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should not be discouraged; they must expect the process to take some time. And maybe she went about it too abruptly so that her subordinates felt suddenly left to their own devices? •Amrita nods — this could well have been the case. Niels specifies that empowerment does not imply that the employees are expected to be able to figure everything out entirely on their own right away, but he would like her to coach the employees so that they understand why things are done in certain ways. The idea is to explain the background and the reasoning behind Pharmaz’s business model, financial guidelines, and principles for collaboration so that they will, eventually, be able to reason in the same way themselves and make more independent decisions. Amrita is still hesitant but says that maybe, after a phase of very close managerial monitoring to help employees understand how to adapt to the new demands, Niels’ ideas might work, eventually. Amrita has given less thought to the value of open communication and knowledge sharing, but she tells Niels that sometimes it is a little difficult to motivate team members to share what they know. All her subordinates have good credentials and experiences from other offshore centers. As she and Niels both know, the labor market for professionals in Bangalore is highly competitive and, generally, her employees are eager to advance their individual careers. This may lead some of them to view knowledge as a strictly personal resource that can be depleted if it is shared with colleagues. Amrita realizes that this is not the way Pharmaz would see it, but in a sense she understands her employees’ concerns in this respect. After all, colleagues are competitors, too, since not everyone is likely to get promoted to head a team, for instance. Another problem, as Amrita sees it, is that the organization is very flat compared to most Indian companies. There, it is clear who refers to whom in the hierarchy and, when you make progress in your work, you are promoted to the next level on the career ladder. At Pharmaz, her employees are all officially “financial analysts”, even the team leaders, although their wages are higher. Amrita believes that it would have a motivating effect to introduce more titles. It would give people something to work towards and it would make them feel appreciated, in a manner visible to all, and also to their family and friends outside the company, when they reach a goal. Why should the team leaders not be called “financial managers”, for instance? And the best of the team members, “senior financial analysts”? She has suggested this to headquarters before but was told that her idea did not fit into Pharmaz’s title structure. Amrita also suggests that they could nominate an “employee of the quarter” in the services center and give him or her a small symbolic prize, maybe a small amount of money, as well as a certificate to frame and hang on the wall in his or her cubicle. She believes that her employees would appreciate such a gesture, and she also knows that they would probably like to be able to attach such a certificate to their CVs to document that they have done well. Niels ventures a remark that there is no tradition for prizes at Pharmaz’s headquarters and that, there, most people would find it presumptuous or even slightly ridiculous to flaunt such a certificate on their wall, Otherwise, he listens carefully without interrupting. Finally, he says that he finds her ideas interesting, also considering that a couple of the center’s most qualified and ambitious financial analysts have recently handed in their resignations and accepted positions with major US-owned companies. Then Niels asks Amrita to come back the following week with a proposal for integrating Pharmaz’s values, especially empowerment and knowledge sharing, in a more explicit manner in her section. Also, he asks her to elaborate on her ideas about how to motivate and retain employees. Question: ti I magine yourself in Amrita’s position. Which proposal would you make to Niels Nielsen and how would you argue in order to convince him? ACT 3 Pharmaz India’s office in Bangalore, 17 January 2017, 2.00 p.m. Amrita and Niels meet to evaluate the process so far Amrita and Niels are seated at the meeting table in Niels’ office. They have been told to expect a visit from Sebastian, the corporate finance director, next week. In preparation, he has asked them to evaluate the last 332 CASE 7 BALANCING VALUES: AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE ON CORPORATE VALUES FROM SCANDINAVIA three months’ developments in the center so that they can discuss the progress made, especially as to the implementation of the corporate values, and decide what else needs to be done. Amrita has worked very hard to change the way in which her section works. She suggested in her proposal that new job descriptions would have to be written for everyone, specifying exactly their areas of responsibility and explaining the types of decisions they would be expected to make on their own. Also, each team is to hold a short meeting every morning to inform each other of what they are doing, and everyone is expected to contribute. Other than that, Amrita suggested that, as a first step, most of the focus should be concentrated on the team leaders to make sure that they understand what empowerment and knowledge sharing means and that they practice it in their teams. They have all read about the values and attended several presentations of them, so the challenge is the daily practice, not the theory. Therefore, Amrita suggested in her proposal that she should dedicate some days each week to follow a team leader, observe his or her work, and afterwards discuss with him or her how the corporate values can be promoted more. Niels accepted Amrita’s suggestions in these respects and told her to go ahead. This afternoon Amrita tells Niels that she is satisfied with the results. The employees appear to be much happier now that it has been made clearer to them what Pharmaz expects from them. Some still ask their team leaders or Amrita for approval before they make decisions or send their reports to the center’s users, but most do it less frequently now. And all the team leaders try hard to follow Amrita’s new directions. Niels replies that Amrita has done a good job, but adds that when he saw the many pages with job descriptions she had produced he could not help worrying that they were creating more bureaucracy instead of reducing it. Amrita argues that they are necessary: if empowerment is to make sense to her subordinates, they must know exactly what they are empowered to do. Otherwise it is just an abstract notion. Also, when Niels comes to visit Amrita’s section, he has noted that she monitors the team leaders very closely indeed and gives them detailed instructions on how to plan their days and how to delegate tasks to different team members, for instance. To Niels, this close monitoring does not seem like empowerment, and he knows that Sebastian would probably agree. But after six months in Bangalore, Niels begins to feel that it may not be worthwhile insisting on implementing the corporate values in completely the same manner as at headquarters. Maybe different versions of empowerment, equal opportunities, and knowledge sharing are possible — and even necessary? He shares these thoughts with Amrita, who is clearly pleased that he finally understands this. Niels is not so sure that Sebastian will agree, though. It may not fit his vision of Pharmaz as a global, value-driven company they will have to discuss it next week. In accordance with Amrita’s suggestion, Niels introduced a more differentiated title structure for the center in late October. He is not personally enthusiastic about it and he finds that, in principle, people ought to pay more attention to the content of their job than to the title it entails. This is also an opinion he has frequently heard expressed by his colleagues at headquarters. But he decided to be pragmatic in this matter. After some months in the center he was already well aware of the local employees’ impatience to advance visibly in the company hierarchy, so he did not doubt that Amrita was right in assuming that new titles would have a motivational effect and probably result in more willingness to take on responsibility. But at the same time, he was wary of creating titles that would be incompatible with the company’s overall global title structure and create misunderstandings in other parts of the organization. Now, the team leaders have been promoted to “financial managers”, and the best of the team members have been encouraged to apply for positions as “senior financial analysts”. Several local employees, including all the team leaders, have expressed their satisfaction with this decision, and although it is too early to judge the effect for sure, Amrita tells Niels that the team leaders are eager to prove that they have earned their promotions. So Niels believes it was the right thing to do, although some of his colleagues at headquarters have been joking a bit about the apparent inflation in titles in Pharmaz India. Niels was very surprised, however, when he was approached the other day by Pavan Surin, one of the team leaders in Amrita’s section, who suggested that the title structure should be expanded further. He felt that he needed an additional category between “financial analyst” and “senior financial analyst” in order to be able to reward a team member who was very good, but not quite at the “senior financial analyst”‘ level. Frankly, Niels found this slightly ludicrous — how.
34. Seminoles Corporation's fiscal year-end is December 31, 2018 he following is a partial adjusted t...
Seminoles Corporation's fiscal year-end is December 31, 2018 he following is a partial adjusted trial balance as of December 3 Accounts Debit Credit S27,000 Retained Earnings 2,700 Dividends Service Revenue 47,000 Interest Revenue 5.700 Salaries Expense 4.700 Rent Expense 5.700 Advertising Expense 2,700 10,700 Depreciation Expense Interest Expense 4,700 Required 1. Prepare the necessary closing entries. (If no entry is required for a transaction/event, select "No journal entry required" in the first account field.) view transaction list view general journal Debi Credit eral Journal 47.000 December 31, 2018 Service revenue 5.700 Interest revenue 52.700 Retained earnings December 31, 2018 Retained earnings 38.500 14700 Salaries expense 5.700 Rent expense 2.700 Advertising expense 10,700 Depreciation expense 4.700 Interest expense December 31, 2018 Retained earnings 2.700 2.700 Dividends
35. Troy Engines, Ltd., manufactures a variety of engines for use in heavy equipment. The company has...
Troy Engines, Ltd., manufactures a variety of engines for use in heavy equipment. The company has always produced all of the necessary parts for its engines, including all of the carburetors. An outside supplier has offered to sell one type of carburetor to Troy Engines, Ltd., for a cost of $35 per unit. To evaluate this offer, Troy Engines, Ltd., has gathered the following information relating to its own cost of producing the carburetor internally:
*One-third supervisory salaries; two-thirds depreciation of special equipment (no resale value).
Required:
1. Assuming the company has no alternative use for the facilities that are now being used to produce the carburetors, what would be the financial advantage (disadvantage) of buying 20,000 carburetors from the outside supplier?
2. Should the outside supplier’s offer be accepted?
3. Suppose that if the carburetors were purchased, Troy Engines, Ltd., could use the freed capacity to launch a new product. The segment margin of the new product would be $200,000 per year. Given this new assumption, what would be financial advantage (disadvantage) of buying 20,000 carburetors from the outside supplier?
4. Given the new assumption in requirement 3, should the outside supplier’s offer be accepted?
20,000 Units Per Direct materials Direct labor Variable manufacturing overhead Fixed manufacturing overhead, traceable Fixed manufacturing overhead, allocated Total cost Unit Per Year $17 340,000 11 220,000 60,000 3* 60,000 120,000 $40 800,000
36. A manufacturer plans to increase production within the relevant range of activity. What behaviour...
A manufacturer plans to increase production within the relevant range of activity. What behaviour can the company expect for each of the following?a. No change in fixed cost per unit, increase in variable cost per unitb. Increase in fixed cost per unit, no change in variable cost per unitc. Decrease in fixed cost per unit, increase in variable cost per unitd. Decrease in fixed cost per unit, no change in variable cost per unit
37. What is the cost of the land, based upon the following data? Land purchase price $178,000 Broke...
what is the cost of the land What is the cost of the land, based upon the following data? Land purchase price $178,000 Broker's commission 15,000 Payment for the demolition and removal of existing building 5,000 Cash received from the sale of materials salvaged from the demolished building 2,000
38. Presented below is a list of costs and expenses usually incurred by Barnum Corporation, a...
Presented below is a list of costs and expenses usually incurred by Barnum Corporation, a manufacturer of furniture, in its factory.
1. Salaries for assembly line inspectors.
2. Insurance on factory machines.
3. Property taxes on the factory building.
4. Factory repairs.
5. Upholstery used in manufacturing furniture.
6. Wages paid to assembly line workers.
7. Factory machinery depreciation.
8. Glue, nails, paint, and other small parts used in production.
9. Factory supervisors" salaries.
10. Wood used in manufacturing furniture.
Instructions
Classify the above items into the following categories: (a) direct materials, (b) direct labor, and (c) manufacturing overhead.