1st Answer

Introduction: Kaizen refers to improvement. It's the overarching thesis of continuously

improving and is often applied to warehousing, inventory management and
manufacturing operations. The 5S system is used in accordance with Kaizen in order to
encourage efficiency and organization. The 5S system comprises of sort, set in order,
shine, standardize and sustain. Repeat it to yourself multiple times and write it down —
go ahead, do it now!

The warehouses meant for storage and fleet auto repair shops act as a breeding ground
for dirt and clutter. Lacking spare parts inventory organization can have a compounding
effect on the efficiencies.

Due to all these reasons, the 5S System is said to be a tangible solution for the
company providing machine spare parts especially if the company conducts in-house
maintenance.

The following are the components of the 5S system:

1. Sort: Before the company begins to organize their shop, they would want to go
through the spare parts and tools they have and determine if they genuinely need the
item. This is the “sort” phase of the 5S System. Filtering through unnecessary inventory
will help the company keep their shop organized and more importantly, lower
overspending.

2. Set in Order: Everything in the shop must have a designated place. This won’t only
ensure that it is easier and quicker to find things, it also helps to prevent the old “now
where have I kept it” excuse that all of us have been victims of. It is important to ensure
that we use common sense like placement of larger items lower or the most regularly
used spare parts and tools in easy to access places.

3. Shine: The technicians of the business probably do some sort of cleaning, but there’s
always room to improvise. It’s a good thing to develop an everyday routine to clean not
only the shop space and the tools as well. This will increase the lifespan of tools and
could even result in the increase of resale value if the company chooses to upgrade
them.

4. Standardize: Now that organization has started to take shape, the business wants to
maintain the standards. Use of signage which is clearly labeled would make it very easy
for technicians to identify where things belong. If you have a tool pegboard, the
business can really make tools easy in order to find by painting outlines of the tool
shapes as it would hang on the board.

5. Sustain: As a manager, the business is responsible for your technicians. The

business doesn’t have to be an accountant, but the company should periodically audit
your team’s thoroughness. To quickly verify, things will be cleaned to the company
standard, it is important to use checklists that help to ensure technicians don’t miss out
on anything. In order to be certain, it is important to conduct a weekly audit and take a
note of any discrepancies.

5 Benefits of the 5S System: Implementation of the 5S system is an amazing solution

to manage the tools of business and inventory of spare parts. Some of the benefits may
seem obvious. However, their impact would be tremendous. Keeping with the number
five theme, here are five advantages of the 5S System.

1. Maximize Efficiencies: The essence of the operations of your fleet management  is

to ensure maximum efficiency. The more efficient the company and its fleet are, the
more productive he or she can be. An increase in the productivity brings more earning
potential.

In the 5S system, every part and tool would have its own dedicated location. By doing
this, it eliminates wasted time which was spent in searching for items as a technician
would consider location as a second nature. The faster the technician would complete
tasks pertaining to maintenance, the faster your assets would get back on the road.

2. Verify Inventory Levels: The software for spare parts inventory is the most optimum
way to manage your levels of inventory. The company can scan spare parts with the
use of a mobile device in order to update the levels of inventory, while the software
automatically will calculate your totals — even for multiple locations.

3. Keep Things Tidy: The business and their shops and warehouses are a breeding
ground for dirt and grime. The last thing a company would require is to compound the
issue with your spare parts and tools. In order to take the time to wipe spare parts and
tools down is more than just an aesthetically pleasing task in order to make things
shine.

It may prevent malfunction or breakdown that otherwise could have been avoided.
Imagine the level of frustration and hit to the budget if you had to keep ordering new
parts since your warehouse or shop caused too much build-up of gunk.

4. Promote Safety and Security: Safety must always be at the forefront of your
operations of fleet. If there isn’t a set standard for organization, tools and parts may be
left out and it may lead to various tripping hazards all around the shop.

Once more, the company can never be extremely sure about their security. Whether it’s
an employee or even a visitor, spare parts may be stolen and they may go missing. The
5S system paired with inventory of spare parts software will enable to prevent theft by
knowing where and how much stock the person or the company has.
5. Expedite Training: For a business, hiring is usually a positive signal, right? That
said, the training of new employees’ needs resources that are valuable and can be
costly to ensure productivity.

Conclusion: New employees may feel overwhelmed with information and the last thing
a technician would want to worry about is where the filters are kept. Using of the 5S
System makes it easier to train new employees who would quickly identify the location
of spare parts and tools. The inventory software meant for spare parts can keep a
running total of inventory levels but if your shop isn’t organized, your technicians won’t
be able to find the necessary spare part or tool promptly. It can also cause you to
overspend on spare parts and tools your shop already contains on hand.
2nd Answer

Introduction: Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner developed the model after spending

10 years and researching the preferences and values of people in multiple cultures all
over the globe. Comprising this, they shared questionnaires to more than 46,000
managers in 40 different countries.

They found that individuals from various cultures aren't just randomly different from one
another; they are different in very specific, even predictable, ways. This is because
every culture has their own approach to think, its own values and beliefs, and
preferences which are different and placed on a variety of different factors.

1. Universalism versus particularism

Universalism: People place an extremely high relevance on laws, rules, values, and
obligations. They put in effort and make an attempt to deal fairly with people on the
basis of these rules, but rules always come before relationships.

 Enable people to understand how their work ties into their values and beliefs.

 Provide clear instructions, processes, and procedures.

 Maintain promises and remain consistent.

 Give people time to take decisions.

 Use an objective process in order to make decisions yourself, and explain your
decisions if other people are involved.

Particularism: People believe that each circumstance, and every relationship, has
the right to dictate the rules that they live by. The way they respond to a particular
situation may change, based on what's happening in the moment, and the people
involved.

Render people with the autonomy in order to make their own decisions.

It is important to respect the needs of others' while making decisions.

It is important to be flexible in how to make decisions.

Consume time in order to build relationships and know other people so that it is
possible to better interpret their needs.

The rules which are important and policies that are required to be followed need to
be highlighted.
2. Individualism versus communitarianism

Individualism: The belief of people lies in personal freedom and achievement. It is

important to gain the belief that he or she can make their own decisions, and that he or
she needs to take care of yourself.

Communitarianism: People believe that the group is more relevant and has more
value than the individual. The group provides help and safety, in exchange for loyalty.
The group always comes before the individual . The group performance needs to be
praised and rewarded. The individuals should not only be praised publically. People
should be allowed to involve others while making decision. It is important to not show
any kind of favoritism.

3. Specific versus Diffuse.

Specific: Work and personal lives need to be kept separate. As a result, they believe
that relationships don’t have a huge impact on objectives of work, and, although good
relationships are extremely important, they believe that people can work together
without already having a strong relationship.

Diffuse: People see an overlap between their personal life and work. They believe that
good relationships are extremely important in order to meet objectives of business, and
that their relationships with others would be the same, whether they are at work or
meeting socially. People spend time outside work hours with colleagues and clients.

4. Neutral versus emotional:

Neutral: In order to control their emotions, people make a great effort. Rationale
influences their actions way more than their feelings. People hardly reveal what they
think and how they feel.
Emotional: People wish to find different ways of expressing their emotions, even
spontaneously, at work. In these cultures, to show emotion, it's welcome and accepted.

5. Achievement versus Ascription:

Achievement: People believe that you are what you do, and your worth is based
accordingly. No matter who the individual is, the performance is valued by these
cultures.

Ascription: The belief of people is that an individual must be valued for who you are.
Power, title, and position matter in these cultures, and these roles define behavior.
6. Sequential Time versus Synchronous Time

Sequential Time: People like when events happen in order. They hold a high value for
punctuality, planning (and sticking to your plans), and to stay on schedule. In this
culture, "time is money," and when their schedule is thrown off, people don't appreciate
it.

Synchronous Time: People see the past, present, and future as interwoven periods.
They often work on various projects at once, and view plans and commitments as
flexible.

7. Internal Direction versus outer direction

Internal Direction: Internal direction. People believe that they can control nature or
their environment to achieve goals. This involves how they collaborate and work with
teams and within organizations.

Outer Direction: People believe that nature, or their environment controls them; they
should work with their environment in order to achieve goals. At work or in relationships,
they place emphasis on their actions on others, and they tend to avoid conflict wherever
possible. It is important to reassure people that they are doing a good job.

Conclusion: It is important for the organizations to use the model in order to

understand people from various cultural backgrounds in a better way, so that you can
work with them in a much more effective manner, and avoid any sorts of
misunderstandings. The companies have to be sensible in the way they apply the
model. It is important to treat people as individuals, and ensure that there are various
factors that may have a bearing on how the company culture communicates and
interacts with other individuals.
3rd Answer

3a.The organizational structure of a company refers to the communication, the tasks

distribution and responsibilities, and the flexibility of the organization in the face of
change. It involves lines of both authority as well as accountability. Also, the kind of
behavior that is considered acceptable within the organization influences organizational
structure.

The following are some of the features of organizational structure:

1. Simplicity: An organization structure must be basically simple. It implies that the

structure must possess the simplest possible framework which would fulfill the
objectives intended with due focus on means of accomplishing the objectives of the
enterprise which are economical and effective. This would ensure economy of effort,
minimize the costs of overheads and lower all the possible difficulties that may arise out
of weak communication due to the complexity of structures which are intricate.

2. Flexibility and Continuity: The organizer must build the structure not for today or
tomorrow, but keeping in mind the distant future. As such, continuity should be
maintained in the structure of organization over a period of time. However, since the
structure of organization is based on circumstances and these aren’t fixed but change
over the course of time, there is a requirement to incorporate these changes in the
structure of the organization also. Hence, the structure must be adaptable well
enough so that it renders the opportunity to accommodate the changes wherever
these are required.

3. Clear Line of Authority: Whatever the form of structure is adopted, there must be
clear lines of authority running from top to bottom or in horizontal directions. It indicates
that one must be extremely clear about what he or she is expected to accomplish or
contribute and what relationships must be maintained by him at his official level.

4. Ultimate authority: It suggests that, although a superior manager assigns some of

the work to his subordinates, he or she is ultimately responsible in order to accomplish
the total work. Thus, he is held responsible for his own work as well as for the work
conducted by his subordinates.

The Weisbord model will help the organization design their structure in the following
ways:
3b. Weisbord's 6 Box Model: Weisbord’s 6 box model refers to a framework
developed in order to diagnose issues of the organization that aren’t obvious to
management at the senior level.

Weisbord’s model outlines six possible areas in order to investigation to look into when
seeking to find areas where the organization doesn’t function as efficiently as it can.
Often, organizations are so huge and complex that despite managers knowing it could
operate more in an efficient manner, they don’t know where to start in order to find and
correct the problem. 

Purposes: In order to acknowledge the main mission and vision of the organization
and raising a question that how well the goals it sets itself and its employees are
understood is an excellent first step. Then assessing how well these goals fit with your
organization’s competencies may reveal why it is not operating at maximum efficiency.
The setting of these goals is also important, every employee should not only be aware
of them, but also contribute to their design. 

Structure: Firstly, determine the nature of your organisational design, who reports to
whom and who does what. This can then be aligned with the processes of the
organization to determine how well they are being supported. More specific questions,
about communication pathways for example, can then be asked to determine how
efficient these processes are. 

Relationships: This section talks about team dynamics, communication and

collaboration occurring within the organization. A lack of communication between
different departments is often an invisible cause that may lead to many issues. 

Rewards: The incentive mechanism is extremely important in order to determine the

performance of employee and can often become a key reason in causing issues in the
organization. It is extremely important to assess how employees are rewarded, but also
very important to know the kind of work and performance being rewarded. Generous
reward systems may exist, yet achievements of some employees could be
unintentionally ignored. This lack of recognition may lead to resentment and
demotivation. 

Leadership: It is the job of the organization’s leaders to ensure all these elements are
running properly, as well as making sure the correct balance is struck between them.
They are also responsible for resolving any internal conflict that may be occurring.
Weisbord suggests asking who these leaders in the organization are, how they have got
there and how effective they are at the tasks they are responsible for. 

Supporting Mechanisms: Assessing the communication pathways, policies and

procedures and planning, budgeting and controlling systems for organisational
processes can often reveal areas of inefficiency. Weisbord’s 6 box model is not going to
solve all of your organization’s underlying issues, but it is an excellent tool for starting
the process. It is a logical and practical tool for investigating all the key areas of the
business for possible weaknesses.

Conclusion: It is not possible to solve all of the organization’s issues with the help of
Weisbord’s 6 box model. However, it is an excellent tool in order to start the process. It
comes across as an extremely logical and practical tool in order to investigate all the
key areas of the business for potential weakness or threats.