Watson Public Ltd Company is well known for its welfare activities and employee oriented schemes in manufacturing industry from more than ten decade. The company employs more than 800 workers and 150 administrative staff and 80 management level employees. The Top level management views all the employees at same level. This can be clearly understood by seeing the uniform of the company which is Same for all starting from MD to floor level workers. The company has 2 different cafeterias at different places one near the plant for workers and other near the Administration building. Though the place is different but the amenities, infrastructure and the food provided are of same quality. In short the company stands by the rule Employee Equality. The company has one registered trade union and the relationship between the union and the management is very cordial. The company has not lost a single man day due to strike. The company is not a pay master in that industry. The compensation policy of that company, when compared to other similar companies, is very less still the employees don’t have many grievances due to the other benefits provided by the company. But the company is facing countable number of problems in supplying the materials in recent past days. Problems like quality issues, mismatch in packing materials (placing material A in box of material B) incorrect labeling of material, not dispatching the material on time etc… The management views the case as there are loop holes in the system of various departments and hand over the responsibility to Employee relations department to solve the issue. When the Employee Relations manager goes through the issues he realized that the issues are not relating to system but it relates to the employees. When investigated he came to know that the reason behind the casual approach by employees in work is

> The company hired new employees for higher level post without considering the potential internal candidates.           

> The newly hired employees are placed with higher packages than that of existing employees in the same cadre.

Questions; Q#1. a) Identify some of the core values mentioned in the above situation. Further, how do you related those values to the concept of “employee engagement”. Discuss.    

b) What employees’ wellbeing initiatives are being taken by the above organization? Describe.  

Q#2 :  a)  Regarding the problem mentioned in the above situation, the points rose by the Employee relations manager as reason for the latest issues in the organization is justifiable or not? describe.  

b)  How do you relate the problems identified by the employee relations management to the concept of “fairness” facet of employee engagement? explain.   

Q#3:  Being an Employee relations manager, how would you sort out the above mentioned issues. Relate your answers to the concepts you studied in the employee engagement subject.

QUESTION 20

You want to determine if an herbivore affects the density of a particular plant in a meadow. You locate three meadows, divide each one in half and build a fence around each half. In one half of each meadow, you exclude herbivores, and in the other half you allow them to stay. What results would you expect to observe if the herbivore had a significant effect upon the plant?

1 points   

QUESTION 21

The tundra is typically found at higher latitudes than the northern coniferous forest. Although average temperatures in the tundra are colder, the most extreme temperatures have been recorded in the northern coniferous forest. What is the reason for this effect?

1 points   

QUESTION 22

The relationship between nitrogen fixing bacteria and plants is best described as ________________.

1 points   

QUESTION 23

Why are average temperatures greater at the equator than at the poles?

1 points   

QUESTION 24

You sample plants in a forest and count five individuals each of 100 species. The species richness of this forest is ___________.

1 points   

QUESTION 25

You travel to another forest and also identify 100 plant species. However this time you find 10 individuals each of the five most common species and only one or two individuals each of the remaining 95 species. Which forest has the higher diversity? This one or the one in the previous question?

A researcher studies water clarity at the same location in a lake on the same dates during the course of a year and repeats the measurements on the same dates 5 years later. The researcher immerses a weighted disk painted black and white and measures the depth​ (in inches) at which it is no longer visible. The collected data is given in the table below. Complete parts​ (a) through​ (c) below.

Observation   Date   Initial Depth, X_i   Depth Five Years Later, Y_i
1   1–25 61.7 60.2
2 3–19 40.3    40.9
3 5–30 73.5 71.4
4 7–3 69.7 71.6
5 9–13 74.9 69.2
6 11–7    48.8   50.9

a) Why is it important to take the measurements on the same​ date?

A. Those are the same dates that all biologists use to take water clarity samples.

B. Using the same dates makes the second sample dependent on the first and reduces variability in water clarity attributable to date.

C. Using the same dates makes it easier to remember to take samples.

D. Using the same dates maximizes the difference in water clarity.

​b) Does the evidence suggest that the clarity of the lake is improving at the a=0.05 level of​ significance? Note that the normal probability plot and boxplot of the data indicate that the differences are approximately normally distributed with no outliers.

Let di=Xi-Yi. Identify the null and alternative hypotheses.

H0: (p, od, μd) (<,>,=, ≠) BLANK

H1: (p, od, μd) (<,>,=, ≠) BLANK

Determine the test statistic for this hypothesis test.

Find the​ P-value for this hypothesis test.

P-value=

What is your conclusion regarding H0​?

A.Do not reject H0. There is not sufficient evidence at the a= 0.05 level of significance to conclude that the clarity of the lake is improving.

B. Do not reject H0.There is sufficient evidence at the a=0.05 level of significance to conclude that the clarity of the lake is improving.

C. Reject H0. There is sufficient evidence at the a=0.05 level of significance to conclude that the clarity of the lake is improving.

D. Reject H0. There is not sufficient evidence at the a=0.05 level of significance to conclude that the clarity of the lake is improving.

c) Draw a boxplot of the differenced data. Does this visual evidence support the results obtained in part​ b)?

Does this visual evidence support the results obtained in part​ b)?

A.Yes because the boxplot supports that the lake is becoming more​ clear, since most differences are positive or near 0.

B. Yes because the boxplot supports that the lake is becoming more​ clear, since most differences are negative.

C. No because the boxplot supports that the lake is not becoming more​ clear, since most differences are negative.

D. No because the boxplot supports that the lake is not becoming more​ clear, since most differences are positive or near 0.

1. Types of Contracts. Professor Dixon was an adjunct professor at Tulsa Community College (TCC) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Each semester, near the beginning of the term, the parties executed a written contract that always included the following provision: “It is agreed that this agreement may be cancelled by the Administration or the instructor at anytime before the first class session.” In the spring semester of Dixon’s seventh year, he filed a complaint with TCC alleging that one of his students, Meredith Bhuiyan, had engaged in disruptive classroom conduct. He gave her an “incomplete” grade and asked TCC to require her to apologize as a condition of receiving a final grade. TCC later claimed, and Dixon denied, that he was told to assign Bhuiyan a grade if he wanted to teach in the fall. Toward the end of the semester, Dixon was told which classes he would teach in the fall, but the parties did not sign a written contract. The Friday before classes began, TCC terminated him. Dixon filed a suit in an Oklahoma state court against TCC and others, alleging breach of contract. Did the parties have a contract? If so, did TCC breach it? Explain. [Dixon v. Bhuiyan, 10 P.3d 888 (Okla. 2000)]

FACTS-Professor Dixon was an adjunct professor at Tulsa Community College (TCC) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Each semester, near the beginning of the term, the parties executed a written contract that always included the following provision: “It is agreed that this agreement may be cancelled by the Administration or the instructor at anytime before the first class session.” In the spring semester of Dixon’s seventh year, he filed a complaint with TCC alleging that one of his students, Meredith Bhuiyan, had engaged in disruptive classroom conduct. He gave her an “incomplete” grade and asked TCC to require her to apologize as a condition of receiving a final grade. TCC later claimed, and Dixon denied, that he was told to assign Bhuiyan a grade if he wanted to teach in the fall. Toward the end of the semester, Dixon was told which classes he would teach in the fall, but the parties did not sign a written contract. The Friday before classes began, TCC terminated him. Dixon filed a suit in an Oklahoma state court against TCC and others, alleging breach of contract. ISSUE-Did the parties have a contract? If so, did TCC breach it? Explain. RESOLUTION-[Dixon v. Bhuiyan, 10 P.3d 888 (Okla. 2000)]

How did the court answer the questions? What did the court decide? EXPLANATION-Do you agree with the court? Why or why not? Can you change any facts to give a different result?

Decimal value data types such as float and double represent the decimal number as an approximation. In other words, float or double arithmetic do not give exact answer but near approximation to the answer. As an example, run the following program and check its result:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
float x= 0.1 * 7;
if (x == 0.7)
cout<< "TRUE. \n";
else
cout<< "FALSE. \n";
return 0;
}
In some situations, we need our programs to give exact solutions instead of near to exact answers. Some programming languages provide a special data type called Decimal that represents decimal numbers without the use of approximation. Write a program in C++ that implements the Decimal data type using a class called BigDecimal. This class will allow users to create decimal values and perform several operations on these values. The class should use two member variables:
- the integer part saved as a string
- the decimal part saved as a string
For example, the following instance BigDecimal d("6.45678"); will store "6" in the first variable and "45678" in the second variable
The class should have the following functionalities:
Member Function Description
BigDecimal() The default constructor. Creates the number 0.0
BigDecimal(string) A constructor that accepts a string representing the numeric value with the decimal point.
== operator Accepts two BigDecimal values and compares their values. If the two decimal values are equal then the method should return true otherwise it should return false.
!= operator Accepts two BigDecimal values and compares their values. If the two decimal values are equal then the method should return false otherwise it should return true.
++ operator (prefix) This operator should increment the integer part of BigDecimal object by one. The overloaded ++ operator should return the contents of the object (using this pointer) after it is incremented.
++ operator (postfix) This operator should increment the integer part of BigDecimal object by one. The overloaded ++ operator should return the contents of the object before it is incremented.
<< operator Displays the numeric value of BigDecimal to the standard output.
>> operator Reads a string value from the standard input and stores it in the BigDecimal object.
double toDouble() Converts the BigDecimal value to a double.
You can assume that all the values of BigDecimal are nonnegative. Here is an example of how BigDecimal can be used:
BigDecimal x("45.67");
BigDecimal y("2.5");
//Should print 2.5
cout << x++ << endl;
//Should print 4.5
cout << ++x << endl;
//Should print false
cout << x==y << endl;

THE SITUATION

The unexpected withdrawal of one of Cape Chemical’s competitors from the region has provided the opportunity to increase its blended packaged goods sales. That's the good news. The bad news is Cape Chemical’s blending equipment is operating at capacity, thus to take advantage of this opportunity, additional equipment must be obtained, requiring a major capital investment. It is estimated that Cape Chemical must increase its annual blending capacity by 800,000 gallons to meet expected demand for the next three years Annual capacity must increase by 1,400,000 gallons to meet projected demand beyond the next three years.

Stewart is considering two alternatives proposed by the company’s engineer. The first is the acquisition and installation of used equipment that will provide the capacity to blend an additional 800,000 gallons annually. The used equipment will cost $105,000 to acquire and $15,000 to install. The equipment is projected to have an estimated life of three years. The second option is the acquisition and installation of new equipment with the capacity to blend 1,600,000 gallons annually. The new equipment would have a substantially higher cost of $360,000 to acquire and $60,000 to install, but have a higher capacity and an economic life of seven years. The new equipment is also more efficient thus the cost of blending is less than the blending cost of the used equipment. Stewart asked Clarkson to lead the evaluation process.

Stewart thinks the used equipment could be obtained without a new bank loan. The acquisition of the new equipment would require new bank borrowing.

The evaluation of each alternative will require an estimate of the financial benefits associated with each. The marketing and sales staff estimated incremental sales of blended package material will be 600,000 gallons the first year and increase by 15% each year thereafter. During the last year, the average selling price for blended material has been near $4.05 per gallon and material cost (not including a cost for blending the material) has been approximately $3.53. The marketing staff anticipates no significant change in either future selling prices or product costs; however they do estimate variable selling and administrative expenses associated with the increased blended material sales to be $.20 per gallon.

PROJECT EVALUATION PROCESS

The company has no formal process for evaluating capital expenditure projects. In the past Stewart had reviewed investment alternatives and made the decision based on her “informal” evaluation. Clarkson plans to develop a formal capital budgeting process using the Cash Payback Period, Discounted Cash Payback Period, Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR) evaluation methods.

Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)

Using input from an investment banking firm, Clarkson estimates the company's cost of equity to be 18%. Their bank has indicated a long-term bank loan can be arranged to finance the new equipment at an annual interest rate of 12% (before tax cost of debt). The bank would require the loan to be secured with the new equipment. The loan agreement would also include a number of restrictive covenants, including a limitation of dividends while the loans are outstanding. While long-term debt is not included in the firm's current capital structure, Clarkson believes a 30% debt, 70% equity capital mix would be appropriate for Cape Chemical. Last year, the company's federal- plus-state income tax rate was 30%. Clarkson does not expect the income tax rate to change in the foreseeable future.

Used Equipment

The used equipment will cost $105,000 with another $15,000 required to install the equipment. The equipment is projected to have an economic life of three years with a salvage value of $9,000. The equipment will provide the capacity to blend an additional 800,000 gallons annually. The variable cost to blending cost is estimated to be $.20 per gallon. The equipment will be depreciated under the Modified Accelerate Cost Recovery System (MACRS) 3-year class. Under the current tax law, the depreciation allowances are 0.33, 0.45, 0.15, and 0.07 in years 1 through 4, respectively. The increased sales volume will require an additional investment in working capital of 2% of sales (to be on hand at the beginning of the year).

New Equipment

The acquisition of new equipment with the capacity to blend 1,600,000 gallons annually is the second alternative. The new equipment would cost $360,000 to acquire with an installation cost of $60,000 and have an economic life of seven years and a salvage value of $60,000. The new equipment can be operated more efficiently than the used equipment. The cost to blend a gallon of material is estimated to be $.17. The equipment will be depreciated under the MACRS 7-year class. Under the current tax law, the depreciation allowances are 0.14, 0.25, 0.17, 0.13, 0.09, 0.09, 0.09 and 0.04 in years 1 through 8, respectively. The increased sales volume will require an additional investment in working capital of 2% of sales (to be on hand at the beginning of the year).

REQUIREMENTS

Calculate the Cash Payback Period, Discounted Cash Payback Period, NPV, IRR and MIRR

for each alternative. For these calculations, assume a WACC of 15%. Based strictly on the results of these methods, should either option be selected? Why?

Stewart is concerned that the projected annual sales growth rate of 15% for incremental blended material may be optimistic. Recalculate the Cash Payback Period, Discounted Cash Payback Period, NPV, IRR and MIRR for each alternative assuming the annual sales growth rates of 10% and 5%. Assume a WACC of 15%. Does the change in growth rate alter the recommendation made in the initially?

Case Study 2 Construction

Fred’s Sheds

Fred Smith, the founder and chief executive of Fred’s Sheds, received a phone call one afternoon from a local farmer, Mr Jones, requesting a quote to design and build a large storage shed on his property. Fred asked Mr Jones what size and type of shed he would like, when he wanted work to commence, and when he wanted it completed.

Mr Jones told him that he required a large shed, big enough to store his tractor and utility vehicle, and spaces for a workbench, tools and fertilisers.  

He also specified that the shed must have power, water and a toilet. He requested that the shed be made of high quality materials, because twice in the previous ten years some of the other sheds on his property had been damaged by inclement weather, costing him many thousands of dollars in repairs.

Mr Jones wanted work to commence in 6 week’s time and would like the job completed no more than 3 weeks after that so he would have a place to store his vehicles before the winter rains came.

Mr Jones asked Fred to come up with a design and quote to build his shed and asked him to present them to him at a meeting at his house in a week’s time.

He told Fred that he was obtaining three quotes from three different builders, and that he would select his preferred builder based on four criteria.

These were quality, the ability to start and finish on time, and cost.

Mr Jones said he would like to spend no more than $40,000 on the shed, but would consider alternate proposals that were a little higher in price if they could exceed his minimum evaluation criteria.

As soon as Fred hung up the phone his mind started to think of all the different tasks he would need to do to win and complete the job. Having built many sheds before, he was confident he had the project management skills to build a shed that met Mr Jones’s extensive criteria. He jotted down some of his thoughts on a notepad so that he would not forget anything.

First of all, Fred knew he would have to come up with a winning design, so he would need to put his designer, Karen, on the job of coming up with some innovative designs.

Fred would also have to source higher quality building materials than he usually used because, although Fred always used good materials, he thought he would try to use the best possible materials, if it was cost effective, to give him the edge in meeting Mr Jones’s stringent evaluation criteria over his two competitors.

Fred also knew that he would need to plan the human resources necessary to complete the job in the timeframe required. Some of his other construction projects were nearing completion, so it would not be too much of a problem getting some of his construction workers to start in 6 weeks’ time. However, Fred was not sure about the availability of his subcontractors, Eddie the electrician, Bob the plumber, Gary the glazier and Tony his fencing contractor and odd job man, because business was booming and they were all very busy.

If he was successful in winning the contract, Fred knew that there would still be lots of work to be done. After signing the contract, he would need to submit a Development Application and construction certificate to the local council and await their approval.

Mr Jones’s final selections for colour and style of shed materials would need to be finalised and a deposit received prior to commencing work.

Once all that had been accomplished, Fred and his team of four would have to prepare the site for construction. This would involve performing underground cable service checks, and perhaps contracting a surveyor to locate existing boundaries as the shed was going to be built close to the boundary with Mrs Mitchell’s neighbouring property.

The site would need to be cleared, temporary site facilities such as a toilet, site fencing, power and water would have to be established, the site set out and the formwork built. Following this, the site would be excavated.

While the excavation was taking place, Fred would need to remember to book a council inspection for the formwork prior to concreting, as well as booking the concrete truck, a date for the shed to be delivered, a date for the shed installation team to put the shed into place, and dates for his subcontractors to come and install power and water.

After pouring the concrete and finish, his team would need to strip the formwork. At this time Fred could invoice Mr Jones for a progress payment as this represented a milestone in the project. Following this the shed could be delivered and installed,

Eddie the electrician could be called in to connect the mains power, Bob the plumber could connect the water and install the toilet and Gary the glazier could install the windows. While they were busy doing that, Fred and his team could start clearing the site, removing any rubbish and the temporary site amenities.

Once all these tasks were accomplished, the job would be at practical completion. Fred would then meet with Mr Jones, present him with a final bill and handover the keys to the shed. Fred smiled to himself feeling confident that he would beat his two competitors to the job and thinking that he would soon have another satisfied customer.

Complete the work breakdown structure (WBS) template.

Work Breakdown Structure Template

The team agrees that the goal is to have a winning boat ready to leave for the competition in 45 weeks at a cost of $3.2 million.

Design of the hull, deck, mast, and accessories will initiate the boat construction. After the design is complete, the hull can be constructed, the mast ordered, sails ordered, and accessories ordered. As soon as the hull is finished, the ballast tanks can be installed. Then the deck can be built. Concurrently with the deck construction, the hull can be treated with sealant. When the deck is completed and mast, sails, and accessories received, the mast and sails can be installed concurrently with the accessories. When these installations are complete, the boat can be sea-tested.

On the parallel path, choosing the crew and relocating them on site will take 6 weeks. At the same time, housing for the crew can be secured. Once the crew arrives and is housed, the training program using the old vessel will take place. After crew arrival, crew equipment can be selected and then ordered while training is underway. When training is complete, crew maintenance on the new vessel can begin. In order for the maintenance to begin, the deck must also be complete. Once crew maintenance is complete and while the boat is being sea-tested, sailing training on the new boat can be implemented. Finally, after the boat is sea-tested and sailing training is completed, regular sea training can be implemented, weather permitting.

- Fill in correct Predecessors, Contruct AON , If it’s currently the end of week 20 and $2 million has been spent to date, calculate SPI and CPI based on the following completion information: all tasks on track as planned for week 20 except C is 50%, F is 100%, and Q is 50%.  

- Fill in correct Predecessors, Find SPI , Find CPI

1)      Surrounding the Great Lake are four paper-mills, each producing 100 tons of paper per year. The paper is sold on the national market for $2 per ton, and including all the costs of production, costs for each firm are $1 per ton. Thus each firm earns a pure economic profit of $1 per ton. These paper mills require fresh water to operate and also produce a pollutant, which they dump into the Great Lake. New paper mills can also locate on the Great Lake, and produce at a base cost of $1 per ton. However, for each new paper mill which arrives (i.e., starting with the 5th mill), the water will become more polluted, and each firm will have to install a water treatment facility to obtain fresh water. This externality associated with new plants will raise the costs of paper production at all facilities, including the new one, by $.15 per ton for each new mill.

a. Fill in the table below to help you with your answers. which compares average revenues with average and marginal costs as new firms locate around the lake. (2 points)

b. Assume there is free access to the Great Lake. If paper mills will continue to locate as long as their is any economic profit to be earned, how many new mills will be built (i.e., the open access solution? (2 points)

c. What is the number of mills that maximizes total combined profits for the paper producers? (Hint: Average revenue remains constant at $2 (i.e, the efficient solution)?. What are these profits (resource rents) if the efficient solution? (2 points)

d. Suppose that government regulation reduced the number of mills by one from the number that would have resulted given free access. Show that the increase in profits to the remaining firms (the resource rent) is sufficient to compensate the firm that is denied access its lost profits. (2 points)

2) Suppose the state is trying to decide how many miles of a scenic river it should preserve. There are 100 people in the community, each of whom has an identical inverse demand function given by P=10-1.0q, where q is the number of miles preserved and P is the per-mile-price he or she is willing to pay for the q miles of preserved river. If the marginal cost of preservation is $500 per mile, how many miles would be preserved in an efficient allocation? (2 points)

Harv Busta owns and operates River Adventure Kayaks a small that manufactures one model of fiberglass Kayak Built for the while water kayaking. The following relates to budgeted and actual production and sales for River Adventure Kayaks during 2019

Standard Cost for one Kayak is as follows:
   Direct Material Resin 2Gallons @ $30.00/Gallon                   $60/ Kayak
   Direct Labor    3 Hours @30/Hour                                          $90/Kayak
   Variable manufacuring overhead: $4/Direct Labour hours      $12/Kayak
   Fixed Manufacuring Overhead   $180,000 Per Year
   (applied using direct labour hours) $24/dlh = $180,000/7500 dlh

   Budgeted production and sales    2500 Kayaks
   Budgeted Selling Price     $400/Kayak

Other Information:
   Variable selling and Administrative costs shipping  $40 per kayak
     Commision (5% of selling Price)                            $20 per Kayak
   Fixed selling and administrative costs                      $90,000 per year

River Adventure Kayaks' Planned sales for 2019   2500 Kayaks
Estimated 2019 Industry sales for similar types of Kayaks 20,000 Kayaks

During 2019

River adventure Kayaks produced and sold = 2400 Kayaks, The total market for similar Kayaks was 24000 kayaks
Actual selling prices = $440/Kayak
5000 gallons of resin was purchased costing $160,000 and 4860 gallons were used in production.
Direct Labor cost for 2019 $218,500 and 7600 Hours direct labor hours were worked during the year

Actual manufacturing overhead costs incurred in 2019 were:
                          Variable manufacturing overhead = $29,260
                             Fixed Manufacturing Overhead  = 186,200
                                                                                     ------------
                                                                       Total    = 215,460
   
Actual Selling and Administrative costs incurred in 2019 were
                              Shipping Costs     $ 97,200
                                   Commission    $ 52,800
                                                  ----------------------
        Fixed Selling and Administrative $ 150,000

Required

1. Develop a flexible Budget profit plan (Income Statement) for 2019 listing all revenues and expenses in a contribution mrgin format.
2. Determine the sales price and sales volume variances( calculate the sales volumes variance based on budgeted contribution margin).
3. Determine the market share and market size variances based on contribution margin.
4. Determine the material price and quantify variances for resin. The Price variance should be computed on materials purchased.
5. Determine the direct labor rate and efficiency variances
6. Compute the variable manufacturing overhead flexible budget variance.
7. Compare the Fixed Manufacturing overhead budget variance.