Question 1. You have been promoted from being an effective manager in one department (finance) to be the manager in another department (manufacturing). Production is low, and has declined in recent months. That is why you got the job. The manager you are replacing did not work with his group to do much work with respect to production rates, he focused on placing systems for doing things right with respect to avoiding human errors, but he was not focusing on doing the right things when it related to maintaining high production rates which was the critical outcome from a manufacturing standpoint. Your supervisors are not performing as required, overtime costs are increasing, you have equipments that are down with mechanical problems, and your metric system is not giving the right visibility for you to have the right information for decision making. Answer the following:
i) Was the manager that you replaced efficient or effective?
ii) Do you foresee any issues with your change from finance to manufacturing, could you be as effective in your new role, is your management ability universal?
iii) Based on the presented case study, evaluate your resources as a manager, list the 4 manager’s resources and recommend how to improve each based on the issues presented.
iv) Which of the management skills will you apply to turn around the current situation as a manufacturing manager, also based on your previous financial background what management skill will you need to improve or further develop?
Question 2. Answer the following questions:
i) List and describe the 6 steps of the decision making model. For what type of decisions would you use the decision making model, why?
ii) Indicate the main differences between Strategic and Operational Planning, include and list examples and include the main components/elements of each.