Tuesday 16 January 2018

How will you go about correcting the problem? Will you meet with the workers individually? in a group? What will you say and how will you get the workers to listen?

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Learning Activity 1 Theme One: Leadership style has a direct effect on employee commitment and organizational effectiveness.

Take the leadership style quizzes below.

What's Your Leadership Style

What Kind of Leader Are You?

Discuss the results and how leadership style can affect employee commitment and organizational effectiveness.  Be sure to define in your own words, employee commitment and organizational effectiveness before showing how the leadership style relates to the two concepts. Also, discuss how style affects communication, employee input, morale and goals with respect to commitment and organizational effectiveness.

For example, a person with an authoritarian style might communicate only those ideas they he is she deems important for an employee to know. This can lead to inaccurate execution of tasks or morale issues. 

Learning Activity 2 Theme Two:  Leadership style should fit the person, the organization, and the job. It should be situational in nature.

You are the Package Distribution Manager for GDD. It has come to your attention that five drivers in your region have serious errors in their delivery report logs. The delivery report is key to controlling package flow and must be accurate. If not, GDD will not be paid by their clients and would quickly lose their business to Fed Ex or UPS. One of the drivers accounts for 60% of the errors. She is a nice person, reliable but occasionally late to work because of conflicts with getting her kids to school on time. She is a single mother. A second driver accounts for 30% of the errors. This driver is new to the company and while his error numbers are high they have declined from last month. The other driver’s errors hover around 10 to 15%.
After taking the quizzes below and using the course readings to delve deeper into your leadership style, answer the following questions using the style that is indicated in the test results.
    How will you go about correcting the problem? Will you meet with the workers individually? in a group? What will you say and how will you get the workers to listen?
    After your conversation, what would you do if the next set of reports show some improvement in the 60% employee but none in the 10-15% employees? What would you do then?
    What leadership style did you use? Was it easy to use the leadership style? Or Hard? Did you find that the leadership style might not really be helpful in your approach to each situation? Do you believe another style might be better in one or the other of the situations? If so which one and why? If not, why not?


How much freedom and equality matters for each American and how everyone can make a difference by standing up and raising their voice for what they believe in

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Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a spark to the American civil rights movement. Every
new American citizen should learn about the Montgomery bus boycott. On December 1st, 1955
an African American woman named Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white man on a bus
in Montgomery, Alabama. She was immediately arrested and fined afterwards. Four days later,
the Montgomery bus boycott began. It lasted about 13 months and led to victory for the Civil
Rights movement. The outcome of this boycott led to the U.S Supreme Court ruling that
segregation on any public buses was determined unconstitutional.
Every new American citizen should learn about the Montgomery bus boycott because
it changed and represented many things. After this boycott people changed the way they lived
and reacted towards each other. This boycott fought for freedom and showed that the equal
amount of respect given to white people should be the same towards African Americans.
Regardless of what skin color we are, we should be entitled to sit anywhere we’d like. The
Montgomery bus boycott is a representation of bravery, courage, self-respect, equality and
freedom of rights. Rosa Parks is the main representation of bravery and self-respect in this event.
This is more than Rosa Parks just “giving up a seat”. That seat was like her self-respect, 1 Qayum2 her right, her freewill to choose where she wanted to sit and she wasn’t going to let some white
privileged man take away that right from her so swiftly. Rosa fought for what she believed
wasn’t right. She fought for her self-respect and the respect for all African Americans. It’s
important for every new American citizen to learn about this event because it shows how much
freedom and equality matters for each American and how everyone can make a difference by
standing up and raising their voice for what they believe in.
I chose this specific topic “The Montgomery Bus Boycott” because I feel like this was a
remarkable event in American history. After reading about this event, you start to realize how
important your respect, rights, and beliefs are. This topic sheds light to important factors we
seem to forget about, and that is the importance of freedom, equality, and bravery for each
individual regardless of what skin color or race we are. As previously stated, every new
American citizen should learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott to be reminded of how much
our voice matters and to fight for what we believe in.

How likely are the risks of a crash of the U.S. dollar triggered by foreign investors reduced willingness to lend to the U.S. and accumulate U.S. assets?

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Release and Historical Data.” Download the H.10 release Foreign Exchange rates
(weekly data
available). What has happened to the value of the U.S. dollar relative to the Canadian
dollar,
Japanese yen, and Danish krone since June 25, 2010?
Using the information above, what has happened to the value of U.S. dollar relative to
the
British pound and the euro? Note: The H.10 release quotes these exchange rates as
U.S. dollars
per unit of foreign currency in line with long-standing market convention.
(b). Go to the website for Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED):
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/. Locate the monthly exchange rate data for the
following:
(1) Canada (dollar), 1980-present
(2) China (yuan), 1999-2004, 2005-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-present
(3) Mexico (peso), 1993-1995 and 1995-present
(4) Thailand (baht), 1986-1997 and 1997-present
(5) Venezuela (bolivar), 2003-present
Look at the graphs and make your own judgement as to whether each currency was
fixed (peg
or band), crawling (peg or band), or float relative to the U.S. dollar during each time
frame
given.
2. The U.S. Current Deficits
Note: To answer the following questions, you may find that it would be helpful
(although it’s not
required) to read articles provided in the reading list, such as Bernanke (2005), Yang
(2012), Roubini
and Setser (2004), and Mann (2002).
(a). Make a chart of the U.S. current account deficit, both in absolute $ value and as a
share of GDP
from 1990 to present. Find the most recent estimate of the U.S. current account
deficit for the
next two quarters (Note: depending on the availability of actual data. If actual data is
available
up to the third quarter of 2016, you should look for the estimate for 2016Q4 and
2017Q1).
(b). For the same sample period (1990-present), chart the evolution of the net
foreign assets of the
U.S. (NIIP) and decompose the total NIPP in the part that is the net stock of foreign
direct
investment from the part that is the rest (portfolio, banks, other forms of debt).
(c). Discuss the evolution of the U.S current account deficit and net foreign assets:
how much of the
evolution of the deficit (as a share of GDP) is due to changes in private savings, public
savings (fiscal deficits) and investment rate (all as a share of GDP) and how much has the role
of
different factors changed over time?
(d). Based on this analysis, are the U.S. current account and external debt
sustainable? Does the U.S.
differ or not from emerging markets or not and why?
(e). How likely are the risks of a crash of the U.S. dollar triggered by foreign investors
reduced
willingness to lend to the U.S. and accumulate U.S. assets?
(f). Will the U.S. dollar strengthen or weaken in the next 2 years and relative to which
currencies
and why?
Data on Savings, Investment and Current Account (on a quarterly and annual basis)
are available
from the Bureau of Economic Analysis;
Data on nominal GDP - to take ratios of savings, investment and current account as a
share of GDP
- are also available from the BEA.
Note that the way BEA presents the data on the current account is slightly confusing;
instead of
referring to the current account, it refers to Net Lending or Net Borrowing (implicitly
from/to the
rest of the world). So, the item representing such Net Lending or Net Borrowing is
our definition
current account.
the Row 1 gives you gross savings. Row 21 gives you gross investment. Row 35 gives
you the
current account deficit, where the current account deficit is the item that is defined
(as I explained
above) as Net Lending or Net Borrowing (Row 35). Row 42 gives you the statistical
discrepancy
that should be added to Saving to have an item that is Savings (net of the statistical
discrepancy).
3
So, for example in 2011 Q1:
CA = S - I
-489 = (2316.8 - 44.1) - (2761.7)
where 2761.7 is the sum of gross domestic investment (2761.1) and the item called
"capital account
transactions" (0.6), i.e. I or Investment is the sum of lines 21 and 28 (Gross Domestic
Investment
plus Capital Transactions). Data on the net foreign assets of the United States can be obtained from the table on
the (Net)
International Investment Position (NIIP) of the United States published in the Survey
of Current
Business, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.


Have you ever been in a leadership role where you did not have the confidence of those you led? What did you do about it?

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This passage of scripture puts us on the scene where, Jesus after having prayed on the mountainside appoints his twelve disciples that would be the foundation of his church.

I am interested in this passage because the title of topic 4 is Leading Others as a Servant Leader. Jesus led these men in some unfavorable times, influenced by external and internal factors. I am purely speculating here, but I would imagine that there were times when the twelve disciples were difficult to lead. Or perhaps, there must have been occasions when the twelve disciples didn’t believe in him. Sound familiar?

Please pick one:
1. Have you ever been in a leadership role and your team members were difficult to lead (i.e. tried to undermine your authority, closedminded, self-centered)? What did you do about it? Cite some examples that relate to servant leadership principles that Jesus used?

2. Have you ever been in a leadership role where you did not have the confidence of those you led? What did you do about it? Cite some examples that relate to servant leadership principles that Jesus used?


Find the value of x such that P(t 10 > x) = 0.75, where t 10 has a t distribution with 10 degrees of freedom

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distribution with 100 degrees of
freedom. How do you explain the difference between this result and the result obtained in part a?
c. Find the value of z such that P(Z > z) = 0.75, where Z is a standard normal random variable. Compare this
result to the results obtained in parts a and b. How do you explain the differences in the values of x, y, and
z?
6. The file P08_06.xlsx contains data on repetitive task times for each of two workers. John has been
doing this task for months, whereas Fred has just started. Each time listed is the time (in seconds) to
perform a routine task on an assembly line. The times shown are in chronological order.
a. Calculate a 95% confidence interval for the mean time it takes John to perform the task. Do the same for
Fred.
7. The manager of a local fast-food restaurant is interested in improving the service provided to
customers who use the restaurant’s drive-up window. As a first step in this process, the manager asks an
assistant to record the time (in seconds) it takes to serve a large number of customers at the final
window in the facility’s drive-up system. The file P08_07.xlsx contains a random sample of 200 service
times during the busiest hour of the day.
b) Calculate and interpret a 95% confidence interval for the mean service time of all customers arriving
during the busiest hour of the day at this fast-food operation.
15. A drugstore manager needs to purchase adequate supplies of various brands of toothpaste to meet
the ongoing demands of its customers. In particular, the company is interested in estimating the
proportion of its customers who favor the country’s leading brand of toothpaste, Crest. The Data sheet
of the file P08_15 .xlsx contains the toothpaste brand preferences of 200 randomly selected customers,
obtained recently through a customer survey. Calculate a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of
all of the company’s customers who prefer Crest toothpaste. How might the manager use this
confidence interval for purchasing decisions?
17. The employee benefits manager of a large public university would like to estimate the proportion of
full-time employees who prefer adopting the first (plan A) of three available health care plans in the next annual enrollment period. A random sample of the university’s employees and their tentative health
care preferences are given in the file P08_17.xlsx.
a. Calculate a 90% confidence interval for the proportion of all the university’s employees who favor plan A.
32. Elected officials in a California city are preparing the annual budget for their community. They would
like to estimate how much their constituents living in this city are typically paying each year in real
estate taxes. Given that there are over 100,000 homeowners in this city, the officials have decided to
sample a representative subset of taxpayers and study their tax payments.
a. What sample size is required to generate a 95% confidence interval for the mean annual real estate tax
payment with a half-length of $100? Assume that the best estimate of the population standard deviation σ
is $535.
c. Now suppose that the officials want to construct a 95% confidence interval with a half-length of $75.
What sample size is required to achieve this objective?
34. You are trying to estimate the average amount a family spends on food during a year. In the past the
standard deviation of the amount a family has spent on food during a year has been approximately
$1000. If you want to be 99% sure that you have estimated average family food expenditures within $50,
how many families do you need to survey?
24. A real estate agent has collected a random sample of 75 houses that were recently sold in a suburban
community. She is particularly interested in comparing the appraised value and recent selling price of
the houses in this particular market. The data are provided in the file P08_24.xlsx. Using this sample
data, calculate a 95% confidence interval for the mean difference between the appraised values and
selling prices of the houses sold in this suburban community. Interpret the confidence interval for the
real estate agent.
Include your interpretation in blank cell under the calculations and output.

Find the price now of an annuity which pays $3,000 at the end of every year for ten years, but which is deferred for two years, if the interest rate is 4.4% compounded every quarter

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Assignment 11 Functions & Annuities
To be handed in by 2pm, Monday 5th of June
Examples:
A. Construct an amortisation schedule for a loan of $900 which is to be repaid
in three equal quarterly payments beginning in 3 months time, at an interest
rate of 6% p.a. compounded monthly.
B. Find the interest rate i p.a. which will enable a perpetuity which is purchased
for $3000 to pay $330 at the end of each year (forever).
Questions:
1. The winner of a lottery is given three choices for the the payments:
(a) $900,000 now;
(b) Payments of $100,000 per year for the next twelve years, starting now;
(c) Payments of $101,000 per year for twelve years, beginning in one years’
time.
Determine which is the better option if the interest rate is 5% per annum.
2. How much money is needed to establish a scholarship fund paying $60,000
annually (forever) if the fund will earn interest at 6% p.a. and if the first payment is made after one year?
3. For the interest rate of 5% p.a. paid semi-annually (every 6 months), find
the equivalent rate i per annum paid:
(a) annually;
(b) quarterly (every 3 months);
(c) monthly;
(d) weekly;
(e) continuously.
4. Consider a loan of $100,000 which is to be repaid in 15 years with equal
monthly repayments, beginning one month after the loan is taken out. The
interest rate for the duration of the loan is 6% p.a. compounded monthly.
(a) Calculate the monthly repayment amount.
(b) Use Excel to draw up the loan repayment schedule. Do not print this
out.
(c) Use the schedule to find the interest component of the 60th payment
and the balance after the 120th payment.
(d) Find the total payments made and the total interest payments. 5. Consider the loan in Question 4, but suppose instead that the monthly
payments are only interest repayments on the (full amount of) the loan but
that there is one final repayment in 15 years time of $100,000. Find the
present value of both the principal repayment and the interest payments
and verify they sum to $100,000.
6. Find the price now of an annuity which pays $3,000 at the end of every year
for ten years, but which is deferred for two years, if the interest rate is 4.4%
compounded every quarter.


Find a member of your group. What are their beliefs? Values? Is the information you uncover in your discussion consistent with the research profiles?

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Written Assignment - Consumer GroupsWritten Assignment Instructions
You've read a lot about customers, demographics, preferences, buyer behavior and more. And when you are selling a product or service this is key. In this assignment you will research a consumer group. Popular titles for consumer groups include: Generation X, Generation Y, Baby Boomers, Senior Citizens, Tweens, Kids, etc. Use research become an expert on one consumer group's demographics, psychographics, preferences, beliefs and buying patterns. Interview a member of this core group to reinforce what you've learned. Then choose a product or campaign you feel has met this group's needs and tell why.
Assignment Structure:
1.    Choose a Consumer Group: Use research to examine the following: How is this group defined? Who are they? What are their demographics? Psychographics? Values? Attitudes? Beliefs? What are their buying patterns? What brands to they identify with?
2.    Interview: Find a member of your group. What are their beliefs? Values? Is the information you uncover in your discussion consistent with the research profiles?
3.    Note: In a real-world application, this exercise would involve extensive interviews, focus groups, surveys -- other broad based research applications for this assessment. This interview is for for directional feedback for this assignment only.
4.    Strategic Application: Is there a marketer who captured the ideals and lifestyle of your chosen consumer group through a campaign or communication vehicle? Use examples discuss how the marketer understood this group. In your opinion, did the messaging make a true connection with the audience? Why or why not?
In exploring consumer groups, be sure to cite research references (and use information from the text) to support your position. Use APA format for your sources. Paper should be approximately five pages in length.
Evaluation Criteria:
·         Have you provided a clear description of a consumer group?
·         Did you interview a member of this group?
·         Have you applied your understanding of the group and connected it with a product or campaign that relates to it?