Consulted Magna with Recommendations Essay Example for Free

Consulted Magna with Recommendations Essay Magna International Inc. (Magna) is a Canadian car and light trucks parts maker, who design, develop and manufacture automotive systems, assemblies, modules and components, as well as engineers and assembles complete vehicles, primarily for sale to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Magna operates in three geographical regions: North America, Europe, and the rest of the world (mainly Asia, South America and Africa), making Magna an international company. We have investigated Magna and identified two key issues they are currently facing. Firstly, Magna is suffering Quality Control problems in their divisions, such as Magna Powertrain, Magna Steyr, Magna Closures, Magna Car Top Systems, etc. The current method of dealing with problems is a weak matrix structure. However, we recommend two alternatives that will increase Magnas efficiency. Our first recommendation is to create a Dedicated Team. Our second recommendation is to enhance the existing Matrix Structure, by making it stronger. We illustrate numerous strengths and weaknesses for each recommendation. The second issue Magna is dealing with is the increased pressure to unionize their employees. To a degree, this matter seems unavoidable. We simply recommend Magana create a Managements Rights Clause and/or Management Prerogatives Rights in order to protect their rights and clarify various aspects of employment rights from the beginning. Therefore, Magna needs to assess these alternatives from their internal perspective. As a consulting agency, we can only suggest alternatives that would suit the organization and improve their current drawbacks. Introduction Magna International Inc. (Magna) is a Canadian car parts maker and supplier to a wide variety of automakers throughout the world. The systems Magna provides are major components in the final assembly of cars, for GM, Ford, Chrysler, Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, Honda, Porsche, Volkswagen, along with others. We have identified two issues with Magna, for which we have derived several alternatives. One issue is Quality Control (QC) in Magnas systems, which is due to organizational structure when dealing with QC. Another issue that Magna is currently experiencing is the increasing pressures to unionize their employees. Magnas current QC procedure will be discussed, followed by an analysis of Magnas two key issues we have identified including alternatives that we propose. Current Quality Control Process In order to properly asses the current situation with the QC processes an employee of Magna directly involved with such issues was interviewed. The company is organized in a number of independent divisions that are system/product oriented, for example Vision System, Powertrain System, Electronic System, etc. Each of these divisions is involved in a final system assembly stage and supplying systems to the car and light truck manufacturers. Each division has its own chain of suppliers and sub-contractors to supply parts, to make adjustments or process them, and to perform primary assembly. The final assembly of the system is performed at one of the Magna division plants (Appendix A). The cross functional team (CFT) is comprised of representatives from the functional departments. These representatives are gathered from departments, such as Logistics, QC, Materials, Production, Accounting and Purchasing (Appendix B). They are assigned to the team, as CFT members, in order to deal with a specific problem at hand. The CFT leader only has authority to gather information on the QC problems, workout possible solutions to implement with the respective cost associated with these solutions. The solutions are then conveyed to the Chief Operations Officer (COO) for consideration, decision and implementation. Once the problem is resolved, CFT members resume to their respective positions and duties. Other factors with regards to QC include financial risk, performance risk as well as problems between business to business relationships. In terms of financial risk, if Magnas quality is not up to par, their clients demand may diminish and will result in lower revenues. Currently, the Big Three (Ford, GM, Chrysler) represent 60% of revenues, therefore it is in Magnas best interest to insure that demand does not diminish for these customers because a ripple affect will occur and Magna will also be affected by a decrease in demand and revenue. Along the same lines, if customers are not satisfied with the parts produced, they will find another supplier. In addition, if defective parts have to be shipped back, it poses a financial risk given that Magna is losing the potential to make a profit from those parts, representing an opportunity cost. Furthermore, there are performance risks associated with QC given that customers may purchase parts that do not function or perform as they are intended to. Moreover, if Magna is supplying dysfunctional parts it will jeopardize the relationship with their customers by diminishing the trust and loyalty that has been established over the many years of their relationship. This may result in an unfavourable image on Magnas part and will create a risk of being replaced by another supplier. As a result Magna may choose to find other companies with higher standards to outsource to and form a strategic partnership with them. To re-establish trust with their customers, they will have to provide superior performance, social ties and specific investments such as training new supplier personnel on how to produce certain parts and establish contractual agreements specifying for example the limit conditions on products and also who will be responsible for losses incurred as a result of faulty products. Thus, with this background knowledge of Magnas QC problem, we suggest two alternatives for Magna, a Dedicated Team Approach and Strong Matrix Team Approach. Alternatives Dedicated Team Magnas current CFT (weak matrix structure) is ineffective because the CFT leader does not possess enough authority to resolve the issue in a timely manner, hence cost effective. In order to achieve successful project completion, one of our recommendations is to implement a Dedicated Team (Appendix C). This structure is preferred when considered solely from the project managers point of view. People and assets are allocated completely to the project for as long as they are needed to complete the project. Furthermore, in a Dedicated Team, the project manager has full line authority over all the resources. This effectively sets up a separate goal-oriented department of the company, which is its own functional department. The project manager still has the problem of managing and integrating other companies and external organizations contributing to the project, but has full mastery over all the people and groups working on the project within his/her company. This goal-oriented structure makes planning, control and general project management simpler and easier than with other forms of organization. There can be much better integration of everyone who is involved in the project and communication between them (formal and informal) is faster, direct and frequent. Teamwork is much easier to develop and therefore creates a higher degree of commitment to the project objectives, especially when the team is permanent. Conflict is likely to be less than other project organization forms and if complications arise it can be solved more easily. Consequently, project teams tend to maximize the probability of completing projects on time, within budget and to specification. Unfortunately, teams are not the most flexible way in which to use company resources. If more than one team exists in the same company, it becomes necessary to increase the numbers of specialists on the payroll because each specialist (or group of specialists) must be allocated fully to each project team for the projects life. It is usually difficult to switch specialists from one project to another to take account of day-to-day fluctuations in workload. Division of labour within functions is therefore more difficult so that a dedicated project team might have to make do with a generalist in a function where a specialist would be preferred. Therefore, although the Dedicated project team (separate divisional form of project organization) enables projects to be managed more effectively than the functional organization and it avoids some of the problems of more complex organizational forms, it can generally be used on larger projects capable of sustaining bigger functionalist groups within the team. The team structure is appropriate, therefore when a company is handling a single important project, or where one project is much more important than the others, it justifies setting up a completely separate company division. In that case, the size of the project and the volume of the work should be great enough to provide full time activity for each of the functional specialists or groups assigned to the project. Dedicated project teams cannot be used when a company is handling several relatively small projects simultaneously on a continuous basis because they would splinter up the function resources. This splintering inhibits the transfer of personnel between projects according to demand and reduces the number of projects that a company can handle for a given number of staff. Strong Matrix Team One of the reasons that Magna is experiencing problems with effectively dealing with its QC problems has to do with its organizational structure. Magna currently has in place a weak matrix system which creates problems with its reporting dimensions. The current belief is that in order to get things done in the organization there has to be a dual-reporting structure, in which one person is assigned to two bosses. With regard to the QC procedure Magna currently has in place, the CFT leader that has no real authority or decision making power over the problems that arise. The CFT leaders duty is simply to gather information, analyze the problem, provide solutions, and report all this to the COO. The COO discusses this information with the board of directors who decide as a whole which option to choose and then vertically pass down the information to the CFT leader. This process exerts a lot of time and every hour of idle production costs the company millions of dollars. Another issue with the current matrix structure is that employees that are part of this CFT are having a difficult time dealing with this vertical chain of authority; they have to deal with their functional manager as well as their team leader. This usually results in the CRT leaders requests being left out of the equation.

Gothic Elements in A Curtain of Green and Death of a Traveling Salesma

Gothic Elements in A Curtain of Green and Death of a Traveling Salesman In fiction, Gothicism is defined as a style that emphasizes the grotesque, mysterious, and desolate. Eudora Welty makes frequent use of the grotesque in her work, often pairing it with elements of mystery, as in "Keela, The Outcast Indian Maiden." However, she usually deals with desolation as a separate element, as in "Death of A Traveling Salesman," in which the focus is placed on the lonely, fruitless existence of R.J. Bowman. One early reviewer of A Curtain of Green, in which "Keela, The Outcast Indian Maiden" appears, wrote that Welty was "preoccupied with the demented, the deformed, the queer, [and] the highly spiced" (Vande Kieft 67). Though the presence of these elements is pronounced, the reviewer has failed to look past these devices to see Welty's purpose. Welty's focus is never centered around the grotesque itself; rather she focuses on her characters' reactions to it and the contrast it creates. "She does not try mystically to transform or anonymously to interpret," she me...

European Films & An Analysis Essay

Films are products of culture. It is a culture woven into a piece of art. Films are like mirrors reflecting certain cultures, and these cultures in turn, are also affected back by these films in which they relate to. In fact, film is considered as one great type of art because of its effectiveness in influencing its audience or film viewers. It is therefore very important to be careful of what should be shown to the viewers though films because of the possible effects that it can do to the public, a social entity that is reemerging from the film with a well-defined historical and contemporary roles and functions. This public is where the film audiences also came from and, audience, is the group where the film is appealing to, influencing them, their thoughts, their ideas and their beliefs as they see their own culture unfolds before them in front of the screen through the motion pictures. It is actually difficult to visualize an instituted and strengthened public/national identity without reinforcement between or among those who are sharing this national identity. The role of films therefore is to relay the information back to those individuals with shared identity, values, culture and many other things in â€Å"their sense of common cultural memory or mutual belonging†1 according to David Forgacs, stated in the book of Ricci. With this high sensibility to the public, more often than not, governments take some, or even much, precautions before allowing some release of films by regulating them or, sometimes, governments take advantage of the films to promote their national goals through the encouragement of some themes in them in exchange to some benefits and privileges given to filmmakers. II. Major European Nations and Their Films It is important to understand that films are generally regulated. Some institutions located in a country or region into where the film is based or created, or the culture of that region or area where the film relates to, must also be considered in the creation of that certain film. Films must also be paralleled or must be aligned with the whims of the regulatory bodies controlling them, or else they cannot be approved for public release and viewing. At present day, these regulations are apparent to some directives given by governing bodies such as the European Union (EU) in European countries. Some of the directive’s provision includes statement such as: †broadcasters reserve for European works the majority proportion of their transmission time†2. This is the general directive. Each country however has their respective ways of regulating and directing their own film industries as well as the films that are to be shown in their respective territories, both in the past and presently. In English film industry in the early eightees, before Thatcher’s intervention, it â€Å"had been generally expected that a Labour government would increase state support for film in recognition of its cultural, and not just commercial, worth† 3 (Hill 1996, 101) Another film industry that can be seen as controlled, making the art as a means to encourage national goals, is seen in the French national film industry where there are quotas as to the percentage of European and American/foreign films that may be shown to the public, and this is claimed to be in accordance with cultural preservation of European values. In Italy however, films are freer and without so much restrictions imposed upon their approval and release to the public. In the early 1920’s Soviet era, foreign films were even utilized for the purpose of its own â€Å"industry’s recovery†. 4 The following section focuses on major European nations and their national film forms in depth analyses in their institutional context. This includes the English, French and Italian film industries among others. III. Selected European Films in Their Institutional Context As the Second World War approached, it was believed that the film productions in European areas were random. That was history. Today, aside from the umbrella rules of the recent EU Directive, each nation, especially the greater ones, have their own sets of rules and policies, as well as style and culture in their respective film industries. The following are major European countries/areas and how their respective film industries are with respect to institutional context/

Critical Thinking . Critical Thinking Is A Major Component

Critical Thinking Critical thinking is a major component of the nursing process. Critical thinking is define as, â€Å"that mode of thinking—about any subject, content, or problem—in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them† (Paul and Eder, 2012). Nurses who critically think about their patients have a better chance of solving the patient’s problems quickly and successfully. Critically thinking nurses are engaged, â€Å"in a process of constant evaluation, redirection, improvement, and increased efficiency (Black, 2014, p. 154). A nurse must ask herself questions and review the details after her interaction with†¦show more content†¦The outcome started out using the 5-point scale as a 2/5. S.M.’s stress keeps increasing, so the coping mechanisms that she uses are not clearly working. S.M. will have to express her feelings, c oncerns, identify resources, and use problem solving method. This will to be reflective, she will reflect on the stressors and her coping mechanisms used and see how they do not work. S.M. will have to take some private time and really ponder upon all her coping mechanisms and list out why they do not work, which will help her gain a better understanding of her issue. Being reflective, problem solving, and identifying resources will help her in the future if problems were to arise. S.M. and I will work together to form new coping mechanism and stress management techniques, which will help broaden her knowledge on health. After the nursing intervention, the NOC 5-point scale score is 4/5. S.M. has identifies the ineffectiveness of their coping mechanism/strategies, but still has a little hard time eliminating them from her life. She says this her learned behavior, but stated that she will try to adopt the new strategies taught to her. A long term goal for S.M. was that she will have reduce her stress level through the use of health promoting behaviors and stress management strategies within two weeks. The current strategies S.M. uses are ineffective. S.M. needs to learn new strategies that will help her effectively reduce stress.Show MoreRelatedThe Components Of Critical Thinking1330 Words   |  6 Pages According to The Critical Thinking Community website, critical thinking is defined as the ability to consider and to analyze information in an unbiased manner in order to make decisions and judgments (2013). Critical thinking is important. Blooms Taxonomy breaks critical thinking as Evaluation Synthesis Analysis Application, Comprehension and Knowledge. 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