MBA Assignment of SMU : Question-1 from MB 0028

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Now, I have decided to change something in this books reviews blog and I want to share an assignment review from a blog of SMU MBA assignment. Assignment is also a aspect of books review that is why I have decided to share one of the reviews from an assignment blog. Let’s read below and suggests your opinions if you like:

"Production and operations Management

Question: 1. Explain the various automated system for transform of materials in the production plant? Illustrate your answer by considering on example of an automobile showroom.

Answer: Basically, automation system comes to reduce labour power and time in the production. Here we can see the evolution systems with some examples. The goods requited by society were produces in small quantities by craftsman who would know the need of the community and produced them by their own hands with simple tools. The apprentices or by another craftsman, who would make them to meet the requests made.

The parts and components used to make these machines had to be replaced when they wore making parts so that interchangeability was achieved made setting up standards and specifications important for meeting

The craftsmen gave way to engineers, workers, superiors and inspectors. Division of labour became necessary to achieve efficiencies and the jabs that became specialized. Competition has necessitated improved quality, reduced sates and better services to the customer.

Automation systems cost huge sums of money and therefore a deep analysis of the various factors has to be done. For services, automation usually means labour saving devices in education, long distance learning technology helps in supplementing class room instruction. The facilitating goods that are used are web site and videos.

Automation in the banking sector has resulted in ATMs which same the banks a huge amount customer satisfaction. Automation is ideas when the service provided or the product manufactured is highly standardized.

Some extent of automation can be designed even with customization i. e. product or service a meant to produce or deliver low volume specific to a requirement. The advantages of automation is it has low variability and will be more consistent on a repetitive basis

The machines have sensing and control devices that enable them to operate automobile. The simplest of them called machine attachments replace human effort. They guide, locate, move and achieve revise position by means of came, optical sensing. Load sensing mechanisms and activate the controls to remove human intention.

Robots are higher in the order of automation as they perform a variety of tasks. They are designed to move movements according to programmers written into the computer that inside them.

With the help of automation, inspection of component can be done 100% ensures highest quality identification and movement of materials are helped by bar codes which are read and fed into the system far monitoring quantity, location, movement etc. They help the automated systems to start information and provide information for effecting any changes necessary. To make effective use of automated machines, we need to have the movement of materials from and to different time as stores, automated, Automated storage and Retrieval systems- ASRS- receive orders for materials from anywhere in the production area, collect materials in the works times. Computers and information systems are used for placing orders for matters, give commands adjust inventory records which show the location and quantity of materials needed.

Automated guided vehicle systems- AGVS – are pallet trucks and unit load carriers follow embedded guide wires or paint strips to destinations as programmed.

In an automobile showroom we can see all the work automatically with latest machine.

Note: all the answer has been taken by SMU book of MB 0028 for this assignment."

Source Via :Question-1 – Assignment-1 of SMU – MBA Book of MB 0028

MBA book Reviews from Conflict Management

Thursday, December 11, 2008

If you want to know decent reviews on conflict management then you need to visit MBA blog which will tell you about that. Recently, I knew to read that about conflict management from here:

"Best examples of conflict are conflict between management and employees. Conflict a serious problem in any organization if the problem not handle properly.

Conflict Management Objectives from the MBA Book

Definition of Conflict

Outcome of Conflict

Forms of Conflict

Conflict Management Strategies

Stress

Causes of Stress

Stress Management

Crisis of Management

About the conflict in an organization there are many definitions by some academician. At 1st we will give some light on Gray and Starke’s theory of conflict management, “Conflict is behaviour by a person or group that is purposely designed to inhibit the attainment of goals by another person or group. This ‘purposeful inhibition may be active or passive.”

According to K. W. Thomas conflict is, “processes that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected or is about to negatively affect, something the first party cares about.”

At last I give one more definition about conflict by B. Kabanoff, “Conflict refers to a disagreement, opposition, or struggle between two or more individuals or groups. It results from incompatible influence attempts between and within individuals, groups or organizations.”

In the age of globalization company has conflicts in terms of people personality, values, attitudes, perceptions, languages, cultures and national backgrounds.

Now, we will discuss about outcomes of conflicts. Outcome of conflicts is the results of conflicts. Conflicts has two consequences – Positive and Negative.

Positive consequences of conflicts are:

Leads to new ideas

Stimulates Creativity

Motivates changes

Promotes Organizational vitality

Helps Individual and Groups

Indicate Problems

Negative consequences of conflicts are:

Diverts energy from work

Wastes of resources

Creates negative climate

Breaks down group cohesion

Increase hostility and aggressive behaviours

Conflicts are divided into two parts – Functional Conflict and Dysfunctional conflict.

Functional conflicts support the goals of the group and improve its performance while dysfunctional conflict hinders the group performance.

In this chapter now we have to discuss about sources of organizational conflict. These are:

Line and Staff Competition

Organization-Individual Disagreements

Overlapping Responsibilities

Functional Interdependence

Personality Clashes

Disagreement over Goals

Flow of Work

Conflict can be divide into two forms also – Intra-Individual or Interpersonal conflict. An Individual can get experience about cognitive conflict, affective conflict, inter-role conflict, intra-role conflict and personal-role conflict.

Strategies of Conflict Management

In the strategies of conflict management we can include – avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromising and collaborating which is style of management.

Negotiation

In this chapter we have to study about negotiation also. Negotiation is a process by which we can define conflict what they are willing to give and accept in return. Negotiation has been including in this chapter because it is a part of conflict management. Negotiation process solves management conflicts towards the employees.

There can be some negotiation steps:

Preparation

Evaluation of Alternatives

Identifying Interests

Bargains

In every country there are different cultural differences in negotiation. Like Japanese give the high importance of emotional sensitivity while for North American it has no high value.

In the negotiation there are two major approaches – Distributive Bargaining and Integrative Negotiation.

In today world there are more value of third-party negotiators who known as – mediator, arbitrator, consultant, inquisitor and delegator or avoider.

Stress

Stress is exceeding complex. Here I will give some definition which has been proposed by theoreticians. According to J. C quick and J. D Quick, “Stress, or the stress response, is the unconscious preparation to fight or flee a person experiences when faced with any demand.”

Another definition from Mikhail is also very important, “Stress refers to a psychological and physiological state that result when certain features of an individual’s environment challenge that person, creating an actual or perceived imbalance between demand and capability to adjust that results in a non-specific response.”

I think stress creates from our environmental situation. Stress affects normally our health.

The causes of stress

After having study the definition of stress we need to know about causes of stress. In the causes of stress we can introduce conflict.

There is some cause of stress:

Inner conflicts

Perceptual influences

Thresholds of stress

Motivational level

Stress value can be measured by a rating scale. These are:

If a person feels about the spouse death its mean value is 100. Like that when a person gets notice of divorce then stress value mean of 73 scales.

In this chapter we will study about two type of behaviour pattern – A and B.

In pattern of “A” behaviour we see these:

Impatience

Aggressiveness

Hostility

Restlessness

Devotion to work

Feeling of Intense time Pressure

Attempts to several things at once

In the type of “B” behaviour pattern we can summarize it as:

Never suffer from a sense of time urgency

Feel no need to display any achievement

Play for fun

To manage stress we can follow some level which can be:

Individual Level

Organisation Level

Crisis Management

It is the last chapter of conflict management. Crisis management is an issue in business world. It is a big issue for now. We can categories crisis management.

Types of Crisis

Natural Disaster

Environmental disaster

Industrial accident

Shortfall in demand

At last, we can say conflict can be a serious problem for a company or organisatioin."

Online Book Stores: For Financial Solutions

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The world of books is like a paradise for the readers, empowering them with a sound knowledge base of the existing society. Moreover, with the emergence of online book stores the buyer is given the luxury to select the book of his/her choice without spending much time.

Reading cultivates a healthy habit of finding peace in the pages of books. An avid reader will pick up any book and make the most out of his/her reading session. The knowledge and awareness gained by reading a book can be stored for a lifetime. The love of books can be driven by a zeal to learn about the different facets of society and its evolution in the changing times. Passionate readers have a tendency to keep their reading an ongoing process and the completion of one book initiates the search for yet another entertaining one for debt consolidation.

However, students, housewives and professional sometimes do not find the time to buy themselves the latest books due to time constraints and other responsibilities. Though they are able to find time for leisure reading, however, taking out time for book buying sometimes appears to be a difficult task. But, times have changed and the success of internet is a gift to human kind. The internet serves as convenient platform for all kinds of tasks and one can practically complete even menial duties sitting within the four walls of their room. Internet is responsible for providing substantial comfort to its users by enabling them to save their time and energy.

So for all those who do not get the time to fetch their favourite books, the online book store will be a true blessing in disguise. Internet offers relevant information on some of the sensational bestsellers and classics. Depend on these online bookstores to help you find your favourite author and his/her latest arrival. The online book stores give the reader the freedom to buy books just at the click of a button. Moreover, the reader can also read reviews of newly released books which enables him/her to make an informed decision before placing an order for it. Readers no longer have to frantically search for their favourite book as the internet-oriented store categorise the stock to add convenience to the searching process.

The buyer would be required to click on the desired section which is listed and find the book for which he/she is searching. The stores do not have a rigid mode of payment and the buyer can easily buy a book fitting his budgetary demands. These stores will put a smile on the face of the buyer as they offer gift hampers, discounts and deals. The books will be courteously delivered at home once the buyer has placed an order for the books. So, without putting much effort and energy a reader can successfully lay his/her hands on his/her coveted book be it old or new, fiction or non-fiction, romantic or comedy, cheap or expensive or debt consolidation reviews. The online book stores are a haven of knowledge and information.

“Line of Control” Book Review

Monday, November 3, 2008

The book “Line of Control” has been written by Mainak Dhar and published by Vitasta Publisher. You can buy it in 295 INR. The book has got rating 3. The writer is professional and has written about 6 novel already. You can say Line of Control is the seventh novel of Mainak Dhar.

Line of Control is on the future of human being. It describe all thing about 2011. It deals the two country wars. It is like a Hindi movie. The writer has thought if the India and Pakistan comes for war and a nuclear showdown appears there then what will be after that.

In the review of Line of Control HT writes, “By placing readers in the thick of action, similar to the circumstances that we find ourselves in today, Dhar has actually managed to find a connect that cannot be missed easily. The fact that chara- cters, incidents and the reasons behind them, in the story are so contemporary makes it a good read for those wanting to know the truth about LoC.”

Hindustan times writes the review on the book as A fictional reality which is title of the review. It is not like artistic. The novel has been written by like a history professor and that history professor describe that things which is not currently with us.

I don't think book reviews essence is valuable in the scene of recent situations. The writers thought is over the nationalities.

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