Universal Distributors Universal Distributors,a Major Retailing and Mail Order Operation,has Been in Been

question 12

Essay

Universal Distributors
Universal Distributors,a major retailing and mail order operation,has been in business for the past 10 years.During that time,the mail order operations have grown from a sideline to represent over 80% of the company's annual sales.Of course,the company has suffered growing pains.There were times when overloaded or faulty computer programs resulted in lost sales,and the scheduling of temporary workers to augment the permanent staff during peak periods has always been a problem.
Peter Ben Ezra,manager of mail order operations,has developed procedures for handling most problems.However,he is still trying to improve the scheduling of temporary workers to take telephone orders from customers.Under the current system,he keeps a permanent staff of 60 employees who handle the basics;the number of temporary workers needed for the next day is determined by Ben Ezra each afternoon based on his estimate of the upcoming telephone volume.
Mr.Ben Ezra has decided to try regression analysis as a way to improve the hiring of temporary workers.By summarizing the daily labor hours into weekly totals for the past year,Ben Ezra was able to determine the number of workers that were used each week.In addition,he listed the number of orders that had been processed each week.After entering the data into a spreadsheet,Ben Ezra ran two regressions.Regression #1 related the total workers (permanent staff plus temporary workers)to the number of orders received,and Regression #2 related only temporary workers to the number of orders received.The output of these analyses is presented below.
Regression Equation: W = a + bT
Where: W = Workers
T = Telephone Orders

Refer to Universal Distributors.Describe at least three ways that Peter Ben Ezra could improve his analysis in order to get better predictions than either of these regression results provides.

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Definitions:

Defense Mechanisms

Psychological strategies used by individuals to cope with reality and maintain self-image by unconsciously denying or distorting reality.

Boundary Roles

Positions in which organizational members are required to interact with members of other organizations or with the public.

Role Overload

A situation in which the demands and expectations placed on an individual or role exceed the capacity to perform, leading to stress or job dissatisfaction.

Everyday Language

The common vernacular or speech pattern used by the general populace for daily communication.