2010 EXAM THOUGHTS

[burbs]

Pretty sure it said OM strategies that are ESRM.

[davo__66]

hmmmmmmm ok thanks
i think i might of stuffed that question up....... D:

[davo__66]

I jsut checked throug the text book

"Typical ESM issues in the process element of operations include:"

-Use of labour
- Occupational health and safety
- Disposal of waste materials
- Customer relations

[8039]

the question didn't ask for how restraining forces can cause change as they can't cause change...
it asked to distinguish between driving forces which assist change and restraining forces which resist change...
you can't possibly argue that restraining forces cause change as the definition is 'aim to prevent change from occuring' so it would sound ridiculous

The wording clearly stated that you needed to identify the ways in which driving/restraining forces created change.

And restraining forces hold back planned change in response to internal/external pressure... not all change.

[jsher098]

Well, the way I approached it was this:

1) Defined change
2) Defined globalisation
3) Talked about how globalisation caused a need for change at Ford
4) Talked about the specific driving and restraining forces (3 each i think) in detail.
 that took up the whole space. I then had 20 minutes so as a safe measure, I put down a condensed version of:

5) How Kotter's theory can be used to reduce resistance through empowerment and communication.
6) A summary.

Think you shot yourself in the foot by discussing Kotters.
You were meant to firstly generally discuss driving and restraining forces... and THEN relate it to a particular case study...

[burbs]

Doubtful. They won't mark you down for extra info, especially not when the question is as ambiguous as it was.\

And yes, I did explain the forces first.

[ulbasour]

I did:

- Define org change
-define and explain what driving force is
-Define and explain what restraining force is
-Used Toyota's sustainable change, defined sustainability
- Identified two driving forces, specifically linked to toyota and explained how they actually are driving forces (i think thats a key aspect to aswering this question)
- Identified 2 restraining forces, linked them to toyota and explained in detail how they were restraining.

what would this get me, i ended up writing about 2 pages on this - im pretty sure you needed to mention a force field analysis for this question, which most people forgot to do

[Cowie]

someone mentioned earlier for the airline question that management functions they picked were stuff like hr and marketing. i thought functions were polc, i picked planning and controlling, saying they could plan a new ad campaign and introduce a new accounting monitoring system to reduce waste. am i completely off the money?

[jackson1234]

I said consultative and geographical hopefully its right!

Yeah i did geographic divisional and functional

and style was consultative as they can form quality circles with their subordinates.

[jackson1234]

My Experience with the Exam:

2 Management Functions
WTF, when has that ever happened?
Alot of people did POLC, but pretty sure they are wrong then!

Compare/Contrast 2 Management Structures?
I did Geographical and Functional, but once again, WTF

Kotter
Did you go missing or something mate?
But the 10 Marker wasn't too bad overall, it could be answered quite well

Selection Process
Once again, WTF?
I included things like Selection Criteria, Screening etc, but didn't know there were more processes?

Ummmm that's about all
WTF FML etc

Anyone care to reassess their A+ cutoff?
I reckon it'll almost be lower than last year

I'd say definately lower than last yr. For the question the required two functions, if you talked about operations management and the specific strategy such as Quality control, would that be ok?

Yeah it will be. I did TQM for operations and Training programs for Human Resources.

[jackson1234]

That was probably the worst exam I've ever seen
For the management functions question a lot of people put POLC including myself and I personally don't see how we are wrong
The words "functions" and "roles" are synonyms, very poor choice of wording on VCAA's behalf
Technically the FUNCTIONS of managers are HR, Operations, I.T shit like that but some of those functions do not apply to all organisations, however all organisations need to plan, organise, lead and control therefore it would be more appropriate to use POLC. VCAA needs to take a lot into consideration when marking

Ok if they asked for roles = then you do Polc, if they asked for functions = you do functions. It was on the study design ( you shouldve read it properly)

[careyboy]

I said consultative and geographical hopefully its right!

Yeah i did geographic divisional and functional

and style was consultative as they can form quality circles with their subordinates.

style was autocratic, issue was urgent and an error had been made thus clear direction was needed

[davo__66]

That was probably the worst exam I've ever seen
For the management functions question a lot of people put POLC including myself and I personally don't see how we are wrong
The words "functions" and "roles" are synonyms, very poor choice of wording on VCAA's behalf
Technically the FUNCTIONS of managers are HR, Operations, I.T shit like that but some of those functions do not apply to all organisations, however all organisations need to plan, organise, lead and control therefore it would be more appropriate to use POLC. VCAA needs to take a lot into consideration when marking

Ok if they asked for roles = then you do Polc, if they asked for functions = you do functions. It was on the study design ( you shouldve read it properly)

i agree, im quoting straight of the text book here: " The four roles of mangment need to be clearly distingushed from managmen functions. Functions are differnt areas of repsonbility or departments. [Mangers then carry out these 4 roles in these dapratments.]"

[davo__66]

someone mentioned earlier for the airline question that management functions they picked were stuff like hr and marketing. i thought functions were polc, i picked planning and controlling, saying they could plan a new ad campaign and introduce a new accounting monitoring system to reduce waste. am i completely off the money?

hmmm well you might gain half marks for the startegies you stated.  I did the add campaign like you however i did that under marketing, which is a function. Your definetley gonna lose marks for picking roles instead of functions, sorry :/

[davo__66]

I said consultative and geographical hopefully its right!

Yeah i did geographic divisional and functional

and style was consultative as they can form quality circles with their subordinates.

style was autocratic, issue was urgent and an error had been made thus clear direction was needed

i also picked autocratic. Did anyone answer the question by discussing the situational approach? I used the nature of the tasks, managers beliefs (acting in the best intrest of shareholders) and time cosntraints.