Jim Is the Daytime Supervisor for an Automobile Assembly Line

question 47

Multiple Choice

Jim is the daytime supervisor for an automobile assembly line. He supervises forty-five people who perform relatively routine jobs that require minimal training. The shop is unionized, so Jim has little latitude when it comes to dismissing poor performers. However, he does have the authority to transfer employees and has been known to reassign poor performers to less desirable jobs on the assembly line. Jim has a reputation for only transferring employees with just cause, and generally is viewed as a fair supervisor by his employees. Although he would like greater autonomy to determine salaries, Jim generally divides bonuses and raises equally among his employees. To do otherwise would likely create conflict with union members and representatives. According to Fiedler's Contingency Model, how would you characterize the level of situational control in these circumstances?

• A)Negligible
• B)Low
• C)Moderate
• D)High
• E)Absolute

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Definitions:

Profit Margin

A financial metric expressing the percentage of revenue that remains as profit after all expenses are deducted from gross sales.

Target Cost

The desired cost of producing a product, determined by subtracting a desired profit margin from a competitive market price, aimed at ensuring market competitiveness.

Traditional Costing Systems

Costing methods that assign manufacturing overhead to products based on a predetermined overhead rate, often using direct labor hours as the allocation base.

Design Costs

Expenses associated with the process of creating and developing a plan or specification for the production of objects or systems.