Running head: FINAL ASSIGNMENT 1. Title: FINAL ASSIGNMENT. Teresa Arnwine OMGT 305 PA 2012 SUMMER 03. Date August 10, Mr.

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1 Running head: FINAL ASSIGNMENT 1 Title: FINAL ASSIGNMENT Teresa Arnwine OMGT 305 PA 2012 SUMMER 03 Date August 10, 2012 Mr. Bruce Stephens Southwestern College Professional Studies

2 FINAL ASSIGNMENT 2 OPENING STATEMENT For our final assignment, we are to choose two questions from the Baldrige Criteria and two questions from the AS9100 Field Book and Handouts out of the six questions we were provided. CESSNA TEAMS WITH SHENYANG AIRCRAFT CORPORATION. IN REGARD TO THIS PARTNERSHIP, WRITE ABOUT WHY YOU FEEL AS9100 IS IMPORTANT TO THE LIGHT AIRCRAFT OWNER/OPERATOR. RESEARCH THE LINK BELOW AND OTHERS YOU FIND RELATIVE TO THIS PARTNERSHIP FOR MORE INFORMATION The Shenyang Aircraft Corporation is a Chinese aircraft manufacturer that produces both civilian and military aircraft and is located in Shenyang, China. The Shenyang Aircraft Corporation was founded in This corporation is responsible for helping to develop other aircraft manufacturers in China such as the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group and Guizhou Aircraft Industry Company. Although the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation produces both civilian and military aircraft, their focus is mainly on designing and manufacturing fighter aircraft, Although Shenyang Aircraft Corporation may not be a well-known manufacturing company to the average person; Cessna is a well-known brand that is trusted worldwide. I believe that if Shenyang Aircraft Corporation had not become AS9100 Certified, the opportunity to partner with Cessna would never be a possibility. By being AS9100 Certified, customers can be assured that the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, in conjunction with Cessna, will provide advanced design, high-quality workmanship and world-class product support, all at an affordable

3 FINAL ASSIGNMENT 3 price from Cessna. Becoming AS9100 Certified opened a lot of doors for the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. This certification ensures its products to be accepted by the global aircraft manufacturers, When a company decides to pursue certification, such as AS9100, it takes a huge commitment from the company as well as its directors, stakeholders, and employees. I am going through a certification process in my organization right now as well, and I can tell you that it is not an easy process to go through. It requires cooperation of the entire organization. But the outcome truly outweighs the obstacles that may have to be overcome. Once certification is acquired, your customers have the peace of mind in knowing that the manufacturing of their product was completed while meeting the highest standards and that quality assurance measures were taken. Attaining certification also proves to your customers that you are willing to go the extra step to ensure your product is the best it can be and is manufactured with quality. Other corporations can look at your company and know that if your have attained AS9100 Certification, your products are going to be superior in comparison to other companies that are not AS9100 certified. SELECT ONE BALDRIGE CASE STUDY FROM COURSE DOCUMENTS. WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESSION OF THE ORGANIZATION IN YOUR CASE STUDY? DO YOU THINK THEY ACHIEVED GREATER STATUS FROM THEIR ACHIEVEMENT? The company I chose from the case studies provided is the Bama Companies, Inc. The Bama Companies began in the kitchen of Cornillia Alabama ( Bama ) Marshall in Today,

4 FINAL ASSIGNMENT 4 the granddaughter of Bama is the CEO of the privately held corporation. My impression of this organization is that they are a company who truly believes in their people and want to help their people succeed. This company also believes in giving back to the community and helping those who are less fortunate. Their participation in the United Way, Habitat for Humanity, and Meals on Wheels are but a few of the organizations they are associated with. Bama employees volunteered nearly 7,000 hours to these non-profit organizations in According to the course documents provided to us at: ents/case%20studies%20for%20week%206%20final%20bama%20pies/bamapdffinal.pdf, Bama has a full-time leader of community development who is responsible for directing all of their charitable and volunteer efforts. Bama is the third largest contributor to the Tulsa Area United Way and in 2004, they contributed $150,000 to the United Way. Bama s way of giving back to the community is truly remarkable and they contribute an average of 6% of its pre-tax income to organizations in the community that provide essential social, educational, cultural, and health services. Since 2000, Bama has contributed over $2.6 million to these community organizations. In addition to being community minded, the Bama Companies are also very involved with their employees. The company believes in promoting from within and involving their employees in their profit-sharing process. On average, since 2001, the employees of Bama have received $3,000 in profit-sharing proceeds. Bama s interest in and promotion of their employees has really paid off. The turnover rate in the Tulsa area is at 20% where Bama s turnover rate is at 14%. In my opinion, Bama really takes care of their employees, cares for them, and wants them to succeed.

5 FINAL ASSIGNMENT 5 Even before they were awarded the Baldrige National Quality Award in 2004, I believe they had great way of doing business and were considered a force to be reckoned with. However, going through the process to receive the Baldrige National Quality Award only solidifies their commitment to excellence and customer service. I do believe that the Bama Companies, Inc, has achieved greater status by receiving the Baldrige National Quality Award. IN EXTERNAL LINKS YOU WILL FIND A LINK TO A BALDRIGE SURVEY TITLED ARE WE MAKING PROGRESS AS AN ORGANIZATION. LOOK OVER THE SURVEY AND APPLY YOUR OPINIONS TO THE SURVEY QUESTIONS. WRITE ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT YOU FEEL YOUR ORGANIZATION IS MAKING PROGRESS. I really appreciated the way that the Are we making progress as an organization started out, In today s environment, if you are standing still, you are falling behind. That statement is so true. As an organization, you have to stay ahead of the competition if you expect to succeed. It s never too soon to start improving openness and communication within your organization. The employees appreciate the opportunity to participate in the process and the organization will benefit because the employees have bought in to the process. There are seven categories in the survey: Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer Focus, Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management, Workforce Focus, Operations Focus, and Results. There are several questions under each category and the intent is to drill down and see what you are doing right and what can be improved.

6 FINAL ASSIGNMENT 6 In my organization, I think we have a pretty good handle on the Customer Focus category. We know who our most important customers are, we maintain an open line of communications with them to ensure we are meeting their needs and they are satisfied with our work. In addition, staff is given the latitude to make decisions to solve problems for our customers. If one of the staff makes a decision, that I wouldn t necessarily make, and it solved the problem for our customer, then we have succeeded. I like to think that the only way to do things is the way I do them but that certainly is not the case. Another area where I think we are making strides in is the Workforce Focus. Having to report to a 17-member board can have its share of challenges. Not everyone is pleased all the time and sometimes you do not know if they are pleased with your work or not. A lot of times we figure no news is good news. As far as my staff is concerned, we do work together well as a team, we support each other, care for each other, and we encourage each other. On top of that, my staff and I are committed to the success of our organization. The areas that need improvement include: Leadership and Strategic Planning. I plan on copying the survey off and providing it to our board members as well as to my staff. I believe that if we all work together, we can be on the road to improvement. BEGINNING ON PAGE 129 OF A PRACTICAL FIELD GUIDE FOR AS9100 IS A SERIES OF FIELD ANECDOTES. SELECT ONE YOU FIND PARTICULARLY INTERESTING AND WRITE ABOUT WHY IT IS OF INTEREST TO YOU. DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING FROM THE ANECDOTE OR DID IT REINFORCE SOMETHING YOU ALREADY KNEW

7 FINAL ASSIGNMENT 7 The anecdote I chose was, We have understood for a long time that corrective actions should be looked at in the scope of the larger picture and that resources allocated should be commensurate with the issue at hand. During one all-hands meeting at a telecommunications company outside Dallas, Texas, I witnessed the opposite situation. The issue at hand was small relative to the operation, yet the owner decided to get everyone s input before making a final decision. He ordered a half workday for that Friday, brought in BBQ for the entire staff, and hosted an employee baseball game while we all discussed the issue. As I was being driven back to the airport that evening I was informed that everything in Texas is bigger. In my organization, we rent out classroom space. We have classrooms big enough to seat anywhere from 15 people to 300 people. Our building is an older building and has not always been given the TLC that a building needs to keep it in top shape. Many of our rooms need a new coat of paint, and the carpet in the rooms and the hallway needs to be replaced. The reason this hit so close to home was because right now the carpet in our facility has gotten to the place where it absolutely needs to be replaced. When the carpet was put down many, many years ago, they did a great job at gluing it down along the walls, but they didn t see the need in gluing it down in the center. Now whenever we have to roll something heavy over the carpet, or even shampoo the carpet, it buckles up and does not lay flat for a couple of days. You can imagine the frustration this brings not only to us but to our tenants and students as well. It is to the point where it is dangerous and it is only a matter of time until someone trips on it and breaks something. So what does this have to do with the field anecdote I choose? Well you might think that an issue such as replacing the carpet in our building would be a board decision. The board would explore all of the options, tile, carpet, carpet squares, etc., and then make a decision as to

8 FINAL ASSIGNMENT 8 what type of floor covering will go down. Well, that just is not the case with my board. They want to pull together a group of end users (our tenants and students) to see what kind of flooring they would like to see on the floor. This decision does not make one bit of sense to me at all, but like the anecdote, we will have to get everyone s input before making the final decision for an issue that is relatively small in the grand scheme of things. CONCLUSION I learned a lot during this class. It is my intention to take what I have learned and apply it to my everyday job. I want to copy the survey and give it to our board members and our other staff. Just sitting down and talking through so many of those areas will give us a better understanding of where we are and where we are heading. WORKS CITED Myhrberg, E. V., & Crabtree, D. H. (2006). A practical field guide for AS Milwaukee, Wisconsin: ASQ Quality Press. ents/case%20studies%20for%20week%206%20final%20bama%20pies/bamapdffinal.pdf /Cessna_Chooses_China_s_Shenyang_Aircraft_Corporation_as_Manufacturing_Partner_f or_model_162_skycatcher.htm#ixzz22uajvruc

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