*Problem 1

Chapter 21 – A Better Way to Present Brad’s Case

Fundamentals of Case Management Practice, skills for the human services - 5th ed by Nancy Summers

Please read the following case study and answer the questions to the best of your ability.

Case 21.1: A Better Way to Present Brad's Case

When presenting a case at a service planning conference, your case summary should be brief and address only the most pertinent details of the case. The case summary should follow the six elements outlined in your textbook. Review the following case presentation by Cameron and answer the questions that follow.

Cameron: Uh, this is Brad who is failing in school. He was referred to us by the school. His mother is a single mom, works as a custodian at the Waverly Elementary School. Dad's not in the picture. Burt is failing in school…

Deliliah: I thought his name was Brad. How old is he?

Cameron: (Shuffling papers) Oh, right. It is Brad. Got him mixed up with another kid. Oh yeah. He is 14. So anyway, he is failing in school after his friend got shot. Random. He was walking to school and it was a stray bullet, so Brad is walking alone to school these days. The teachers feel he is having trouble with the loss—maybe feels a little vulnerable himself. That's about it.

Jamal: So, what else do you know about him?

Cameron: That's about it.

Alex: What grade is he in?

Cameron: Oh yeah. He's in 8th grade. Did well up until now.

Jamal: What's your impression of this kid?

Cameron: Oh, you know. An average 14-year-old. Likes football. Goes to the Y after school until Mom gets home.

1. What information is missing from Cameron's case presentation? Considering the six elements of a case presentation, which has he omitted?

2. Do you feel Cameron spent enough time with Brad to develop a sound impression of who Brad is? What about Cameron's presentation leads you to your conclusion?

3. Do you feel Cameron spent enough time with Brad's mother to understand their home life and how she sees Cameron's difficulties? What about Cameron's presentation leads you to your conclusion? What specific questions would you have about Brad's home life?

4. Does Cameron have a good grasp of the strengths in Brad's life? What potential strengths do you see that you would want to pursue further?

5. Overall, how would you rate and describe Cameron's presentation?

QUESTION 37

1. ​Which of the following is an important question that is answered in a business plan?

   	a.	​What are the trade restraint strategies used by businesses in the external environment?
   	b.	What are the entrepreneur's goals and objectives?
   	c.	​How will the entrepreneur divest strategic business units?
   	d.	​What are the marketing strategies used by the entrepreneur's competitors?
   	e.	​What are the overhead costs of the entrepreneur's venture?

QUESTION 38

1. Scientific management focuses on

   	a.	increasing overhead costs.
   	b.	improving the performance of individual workers.
   	c.	encouraging soldiering among employees.
   	d.	analyzing the external rather than the internal environment of an organization.
   	e.	increasing employee turnover.

QUESTION 39

1. Which of the following positions would be considered a specialized management position?

   	a.	Accountant
   	b.	Public relations manager
   	c.	Marketing manager
   	d.	Hospital administrator
   	e.	Human resources manager

QUESTION 40

1. Which of the following statements is true about the decision-making process?

   	a.	It exclusively applies to problem situations.
   	b.	It requires that the nature of a particular situation be defined.
   	c.	It typically involves only one individual and seldom applies to groups.
   	d.	It seldom applies to situations that are positive.
   	e.	It results in the generation of only one alternative.

QUESTION 41

1. Emilio says, "Employees and situations are unique. Sometimes I get good results by trying one approach, sometimes I decide to do something completely different." Emilio's statement is best aligned with which of the following management views?

   	a.	Scientific management
   	b.	The classical management perspective
   	c.	The contingency perspective
   	d.	Theory X
   	e.	Administrative management

QUESTION 42

1. ​A _____ is privately owned by one individual or a group of individuals and has sales and assets that are not adequate enough to meaningfully influence its environment.

   	a.	​publicly held corporation
   	b.	​regulatory agency
   	c.	​non-profit organization
   	d.	​strategic business unit
   	e.	​small business

QUESTION 43

1. Venus Corp. prohibits its employees from smoking in its premises. This is an example of a(n)

   	a.	standard operating procedure.
   	b.	program.
   	c.	entropy.
   	d.	project.
   	e.	rule.

QUESTION 44

1. Which of the following is a determinate of an organization's culture?

   	a.	The extended benefits provided by an organization
   	b.	Corporate success and shared experiences
   	c.	The regulations for work performance set by an organization
   	d.	The strategic partners of an organization
   	e.	The products and services available for the functioning of an organization

QUESTION 45

1. By recognizing the _____ aspect of decision making, the administrative model better reflects subjective considerations.

   	a.	classical
   	b.	behavioral
   	c.	sequential
   	d.	groupthink
   	e.	rational

CHAPTER 9 CASE STUDY

GOLD STAR SHOES LTD.

Developing a Training Program

Gold Star Shoes Ltd. is a medium-sized manufacturer of leather and vinyl shoes located in Wilmington, Ontario. It was started in 1973 and currently employs about 500 persons in its Ontario plant and some 200 more in offices and warehouses throughout Canada.

“How can we develop a training program that will have a significant impact on our manufacturing staff?”

Jane Reynolds, special assistant in the personnel department, faced that challenge from a vice president of the largest division of Gold Star Shoes, manufacturing. Training had never been a high priority at Gold Star Shoes, having always been viewed as an expense item, not an investment. If skilled workers were needed, Gold Star Shoes preferred to raid other companies to save training costs. If raiding was not successful, a quick on-the-job training was provided by more experienced employees—limited to essential skills, since there was little incentive for the employees to be more involved.

However, when the vice president attended a convention of shoe manufacturers, he was surprised to learn how cost-efficient some other shoe producers were, especially in Italy and France. Although wages there were similar to the wages paid in Canada, the productivity of the Italian and French workers was significantly higher. The VP found that the Italian and French companies invested heavily in training, allowing them to use cross-trained, flexible staff.

The VP asked Reynolds to develop a training plan, suitable to improve the overall skill level of Gold Star Shoes’ employees. Reynolds vaguely remembered something about training from her few courses in human resource management quite some time ago, but she felt that it was not sufficient to develop a training program on her own. Besides, she knew nothing about the skill requirements in the manufacturing division.

She decided to ask Russ Summers, manager of the cutting operation, to chair a committee of first-line supervisors to assist her in the program development.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Case Study:

Numerous information systems are available within SAP ERP to support most of the processes that we will discuss in this book. Information systems (IS) can be divided into three broad categories: logistics information systems (LIS), financial information systems (FIS), and human resources information systems (HRIS). Logistics information systems support all of the logistics processes. Recall that logistical processes are concerned with acquiring, storing, creating, and distributing materials. The components of LIS include purchasing IS, sales IS, inventory control IS (IWM processes), quality management IS, plant maintenance IS, and shop floor IS (production processes). The financial information system supports reporting related to the general ledger (e.g., balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows), accounts receivable, and accounts payable. The HRIS is used to retrieve information about different HR components such as personnel, positions, and jobs.

Recall that information systems are part of the OLAP component of SAP ERP, and they utilize information structures to provide analytic capabilities. There are two types of information structures—standard and user-defined. Standard information structures are predefined in the SAP ERP system, and they collect the data needed to generate the most commonly used reports. SAP ERP also enables users to define their own structures, known as user defined information structures, to meet specific reporting requirements.

Finally, information structures enable users to conduct two types of analysis— standard and flexible. Standard analysis provides predefined analytics for data in standard information structures. This type of analysis is sufficient for most analytic requirements. When standard analysis is insufficient, users can conduct flexible analysis to customize the reporting. In contrast to standard analysis, flexible analysis allows users to define the content and format of the analysis. Specifically, it enables users to combine available characteristics and key figures as needed and to create new key figures using user-specified formulas. It also provides users with several layout options.

To summarize, the OLTP component of SAP ERP offers reporting in the form of work lists and online lists that are based on detailed transaction data.

In contrast, the OLAP component offers reporting via information systems, based on aggregated data in information structures. These capabilities are limited to data within the SAP ERP system. Today, however, companies need even more powerful reporting capabilities that combine data from multiple sources. This is the domain of business intelligence.

Q1. As an information systems project manager, on what bases would you select the modules and the functionalities of the enterprise systems to fit with your business needs and requirements?

Q2. Analyze the capabilities and the type of reporting you are seeking for your project and illustrate the right approach in selecting the suitable IS vendor for the project.

TourneSol Canada, Ltd. is a producer of high quality sunflower oil. The company buys raw sunflower seeds directly from large agricultural companies, and refines the seeds into sunflower oil that it sells in the wholesale market. As a by-product, the company also produces sunflower mash (a paste made from the remains of crushed sunflower seeds) that it sells into the market as base product for animal feed.

The company has a maximum input capacity of 150 short tons of raw sunflower seeds every day (or 54,750 short tons per year). Of course the company cannot run at full capacity every day as it is required to shut down or reduce capacity for maintenance periods every year, and it experiences the occasional mechanical problem. The facility is expected to run at 90% capacity over the year (or on average 150 x 90% = 135 short tons per day).

TourneSol is planning to purchase its supply of raw sunflower seeds from three primary growers, Supplier A, Supplier B, and Supplier C. Purchase prices will not set until the orders are actually placed so TourneSol will have to forecast purchase prices for the raw material and sales prices for the refined sunflower oil and mash. The contract is written such that TourneSol is only required to commit to 70% of total capacity up front. Any amounts over that can be purchased only as required for the same price. Historical prices for the last 15 years are in the table below (note that year 15 is the most current year).

Sunflower oil contains a number of fatty acids, some which are desirable in food products and others that are not. One desirable fatty acid is oleic acid. TourneSol produces high oleic oil for the wholesale market, and requires that the oleic acid content be a minimum of 77%. Sunflower oil also contains trace amounts of iodine. The market requires that that iodine content be a minimum of 0.78% and maximum of 0.88%

The oleic acid and iodine content for the sunflower seeds from the three suppliers is given in the table below.

For all three suppliers, it is expected that the average yield of oil from the seeds is 30%. There is no net loss of material, so the yield of mash from the same supply is expected to be 70%.

Because the oleic acid and iodine content varies across the three suppliers, so does the price. It is expected that the cost of supply from the suppliers will be a percentage of the market average price of seeds.

The company faces an additional variable production cost of $10/short ton and an estimated fixed cost of $1,750,000 over the upcoming production period.

The company is asking you to provide a recommendation on the amount of raw material it should purchase from each supplier to minimize its cost of feedstock.

Management is also looking for an analysis on the profitability of the company in the next production cycle.

Formulate a linear program in Excel to minimize the cost of raw sunflower seeds. Use the average price of seeds forecasted from the previous step in order to determine supplier prices.

Perform a cost-volume-price analysis using the average cost per short ton average selling price per short ton.

Generate comparative boxplots for: Male data between 2000 and 2015, Female data between 2000 and 2015, Both Sexes data between 2000 and 2015

Using the data from 2000, estimate the mean adult mortality rates for male, female and both sexes for the world population with 95% confidence.

Using the data from 2015, estimate the mean male, female and both sexes adult mortality rates for the world population with 95% confidence.

Estimate the mean difference (with 95% confidence) between: Male adult mortality rates of 2000 and 2015, Female adult mortality rates of 2000 and 2015, Both sexes adult mortality rates of 2000 and 2015

The attached MS-Excel file contains data on the contains data the bus fleet of the Buena School district. Download the file and analyze the characteristics of the Buena Bus fleet.

1. Sort the data by type of Bus Manufacturer and calculate the Average Cost of Maintenance for each Manufacturer
2. Sort the data by Fuel Type and calculate the cost of Maintenance and the Average Mileage by each fuel type of fuel
3. Present your results in a table and a chart. Cut and paste your chart and table into MS-Word and attach your results.

The attached MS-Excel file contains data on the bus fleet of the Buena School district. Download the file and analyze the characteristics of the Buena Bus fleet.

a. Sort the data by type of Bus Manufacturer and calculate the Average Cost of Maintenance for each Manufacturer

b. Sort the data by Fuel Type and calculate the cost of Maintenance and the Average Mileage by each fuel type of fuel

c. Present your results in a table and a chart. Cut and paste your chart and table into MS-Word and attach your results.

CASE STUDY FOR CHAPTER 7 Worker Productivity among Giant U.S. Corporations Traditional measures of firm productivity tend to focus on profit margins, the rate of return on stockholder’s equity, or related measures like total asset turnover, inventory turnover, or receivables turnover. Profit margin is net income divided by sales and is a useful measure of a company’s ability to manufacture and distribute distinctive products. When profit margins are high, it is a good sign that customer purchase decisions are being driven by unique product characteristics or product quality rather than by low prices. When profit margins are high, companies are also able to withstand periods of fluctuating costs or weak product demand without devastating consequences for net income. While high profit margins have the potential to attract new competitors, they also act as credible evidence that a firm offers a hard-to-imitate combination of attractive goods and services. Return on equity (ROE), defined as net income divided by the accounting book value of stockholder’s equity, is an attractive measure of firm performance because it reflects the effects of both operating and financial leverage. When ROE is high, the company is able to generate an attractive rate of return on the amount of money entrusted to the firm by shareholders in the form of common stock purchases and retained earnings. High profit margins give rise to high ROE, as do rapid turnover in inventory, receivables and total assets. Rapid inventory turnover reduces the risk of profit-sapping product closeouts where slow-moving goods are marked down for quick sale. Rapid receivables turnover eases any concern that investors might have in terms of the firm’s ability to collect money owed by customers. High total asset turnover, defied as sales divided by total assets, documents the firm=s ability to generate a significant amount of business from its fixed plant and equipment. Despite these obvious advantages, each of these traditional firm performance measures suffers certain shortcomings. Profit margins are strongly influenced by industry-related factors that might obscure superior firm productivity when firms from different industries are compared. For example, the automobile industry is huge and net profit margins for mediocre performers are commonly in the 2.5-3 percent range. Even standout performers, like Toyota, struggle to earn 6 percent on sales. Meanwhile, even mediocre banks commonly report profit margins in the 15-20 percent range. Similarly, and despite obvious advantages, ROE suffers as a performance measure because steep losses can greatly diminish retained earnings, decimate the book value of stockholder’s equity, and cause ROE to soar. When companies buy back their shares in the open market at prices that greatly exceed accounting book values, the book value of shareholder’s equity also falls, and can unfairly inflate the ROE measure. For these reasons, some analysts look to the growth in net income as a simple and less easily distorted measure of accounting profit performance. However, the biggest problem with corporate performance measures based upon profit rates tied to sales, stockholder’s equity or assets has nothing to do with measurement problems tied to irregular profit and loss patterns or corporate restructuring. The biggest problem with traditional corporate profit measures is that they fail to reflect the firm’s efficient use of human resources. In the services-based economy of the new millennium, the most telling indicator of a company’s ability to compete is its ability to attract, train, and motivate a capable workforce. In economics, the term human capital is used to describe the investment made in workers and top management that make them more efficient and more profitable employees. Employee training and education are two of the most reliable tools that companies can use to keep an edge on the competition. However, determining an efficient amount of worker training and education is trickier than it might seem at first. In a competitive labor market, employees can expect to command a wage rate equal to the amount they could compel in their next-best employment opportunity. At least in part, this opportunity cost reflects employee productivity created by better worker training and education. Because dissatisfied workers can be quick to jump ship, employers must be careful to maintain a productive work environment that makes happy employees want to stay and contribute to the firm that paid for their education and training. Employers need capable and well-trained employees, but no employer wants to be guilty of training workers that end up working for the competition! All successful firms are efficient in terms of constantly improving employee productivity, and then motivating satisfied and capable employees to perform. In light of the importance placed upon capable and well-motivated employees, an attractive alternative means for measuring corporate productivity is in terms of profits and revenues per employee. Table 7.5 gives interesting perspective on employee productivity by showing revenue per employee and profits per employee for the 30 giant corporations that together comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Questions A. What firm-specific and industry-specific factors might be used to explain differences among giant corporations in the amount of revenue per employee and profit per employee? B. A multiple regression analysis based upon the data contained in Table 7.6 reveals the following (t statistics in parentheses): Profit/Emp. = $1,269.016 + 0.220 Ind. Profit/Emp. + 0.084 Rev./Emp. + 0.004 Ass./Emp. (0.17) (2.33) (8.22) (1.20) R2 = 89.7 percent, F statistic = 75.48 B.1. Interpret these results. B.2. Is profit per employee more sensitive to industry-specific or firm-specific factors for this sample of giant corporations? B.3. Building the Regression and Linearity Model for this case by using the Excel program?