Business Finance Homework Help

Part A(1)

Dr. Heron, E. 

MGT-412-OL01

June 24, 2021

“Change Management”

(What has your experience been with change management? Under what circumstances can change management affect professional development?)

“A central idea of all change management theories is that no change ever happens in isolation and in one way or another, change impacts the whole organization and all of the people in it” (The four principles of change management, n.d., para. 5). For example, change management happened every time I was assigned to a new chain of command when I was on active duty in the US Navy or when a new captain was designated to a command I was currently assigned to. Therefore adjusting to change was not a problem for me since not all military commands are run the same way. My main focus was to take away all the positive and negative experiences throughout my military career and grow from them. “Managers look at an initiative from his or her viewpoint and, based on personal experience, focuses on different success factors” (Sirkin et al., 2015, para. 2).

“External pressure for change comes from several sources, including technological advances, the introduction or removal of government regulations, changes in societal values, shifting political dynamics, changing demographics, and growing international interdependency” (Hitt et al., 2018, pg. 473). I recall a captain who was let go from his position due to him not keeping up with recent changes in engine programs our Navy Ship had just gone through, one of our engines was out of service for weeks, meaning we were not deployment ready. His arrival to the ship I was stationed in was short-lived; however, in the short time, our new captain was an example to us all that technological advances can be a reason for the pressured change.

References

Hitt, M. A., Miller, C. C., & Colella, A. (2018). Organization Behavior (5th ed.). Wiley. Print.

Sirkin, H. L., Keenan, P., & Jackson, A. (2015, July 13). The hard side of change management. Retrieved June 25, 2021, from https://hbr.org/2005/10/the-hard-side-of-change-ma…

The four principles of change management. (n.d.). Retrieved June 25, 2021, from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_87.htm.

Part A(2)

Dr. Elizabeth Heron

MGT-412-OL01

June 22nd, 2021

“Change Management”

           When thinking of my experience with change management, two areas of this weeks reading stuck out to me. The first area is changes in top management. Since I turned 18, I have been in the Air Force and every two years we receive a new squadron commander. This trend continues up the chain of command to top level Air Force leadership. During my time in the Air Force, we have had four different members serve in the position of Chief of Staff of The Air Force (Air Force Chiefs of Staff, 2021). Each Chief of Staff of the Air Force had their own set of priorities that changed the way the rest of the Air Force operated. Each leader brought a unique perspective on how to accomplish the Air Force’s mission as described in the changes in top management section of the book (Hitt, Miller, Colella, & Triana, 2018). The second area I have experienced change management is in changes in government regulations and other institutions. During my time working in contracting squadrons, we followed the rules set by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). This regulation was updated based on other laws or governmental programs that have been implemented. It is important to keep track of all of these changes to ensure contracts are written in a way that follows laws and regulations. There are different ways to keep up to date including a website called acquisition.gov. This website has an alert section that posts the most recent acquisition updates (FAR, 2021). An example of one of these changes occurred when the Small Business Administration (SBA) instituted the Woman-Owned Small Business contracting rule. This rule was put in place in 2011 which prompted additional FAR changes in 2012 (Clements, 2011).

           Our textbook states that training is a factor in organizational development which is a part of change management. Training can increase collaboration skills, interpersonal skills, and listening skills in professionals within an organization (Hitt, Miller, Colella, & Triana, 2018). An article written on roberthalf.com lists six different ways training aids in professional development. One that particularly stuck out to me was that of making one’s company more appealing. By taking care of employees and developing them an employer can create a good reputation that will attract additional quality employees to work for the company (Half, 2017)

References

Air Force Chiefs of Staff. Air Force Historical Support Division > History > Air Force Chiefs of Staff. (2021). https://www.afhistory.af.mil/History/Air-Force-Chiefs-of-Staff/.

Clements, T. (2011, February 1). SBA Announces Contracting Program For Women-Owned Small Businesses: The U.S. Small Business Administration. Small Business Administration. https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-newsroom/press-releases-media-advisories/sba-announces-contracting-program-women-owned-small-businesses.

FAR. FAR Alert Notice (FAN). (2021). https://www.acquisition.gov/fan_list.

Half, R. (2017, February 23). Professional Development Training: A Win for the Entire Team. How Professional Development Training Benefits Your Company | Robert Half. https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/management-tips/professional-development-training-a-win-for-the-entire-team.

Hitt, M. A., Miller, C. C., Colella, A., & Triana, M. D. (2018). Organizational behaviour (5th ed.). Hoboken: Wiley

Part B(1)

Quality control (QC) is a process or group of processes that aim to ensure that a product or service follows through to deliver results based on a defined set of quality criteria. (Hayes, 2021) At the root of the QC, clearly defined objectives and performance benchmarks determine whether or not QC is maintained.  While QC is important, it should not be the sole focus of any business. Proper employee training, a superior customer experience, and the bottom line should also be taken in to account as well. 

Hayes. A. “What is Quality Control?” Business Insider, May 12, 2021. 

Part B(2)

Quality control refers to ensuring that a product meets the customer’s specifications. According to our text, it means more than just stronger, more durable, and built heavier. Quality control deals with more than just the final product. For example, factors like performance, reliability, durability, servicing, and features play a part on the whole product. Now besides the product alone, our book talks about the accompanying services. This involves the behind the scenes task of constant improvement. Additionally monitoring  and establishing high standards is apart of constant quality control not involved directly to the product. For example, in insurance ensuring the product is the best for the client is good quality control but the behind the scenes of keeping my appointments up to date my s apart of it as well.