Was Robert Eaton a Good Coach?

Robert Eaton was CEO and chairman of Chrysler from 1993 to

1998, replacing Lee Iacocca who retired after serving in this

capacity since 1978. Eaton then served as cochairman of the

newly merged DaimlerChrysler organization from 1998 to 2000.

With 362,100 employees, DaimlerChrysler achieved revenues

of EUR 136.4 billion in 2003. DaimlerChrysler’s passenger car

brands include Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Jeep,

Dodge, and Smart. Commercial vehicle brands include

Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star, and Setra.

From the beginning of his tenure as CEO, Eaton communicated

with the people under him. He immediately shared

his plans for the future with his top four executives and then

took the advice of his colleague, Bob Lutz, to look around the

company before making any hasty decisions concerning the

state of affairs at Chrysler. Eaton and Lutz ascertained that

Chrysler was employing the right staff and that they did not

need to hire new people; they just had to lead them in a different

manner, that is, in a more participative style.

Eaton listened to everyone in the organization, including

executives, suppliers, and assembly-line workers, to

determine how to help the company succeed. Eaton also

encouraged the employees at Chrysler to talk with one

another. The atmosphere of collaboration and open-door

communication between Eaton and Lutz (the two men sat

across the hall from one another and never closed their doors)

permeated the entire organization. Eaton and Lutz’s walkaround

management style indicated to employees that they

were committed to and engaged in the organization.

Furthermore, Eaton and Lutz held meetings with their executive

team on a regular basis to exchange ideas and information

from all areas of the organization.

Eaton even reorganized the manner in which Chrysler

designed cars based on a study, previously disregarded by

Iacocca, that indicated that Chrysler needed to be more

flexible and its executives needed to be in constant communication

with the product design team. One employee was

quoted as saying, “Bob Eaton does not shoot the messenger

when he hears something he doesn’t like or understand. He

knows that not every idea is right. But Bob is off-the-wall

himself. . . . He’ll say something, and we’ll tell him that it’s a

crazy idea. . . . He may not change his mind in the end, but

he’ll spend the time explaining to you what is behind

his thought processes. Do you know what kind of confidence

that inspires?” This type of open communication at the top

proved extremely successful, as summed up by one

designer: “It’s a system that recognizes talent early and

rewards it, and that creates a sense of enthusiasm for your

work, and a sense of mission.”

Another program that Eaton describes as empowering

employees at Chrysler includes requiring all employees,

including executives, to participate in the process of building

a new vehicle. Eaton explains that this shows all of the employees

in the plant that executives are concerned about the

proper functioning of new cars, and it gives executives the

opportunity to understand and solve problems at the factory

level. Eaton states, “When we’re done with our discussions,

these guys know where we want to go and how we want to

get there, and they go back and put the action plans together

to do that. This goes for every single thing we do.” He concludes,

“Clearly at a company there has to be a shared

vision, but we try to teach people to be a leader in their own

area, to know where the company wants to go, to know how

that affects their area, to benchmark the best in the world,

and then set goals and programs to go after it. We also

encourage people not only to go after the business plan

objectives but to have stretch goals. And a stretch goal by

definition is a fifty-percent increase . . . . If we go after fifty

percent, something dramatic has to happen. You have to go

outside of the box.”

Based on the above description, please evaluate Bob

Eaton’s coaching skills using the accompanying table. If a

certain coaching behavior or function is missing, please

provide recommendations about what he could have done

more effectively.

Based on Case Study 9-1: Was Robert Eaton a Good Coach on pages 256-257 in the textbook and the Major Functions and Key Behaviors tables on page 257, evaluate Eaton’s coaching skills. In your response address the following elements:

What major functions were missing?

What key behaviors were missing?

Based on your evaluation, provide specific recommendations on how he could have been a more effective coach.

the text book is Performance Management (3rd Edition) - Herman Aguinis and the case study is as mentioned above

Please write me a summary of about 10 to 15 sentences for the following paragraph.

Mindsets and Goals

We have found in our research that people’s mindsets set up completely different motivations (see Molden & Dweck, 2006). The fixed mindset, in which you have only a certain amount of a valued talent or ability, leads people to want to look good at all times. You need to prove that you are talented and not do anything to contradict that impression, so people in a fixed midnset try to highlight their proficiencies and hide their deficiencies (see, e.g., Rhodewalt, 1994). In fact, we have found that they will often reject valuable learning opportunities if these opportunities hold the risk of unmasking their shortcomings (Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Hong, Chiu, Dweck, Lin, & Wan, 1999; Mueller & Dweck, 1998). Doesn’t everyone have shortcomings? Isn’t that what learning is for—to overcome them? Of course. However, this mindset does not give people the leeway to expose and remedy their weaknesses because any weakness can indicate a permanent lack of ability. In contrast, the growth mindset, in which you can develop your ability, leads people to want to do just that. It leads them to put a premium on learning. This difference is starkly demonstrated in a study I performed with Ying-yi Hong, C.Y. Chiu, Derek Lin, and Wendy Wan (1999). In this study, we recruited entering students at the University of Hong Kong, an elite university where everything—classes, textbooks, term papers, exams—is in English. But not all incoming students are proficient in English. Surely they would be eager to improve their English skills. To find out, we told them that the Faculty was thinking of offering a remedial English course and asked them how likely they were to take it if it were offered. Students with a growth mindset about intelligence were eager for this course. It could help them master the very skills they needed. However, students with a fixed mindset were not enthusiastic. Because they did not want to expose their deficiency, they were willing to put their whole college career in jeopardy. In another study (Mueller & Dweck, 1998), we’ve seen students in a fixed mindset lie about their deficiencies. Students performed some very challenging sets of problems and then were asked to write about their experiences to students in another school—students they would never meet. There was a place on the sheet where they were asked to report their scores. Almost 40% of the students in the fixed mindset, perhaps feeling that their poor scores were a reflection of their permanent ability, lied about their scores. Only 13% of those in the growth mindset saw fit to falsify their performance. Like Billy Beane, those in the fixed mindset didn’t think they should make mistakes! We have also studied the brain to examine the impact of mindsets on people’s attention to ability-relevant information or to learning-relevant information (Dweck, Mangels, & Good, 2004). Here, college students came to the EEG lab, where an electrode cap was placed on their heads and recordings were made from the parts of the brain that reflected attentional processes as they performed a highly difficult task. Each time they answered a question on the task, they were told whether their answer was correct or incorrect, and then a little later were told the correct answer. What did they pay attention to. The students who held a fixed mindset about intelligence paid attention only to whether their answer was right. Once they knew this, they had little further interest in learning what the right answer was. Thus, their interest in being right took strong precedence over their interest in learning, and we later showed that this significantly hurt their subsequent performance. Students who held a growth mindset about intelligence paid close attention to the both kinds of information. They paid attention to whether their answer was right or wrong and they paid attention to what the right answer was. As a result, they did substantially better than students with the fixed mindset on a later test. It’s clear that both things—wanting to do well and wanting to learn– are important in a sports setting. It’s important to validate your abilities through high quality performance in a competitive setting, and it’s also important to grow your skills over time. The problem with a fixed mindset is twofold. One is that any lapse in performance is a threat to people’s sense of their underlying ability and hence their sense of their future. And the second is that this great concern with ability tends to drive out learning, often when they are most needed. It’s hard to see how people can thrive in the world of sports if they don’t have strong desire to address their weaknesses and learn.

You are presented with the following data from The Home Depot (THD) on sales of its Snowminator Snow Shovel during the winters of 2012-2015, throughout Canada. The product’s price (P), measured in Canadian Dollars, is: 26, 22, 18, 14, 10, 6, and 2. The corresponding quantity demanded (Qd) in the Northern part of the nation, measured in millions of shovels, was: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, and 21. While the corresponding quantity demanded, measured in millions of shovels, in the Southern part of the nation was: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16. Assume all the data was retrieved internally from The Home Depot.

1. In two separate graphs that you have created using Excel, clearly and accurately graph the demand and total revenue curves for the Northern part of Canada. These will be graph # 1 and # 2, respectively. (36 pts; 18 pts per graph) 2.In a separate graph from part A above, clearly and accurately graph the demand curve for the Southern part of Canada. This will be graph # 3. (10 pts) 3.Solely consider your graphs and data in part A above. Following the demand curve from $26 to 22 to 18, etc., and all the way down to $2. Explain by referencing only the demand curve, total revenue curve, and the elasticity of demand, how a declining price can have three different impacts on total revenue. (10 pts) 4.Consider your knowledge of the determinants of the elasticity of demand and consider the two demand curves you have in part A and B above. A visual inspection clearly indicates the curves are of differing slopes. Take one concrete cause and address why the demand curve in B has a different slope when compared to that of A. Explain why, do not simply re-state what is stated in the question already. (4 pts)

Option #1: Preparing Adjusting Entries in a Worksheet

Following is the unadjusted trial balance of Skylar Gaming, Inc. at the end of its first year of operations, December 31, 20x7:

The following additional information is available:

1. Skylar Gaming, Inc. needs to accrue $2,000 in salaries that will not be paid until next month.
2. Skylar Gaming, Inc. has earned $2,000 of the services that were paid for in advance as included in the unearned revenue account.
3. At the end of the period, Skylar Gaming, Inc. has provided services in the amount of $500 to another customer (John Gartner). However, Skylar has not billed them yet since they only issue bills at the beginning of each month.
4. Skylar Gaming, Inc. needs to record the annual $1,025 of depreciation on the equipment.
5. One month of the 12-month insurance policy in prepaid insurance has been used up, and a journal entry is needed to reflect this.
6. At the end of the period, $125 in supplies are remaining.

Required:

1. Prepare all necessary adjusting entries at December 31, 20x7 Descriptions are not needed.
2. Using the below linked template prepare an adjusted trial balance at December 31, 20x7.
3. Using a worksheet template, prepare an income statement, statement of retained earnings, and a balance sheet.
4. Prepare closing entries including descriptions.

Mead Company uses a perpetual inventory system and engaged in the following transactions during the month of May:

Required:

Record the May transactions in a general journal.

GENERAL JOURNAL

1.

Given the following Adjusted Trial Balance, what will be the totals of the debit and credit columns of the Post-Closing Trial Balance?

2.

On March 1, Hoffman paid $3,120 in advance for 4 months' insurance.

Enter the March 31 month-end adjusting entry in Journal Entry format.

3.

Great Kids Co. began providing day care for the children of employees of a large corporation on January 15 for an agreed monthly fee of $9,000. The first payment is to be received on February 15.

Enter the January month-end adjusting entry in Journal Entry format.

4.Emerald Co. uses a perpetual inventory system and records purchases of merchandise at net cost. The company recently purchased 200 compact discs for the price of $6,000 and terms of 2/10, n/30. Half of these discs had been mislabeled and were returned immediately to the supplier. Record the journal entry to record payment of this invoice after the discount period has expired. Use Journal Entry format.

5.

At December 31, 2015, the accounting records of Braun Corporation contain the following items:

If Common Stock is $320,000, what are the total assets of Braun Corporation?

Prepare entries, in general journal form, to record the following transactions in the proper fund(s) and/or account group(s). Designate the fund or account group in which each entry is recorded.

1.   Bond proceeds of $2,000,000 were received to be used in constructing a new City Jail. An equal amount is contributed from general revenues.

2.   Serial bonds in the amount of $300,000 matured. Interest of $75,000 was paid on these and other serial bonds outstanding.

3.   Insurance proceeds amounting to $19,000 were received as a result of the accidental destruction of a garbage truck costing $33,000. Accumulated depreciation on the truck was $21,000.

4.   The City Parks Endowment Fund transferred $160,000 in expendable funds to the City Parks Special Revenue Fund.

5.   Proceeds of $21,000 were received from the sale of equipment which had been purchased from general revenues at a cost of $100,000. Accumulated depreciation on the equipment was $75,000.

6.   The City Power Company (an enterprise fund) issued a bill for $400,000 for electricity provided to municipal government buildings.

7.   The City Power Company transferred excess funds of $90,000 to the General Fund.

8.   A central data processing center was established by a contribution of $400,000 from the General Fund, a long-term loan of $130,000 from the City Parks Special Revenue Fund, and general obligation bond proceeds of $180,000.

9.   The Data Processing Fund billed the General Fund $20,000 and the City Parks Special Revenue Fund $8,500 for data processing services.

            10. The City Power Company received $7,000 as customer deposits during the year. The monies are to be held in     trust until customers request that their services be discontinued and final bills are collected.

11. In order to retire general obligation term bonds when they become due, it is determined that the Debt Service Fund will require annual contributions of $40,000 and earnings in the current year of $3,000.