Puente Hill Toyota Essay

Puente Hills Toyota (PHT) is a large Toyota dealership which is owned by the corporation Hitchcock Automotive Services. PHT is situated in city of industry, California, about 25 miles east of Los Angeles. PHT offers a wide variety of new and used cars (this is unique in the industry). Furthermore they offer Toyota incentives, service specials, and Toyota parts savings. The annual profits of PHT totaled about $1.8, with annual sales of $ 85 million. PHT had a total of 145 employees. The employees are very valuable to PHT due they are the ones who have to advise the customer, sell the vehicles and repair them. But it is hard to keep them al motivated. As said by Howard Hakes; â€Å"It’s people who give us our biggest successes as well as our biggest challenges†. The most important is to get all the employees in the same direction, to reach the companies goals. For PHT there are two important things, that both the manufacturers and the customers are happy. PHT is divided in five departments, who are reporting directly to the dealership manager, namely: a sales department, and service department, a body shop department, a parts department and a Finance and Insurance department. The departments are managed as profit centers. Within this profit centers there are different performance measurement and incentive systems. First the performance measures and incentive systems that apply to all the departments will be discussed. Than the Sales and Service department will be discussed separately. All the bonus plans within the sales department start from one. At PHT, most employees’ variable incentive pay increases linearly with performance, however performance is defined; that is, the higher the performance, the larger the bonuses that are paid.

Healthy Conflict in the Workplace Essay Example

Healthy Conflict in the Workplace Essay Example Healthy Conflict in the Workplace Paper Healthy Conflict in the Workplace Paper In my organization, the conflict occurred between two engineers responsible for one project. Each of them insisted on his approach to a new IT architecture and did not even listen to the other party. I suppose both of them tried to prove their professional skills and expertise in this subject and, for this reason, insisted on their approach to change. The main negative outcomes of the conflict were aggressiveness and violence in relations, unproductive behavior and low spirit of other employees. The engineers did not want even to talk to other people about this conflict insisting on their approach to change. Aggressiveness, lack of understanding and neglect were the main causes of this conflict (Wood, 2003, p. 268).   In order to solve it, mediation (third party) was used. Mediator played the core role here. Belonging to an independent part of the process he helped the parties of the conflicts being objective. The ability of a third party to resolve conflict can influence the outcome of it. It was found that the approaches proposed by both engineers had much in common (Wood, 2003, p. 307). I suppose that listening, objectivity and loyalty would help both of them to avoid conflict and implement the project on time. In this case, listening practices is one of the most important principles of communication and conflict resolution. Listening practices imply mutual respect and confidence needed for successful conflict resolution. Subjects to be discussed should be clearly stated. If people are not open and attentive, they fail to perform effectively and solve current problems. Their efforts must all pull in the same direction, and their contributions must fit together to produce a whole without gaps, without friction, without unnecessary duplication of effort (wood, 2003, p. 293). The all-channel network involves full discussion and participation which enhance performance in teams. This network appears to work best where a high level of interaction is required among all members of the team in order to solve complex problems. Objectivity will benefit both the employees and organization creating a friendly atmosphere and trust. References 1. Wood, J.T. (2003). Interpersonal Communications. Wadsworth Publishing.

How to stay eager and motivated during the summer

How to stay eager and motivated during the summer Which is worse: a case of the Mondays, or a case of the Summer Fridays? There’s always the coffee cure for that groggy feeling as you drag your feet to work on Mondays, but what about the long slow burn of the summer Fridays, when you’re surrounded by empty desks of people on vacation? Whether it’s the summer heat, the creeping envy of coworkers on vacation, or just the call of the outdoors, staying motivated and productive this time of year can be a challenge. Here are 5 ways to beat the summer blahs, stay focused, and enjoy your work more. Set micro-goalsReaching a goal you’ve worked hard for can make you feel a great sense of accomplishment. So why not get this feeling in smaller doses to help give you a boost throughout the day? Making a list of small goals- even â€Å"get coffee†- can help you get focused and get the ball rolling on the tasks you need to do. Checking something off your list can also help you feel productive and organized. Even better: set time goals. Turn your task into a small challenge. What can you get done in the next 15 minutes? To stay truly productive, schedule the next hour, the whole morning, and the rest of the day.DaydreamBut make sure you also schedule some break time. You may find yourself avoiding work to think about all the fun coworkers are having on vacation as you sit in your ghost town of an office, or to start planning out your ideal beach weekend. Use this tendency to daydream to your advantage by making it strategic. Letting yourself daydream (on a time limit) can refresh you and help you refocus before you go back to your work. It’s better to give yourself planned breaks rather than let your mind wander all day. And whatever you do, stay off social media (scrolling through posts of other people’s sunsets and palm trees won’t help you stay motivated).Reward yourselfWe’re not rats in a maze, but we are motivated to act by reward centers in our brains. If yo u’re absolutely burnt out at work and wishing you could take the day off and enjoy the sun, make your break times, evenings, and weekends count. Treat yourself by splurging on a really great lunch. Go to a movie after work. Rest well. Buy a new outfit as if you were taking a vacation. Plan a day trip for the upcoming weekend. Cost and time can prohibit you from actually going to the Bahamas, but even simply planning something you will enjoy later can boost your mood now- helping you be more productive in your everyday routine.Switch up your routineSpeaking of the everyday routine: if you just find yourself wishing you were elsewhere, bring a little something different into your everyday. Listen to calypso music on headphones or drink a nonalcoholic frozen pineapple beverage with your lunch. Even get an iced coffee instead of hot coffee. Walk a different way to work. One thing a vacation does is break up the everyday routine and give you a change of scenery – you can do this on a small scale. Let something in your day feel a little different to make the summertime special, even within your office walls.Bring the outdoors inSimilarly, if you are yearning to go outdoors in the sun, bring some nature into your office space. Listen to some ocean waves. Buy yourself a plant or some flowers for your desk. Look at pictures of nature or places you want to go. Spending a weekend on the beach can be restorative, but simply looking at nature can also actually make you calmer.Acknowledging your desire to be elsewhere will help you be more productive then trying to ignore it. Tapping into the small things that can help keep you motivated and help break up the rut will help you get through those long summer days.

How to Answer Situational Interview Questions

How to Answer Situational Interview Questions In a job interview, you’re thoroughly prepared for the standard questions about your skills and your work history. You’ve got anecdotes that show off your leadership skills or your communication skills. Smooth sailing, right? Sure, until you get a question that’s a little off the map: â€Å"Here’s the situation. You have an angry client on the phone, an urgent email demanding your attention, and the fire alarm is going off. How do you handle this?† The answer to that question isn’t in your resume (at least not obviously so). It’s not one of the stories you rehearsed in your bathroom mirror this morning. So what does this kind of question achieve, and how do you tackle it?Situational interview questions are popular with interviewers because they unearth two immediate things about the interviewee:How quickly he or she thinks on their feet.How he or she approaches problem solving.These are interview skills that you can’t necessaril y drill ahead of time, without knowing the specifics of what the interviewer is going to ask. But we will walk through ways to recognize situational questions right away, and how to approach these questions on the spot.Situational vs. BehavioralSituational interview questions are slightly different from that other popular interview question type, the behavioral interview question. Both question types lure you away from the resume review template. Behavioral questions call for you to tell a story about something you’ve done, or a time you’ve faced a particular challenge. Telltale signs of a behavioral question:â€Å"Tell me about a time you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"Describe a situation where you did†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"Give me an example of†¦Ã¢â‚¬ These all boil down to a very simple ask: â€Å"Tell me a story.† The Interview Guys recommend breaking each one down using the STAR method:What is the (brief) context for the story you’re about to tell? (the s ituation)What task did you need to complete, and what were the challenges/constraints?What did you do? (What action did you take?)What were the results? Be as specific as possible, and pull out any quantifiable results (sales, statistics, etc.) if available.Behavioral questions are ones that you can kind of anticipate ahead of time. If you come up with a few ready anecdotes for each of the skills you want to emphasize/the skills on your resume, you can shine those up ahead of time and get ready to pull them out at the right time.Situational questions are a little different. Instead of a story about how you did something, these questions want you to talk about how you would do something. Hallmarks of a situational interview question:â€Å"How would you handle†¦?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"What would you do if†¦?â€Å"What would happen if†¦?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Here’s a hypothetical situation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Hypothetical is the key word here, whether it’s explicitly mentioned o r not. Situational interview questions are almost always structured as scenario + â€Å"what would you do?† The interviewer isn’t necessarily interested in how you’ve handled things in the past, although your experience can certainly be used to inform your answer to this hypothetical question. Really, it’s a test of your critical thinking skills, and showing the interviewer that you can hear a situation that you may or may not have ever faced before, think fast, and come up with a satisfying solution. It also gives insight into your thought processes.How to Answer Situational Interview QuestionsThe first strategy for answering questions like these is to remember that it’s not a trick question. It’s not a gotcha. The interviewer didn’t wake up this morning and think, â€Å"I’m gonna mess with that dude’s interview just to throw him off his game.† It’s not a personal question, it’s a professional one- so before you answer, it’s important to take a deep breath and think logically.More often than not, the answer is going to be the one that lines up most with common sense. Think of it as a kind of role playing, except the role is your best professional self, not someone else.Your plan of attack for situational interview questions should be to follow these guidelines:Be a good listener. Make sure you understand what you’re being asked. If you want to clarify any points, ask a question or two. (This has an added bonus of giving you more time to chew over the question.)Be honest. Interviewers know when you’re only saying something because you know they want to hear it. None of us is as subtle or slick as we think we are.Be brief. This story doesn’t need additional characters, or big embellishments. Make sure you get right to the point.Be clear about actions you would take, and why.Be specific. Always tailor your answer to the job description and the skills t hat would be required.What NOT to Do and SayDon’t wing it. You may decide that since you can’t anticipate the specific question, you should go into it cold and let your instincts be your guide. Unless you have a small cricket friend accompanying you to the interview and whispering guidance, this is not a great plan. You can still practice common situational questions, and work on connecting your own experiences to them.Don’t ramble. â€Å"†¦So anyway, what was I saying before I went off on that tangent? Oh, right, how I’d organize a project. Organization is so important†¦umm†¦sorry, lost my train of thought.† Staying focused is key. You want to get in, answer the question, and get out. There are no bonus points for a novella-length answer.Don’t give a generic answer. You want to give specifics whenever possible. Maybe that’s saying, â€Å"I actually faced something similar, and I did X. Given the chance again, this is what I’d do differently.† Maybe it’s saying, â€Å"I know Job Corp values efficiency, so here’s how I’d improve that process.† Either way, you want the interviewer to know that you’re not answering questions in the void, you’re being thoughtful and describing how you would react in this particular job.Common Situational QuestionsNow that we’ve gone through some of the theory behind situational interview questions, let’s look at some common ones that you can use to frame your interview prep.Q: Say you’re leading a team on a project that has a very strict deadline. It’s looking like you may miss that deadline. How do you handle that?A: In a case like this, where the deadline might not be negotiable, I’d make sure there was a Plan B option in place, and make sure that communication is strong throughout the group to make sure everyone knows what that Plan B is if things don’t go according to plan. This is similar to a situation I faced in my current job, where a server failure meant that we wouldn’t be able to finalize a process on time. We ended up having to use a manual workaround to get the data in, and it took some epic overtime, but in the end we just made it. When a deadline is in jeopardy, you do what you need to do. Q: You and your boss don’t get along, and you find that your everyday tasks are not getting done because of this ongoing conflict. How would you handle that?A: In my experience, resolving conflicts before they blow up is one of the most important professional skills to have. I know how important it is to work with people of all different kinds of perspectives, so I’d try talking to my boss about our priorities, and about the best way to achieve them. I’d make sure to stay very neutral and professional, and try to open up a dialogue.Q: You get an email from an angry client complaining about service. What would you do to de fuse the situation?A: First, I’d make sure I understand why the client is upset, and what the root cause of the problem is. If I need to do more digging, I’d be very apologetic and let him or her know that I am looking into the issue, and will keep him or her posted. I’d be very careful to keep that line of communication open, so that even if I can’t fix the problem right away, the client knows that I’m working on it and that this is a priority for me and the company.See? There’s no magic to answering these. You just want to make sure that you have a clear answer that makes sense, and aligns with the brand you’re trying to convey in the interview. And although you can never tell exactly which (if any) situational questions you’ll get, you can start thinking ahead of time about what skills and priorities you want to emphasize in the interview.You got this- happy hypothetical-ing!

Health Care and Death Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Health Care and Death - Essay Example For some people, death is the ultimate end. They don't see anything beyond death whereas for some, death is just a beginning for a life after death. I believe in life after death and this somehow helps me see death in a different light. For me, I see death as a necessary painful process in order for something beautiful to arise. In nursing school, we are taught and prepared on how to deal with patients and how to deal with the death of some of these patients. We are told to build rapport and empathize with them, but still keeping in mind the boundaries of a patient-nurse relationship. However, as Patch Adams said, transference and counter-transference are inevitable. As I spend more time with my patients, I get to know more about their personal lives and from just mere strangers, these patients become my friends. Even harder to deal with are patients will terminal diseases like cancer as these are the patients that I spend time with them for months even up to years. These patients have to accept the fact that they have little time left. The grieving process for the patient and his loved ones start from the time of diagnosis. The hard part is that they have to deal with death while the person is still living. Honestly, I am affected whenever I see my dying patients suffer not just physically, but emotionally as well.

A Good Structure and Management Strategies in the Organizational Research Paper

A Good Structure and Management Strategies in the Organizational Processes - Research Paper Example Leopold, Harris and Watson (2004) define Strategic Managing of Human Resources as a mean of implementing corporate business strategy through HR. That means that HR managers and specialists are to work with a purpose of implementing strategic decisions taken by upper management on practice using the capabilities and potential of people working in an organization in order to improve the overall company’s performance (Bratton & Gold, 2001). They are to do it by means of negotiation, argument, and conflict resolution tools. The writers outline that managing HR strategically is vitally important for achieving organizational excellence in the long run. In addition, it is stated that HR management is, and should, be interconnected with the general management practices of an organization. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management defines Strategic Managing of Human Resources, also referred as ‘Alignment’, as integrating HR decisions with organizational mission and goals - t he decisions taken about the results an organization is to achieve (U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 1999). The research conducted by U.S. Office of Personnel Management reports that this can be achieved by means of interconnecting HR management principles and practices with company’s overall planning process so that HR activities would support the mission goals. In any case, strategic planning is an important part of organization’s operations since it allows a company to define its current market position, as well as analyze its potential and determine the most significant short- and long-term goals.

Prevalence of Asthma among Physically Inactive Adolescents Research Paper

Prevalence of Asthma among Physically Inactive Adolescents - Research Paper Example Asthma has been implicated in overweight and physically inert young people. In their study, Daniel et al mention that in instances of reduced mobility, there is more prevalence of asthma. With asthma also, there is decreased physical activity which accentuates the condition. In another study by Ten Hacken (2009), physical inactivity and obesity have been compared so as to identify the correlation between the two. The researchers are guided by the principle that physical inactivity and obesity are risk factors for many chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, depression and diabetes mellitus. The researchers explain that in inactivity and obesity, there is systemic inflammation that leads to various inflammatory processes of many chronic conditions. Asthma is a chronic airway disease characterized by enhanced bronchial inflammation and hyperactivity, mucosal edema and airway narrowing. Asthma being a chronic condition, therefore, fits the bill o f the inclusion criteria. Despite this argument, the study is not quite clear on asthma as it uses postulations and inferences. Even the researchers themselves admit that complex studies will be needed to clearly show the correlation between physical inactivity and asthma. ... Smoking is a trigger for acute asthma attacks while obesity does not necessarily imply that one has reduced activity. However, there was some strength of association between inactivity and asthma in the sense that, of the study participants, those who used inhalers had an 80% likelihood of being physically inactive. Another study by Hallal et al seeks to identify the strength of association between physical activity in adolescents and their health status. The research is based on the principle that physical inactivity among the young people reduces the incidence of chronic diseases. The study was conducted between 2000 and 2004. The findings were that physical activity has long-term benefits o various conditions in the body including bone condition, breast cancer, asthma and sedentary behavior. Concerning asthma, the researchers established that water activities have shown efficacy in controlling and fighting asthma. The ways in which physical activity treats asthma is not very clear , but from various studies reviewed, there is a close association between physical activity and asthma. What is, however, not clear is the mechanism by which this happens. PART 3 Research Questions: Using PICO Model The study shall be conducted based on the guidance from the following research questions: 1. To what extent can asthmatic conditions be attributed to lifestyle? 2. Are adolescents who are less active physically likely to have health complications than their active counterparts? 3. What is the connection between patient diagnosed with asthma and physical mobility? 4. Can increased physical activity reduce the chances of asthmatic attack? 5. Do asthmatic adolescent who