QUESTIONS:

 6. All managers have to cope with variation. 

1. In what ways are Hazel's customers most likely a. What are the major sources of variation that Hazel
to judge the quality of her lawn care services? has to contend with?
b. How might these sources of variation impact
2. Hazel is the operations manager of her Hazel's ability to match supply and demand?
business. Among her responsibilities are c. What are some ways she can cope with variation ?
forecasting, inventory management, scheduling,
quality assurance, and maintenance. 7. Hazel is thinking of making some of her
a. What kinds of things would likely require operations sustainable. What are some ideas
forecasts? she might consider? 
b. What inventory items does Hazel probably
have? Name one inventory decision she has to make
periodically.
c. What scheduling must she do? What things
might occur to disrupt schedules and cause Hazel to
reschedule?
d. How important is quality assurance to Hazel's
business? Explain.
e. What kinds of maintenance must be
performed?

3. What are some of the trade-offs that Hazel

probably considered relative to:
a. Working for a company instead of for herself?
b. Expanding the business? 
c. Launching a Web site?

4. The town is considering an ordinance that

would prohibit putting grass clippings at the
curb for pickup because local landfills cannot
handle the volume. What options might Hazel
consider if the ordinance is passed? Name two
advantages and two drawbacks of each option.

5. Hazel decided to offer the students who

worked for her a bonus of $25 for ideas on
how to improve the business, and they
provided several good ideas. One idea that she
initially rejected now appears to hold great
promise. The student who proposed the idea
has left, and is currently working for a
competitor. Should Hazel send that student a
check for the idea? What are the possible
trade-offs?

2.
A. Hazel should be able to forecast the weather in
performing the services. It is not good to do some
mowing when the weather is not good particularly if its
raining or there's a storm. Furthermore, Hazel should
also determine the demand for her lawn care services
such as the average number of requests she gets daily.
This way she can properly schedule work and maintain
the necessary equipment. It is also advantageous to
Hazel if she can forecast how many weeks before the
grasses will grow longer to the point in which her regular
customers will need her again to take care for their
respective lawns.
B. Usually, when someone engages to lawn care
Business, the items that will most probably be needed
include lawn mowers, fertilizers, seeds, grass cutters and
other gardening tool such as rake, weeders, hedge
shears, shovel and many others. Of all these inventory
items, the most important would be the lawn mower
and she has to keep its maintenance periodically in
order for it to last longer and ensuring that it’s on the
best condition since it brings a material impact for her
business. Aside from its usage, the lawn mower is
technically an equipment with machine that needs
maintenance.
highly important for Hazel’s lawn care business since it
would help her to clearly identify weaknesses and incon
sistencies in her business and enable her to design
techniques on how to remedy or prevent them. As
mentioned, it would ensure smooth operations and help
increase customer demands, thus, it would mean more
profit. Quality assurance also reflects on her business
credibility or reputation.
E.Even if Hazel is starting a small business, there are still 
a need for some maintenance specifically on service
quality, inventory management and contact with the
customers. On service quality, Hazel should be able to
maintain the quality of her work on all of her customers
which can be judged based on indicators given on the
first question. Of course, maintenance of her inventory
items and equipment are critically a need. She should
maintain and check that the condition of her lawn
mower/s and gardening tools are in best condition. In ad
dition, the checking of expiration dates for her fertilizers
should also be consistent. When it comes to customer
contact, Hazel should maintain good communication
with her customer in order to be updated and effectively
deal with any changes. Like for example, if a customer
decides to cancel his/ her requests or reschedule it for
some other time.

C. Hazel may schedule the time when to perform service 3.

and how many hours will it take to complete. It is highly
A. In deciding between the two options, Hazel should
important because it would ensure smooth operations
probably consider a trade off on the salary and
for her business and keep the customer well informed,
authority. With regards to salary, Hazel should be able
thus, gives more probability of their satisfaction. The
to assess her earnings whether which alternative would
duration of service is also an important thing to
give more value to her. However, she must
schedule because it would determine the appropriate
first consider the risks between losing the job
compensation and the number of clients she can handle
and bankruptcy of the business depending on the
in a given period of time. In relation to forecasting,
applicable factors such as demand and status of industry
factors such as weathering and customer demand as
Nevertheless, whether Hazel personally wants
well as malfunctioning of the machines and availability
to be supervised or be the supervisor can become a
of her workers affect the scheduling of Hazel’s services.
considerable trade off. Hazel should try to choose which
Moreover, lawn area, lawn condition, and the number of
option gives her more opportunity to achieve personal
services of a requested by a given customer can also
growth, contentment, and security.
affect Hazel's scheduling.

D. Simply stated, quality assurance is assuring quality.

Quality assurance is assuring that tasks, procedures and
processes are executed exactly as intended every time.
Like most establishments, quality assurance is indeed
 C.

4.

5.

6.
A.

B.