A Turning Point for David

2018 ABC Student Writing Contest Prompt

Case submitted by Andy Spackman, Brigham Young University

You close your office door and take a few minutes to breathe. Your meeting with David could have been a disaster in a dozen different ways. Instead, it actually went well. By emphasizing your shared passion for innovation you managed to establish a safe foundation for an open discussion. You expressed your concerns about David’s lack of reliability and together you outlined a plan for improvement. Although he wasn’t happy, David didn’t dissolve into one of his famous fits, and he committed to making the changes you agreed on.

However, you know your work is only half done. It was important to talk to David face-to-face, but now you have to document your conversation. Putting it in writing will solidify his commitment and allow for real consequences. Before outlining your message, you review your notes about David’s performance and make some new ones regarding today’s discussion.

David Federro
Two years ago you arrived at PrinTech as the new Vendor Integration Manager, and it wasn’t long before you realized one of your programmers, David Federro, was going to be a problem. David is brilliant. In fact, your own reputation as a rising star in PrinTech’s management is partly due to the APIs David has created to enable client web services.
Unfortunately, David is far less reliable than brilliant. He misses deadlines, ignores phone calls, and no one knows when he will be in his office. You’ve found it hard to address these issues because David’s pattern of behavior was well-established before you joined the company, and previous managers gave him free rein as long as he kept producing high-quality work.
Several team members have told you they find David difficult to work with, describing him as surly and nonresponsive, and complaining that his portions of projects are consistently behind schedule. You suspect another programmer’s recent departure was partly due to the way David left her hanging on a project and publicly demeaned her when she confronted him. On the other hand, the quality of David’s work is universally recognized. Some key clients have asked that their projects be given to him, even though you occasionally have to make excuses for his failing to meet deadlines.
David’s performance over the past few months has been particularly problematic. He missed a week of work and was out of contact. He later claimed to be working from home but had not obtained prior permission. On another occasion, you had to reassign an important client’s project to a different programmer when it became clear David would not complete the job. You’ve come to the conclusion that David is on a trajectory where the problems he creates will soon outweigh the value he brings.
Your boss, Amanda Paik, agrees but has made it clear she hopes you can keep such a talented employee.
The Plan for Improvement
When you spoke David explained that he enjoys his job overall, and takes pride in his reputation for making innovative contributions. However, when he feels uninspired by a project he has a hard time focusing on his work. He revealed that during his personal time he is working on an open source project to help refugee relocation agencies manage their services, and he is clearly passionate about this volunteer work. He said he dislikes collaborating because other team members “hold him back” with their “lack of imagination” and “skill deficiencies.” He also explained that the reason why he recently missed a week of work is that a childhood friend passed away.
You and David agreed that his ability to contribute to the company’s success hinges on whether teammates and clients can rely on him. Together you made the following commitments: ? David will meet deadlines and understands that failure to do so will leave him ineligible to receive the usual year-end bonus and may result in termination. ? David will behave collegially with teammates and be more responsive to phone calls and emails. ? David will ask permission before working from home and will promptly inform you of illness or emergency. ? You will schedule regular check-ins with David to monitor progress toward project deadlines. ? You will include David in project origination meetings, allowing him to influence the scope of projects and suggest alternative, more innovative solutions.
Remember that the wording of your notes does not necessarily mirror the wording of your conversation with David.

Assignment

Write an email to David summarizing key points of your conversation, including your concerns and the areas of improvement you and David agreed to. Your email should be clear, concise, well-organized, and well-designed. Your purpose is to ensure David understands expectations and to establish his accountability for improvement. You want this to be a meaningful turning point for David, so your email must also preserve a positive relationship.

Address the email to David Federro and CC the Vice-President of Client Services, Amanda Paik, and the Director of Human Resources, Neil Woerkom.

Important Note

At the end of your response, please include the following information:

I give permission for Association for Business Communication and C. R. Anderson Foundation to use my name and document for educational or publicity purposes.



Student Name Date

(Description of graph: The following diagram shows the effects of tax increase on price and quantity of cigarettes. The initial equilibrium values before tax increase occurs at the equilibrium Quantity of 20 billion packs of cigarettes at the equilibrium price of $4.50. Assume the government increases the tax rate on cigarettes per pack, and this action of the government shifts the supply curve to the left. The new equilibrium values after tax increase are new equilibrium Quantity of 18 billion packs of cigarettes at the new equilibrium price of $5.50. Note also that the minimum producers’ price along supply graph at new equilibrium after tax increase is $4.25 per pack of cigarettes.)

a. How much is the per-unit (pack) tax on cigarettes? Show your work. b.What price do consumers pay after the tax? c.How much tax revenue is collected? Show your work. d.What is the amount of deadweight loss after the tax is imposed on cigarettes? Show your work.

A sphere A of mass equal to 0.600 kg initially moves to the right at 4.00 m / s. Sphere B, with a mass equal to 1.80 kg, is
It is initially to the right of sphere A and is moving to the right at 2.00 m / s. After the spheres collide, the sphere
B is moving at 3.00 m / s in the same direction as before.
to.
a. (2 pt) What is the velocity (magnitude and direction) of sphere A after the collision?
b. (0.5 pt) Is the shock elastic or inelastic?
c. (3 pt) Then sphere B has a misaligned collision with sphere C, whose mass is 1.20 kg and which is initially found
Resting. After this collision, sphere B moves at 2.00 m / s at 19.0 ° from its initial direction. What is the speed
(magnitude and direction) of sphere C after the crash?
d. (1 pt) What is the momentum (magnitude and direction) imparted to sphere B by sphere C when they collide?
and. (0.5 pt) Is this second collision elastic or inelastic?

A block of mass M sits at rest at the top of a frictionless curved ramp of height h. After being released, the block is moving with speed 4v when it collides with a block of mass 1.5M at the bottom of the ramp. Immediately following the collision, the larger block has a speed 2v. The second block is attached to a vertical rope, and swings freely as a pendulum after the collision. The pendulum string has length L.

a) In terms of the other given variables, determine an expression for the height h.

b) Determine the speed and direction of the first block after the collision. Determine the maximum angle from the vertical to which the pendulum will rise after the collision.

c) Determine whether the collision was elastic or inelastic. Justify your answer!

d) If the small block had not hit the larger block, it would have slid onto a flat surface, moving a distance D before coming to rest. Determine the coefficient of kinetic friction between the small block and the flat surface.

Taco Salad Manufacturing, Inc., plans to announce that it will issue $2.23 million of perpetual debt and use the proceeds to repurchase common stock. The bonds will sell at par with a coupon rate of 6 percent. The company is currently all-equity and worth $6.70 million with 206,000 shares of common stock outstanding. After the sale of the bonds, the company will maintain the new capital structure indefinitely. The annual pretax earnings of $1.47 million are expected to remain constant in perpetuity. The tax rate is 21 percent. 1.) What is the expected return on the company’s equity before the announcement of the debt issue? 2.) What is the price per share of the company's equity? 3.) What is the company’s stock price per share immediately after the repurchase announcement? 4.) How many shares will the company repurchase as a result of the debt issue? 5.) How many shares of common stock will remain after the repurchase? 6. What is the required return on the company’s equity after the restructuring?

Sphere A of mass 0.600 kg is initially moving to the right at 4.00 m/s. sphere B, of mass 1.80 kg is initially to the right of sphere A and moving to the right at 2.00 m/s. After the two sphere collide, sphere is moving at 3.00 m/s in the same direction as before.

(c) Sphere B then has an off-center collision with sphere C,
which has mass 1.20 kg and is initially at rest. After this collision,
sphere B is moving at 19.0° to its initial direction at
What is the velocity (magnitude and direction) of sphere C after
this collision?

(d) What is the impulse (magnitude and direction)
imparted to sphere B by sphere C when they collide?

(e) Is this second collision elastic or inelastic?

(f) What is the velocity (magnitude and direction) of the center of mass of the system of three
spheres (A, B, and C) after the second collision? No external forces
act on any of the spheres in this problem.

Toyota vehicle recalls At the end of 2009, Toyota Motor Corporation faced three separate related recalls of automobiles. The first recall, on November 2, 2009, was to correct a possible incursion of an incorrect or out-of-place front driver's side floor mat into the foot pedal well. which can cause pedal entrapment. The second recall, on January 21, 2010, begun after some crashes were shown not to have heen caused by floor mat incursion. This latter defect was identified as a possible mechanical sticking of the accelerator pedal causing unintended acceleration, referred to as Sticking Accelerator Pedal by Toyota. As uf January 28, 2010, Toyota had announced recalls of approximately 5.2 million vehieles for the pedal entrapment/ floor mat problem, and an additional 23 million vehicles for the accelerator pedal problem. Approximately 1.7 million vehicles were subject to both. Thus, investigations on such issues started immediately. On February 8, 2011, findings into the investigation were released After a 10-month search, scientists found no clectronic defect in Toyota vehicles. Driver error or pedal misapplication was found responsible for most of the incidents. The report ended stating. "Our conclusion is Tayota's problems were mechanical, not electrical." This included sticking accelerator pedals. and pedals cought under floor mats. In fact, in 2005. Toyota launched the "Customer First" program, to bring the voice of customers in an attempt to improve the quality of its vehicles. But it was quietly discontinued in early 20X19. A Toyota manager justified its elimination by announcing "We had come to believe that quality was maintained mainly in processes and not in products, and no quality at source was applied," Moreover, when implemented coerectly, any impeovement in quality processes can reduce waste and thus lead to reduced cost and improved profitubility. Therefore, Toystu wanted to know that if paying more in increasing the quality of their vehicles, would pay them the benefits they are aiming for, or it would be just another lost investment. but On October 24, 2013, a jury ruled against Toyotu and found that unintended acceleration could have been caused due to deficiencies in the drive-by-wire throttle system or Electronic Throttle Control System (ETCS). 1) What two functional perspective on quality did Toyotan upply? Justify. 2) According to Juran's trilogy quality theory, in which step of the three was the problem? Justify. 3) Which sphere of the three spheres of quality was Toyota facing problem in? Justify? 4) Which point of 14 points of Deming's quality thenry was presented in the above case? Justify.

The following table shows the number of customer complaints against airlines operating in a country during the given year.

Use interpolation to estimate the number of complaints in 2005.

(Round your answer to the nearest whole number.)

The interpolated value for

2005 is _______ complaints.

A study of the amount of time it takes a mechanic to rebuild the transmission for a 2010 Chevrolet Colorado shows that the mean is 8.4 hours and the standard deviation is 1.8 hours. If 40 mechanics are randomly​ selected, find the probability that their mean rebuild time is less than 8.9 hours. Round to four decimal places. A.0.9756 B.0.9605 C.0.4276 D.0.9589

Are the following statements true or false? (a) Only about 80% of the current revenues flowing into the Social Security system are needed for benefit payments to current retirees. (b) Between 1980 and 2010, most of the social security surplus was used to reduce the national debt. (c) Changes in demographic conditions during the next two decades will be favorable to the Social Security system.