AA

Chapter 10&12 Foundation of Business

Class Announcements and Overview

  • Instructor welcomes students and notes the time (12:20).

  • Reminder of fall break: No class this Friday.

  • Leadership Board update on Quiz Pop-up initiative:

    • Team 9 (T Con) ranked 9th out of over 250 teams.

    • Team 6 ranked around 13th or 14th.

    • The leading team is Learning Team 7/Professor Waters’ class with $315 raised.

  • Class objectives:

    • Finish Chapter 10 (Operations Management).

    • Progress on Chapter 12 (Human Resource Management).

Quiz Announcement

  • An upcoming quiz will cover Chapters 6-12, giving students a day and a half to complete it before its due at midnight tomorrow.

  • Details of the quiz:

    • Open notes, open book, but students cannot use access to the internet or outside help.

    • Quiz contains 10 questions, with 1-2 questions from each relevant chapter and a cumulative section from Chapters 1-12.

Review of Site Selection

  • Discusses the importance of locations for companies regarding employee quality of life, low commute times, safety, and proximity to suppliers/customers.

    • Specific example of Amazon's HQ2 selection process: chose Arlington, VA due to access to talent pools (Virginia Tech) and proximity to Capitol Hill, which is important for lobbying related to tech regulations.

Operations Management (Chapter 10)

Understanding Capacity Planning

  • Companies must perform capacity planning due to limited resources, which include time, equipment, and labor.

    • Forecasting is crucial: it involves predicting future sales based on historical performance and market trends.

    • Importance: Helps in avoiding over-production of unsellable items.

  • Example: Toyota’s production planning for specific colors/models of vehicles based on demand forecasts.

Critical Path in Project Management

  • Defines Critical Path:

    • The sequence of dependent tasks that determine the minimum completion time for a project.

    • Example: Delay with the airplane engine in Goodwin Hall construction delayed project completion.

  • Discusses emphasis on mitigation planning to avoid delays (e.g., expediting delivery).

Purchasing and Supplier Selection

  • Purchasing (Procurement) defined as getting the needed raw materials and components.

  • Importance of supplier selection: reliability, ethical practices, payment terms, not just cost.

    • Companies often consider not just price, but total cost and proximity to customers.

Inventory Control Methods

  • Just In Time (JIT) Production: Components received just as they are needed in the production process.

    • Example: Volvo’s operation with heavy trucks minimizes excess inventory.

  • Material Requirements Planning (MRP): Predictive analysis tool that uses sales forecasts to manage raw materials inventory needs over time.

Project Management Tools

  • Gantt Chart: Visualizes a project’s timeline, status, and task dependencies.

  • PERT Chart: Focuses on critical path activities that consume the most time; identifies tasks necessary for project completion.

Quality Management

  • Total Quality Management (TQM): Focus on continuous improvement, utilizing employee and customer input for quality enhancements.

  • Six Sigma: Targets a defect rate of 3.4 per million opportunities to ensure high quality (an almost negligible error rate).

Human Resource Management (Chapter 12)

Human Resource Roles

  • HR management is key for employee supervision, performance improvement, coaching, and mentoring.

  • Importance: All individuals in business will interact with HR practices.

  • Shift in HR's organizational role to sit at the executive level for strategic decision-making.

    • Emergence of HR roles due to the direct impact of human capital on organizational costs (e.g., turnover).

  • Legal aspect of HR: Ensures regulations and compliance with laws like EEOC, protecting fair hiring practices.

Employee Retention Strategies

  • Importance of retention for reducing training and recruitment costs.

  • HR conducts job analysis to identify skill gaps and analysis of requirements of employees to meet organizational goals.

    • Produces two key documents: Job Description and Job Specification.

Hiring Processes Overview

  • Methods of finding candidates: job fairs, online postings, referrals, etc.

  • Selection process includes references and background checks, including financial checks in some cases.

  • Internal vs. External hiring strategies and the pros/cons of each.

Training and Professional Development

  • Importance of thorough orientation and continuous employee development to foster growth and retention.

  • Mention of company training centers like Deloitte University as vital to employee integration and company culture.

  • Emphasis on diversity and how it brings valuable perspectives in workforce demographics.

Closing Remarks

  • Discussion concludes with insights on employee retention beyond compensation, suggesting focus on culture and managerial relationships.

  • Encouragement to reflect on how firms can better support and retain their workforce without relying solely on monetary incentives.