Management Skills Application Exercises

1. Use the tools described in this chapter to write a plan that will help you set goals, plans on how to achieve them (e.g., achieve an A average in all of my core concentration courses and A– in all courses I am taking). Also account for personal time and other activities you are involved in and goals that you have for these, such as keeping physically fit, etc.

2. You are managing a small manufacturing operation that involved the final assembly of Children sippy cups. There are two components to the sippy cup: the cup, a lid, and a straw as well as the box that will hold the product. You have 2 direct reports who you can assign to assemble the product. You also have a dotted-line report with the purchasing agent for the company that procures the components of the product (a dotted-line report is where one employee must work for and report to more than one manager) as well as the boxes and material needed (e.g., plastic that is used on the shrink-wrapping machine) to complete the product for sale. You have been given the following metrics.

   1. You have been given a goal of producing 2,300 units per week.
   2. It takes 1 minute to assemble the sippy cup.
   3. It takes 45 seconds to place the sippy cup in the box and shrink-wrap the product.
   4. It takes 15 seconds to examine the product for meeting quality, and you expect that 99.5% of the products will meet or exceed expectations.
   5. The employees work for 8 hours per day.

   Write up a plan that has achievable goals for your two direct reports and your dotted-line report. Also prepare a memo to your supervisor about how you plan on achieving your goal.

3. You and another student will engage in a role-play exercise. One will be the manager, and one will be an employee who is not happy with the aggressive goals that he has been given. After a 10-minute discussion, you both report on what was resolved, what was not, and how this would affect job satisfaction and performance for the employee.

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