SCENARIO 1-5 Sheena Black, Manager of Operations at New Age Manufacturing and Manufacturing

question 71

Multiple Choice

SCENARIO 1-5
Sheena Black, manager of operations at New Age Manufacturing and Services Inc., is facing new and different challenges in attempting to maintain the company’s manufacturing operations profitably, while at the same time keeping costs down and employees satisfied with their jobs. Over the years, Sheena has developed a somewhat different style of leadership in that she has become a “walk-about” manager—observing and assisting employees and other managers as necessary. She has also adopted a series of contingency plans to provide for problem solving for unforeseen circumstances which have a tendency to occur at inopportune times.
Sheena Black is keenly aware that overall organizational function and her ability to provide leadership and effective decision making is dependent upon understanding the various disciplines that have contributed to the field of organizational behaviour. She knows that the next several years will require some major changes, not only in the technology used by the company but also in the establishment of programs and initiatives to assist other managers and employees in overcoming workplace challenges. Sheena has identified the following priorities she will need to address:
1) empowering employees to enable them to assume greater responsibility and share decision making;
2) facilitating an improved climate of quality and excellence to challenge competitors in the marketplace;
3) developing a new style of leadership and management that will value diversity and respect individuals in a supportive type of environment; and carefully examining the working conditions and devising strategies to create better job satisfaction and keep employee loyalty.
Sheena is also aware that training must become a major focus so that employees can develop new skills and managers can learn new ways of dealing with the problems of combining technology and human effort.

-Referring to SCENARIO 1-5,as Sheena pursued her challenge of developing a practical approach to the identified priorities,her frustration began to increase.She soon discovered that the whole phenomena of organizational commitment meant different things to different people.This was contrary to her understanding of organizational commitment,which was

• A)profitability is the single most important factor that will generate organizational commitment because employees will be loyal to a profitable company.
• B)company culture is the only factor that will build loyal employees.
• C)traditional ways and means of generating organizational commitment have worked in the past and so will continue to be successful.
• D)emotional attachment of employees and managers results in identification and involvement with the company.
• E)hiring only individuals who follow company culture without questioning is most productive.

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Definitions:

Direct Labor Workers

Direct Labor Workers are employees who are directly involved in the production of goods or services, whose wages are considered part of the direct costs of production.

Fixed Overhead

Costs that do not change with the level of production or sales, such as salaries, rent, and insurance, which are necessary for the operation but do not vary with the volume of output.

Direct Labor-Hours

A measure of the labor directly involved in the production of goods, often used in calculating standard costs and variances.

Property, Plant, and Equipment

Long-term tangible assets that are used in the normal operations of a business, such as land, buildings, and equipment.