In completing your reading for the week you learned about the benefits and challenges faced in accounting data.  Chapter 21 and 22 introduced you to managerial versus financial accounting and activity based costing (ABC).  ABC, though challenging to implement, can bring a wealth of clarity to the actual costs and performance of the organization.  Unfortunately it’s not easy to implement, support, and once in existence it’s often met with huge amounts of resistance.  Emma knows that some of the accounting information used at CM Tech has the potential to be improved upon.  She wants to pursue improvements in this area in order to support the forward progress of the performance management strategy.  However, she is not an accountant and needs more information before she can make an informed decision and sell the concept to the rest of the team.  She asks you do do some research for her.  

Your research paper for Emma should include the following key elements: 

1. What is the difference between managerial and financial accounting?  Which one involves ABC costing and the inward looking performance measures that Emma is looking for? 
2. What is activity based cost (ABC) and how does it differ from traditional costing methods?
3. If Emma decides to implement ABC what key benefits will it provide and what key challenges will she face?  Be sure to fully support your assertions in all three sections with reasoning, examples, and research.

Your report should outline the key concepts in each area listed above and provide examples as appropriate.  Be sure your report is a minimum of 4 pages, includes an introduction and conclusion paragraph, title page, and references page.  The title and references pages do not count toward the total page count.  The report should be formatted in APA style and be supported by a minimum of three scholarly references.

Since CM Tech is a fictitious company, you may use great liberty in this assignment in creating or imagining the details needed in order to write your report.  

You are the president of XYZ Manufacturing company. You have recently learned about the following issue:

A month ago, the company’s general manager (GM) told one of the line managers to produce an extra 15,000 units of a product so that there would be inventory in stock for the next time the item is ordered. Last week, the GM scolded the line manager for having 15,000 units of the item in stock. The GM told the line manager that producing excess inventory costs the company money and should never be done. The GM then puts the line manager on a performance plan. This is not the first time you have heard about the GM telling an employee to do one thing only to criticize him or her for doing it later.

This employee feels very frustrated by this, but does not want to make a formal complaint because she has seen other employees lose their jobs or get demoted for questioning the GM.

Create an outline that proposes a leadership solution to this issue. The outline should address the following:

• How      the culture of the organization contributed to this issue
• How      the structure of the organization contributed to this issue
• A      plan to change organizational culture while maintaining the current      structure of the organization
• A      coaching plan to help the general manager change this behavior and improve      his leadership skills

Submitting your assignment in APA format means, at a minimum, you will need the following:

• Title      page: Remember the running head. The title      should be in all capitals.
• Length: 5      pages
• Abstract: This      is a summary of your paper, not an introduction. Begin writing in third      person.
• Body: This      begins on the page following the title page and abstract page and must be      double-spaced (be careful not to triple- or quadruple-space between      paragraphs). The typeface should be 12-pt. Times Roman or 12-pt. Courier      in regular black type. Do not use color, bold type, or italics, except as      required for APA-level headings and references. The deliverable length of      the body of your paper for this assignment is 5 pages. In-body academic      citations to support your decisions and analysis are required. A variety      of academic sources is encouraged.
• Reference      page: References that align with your      in-body academic sources are listed on the final page of your paper. The      references must be in APA format using appropriate spacing, hanging      indent, italics, and uppercase and lowercase usage as appropriate for the      type of resource used. Remember, the Reference page is not a bibliography      but a further listing of the abbreviated in-body citations used in the      paper. Every referenced item must have a corresponding in-body citation.

Step 1 – Read the Information Below

We have all worked in a group or team at some point in our careers. A team is brought together to achieve a common goal. The team needs to have members who have complementary skills and who are committed to a common purpose to achieve performance goals. However, teams don’t move immediately toward performing, but instead evolve over time. There are five stages of group and team development:

1. Forming: Getting oriented and getting acquainted. High degree of uncertainty as members as they try to figure out who is in charge.
2. Storming: Personalities start to emerge, along with roles and conflicts within the group.
3. Norming: In the third stage conflicts are resolved, relationships developed, harmony and unity surfaces.
4. Performing: The members concentrate on solving problems and completing the assigned task.
5. Adjourning: Members prepare to disband. Some members may be reassigned, terminated from the group or the group is resolved.

Think about a time when you joined a new group—it could be at work, in a family setting or with a social group.

Step 2 – Post a Response

Respond to the following:

• Which of the five stages was the most challenging for the group to work through, and why?
• How might you have helped the group work through that stage differently based upon what you know now about the five stages of group and team development?

CASE 6: THE REGENCY GRAND HOTEL 

By Elizabeth Ho, Gucci Group, under the Supervision of Steven L. McShane, Curtin University (Australia) and University of Victoria (Canada) 

The Regency Grand Hotel is a five-star hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. The hotel was established 15 years ago by a local consortium of investors and has been operated by a Thai general manager throughout this time. The hotel is one of Bangkok’s most prestigious hotels and its 700 employees enjoyed the prestige associated with the hotel. The hotel provides good welfare benefits, above market rate salary, and job security. In addition, a good year-end bonus amounting to 4 months’ salary was rewarded to employees regardless of the hotel’s overall performance during the year. Recently, the Regency was sold to a large American hotel chain that was very keen to expand its operations into Thailand. When the acquisition was announced, the General Manager decided to take early retirement when the hotel changed ownership. The American hotel chain kept all of the Regency employees, although a few were transferred to other positions. 

John Becker, an American with 10 years of management experience with the hotel chain, was appointed as the new General Manager of Regency Palace Hotel. Becker was selected as the new General Manager because of his previous successes in integrating newly acquired hotels in the United States. In most of the previous acquisitions, Becker took over operations with poor profitability and low morale. Becker is a strong believer in empowerment. He expects employees to go beyond guidelines/standards to consider guest needs on a case-to-case basis. That is, employees must be guest-oriented at all times so as to provide excellent customer service. From his U.S. experience, Becker has found that empowerment increases employee motivation, performance, and job satisfaction, all of which contribute to the hotel’s profitability and customer service ratings. Soon after becoming General Manager in Regency Palace, Becker introduced the practice of empowerment so as to replicate the successes he had achieved back home. 

The Regency Grand hotel has been very profitable since it opened 15 years ago. The employees have always worked according to management’s instructions. Their responsibility was to ensure that the instructions from their managers were carried out diligently and conscientiously. Innovation and creativity were discouraged under the previous management. Indeed, employees were punished for their mistakes and discouraged from trying out ideas that had not been approved by management. As a result, employees were afraid to be innovative and to take risks. Becker met with Regency’s managers and department heads to explain that empowerment would be introduced in the hotel. He told them that employees must be empowered with decision-making authority so that they can use their initiative, creativity, and judgment to satisfy guest needs or handle problems effectively and efficiently. However, he stressed that the more complex issues and decisions were to be referred to superiors, who were to coach and assist rather than provide direct orders. Furthermore, Becker stressed that mistakes were allowed but there was no justification for making the same mistake more than twice. He advised his managers and department heads not to discuss with him minor issues/problems and not to consult minor decisions with him. Nevertheless, he told them that they are to discuss important/major issues and decisions with him. He concluded the meeting by asking for feedback. 

Several managers and department heads told him that they liked the idea and would support it, while others simply nodded their heads. Becker was pleased with the response, and was eager to have his plan implemented. In the past, the Regency had emphasized administrative control, resulting in many bureaucratic procedures throughout the organization. For example, the front counter employees needed to seek approval from their manager before they could upgrade guests to another category of room. The front counter manager would then have to write and submit a report to the General Manager justifying the upgrade. Soon after his meeting with managers, Becker reduced the number of bureaucratic rules at the Regency and allocated more decision-making authority to front-line employees. This action upset those who previously had decision-making power over these issues. As a result, several of these employees left the hotel. Becker also began spending a large portion of his time observing and interacting with the employees at the front desk, lobby, restaurants, and various departments. This direct interaction with Becker helped many employees to understand what he wanted and expected of them. 

However, the employees had much difficulty trying to distinguish between a major and minor issue/decision. More often than not, supervisors would reverse employee decisions by stating that they were major issues requiring management approval. Employees who displayed initiative and made good decisions in satisfying the needs of the guests rarely received any positive feedback from their supervisors. Eventually, most of these employees lost confidence in making decisions, and reverted to relying on their superiors for decision making. Not long after the implementation of the practice of empowerment, Becker realized that his subordinates were consulting him more frequently than before. Most of them came to him with minor issues and consulted with him on minor decisions. He had to spend most of his time attending to his subordinates. Soon Becker began to feel highly frustrated and exhausted, and very often would tell his secretary that “unless the hotel is on fire, don’t let anyone disturb me.” Becker thought that the practice of empowerment would benefit the overall performance of the hotel. 

However, contrary to his expectation, the business and overall performance of the hotel began to deteriorate. There had been an increasing number of guest complaints. In the past, the hotel had minimal guest complaints. Now a significant number of formal written complaints were turned in every month. Many other guests voiced their dissatisfaction verbally to hotel employees. The number of mistakes made by employees had been on the increase. Becker was very upset when he realized that two of the local newspapers and an overseas newspaper had published negative feedback on the hotel in terms of service standards. He was most distressed when an international travel magazine had voted the hotel as “one of Asia’s nightmare hotels.” The stress levels of the employees were continuously mounting since the introduction of the practice of empowerment. Absenteeism due to illness was increasing at an alarming rate. In addition, the employee turnover rate had reached an all-time high. The good working relationships that were established under the old management had been severely strained. The employees were no longer united and supportive of each other. They were quick to point fingers or backstab one another when mistakes were made and when problems occurred. Note: This case is based on true events, but the industry and names have been changed. 

1) Assignment: Read the Case Study 6: The Regency Grand Hotel, Selected Cases of the textbook.  Answer, discuss, and examine the following questions: 

1. What is your diagnosis of the situation in the company and the accounting department? Use 4 theories from chapters 5-7 in the textbook to diagnose the situation.

2. How would you go about helping Becker determine if empowerment is a good fit for the Regency Grand Hotel?

3. What might a new decision-making process look like at the Regency? How would you expect it to benefit the overall performance of the hotel?

4. How should the Regency transition to self-managed teams if it chooses to go in that direction? 

Case Study assignment will be 4 pages in length (exclusive of title page, reference page, etc.) and include two levels of headings. Required questions should serve as headings. Each paper will contain a minimum of four scholarly sources, one reference may be the textbook. 

-12-point Font; New Times Roman; Double Spaced; 1” Margins

-APA Format with regard to citations; Reference page required. APA Running Head or Abstract are not required. 

-Development of Main Points – Quality of Writing 

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, as amended in 1994, extends some right of privacy to employees when sending and receiving e-mail messages on the employer’s computer system and calls made and received on employer-owned cell phones.

However, the statute provides several exceptions that permit employers to intercept and/or monitor employee e-mail, Internet, and cell phone use at work.

• Describe your current (or previous) employer’s policy      regarding employee use of e-mails, Internet, and phones for personal      matters while at work.
• Be sure to indicate if the policy is a formal, written      policy, or an informal policy.
• In addition, is the policy administered in a uniform      and consistent manner?

Instructions

In this assignment, you will design a performance appraisal system. Research and compare at least three types of performance appraisal systems. Select one system that you will use to create a performance appraisal tool. 

• Find peer-reviewed articles or use business journals/articles.
• You must include a minimum requirement of 5 full pages of content (this does not include the title, abstract or reference pages) and 7-10 scholarly resources in APA format (refer to the APA manual for specific details) on the information researched from the article and your views as well.
• You must also attach your performance appraisal tool as an appendix at the end of your paper in proper APA format.  
• You must present full pages of content

Module 8: Discussion Forum

11 unread reply.11 reply.

The Zain CEO and HR department used specific strategies to align people with the other strategic business units in Zain (Munene,2012). Select one strategy employed and evaluate its impact on this alignment given the economic, cultural, and HR context in Uganda. Then reflect on why it can be challenging for the HR function to align people with the other strategic business units in a corporation.

Your initial post must meet APA guidelines as explained in the CSU-Global Guide to Writing & APA (Links to an external site.) and include at least one (1) scholarly reference from course materials. 

Research a non-union company on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® list. 

Describe at least three of the following items in a 15- to 20-slide presentation that includes speaker notes:

• Hiring and selection practices
• Training and Development
• Compensation and Benefits
• Performance Feedback
• Employee engagement

Analyze these practices to determine if they help to create an environment that does not need a union.

Cite any outside sources according to APA formatting guidelines.

Due Thursday, 10/8/20 at noon, (12pm Dallas time) for the readings Growing Talent as if Your Business Depended on It and How to Keep Your Top Talent. Provide me with a brief synopsis of the articles and then address this issue: How would succession planning as presented in Growing Talent as if Your Business Depended on It, help us to deal with the “six common errors” evident when we deal with our top talent as presented in How to Keep Your Top Talent?

• Length of written assignment must be equivalent to three (3) full & complete typed pages, double spaced (No Cover Page for the name and date needed)
• One inch margins all around and a #12 font, no cover sheet 
• You don’t have to agree with everything/anything presented in the article.

See attachments. Please use attached references