In Chapter 2 of the textbook, the author describes meanings for the concept of socio-economic class and analyzes how perceptions of justice may be influenced by class distinctions in American society (see Section 2.4). He also references the related views of two provocative and thought-provoking contemporary scholars. Robert H. Frank provides an economic analysis, and Charles Murray offers a socio-cultural interpretation. In this discussion, you will summarize the perspective of one of these scholars and evaluate its relevance to understanding how class influences beliefs about justice. Review the questions below and select one (only one) of these scholars as the focus of your initial post.

1. Robert H. Frank.  Debates about distributive justice among economic classes often characterize the outlook of the rich as libertarian, the views of the poor as egalitarian, and the perspective of the middle-class as utilitarian. This over-simplified framework may translate into conflicting ideologies about the role of government in achieving economic justice. On one extreme are libertarian proponents of the free market and on the other extreme are egalitarian proponents of socialism. In the middle are a variety of “mixed” approaches to the role of government in the economy that promote utilitarian concepts of distributive justice – the greatest good for the greatest possible number of people.

   Cornell University economist Robert Frank, in his recent provocative book, The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good, rejects – but not completely – both the libertarian and egalitarian extremes. Instead, he advocates a new role for government that encourages individuals toward self-interested economic behavior that also advances the economic welfare of all members of the community.

   In your initial post, summarize Frank’s arguments – both his criticism of the libertarian and egalitarian extremes. Then, analyze his proposals on how to achieve greater economic justice for the whole community. Finally, evaluate the relevance or usefulness of his views for understanding how economic class differences may influence perceptions of distributive justice. Do you think his views may be appreciated as just by rich people? Poor people? Middle-class people? Explain your conclusion.

   To help you successfully complete this discussion, review the following resources in the order they are listed:

   • Darwin, the market whiz
   • Robert Frank on “the Darwin economy”
   • Robert Frank: “The Darwin economy: Liberty, competition, and the common good” [Radio broadcast]
2. Charles Murray. Commutative justice rests on a shared understanding of the rights and responsibilities of all parties to the basic social contract that holds a society together. On one level, the U.S. Constitution might be characterized as part of the social contract on which the American political system is based. But on a deeper, more fundamental, level, the social contract includes shared values which shape our expectations of others and ourselves with respect to morality, culture, self-reliance, and collective responsibility.

   Charles Murray, a political scientist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, calls into question the relevance of the social contract which he sees as the source of “the founding virtues” on which American civic life depends. In his recent provocative book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, he argues that “Our nation is coming apart at the seams” – “not ethnic seams, but the seams of class” (Confessore, 2012). He focuses on what he sees as the social and moral collapse of the white working class and the growing cultural gap between them and the white upper class.

   In your initial post, summarize Murray’s description of the white working class and the white upper class. Also, analyze the basis for his pessimistic outlook about government’s ability to solve this problem and re-invigorate America’s social contract. Finally, evaluate the relevance or usefulness of his views for understanding how socio-economic class differences may influence perceptions of commutative justice. Do the white working class and the white upper class no longer have a shared understanding of the rights and responsibilities of the basic social contract? Explain your conclusion.

   To help you successfully complete this discussion, review the following resources in the order they are listed:

   • Tramps like them: Charles Murray examines the white working class in ‘Coming Apart’
   • Can the working class be saved?
   • Charles Murray on white America [Radio broadcast]

Your initial post should be at least 300 words in length. Support your claims with examples from two of the required resources and properly cite any references.

1. In selecting a process to convert inputs to outputs, different factors must be considered.  Which of the following are among the important factors that influence process selection? 

A. Capital requirements
B. Labor skill and cost requirements
C. Technology compatibility
D. All of the above.
E. (A) and (B) above 

2. An entrepreneur is planning to start a factory to produce a large quantity of appliances. What process type is appropriate to produce such a product in large quantity?

A. Assemble to order
B. Job shop
C. Assembly line
D.  Project

3. Which of the following statement(s) is/are true?   

A. A job shop process is characterized by jumbled flow while an assembly line process is characterized by a regular sequential flow.
B. The project form of operations is characterized by difficult planning and scheduling
C. When mass production of a selected product is desired, job shop production system is most cost effective.   
D. All the above statements are true.
E. Only A & B are true

4. Which of the following process type is appropriate to produce a very small quantity (sometimes just one unit) of a unique product per customer specifications?

A. Line
B. Continuous production
C. Project
D. job shop or intermittent
E. Mass production

5. _______ uses continuous flow process and makes products to stock based on demand forecast.  

A. Hospital
B. Cell phone manufacturing
C. Painting by a well-known artist
D. A brewery
E. Machine shop

6.  A company makes necklaces with attached letters. Department 1 makes the chains and letters in advance.  Department 2 assembles the necklaces when orders are received.  The process used in Departments 1 is ____ while the process used in Department 2 is _______.   

A)  Make-to-stock, assemble-to-stock

B) Make-to-stock, assemble-to-order

C)  Make-to-order, assemble-to-stock

D)  Make-to-order, make-to-order

7.  Productivity is the ratio of outputs to inputs and is an important measure of organizational performance.  To be meaningful:  

A. Productivity ratios should be computed over a period of time to see the trend. 

B. A company’s productivity ratios should be compared with similar ratios of other company in the same industry to see how the company stacks up against the competition.

C. Only labor and materials productivity ratios should be computed.   

D. All of the above.

E. (a) and (b) above.

8. ______ is an example of an industry that produces a standard product and uses a sequential

flow process is: 

A. Construction
B. Ship building
C. Auto assembly
D. Health care

9. Which of the following is NOT true about the characteristics of services? 

A. There is often a time gap between the production and consumption of services. 
B. The service output can be inventoried
C. Services are intangible
D.  Service quality measurement is relatively more difficult. 

E.  (a) and b) above.

10.  Which of the following are characteristics of a global corporation?

A)  A separate subsidiary or division is created for each country where it does business

B)  Its products are designed for the global market

C)  Products are designed for each individual marketplace

D)  Both A and C

11. A productive system: 

A. Converts a set of inputs to desired outputs
B. Is limited only to manufacturing operations
C. Must provide feedback information to control the quality of inputs, process and outputs
D. All of the above
E. Only (A) and (C) above.

12.  Suppose you are considering to purchase a machine for a small shop it operates.  It has narrowed down its options to two models—Model X and Model Y.  Model X is expected to provide 10,000 hours of service with required maintenance, and estimated downtime for maintenance is about 250 hours.  Model Y is expected to provide 14,000 hours of service with required maintenance and downtime for maintenance is estimated to be about 400 hours.  Which of the two machines has greater availability?

A.  Model X

B.  Model Y

C.  Both have equal availability

D.  Cannot be determined

13.  For the company referred to in the above question #1 above which produces goods based on specific customer order which of the following operations objectives is likely to be the least important?

A. Minimizing cost
B. Meeting quality specifications
C. Ensuring process flexibility
D. Meeting promised delivery time

14. Suppose a company uses proprietary computer software to offer services that other companies have not been able to emulate, and that these services have enabled Marketing to enter new markets.  This is an example of a company’s _________.   

A. Objective
B. Mission
C. Distinctive Competence
D. Policy

15.  Which of the following constitutes the primary responsibility of the operations manager?

A. Converting a set of inputs to desired outputs at minimum cost  

B.  Designing an appropriate process to produce and deliver desired goods and services

C.  Managing capacity and ensuring quality

D.  All of the above

E. (A) and (B) above.

16  Which of the following are the major decision areas in operations? 

  A.  Managing quality, delivery, sales and cost

  B.  Managing quality, process design, inventory and capacity 

  C. Managing quality, cost, product design, and flexibility

  D. Managing capacity, innovation, planning

17.  Some businesses follow a strategy of innovation (e.g., Apple) while others pursue a

strategy of imitation.  Companies that uses product imitation strategy often use ___  process and seek to benefit by offering  _____ products.

A.  Flexible; low price

B.  Flexible process; quality

C. Standardized; low price.

D.  All of the above.

18.  Some companies produce to specific customer order while others produce to stock.  The key performance measure of a make-to-stock process includes:

A.  Meeting customer specifications

B.  Forecasting demand accurately

C.  Having adequate inventory on hand to meet demand.

D. Meeting delivery due dates

E.  Only (B) and (C) above

19.  A company has a product with unique features not matched by the competition and customers are clamoring to buy the product due to its uniqueness.  Until matched by the competition, this unique feature becomes a/an ____ for the company.
A.  Order qualifier
B.  Order equalizer
C. Order winner
D.  QFD

20.  Which of the following is an important purpose of conducting process flow analysis in operations?

A.  To better understand the work flows in the system

B. To identify operations bottlenecks

C. To identify potential areas for improving efficiency

D.  All of the above

E. Only (a) and (c) above.

21.  The process used to prepare meals in the kitchen in a school cafeteria may best be characterized as ____ and the process used to serve meals to students is more like ____ operation. 

A.  Assembly line; Batch

B. Batch; Assembly Line

  C.  Continuous; Batch

  D. Assembly line; Assembly Line

22.  Process design is primarily concerned with:

A. Addressing the needs of the customer with appropriate product design

B.  Determining the best way to produce the desired product efficiently and effectively

C.  The outward appearance of the product

D.  The technical excellence of the product

23.  Which of the following statements is more likely to be true?

A.  Increasing the variety of products will result in lower costs.

B.  Increasing the variety of products has no effect on costs.

C. Increasing the variety of products will result in higher costs.

D. None of the above is true.

24.  Which of the following is true about a bottleneck process?

  A.  A bottleneck will have the smallest processing time.

  B. A bottleneck will determine the capacity of the process.

  C.  A bottleneck is associated with the shortest activity in the process.

  D.  Both (A) and (C) above

25. In process flow analysis, the total time required for a customer to go through the service delivery system is called:

A. cycle time

B. Capacity

C. Economy of scale

D.  Throughput time

E.  Flow rate

26.  Which of the following is not correct about the cost of quality?

  A. Emphasizing appraisal and prevention helps reduce failure costs. 

  B. Investment in quality improvement system helps save money down the stretch.

  C. Increasing prevention cost increases internal and external failure costs.

  D. Training cost is an example of prevention cost.

  E. Warranty is an example of external failure cost. 

27.  The Baldrige Award criteria emphasize all of the following except:

A.  Leadership and strategic planning

B.  Process management

C.  Focus on third party inspections to ensure quality improvement

D.  Customer satisfaction

  E.  Business results

28.  Which of the following is true about the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award?

A.  It recognizes employees with best customer service record

B.  It helps promote better quality management practices in the USA

C.  It recognizes selected U.S. organizations from different sectors for their quality excellence
D.  Only B & C above

29.  Which of the following is not one of the primary reasons for failure of quality

  improvement efforts?

A.  Managers continue to focus on short-term financial results

B.  Managers instinctively blame employees when there is a quality failure

C.  Managers interfere with true teamwork

D.  In the long-term, the costs of quality improvement efforts generally outpace the benefits.

30.In determining the cost of quality, costs associated with inspection, testing and labs can be categorized as:  

A.  Prevention costs

B.  Appraisal costs

C.  Internal failure costs

D.  External failure costs

E.  Improvement costs

31. Different dimensions are used to measure product quality.  The ratio of Uptime to the sum of Uptime and Downtime (i.e., Uptime/Uptime+Downtime) is used to measure a product’s:

A Reliability

B. Maintainability

C. Availability

D. None of the above.

32.  A small company located in Baltimore, MD, produces specialized products based on specific customer orders.  Most orders are very few in quantity (ranging from 5 to 200 units) and there is a significant variation in the design specifications of each order.  Which of the following process design is most appropriate in this company?

A. Continuous flow process
B. Assembly line process
C. Job shop
D. Mass production

33.  ____ constitute the primary input to a manufacturing process, and ____ are the primary input to a service firm. 

A.  Machines; customers that need service

B.  Raw materials; employees

C.  Employees; employees 

D.  Raw materials; customers that need service

Hrm 326 Week 1 Individual Assignment. I need help with the following please.

Individual Case Study Analysis

Read Case Study: Taking Charge at Domtar; What it Takes for a Turnaround – Chapter 1, pages 1-3 of Effective Training Systems, Strategies, and Practices. Respond to the questions found on page 23, at the end of the chapter.