Systems Analysis in the Workplace
Gardner Trucking Inc is a trucking company that has over 1200 freight trucks specializing in different deliveries of goods such as paper, cans, metal, and doors to companies such as Corrucraft, Budweiser, Pepsi, Metal Containers, and Home Depot. Each freight truck can make up to 10 stops a day delivering to different customers. With each location, paperwork such as proof of delivery, invoices, and bill of ladings must be turned in, along with driver logs by the driver to the central office so that it can be properly billed and filed away. With over 1200 trucks making on average of 5 stops, and 3 pieces of paper per stop along with 1200 driver logs, that comes to about 20,000 pieces of paperwork everyday that must be processed. The current process involves sending the paperwork to the central office via courier or by UPS. Everyday approximately 30 boxes of paperwork must be sorted, copied, entered into the system, billed to the customers, and then put into storage. Also, a copy of the proof of delivery and invoice must be sent to the customer so that the company can get paid. Gardner Trucking has approximately 40 employees in the processing department to handle the incoming paperwork as fast as possible. This process alone can take up to 5 days from the time a customers product gets delivered before a customer gets invoiced The paperwork must also be filed and stored properly for each customer for up to 1 year of all deliveries. Gardner Trucking has a warehouse along with several containers to store all the paperwork. Sometimes customers will lose the proof of delivery or say they never received it and request a copy be sent via email, fax or mail in order for the invoice to be paid. At that point, the paperwork must be found, a copy made, given to accounts receivable to send out and filed again. Sometimes the invoices do not get paid or deeply discounted because the proof of delivery could not be found (after spending many hours to locate it) to send to the customer.
There are several time issues at hand here that must be addressed. As the old saying “Time is Money” but in fact I believe time is more valuable than money as you can always make back the money you lost but never the time.
Sapient is a business consulting and technology Services Company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1991 to specialize in client/server application development. Sapient was one of a group of companies (along with firms such as Cambridge Technology Partners and i-Cube) that sought to differentiate themselves from traditional consultants by offering strong technical skills and application development to enable companies to get business value out of technology within fixed-fee/fixed-time contracts and by focusing solely on client's success to achieve long term goals and objectives. In the mid-1990's, Sapient recognized the potential of Internet and started to offer Internet solutions to its clients. Sapient was one of the few e-business integrators from the dot-com era that recognized offshore opportunities early on. It invested in global delivery capabilities in India starting in 2001.The Company has been through significant changes over the past five years, including significant shifts in its client base, offshore staff mix, and target contract size, but the focus on its purpose, core values, Internet enablement and related technologies is unchanged.
...to deal with inbound and outbound logistics, one that is made up mostly of the personnel from outbound logistics. These professionals deal with the second core competency of Deere, logistics, separate from the manufacturing of tractors and lawnmowers. The creation of this team helps eliminate the risk Fedex’s poor performance (managers were not pleased with Fedex’s centralized transportation management service) and need to measure performance of a 3rd part continuously. As a result, performance is self-managed. We expect as the IT system is used to optimize and plan transportation routes amongst inbound and outbound trucks, cost savings will increase more rapidly. We believe internal continuous improvement, leaner logistics operations and synergies amongst all logistics activities will lead to the $69 million goal being met by the third year after implementation.
Some of the bottleneck foremen come up with methods of streamlining their processes to increase throughput at their stations. And for a time, things seem to be improving and inventories are slowly shrinking and more backlog orders are being filled. Then Stacey reveals a proble...
This can be accomplished by using disciplined delivery time windows, developing close relationships with a small group of reliable transportation carriers, and shipping only what is needed at a particular time, which means small lots being delivered more frequently often using partially filled trucks” (Taylor, 2013, p. 6).
One would have to be a fool to believe that men and women have always been or even are equal. Only in the past century have women been allowed to vote and 50 years since women of color could vote. Even today, women and men are held to different standards. Betty Friedan (1921-2006) was a feminist that was not only an author, but also, the first president of an organization known as the National Organization for Women. She is well-known for her work "The Feminine Manifesto", and she is the author of the article "The Importance of Work". Betty Friedan was a feminist during the height of the women's rights movement, so it is not surprising in the least that her article hit on women's rights. "The Importance
UPS is the largest parcel delivery service in the world. They also help their customers its customers with supply chain management, logistics, and financial services. UPS used to be a trucking company with technology, now it¡¦s a technology company with trucks. One of the UPS¡¦s key success factors is the way they manage their operations. Their carefully designed network of vehicles, sorting facilities, and hubs combined with their IT system, allows them to pick up 13 million packages each day from 2 million addresses for delivery to over 6 million commercial and residential addresses worldwide with highest levels of reliability, efficiency, and speed. Also the integration of its air and ground operations gave UPS the ability to optimize utilization of its assets while still meeting customer service requirements. Other key success factor is UPS¡¦s human resource management. UPS has lowest turnover rates in the industry and succeeds in developing a portion of its workforce for management positions each year. The company¡¦s unique culture emphasized accountability and efficient execution at every level of the organization.
Scenario 2 – The first obvious fix would have been for everyone to agree to a few norms for the meeting. One being to use “I” statements instead of “you” statements. The teacher everyone was upset with might have responded a bit differently had she not felt attacked by the team. Another fix, although it was tried, was a mediator. Maybe if the mediator had been someone other than an administrator, for instance a counselor, the teacher would have been more open to listening to the team. Having an administrator present possibly made her feel as if her job was in jeopardy. Along with the use of I statements the mediator needed to ensure everyone had a chance to speak and actively listen. Active listening does not mean you agree with the
Federal Express is the world’s largest package delivery company today. They have been successful mainly because of their technological advancements. Technology has allowed them to have superior customer service and quality that was unparalleled by any company. No company was able to offer overnight delivery of packages with the speed and precision that Federal Express did. Although Federal Express remains ahead of its competition today, their advantages over other firms in the industry are slowly diminishing.
The trucking industry over the years have changed the type of services and the quality that it has provides to its customers. In today’s industry the focus is on efficiency with the overall beneficiary being the American consumer. Majority of today’s freight is being transported by truck during sometime in the distribution chain. Some of factors the trucking industry is facing today include hours and earnings and safety issues.
Systems approach is based on the fundamental principle that all aspects of a human problem should be treated together in a rational manner (Healy, 2005). I have divided this essay into relevant sections that cover an overview of systems ideas, general systems theory and ecological systems theory. This assignment will also include Germain and Gittermans life model, and it will be related back to the case study that has been provided. Limitations of systems theory will also be discussed.
An organizational analysis is an important tool to become familiar with how medical businesses and organizations are able to meet standards of care, provide services for the community and provide employment to health care providers. There are many different aspects to evaluate in an organizational analysis. This paper will describe these many aspects and apply the categories to the University Medical Center (UMC) as the organization being analyzed.
The United Parcel Service known also as the “Brown Giant” is the powerhouse in the air delivery, freight and parcel service industry. The United Parcel Service is based in Atlanta and is the world’s largest package-delivery firm. UPS delivers more than 3 billion parcels and documents per year. United Parcel Service operates 150,000 vehicles and 575 airplanes and is the dominating force in the United States ground delivery market. UPS is announcing that it’s ever expanding company with new acquisitions in the Asia/Pacific region, Latin America, and Europe. With its bureaucratic approach to the company’s management system with tight rules and regulations, and a well-defined division of labor in each plant from top to bottom is key in there success. The company has daily worksheet to specify goals and the work output. The daily employee quotas and achievements are reported on a weekly and monthly basis. I have experienced this bureaucratic approach to management first hand as an employee at UPS. From my experience there, I have seen how the company works from the inside out. I hope to relate valuable information that I gained there in my assignment to develop and analyze the management aspects of the United Parcel Service. I will cover key issues in the basic management structure of UPS including the external factors that shape the organization of the company, recent challenges to UPS.
“ Organizations are collectivities oriented to the pursuit of relatively specific goals and exhibiting relatively highly formalized social structures” (page 29). The rational system is a group of individuals, bound together as an organization, designed to reach predetermined goals. The rational system models sees organizations as a mechanical model. A machine that has multiple parts that also works individually but also work together for the better good of the whole. All the individuals of the group can be replaced with a new one if it doesn’t meet the standards of
Suffield, L., & Templer A. (2012). Labour Relations, PH Series in Human Resources Management, 3rd Edition
The increasing complexity of problems has necessitated new approaches to problem solving. As such, industries that have been using traditional problem-solving structures such as those in the engineering, building, and construction have had no choice but to review their working practices. Elliman and Orange (2000, p.345-360) suggested that systems methodology is the viable approach to facilitation of effective changes and improvement of work practices given that soft systems methodology can be used to stimulate debate and factor in the input of future participants. However, Green (1999, p.329-340) argued that the potential of soft systems to succeed depends on how early it is introduced in to the project. Problem solving can be done at individual or as a team. But how can we make teams work best? Such questions have attracted the interest of many scholars in various fields and so much has been invested in studying creativity, innovation, motivation, intelligence, and accelerated learning.