporting matches. Some spectators, in particular parents, have got carried away at sports games and fights have broken out. If spectators and players bring weapons to games the risk is that serious injury and even death may occur if weapons are used during fights. Even the sight of such weapons can be intimidating or lead to the escalation of tensions at a sports match. I am determined to ensure sports matches are safe for everyone. ”
Section 5 of the Safety in Sports Act states that:
The purpose of this Act is to protect players, officials and spectators by preventing people from bringing dangerous weapons to sports games.
Section 2 provides that:
“Sports event” means a game of organised sport run by a sports organisation.
“Weapon” includes a knife, gun, baseball bat or any other weapon.
Section 10 states that:
“It is an offence for any person to be in possession of a weapon at any sports event and is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.”
Section 11 states that,
“Searches under this Act may be conducted by a member of the New Zealand Police Force or an official of a sports organisation.”
Max is 16 years old. On 1 June 2012 he brought a replica plastic pistol to his Saturday morning soccer game for the Tohunga Football Club (TFC) at Grey Lynn Park. It was a birthday present from his uncle and he wanted to show it off to his friends. The pistol looked real, but it was made of plastic and could not harm anyone.
Max showed the pistol to his team mates before the game and then put it in his sports bag which his mother, Mary, held during the game. During the game the president and a member of the organising committee of the TFC conducted a search of the spectators. The pistol was found and confiscated.
Mary was charged with breaching s10 of the Safety in Sports Act 2012.
Max was expelled from the TFC for breaching s10 of the Safety in Sports Act 2012.
Steve is also at Grey Lynn Park at the same time having a casual game of touch rugby with a few friends.
They were playing 300 metres away from the Tohunga soccer match. Steve had a hammer in a backpack
which was on the ground next to where he was playing.
Steve was a builder and was going to work straight after the game. Steve never left his tools in his car as he
had had tools stolen from his car on a number of occasions.
Steve’s bag was searched by an employee of Blackwater, a security company employed by the TFC and the
hammer was discovered. Steve was charged with breaching s10 of the Safety in Sports Act 2012.
Required:
Advise whether Mary, Max and Steve have breached the Safety in Sports Act 2012?
In: Operations Management
Case 10.1
"Pauline McKee, an 87-year-old grandmother, was attending a family reunion at the Isle Casino Hotel Waterloo, a combination hotel and casino. One evening she and several members of her family gambled at the casino. McKee was playing a penny slot machine called “Miss Kitty.” A person wins at the Miss Kitty game by lining up different combinations of symbols from left to right on the slot machine screen. The game includes a button entitled “Touch Game Rules” in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. Tapping this button displays the rules that govern the game and a chart describing potential winning combinations of symbols. These rules do not mention any additional bonus, jackpot, or prize available to a person playing the Miss Kitty game. The rules state “MALFUNCTION VOIDS ALL PAYS AND PLAYS.” A sign posted on the front of the machine reiterates “MALFUNCTION VOIDS ALL PAYS AND PLAYS.” McKee did not read the rules before she played the slot machine.
While playing the game, McKee won $1.85 based on how the symbols had lined up on the slot machine screen. However, at the same time a message appeared on the screen stating “Bonus Award $41797550.16.” The casino paid McKee $1.85 but refused to pay the alleged bonus, claiming it was an error and not part of the game. McKee sued the casino in district court to recover $41,797,550.16. The casino introduced evidence that the appearance of the bonus on the screen was an error in the computer system of the game. The casino made a motion for summary judgment, which was opposed by McKee. The district court held that the rules of the Miss Kitty game were an express contract between McKee and the casino. The court granted summary judgment to the casino. McKee appealed.
Issue
Was there a contract between the parties that provided for the payment of a bonus when playing the Miss Kitty slot machine?
Language of the Court
Gambling contracts are governed by traditional contract principles. We agree with the district court that the Miss Kitty rules of the game are the relevant contract here and that they form an express contract. Further, it is undisputed the rules of the Miss Kitty game did not provide for any kind of bonus. Hence, in our view, McKee had no contractual right to a bonus. Nor is it relevant that McKee failed to read the rules of the game before playing it. It is sufficient that those rules were readily accessible to her and she had an opportunity to read them. On the play in question, the alignment of the reels entitled McKee to a prize of $1.85, and the casino paid it to her, fulfilling its side of the contract.
Decision
The Supreme Court of Iowa affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the casino."
Read Case 10.1 in your text.
A) Do you think the Court ruled correctly? Why or why not?
B) What does the term "a contract is a contract is a contract" mean and how does it relate to this case?
C) Identify two (2) other examples when people may not read rules or provisions of service that may affect them if there is a problem.
D) Pick an ethical principle that the casino followed by not paying the bonus.
In: Operations Management
IN LINUX/UNIX
1. Based on the example “awkc7” introduced in the handouts, please write an awk script to display the first six records in “loginfile.” Please test your script to make sure the script displays the following information:
ics325sp200221 pts/6 75.168.197.229 Wed Apr 29 22:09 - 23:27 (01:17)
ics325sp200221 pts/10 75.168.197.229 Wed Apr 29 22:04 - 22:07 (00:02)
ics325sp200220 pts/10 24.118.187.116 Wed Apr 29 15:28 - 15:30 (00:02)
ics325sp200220 pts/10 24.118.187.116 Wed Apr 29 15:22 - 15:23 (00:00)
ics325sp200222 pts/11 68.47.45.2 Wed Apr 29 14:54 - 22:34 (07:39)
ics325sp200220 pts/10 24.118.187.116 Wed Apr 29 14:52 - 15:08 (00:15)
2. How to modify “awkc7” so that we can display the last three records in “loginfile?” (you can assume that we have only 7 records in “loginfile”). Please test your script so that it displays the following information:
ics325sp200222 pts/11 68.47.45.2 Wed Apr 29 14:54 - 22:34 (07:39)
ics325sp200220 pts/10 24.118.187.116 Wed Apr 29 14:52 - 15:08 (00:15)
ics325sp200221 pts/8 75.168.197.229 Wed Apr 29 14:03 - 22:10 (08:07)
3. Based on the example “awkc7” introduced in the handouts, please write an awk script to display the records from the third to fifth in “loginfile.” Please test your script to make sure the script displays the following information:
ics325sp200220 pts/10 24.118.187.116 Wed Apr 29 15:28 - 15:30 (00:02)
ics325sp200220 pts/10 24.118.187.116 Wed Apr 29 15:22 - 15:23 (00:00)
ics325sp200222 pts/11 68.47.45.2 Wed Apr 29 14:54 - 22:34 (07:39)
4. As we know, the command “df –h” will return the following message:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on udev 3.9G 4.0K 3.9G 1% /dev tmpfs 799M 800K 798M 1% /run /dev/dm-0 97G 44G 48G 48% / none 4.0K 0 4.0K 0% /sys/fs/cgroup none 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock none 3.9G 0 3.9G 0% /run/shm none 100M 0 100M 0% /run/user
/dev/sda1 236M 40M 184M 18% /boot
Please write an awk command to parse the output of “df –h” so that the following information is displayed: (hint: study “awkc8” in the handout and “example 7” in lab 7)
Total Used Disk Space: 44G
5. Based on the examples “awkc8” and “awkc88,” write an awk script called “awkc888” that takes two input values and output the larger one as shown below:
$ ./awkc888 100 40
100
$
$ ./awkc888 100 240
240
$
In: Computer Science
QUESTION 1
Diandra Bhd is a manufacturer and supplier of men and women apparel. It operates in one district in northern area of Kedah. The company closes its account on every 31 December. The company owns a factory and a piece of land on which the factory stands. The land was acquired in 2013 for RM500,000 and the factory was built in early 2014 at a cost of RM950,000.
In recent years, there has been a boom of demand for both men and women apparel which require Diandra Bhd to store enough apparel to meet the demand. Due to that, Diandra Bhd has constructed a new warehouse next to the existing factory. It is expected that the cost of the new warehouse is RM1,000,000. On 28 February 2018, the company paid RM30,000 for the architect fees. In addition, the company paid RM20,000 to city council for the building permit on 5 March 2018. The construction of warehouse began on 8 March 2018 and the following expenditures were occurred during 2018:
Date Expenditure (RM)
1 April 270,000
7 June 280,000
20 July 120,000
1 October 100,000
30 November 30,000
The construction of the warehouse was completed on 31 January 2019. To finance the construction of the warehouse, Diandra Bhd borrowed with Xandra Bank RM450,000 on 1 April 2018 at the interest of 8% per annum. Other loan outstanding by Diandra Bhd are 10 %, RM400,000 bond payable and notes payable of RM300,000 with an interest rate of 12% per annum.
Diandra Bhd adopted revaluation model to account for its factory and used to revalue its factory every three year. The revalued amount of factory for the year ended 2016 was RM550,000. The company also conduct an impairment test every year if there is an indication of impairment. For 2015, the factory fair value less cost to sell is RM600,000 and value in use is RM670,000. The useful life of the factory building is 10 years and Diandra Bhd uses the sum-of-the-years digits method to account for the depreciation.
As an incentive from the government, Diandra Bhd also received RM250,000 grant in 2018 to buy a new sewing machine with modern technology which can boost its apparel production. The new sewing machine cost is RM500,000 with a useful life of 8 years. Due to shortage of power supply caused by lightning in December 2018, the machine broke down and the company spent RM50,000 to repair the machine. The repair involved an installation of a new software that is expected to increase the efficiency of the machine and able to produce more quantity of apparel.
REQUIRED:
(Round your answer to the whole number)
(a) Calculate interest to be capitalised for the construction of the warehouse during 2018 and 2019.
(b) Prepare journal entries to record interest capitalization for 2018 and 2019.
(c) Assume that there was no impairment loss recognised in 2014. Determine the amount of impairment loss for factory for the year ended 2015 (if any) and prepare the relevant journal entry (if any).
(d) Prepare the journal entries to record depreciation and revaluation of factory in 2016.
(e) Briefly explain government grants and discuss the accounting treatment for government grants in accordance with MFRS120 Accounting for Government Grants.
(f) Based on the amount of government grant received by Diandra Bhd, explain the effect of each accounting treatment to company’s financial statement.
(g) Explain the accounting treatment for the repair of sewing machine.
In: Accounting
[The following information applies to the questions
displayed below.]
Cougar Plastics Company has been operating for three years. At
December 31 of last year the accounting records reflected the
following:
| Cash | $ | 22,000 | Accounts payable | $ | 15,000 | |
| Investments (short-term) | 3,000 | Accrued liabilities payable | 4,000 | |||
| Accounts receivable | 3,000 | Notes payable (short-term) | 7,000 | |||
| Inventory | 20,000 | Notes payable (long-term) | 47,000 | |||
| Notes receivable (long-term) | 1,000 | Common stock | 10,000 | |||
| Equipment | 50,000 | Additional paid-in capital | 80,000 | |||
| Factory building | 90,000 | Retained earnings | 31,000 | |||
| Intangibles | 5,000 | |||||
During the current year, the company had the following summarized
activities:
| Required: |
|
1. & 2. |
Post the current year transactions to T-accounts for each of the accounts on the balance sheet. (Two items have been given in the cash T-account as examples). |
4. Prepare a trial balance at December 31 of the current year.
5. Prepare a classified balance sheet at December 31 of the current year.
6.
Compute the current ratio for the current year. (Round your answer to 2 decimal places.)
In: Accounting
Financial Projections & Explaining Uncertainties
When doing a financial projection, it is important to always somehow predict the financial cost of the unknowns and to have details surrounding those unknowns. Although they can be scary and cause worry, having detailed historical data or reason behind the uncertainty can help calm an audience almost immediately. In explaining a financial uncertainty, I would recommend starting with pointing out some positives based on the actual numbers. These positives should be the based off of the forecast that was built and defined. From here I would recommend briefly touching upon the fact that things sometimes don’t go as planned; a hurricane wipes out a town, a massive snow storm wipes the power from the state for multiple days or a competitor suddenly starts taking a portion of your customers. All of these things can’t be predicted and are therefore uncertainties. Giving the audience context around what these uncertainties are helps build a solid foundation of understanding.
From here I recommend that communication on the difference in the uncertainty and the actual financial prediction are discussed in great detail. Everything should be outlined, starting with this was our predicted number, this was our final number and these are the reasons we didn’t get to our actual number. It could be that there was an error in the number of days predicted in the month, it could be that the sale Nordstrom rolled out wasn’t discounted enough to sell more products or simply that the number of people predicted to make a purchase at Nordstrom was over projected. A solid reason around why the prediction versus the actual occurred will calm an audience.
Lastly, the audience wants to hear how this will be mitigated going forward and factored into future predictions. Outlining the detail around the uncertainty allows the predictor to learn and comprehend what actually happened versus what was predicted so that historically they can better predict next time as well as aid in calming the audience.
For Chegg: constructively critique my explanations. Support your initial comment and response with sound reasoning and relevant examples.
In: Finance
Is there a difference between community college statistics students and university statistics students in what technology they use on their homework? Of the randomly selected community college students 67 used a computer, 86 used a calculator with built in statistics functions, and 22 used a table from the textbook. Of the randomly selected university students 40 used a computer, 88 used a calculator with built in statistics functions, and 39 used a table from the textbook. Conduct the appropriate hypothesis test using an αα = 0.01 level of significance.
In: Statistics and Probability
Supplemental Case Chapter 5: Gain Sharing at CircleWorks CircleWorks has been making custom bicycles for biking enthusiasts for nearly fifty years. The family-run company has had much success using small teams of employees to build bicycles to meet customer specifications. The custom built bikes have been in consistent demand and CircleWorks has maintained their position as a leader in the market. But, as a new generation of bike builders enters the workforce, Human Resources Director Sheila Gaines is concerned about employee motivation. She is considering offering incentives to encourage better teamwork, more employee involvement and improved productivity. Introducing incentive pay is a challenge at CircleWorks as it runs contrary to the organizational culture. The family who started the company believed strongly in hard work and traditional management practices and this view dominates the organizational culture. The company President has suggested to Sheila that employees should be motivated only by the satisfaction of getting the job done. Further, company management is somewhat resistant to employee involvement in decisions. While they have always had a suggestion box available, very rarely does management look to employees for input on operations. Advancing technology has allowed many changes in production techniques and management believes that the design engineers are in the best position to guide changes in the work processes. The bikes are built using teams of four to five workers who follow specific directions on building each bike. Because the bike designs are fairly intricate, each bike takes a designated amount of time to build and there is not much variability in the speed of production. However, Sheila has noted that some teams do work together better than others and wants to reward such cooperation. She has considered productivity bonuses awarded to the teams, but has also considered implementing a gain sharing plan. Sheila believes that some incentives directed at all employees as opposed to the individual teams may promote more cooperation overall within the company. Further, as new workers with varied talents enter their workforce, Sheila wants to provide some incentives for the employees to make improvements to the production process. As she prepares to meet with the company President, she must decide if a gain sharing plan is the best recommendation Read the case study and provide a recommendation to assist Human Resources Director Sheila Gaines in deciding whether a gain sharing plan is the best option for CircleWorks. Be sure to follow APA guidelines and write your paper in the proper format
In: Accounting