Recent orders
Continuous Improvement
Pat Lewis has been a senior manager at a warehouse store – Zel-loft’s for the past 2 years.
Walking through the store one day he noticed that some of the departments needed to be
straightened, some need to be reorganized, and some are running very well. And then he sees
something he shouldn’t. There are unopened cases of products blocking the aisle, creating
commotion, and looking very unprofessional. There is also a very long line in the electronics
department. Pat decides to talk to Jennifer, the sales clerk.
Pat said “Jennifer, what is the hold up here”? Jennifer replied “I am waiting for our assistant
manager to arrive with the key to the electronics cabinet. A customer wants to look at one of the
cameras in the cabinet. She has been waiting for half an hour for me to help her. Then I have to
ring up the 4 customers that are waiting in line to make purchases.” Pat interrupted her “OK,
Jennifer, I can help out for awhile”. And he did.
Two hours later Pat exited the electronics department and he was not happy. This was no way
for a senior store manager to spend an afternoon. There were many other things that needed his
attention. There must be a logical way to solve the problems he had seen in electronics. As he
walked to his office, he wrote down the things he had seen:
Customers pay for their purchase in the electronics department and then have to walk through
the regular checkout lines to leave the store.
It takes an average of 10 minutes for the assistant manager to come to the electronics
department to bring the key to the electronics cabinet.
Because of cost concerns, the store has no money to hire another manager or assistant
manager.
Store clerks must monitor the locked cabinets and stay with a customer who wants to view an
item from the cabinet.
The average time a customer spends in electronics to shop and make a purchase is 40 minutes
– way too long. Many customers leave because they cannot wait that long.
Please answer the following three questions.
In your paper, help Pat come up with solutions to each of the problems in the Zel-loft store.
Create a diagram or chart of the shopping and buying process from the customer’s point of view
and identify areas for improvement. If small improvements will not fix the problem, be innovative
in your solution. (By the way, it may help to visit a department store and observe the process
there – but that is not required.)
What can Pat do to create a culture of continuous improvement at Zel-loft?
Your paper should be 500 words long (2-3 pages) and have at least one IWG formatted
reference
Perform an organizational analysis of a company of Amazon
The individual organizational analysis paper should include a maximum 1-page introduction and
a maximum 2-page history / company background. Section 1 covers:
Mission statement; Vision statement; Values; Industry; Economic segment; Political / Legal
segment; Sociocultural segment; Technological segment; Global segment; Industry Environment
Analysis (5 Forces); Competitor Analysis
Organizational Issues and Solutions
Leaders address issues and propose solutions. As a leader, you’ll need to stay on top of events
that may facilitate or hinder productivity. You must create and implement solutions to address
these issues.
In the assignment preparation, you chose an organization, described its organizational issue,
and identified how it hinders organization efficiency. This assignment exposes you to complex
modern organizational challenges. The solutions you devise should reflect your learning and
research of organizational and individual influences in the workplace.
Instructions
The new CEO has selected your consulting firm to provide an analysis of the organizational
efficiency.
Write a 2– 3 page, double-spaced paper in which you will present to the CEO your findings during
your research steps. You must propose strategic solutions in your paper to include the following:
Describe the organization and the issue to resolve:
Provide a brief description of the organization you selected.
Present the organizational issue that adversely affected productivity and that you, the consultant,
will review and resolve.
This information can be summarized from your assignment preparation last week. Make sure to
incorporate any feedback that you received from your instructor.
Analyze current corporate culture:
How has the current corporate culture facilitated the development of the current issue? Research
the organization, dig into the culture, and analyze how it contributed to this issue. Hint: Review
the mission and vision statements as well as the corporate Web site.
Identify areas of weakness:
What are the organization’s areas of weakness as they relate to the issue? Apply your research
on organizational behavior approaches to aspects of corporate culture— such as diversity,
teamwork, and motivational strategies— to help identify the areas of weakness.
Propose solutions:
What organizational practices would you modify? What solutions would you recommend to
management that would help solve the identified weaknesses? As a consultant, you will identify
the suggestions and solutions you would present to the organization’s leadership with regard to modifying current organizational practices to resolve the issue.
References and citations:
Provide at least two quality resources such as the course textbook, a company Web site,
business Web sites (CNBC, Bloomberg, etc.), resources from the Strayer Library, and/or outside
sources. Note: Wikipedia and Web-based blogs do not qualify as credible resources.
You can find in-depth and quality company information using the Nexis Uni database through the
University Online Library.
In-text citations are required when paraphrasing or quoting another source.
Formatting and writing standards:
This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards. For assistance and information,
please refer to the University Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course.
Confidentiality: Since you will be addressing real issues in real organizations in your
assignments, it is important to respect confidentiality. Feel free to use an alias for any company
or individuals you might mention in your assignments. Remember that all discussions about
these organization should only occur within this course and not be shared with people outside
the course.