Author: chris

Siemens’ Simple Structure

There is perhaps no tougher task for an executive than to restructure a European organization. Ask former Siemens CEO Klaus Kleinfeld.

Siemens, with 77 billion euros in revenue in 2008, some 427,000 employees, and branches in 190 countries, is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. Although the company has long been respected for its engineering prowess, it’s also derided for its sluggishness and mechanistic structure. So when Kleinfeld took over as CEO, he sought to restructure the company along the lines of what Jack Welch did at General Electric. He has tried to make the structure less bureaucratic so decisions are made more quickly. He spun off underperforming businesses. And he simplified the company’s structure.

Kleinfeld’s efforts drew angry protests from employee groups, with constant picket lines outside his corporate offices. One of the challenges of transforming European organizations is the customary active participation of employees in executive decisions. Half the seats on the Siemens’ board of directors are allocated to labor representatives. Not surprisingly, the labor groups did not react positively to Kleinfeld’s GE-like restructuring efforts. In his efforts to speed those efforts, labor groups alleged, Kleinfeld secretly bankrolled a business-friendly workers’ group to try to undermine Germany’s main industrial union.

Due to this and other allegations, Kleinfeld was forced out in June 2007 and replaced by Peter Löscher. Löscher has found the same tensions between inertia and the need for restructuring. Only a month after becoming CEO, Löscher was faced with a decision whether to spin off the firm’s underperforming 10 billion-euro auto parts unit, VDO. He had to weigh the forces for stability, which want to protect worker interests, against US-style pressures for financial performance. One of VDO’s possible buyers is a US company, TRW, the controlling interest of which is held by Blackstone, a US private equity firm. German labor representatives have derided such private equity firms as “locusts.” When Löscher decided to sell VDO to German tire giant Continental Corporation, Continental promptly began to downsize and restructure the unit’s operations.

Löscher has continued to restructure Siemens. In mid-2008, he announced elimination of nearly 17,000 jobs worldwide. He also announced plans to consolidate more business units and reorganize the company’s operations geographically. “The speed at which business is changing worldwide has increased considerably, and we’re orienting Siemens accordingly,” Löscher said.

Since the switch from Kleinfeld to Löscher, Siemens has experienced its ups and downs. Since 2008, its stock price has fallen 26 percent on the European stock exchange and is down 31 percent on the New York Stock Exchange. That is better than some competitors, such as France’s Alcatel-Lucent (down 83 percent) and General Electric (down 69 percent), and worse than others, such as IBM (up 8 percent) and the Swiss/Swedish conglomerate ABB (down 15 percent).

Though Löscher’s restructuring efforts have generated far less controversy than Kleinfeld’s, that doesn’t mean they went over well with all constituents. Of the 2008 job cuts, Werner Neugebauer, regional director for a union representing many Siemens employees, said, “The planned job cuts are incomprehensible nor acceptable for these reasons, and in this extent, completely exaggerated.”

When asked by a reporter whether the cuts would be controversial, Löscher retorted, “I couldn’t care less how it’s portrayed.” He paused a moment, then added, “Maybe that’s the wrong term. I do care.”

Based on the above reading and the knowledge gained from your assigned readings, respond to the following questions:

• What do Kleinfeld’s efforts at Siemens tell you about the difficulties of restructuring organizations?
• Why do you think Löscher’s restructuring decisions have generated less controversy than did Kleinfeld’s?
• Assume a colleague read this case and concluded “This case proves restructuring efforts do not improve a company’s financial performance.” How would you respond to this statement?
• Do you think a CEO who decides to restructure or downsize a company takes the well-being of employees into account? Should he or she do so? Why or why not?
• What were the forces for change?
• What were the restraining forces? How would you overcome them?
• Use Kotter’s Eight-Step Plan for implementing change and explain how you would implement this change at Siemens. Be sure to include any organizational development tools that you might use (Davidson, 2008; Esterl & Crawford, 2007; Ewing, 2007; Frey, 2008 ).

Support your responses with examples.

Cite any sources in APA format.

References:

Davidson, A. (2008. June 29). Peter löscher makes siemens less german. The

German Times, Retrieved from http://www.german times.com/ index.php?

option=com_content&task=view&id=3212&Itemid=82

Esterl, M., & Crawford, D. (2007, July 23). Siemens CEO put to early test. Wall

Street Journal, p. A8.

Ewing, J. (2007, January 29). Siemens’ culture clash. Business Week, pp. 42–46.

(Judge 515-516)

Frey, G. (2008, July 8). Siemens cutting 17K jobs worldwide to cut costs. USA

Today. Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/ economy/

2008-07-08-812302383_x.htm

 

This assignment has two parts.

Part 1:

Write a 2–3 page evaluation of the quality improvement program that you have created. This should be the annual summary of the hypothetical data. Make sure your hypothetical data are credible.

Part 2:

As you may recall from Week 1, your Course Project was to prepare a total quality improvement program, with a focus on one high-risk area. Continuous quality improvement covers many areas. Throughout the course, you have learned about the attributes that constitute a quality improvement team and what questions this team attempts to answer. The assignments toward this project that you completed each week can now be assembled into a single instructional document.

Make necessary adjustments to your document so that each segment flows smoothly into the next. Evaluate your project using the criteria given below.

Are the indicators and their measurements appropriate to the high-risk area? Do the indicators capture the risk?
Are the fictional incidents realistic and plausible?
Is the filled chart consistent with the fictional incident?
Is the plan of correction feasible? Will it prevent the occurrence of the incident in future?
How do you know the plan worked? What measures will you use to identify effectiveness?

Part 1: Sampling Design

Write a 350- to 700-word paper using the scenario and two variables your learning team developed for the Week 2 Business Research Project Part 1 assignment, in which the goal is to submit a random sampling plan in such detail that another researcher could replicate the method.

Discuss the following:

Population and size
The target population and brief reasoning
Sampling element which may be conducted through any of the following:
Data mining
Survey (If a survey is chosen, create a 5-10 question document), or
Observation
The sample size
Method of random sampling which may include:
Simple
Stratified
Systematic
Cluster

Calculate the sample size for the mean or sample or sample size for the proportion, using a 95% confidence level, estimated population standard deviation or estimate of the true population proportion, and a 5% margin of error. Place the calculation in the Appendix.

Discuss how validity and reliability will be achieved.

If applicable, explain how human subjects will be protected.

Part 2: Data Collection

Explain how the data will be physically collected.

Explain where data will be stored and how it will be protected.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

A 47-year-old obese female complains of pain in her right wrist, with tingling and numbness in the thumb and index and middle fingers for the past 2 weeks. She has been frustrated because the pain causes her to drop her hair-styling tools.

To prepare: With regard to the case study you were assigned:

•Review this week’s Learning Resources, and consider the insights they provide about the case study.

•Consider what history would be necessary to collect from the patient in the case study you were assigned.

•Consider what physical exams and diagnostic tests would be appropriate to gather more information about the patient’s condition. How would the results be used to make a diagnosis?

•Identify at least five possible conditions that may be considered in a differential diagnosis for the patient. Discussion post should be in the SOAP Note format, rather than the traditional narrative style Discussion posting format.

Post 1 to 2 pages SOAP NOTE ON: A description of the health history you would need to collect from the patient in the case study to which you were assigned. Explain what physical exams and diagnostic tests would be appropriate and how the results would be used to make a diagnosis. List five different possible conditions for the patient’s differential diagnosis, and justify why you selected each.

REFERENCE

Readings

•Ball, J. W., Dains, J. E., Flynn, J. A., Solomon, B. S., & Stewart, R. W. (2015). Seidel’s guide to physical examination (8th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.

◦Chapter 5, “Mental Status” (64-78)

◦Chapter 22, “Neurologic System” (pp. 544-580)

Dains, J. E., Baumann, L. C., & Scheibel, P. (2016). Advanced health assessment and clinical diagnosis in primary care (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.

◦Chapter 4, “Affective Changes” (pp. 33-46)

Bearden, S. T., & Nay, L. B. (2011). Utility of EEG in differential diagnosis of adults with unexplained acute alteration of mental status. American Journal of Electroneurodiagnostic Technology, 51(2), 92–104.

• Read the article titled, “The Missing Metrics: Managing the Cost of Complexity” l Next, in a globalized economy with many business complexities, speculate the major ways that these complexities might impact a business and suggest two (2) actions that a business can take in order to minimize these consequences.
• From the previous discussion, recommend one (1) approach that an accountant could take in order to measure the types of complexity you identified for a specific business or industry and determine the insight that the measure will provide in relation  to business performance
• Read the article titled, “What Manufacturers Need to Know about Transfer Pricing”. Next, assess the major potential problems that a multinational firm could encounter when using negotiated transfer pricing instead of market-based transfer pricing. Provide one (1) recommendation to the firm on how to avoid these problems.
• Evaluate the validity of the accounting ethics of creating, initiating, or adjusting transactions to repatriate excess cash for multinational firms in transfer pricing decisions and suggest one (1) way that this practice may be implemented.
• Use the Internet to research folling forecasts as an alternative to budgets. Next, take a position at to whether or not a flexible budget approach dilutes the value of a budget process in the organization. Provide a rationale for your position.
• Evaluate the impact to a business when compensation, such as sales commissions and bonuses, are tied to achieving budgeted expectations. Suggest two (2) actions that management can take in order to prevent employees from manipulating results.

Need to complete a summary of assigned readings attached from pages starting at 156 to 258 understanding and the key concepts points.

Critically analyze this week through the assigned chapters

1. Identify 2 or 3 key concepts, theories or models and describe how they can be applied to your organization.

2. Effective teams solve problems.  What are the problems/impact of dysfunctional teams in organizations-support your statements.

Limit the use of “ly” words such as notably

3 full pages in APA formatting

Use the attached chapters for completing

Review the Global Education and Global Citizenship video and read the article “A Model of Global Citizenship: Antecedents and Outcomes” by Stephen Reysen and Iva Katzarska-Miller. Please take some time to reflect on how the concept of global citizenship has shaped your identity and respond to the following prompts:

• Based on the video, explain the importance of educating others on global citizenship.
• Address each of the following outcomes of global citizenship as they pertain to the development of your own identity: intergroup empathy, valuing diversity, social justice, environmental sustainability, intergroup helping, and the level of responsibility to act for the betterment of this world (found in the article). Explain how your environment influences these outcomes.
• Provide at least two personal examples or events in your life that illustrate the development of global citizenship based on the outcomes.
• Analyze how your general education courses influenced you to become a global citizen.
• Demonstrate critical thinking by accurately interpreting the evidence (scholarly sources) provided.

Your paper

• Must be at least 750 words in length (excluding title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must cite at least the two sources used for this assignment.
• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate reference page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignme

Write a report with answers to the following four questions

• How does the Marymount University mission statement differ from two other institutions (one you went to and one you did not)?
• How do you think it make a difference to the education you receive here at Marymount?
• What is the most important part of the mission statement for you personally?
• What else do you want to say?

The last question is open-ended and you can make it your own.

Your response should be about one page in length (at least 400 words), with at least one paragraph in response to each of the four questions.

Please make sure that the report identifies clearly the three institutions that you are analyzing.

Create an 8- to 10-slide presentation explaining the advantages and disadvantages of twisted pair cabling and fiber optics as well as the importance of wireless communication in today’s business environment.

The most important function of information technology (IT) for the managed care organization (MCO) is to support the business of the MCO. How the IT department aligns with the operational dynamics of the MCO is a vital management consideration. A well-functioning IT department will help the MCO reduce risk (e.g., costs). The IT department should design, implement, and operate the systems that run the MCO. Efficiency is the hallmark of a good system.

Your task as the manager of the MCO is to determine what the IT department in your organization should consist of, what its function will be, and what critical elements will be turned over to the IT department. Complete the following:

• Describe the key elements of an information system for an MCO. What elements are different than for a physician office or group?
• Describe the technology that you think the MCO would need to operate fully.
• Propose a specific electronic health record (EHR) or electronic medical record (EMR) program that is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant. Describe the essential functions, costs, and projected savings for the MCO.
• Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of insourcing versus outsourcing your IT needs, and make a final recommendation based on that evaluation.