78. Researchers in Pegasus Electronics found that a fifth of all sick leave in the company was stress-related. Very Very high work demands led to stress, ut oring !os were e"ually detrimental. #he $oard of %irectors therefore decided to take corrective action y getting supervisors to re-organise the production lines so that all their employees had greater control over the rate of production. &n addition, all supervisors are now eing trained to recognise the early signs of stress-related prolems and there is a possiility that if this training proves successful, remaining staff may follow suit shortly. 't Pegasus, most sick leave is due to stress-related illness. #he action taken has een shown to reduce stress-related sick leave. Pegasus Electronics has now decided that all staff must e trained to recognise the signs of stressrelated illness. • • •
7(. )utdoor training programmes are ecoming increasingly popular as a form of development activity for sales staff. ' key strength of these courses is that they ring together individuals of varying ages, from a wide range of organisations and ackgrounds. Participants spend up to two weeks in relatively isolated parts of the country, completing activities such as rock-climing, sailing and ushwalking. #hese courses are designed to improve a numer of skills, such as communication and team-working, and are also supposed to improve an individual*s self-awareness. )pinions vary aout the effectiveness of these courses, with some participants giving very positive feedack aout their usefulness and others e+pressing reservations aout how transferale the skills learnt are to the workplace. Participants normally find that their communication skills improve #he participants who enefit the most from the courses also en!oy them the most. • •
8. ' few *afe 's ouses* alarms have een redesigned in an attempt to reduce the large numer of complaints where alarms have sounded y accident. )ne of the new types of alarm is less sensitive than its predecessors. tudies have shown that these newer alarms are rarely activated for no apparent reason. *afe 's ouses* still sells a numer of the original, sensitive alarm systems, ecause the increase in threshold for motion detection means that the new style alarms may fail to register a reak-in where limited force is eing used. 'll of the company*s alarm systems are now less sensitive. ensitive alarms sounding inappropriately have irritated some people in the past. #he new alarm systems should reduce the numer of accidental soundings y at least a half. • • •
8/. %espite an auspicious launch, sales of the year-old 0ianda model plummeted last month to an all time low. Production levels were sustained in anticipation of the traditional seasonal peak and then slashed radically once this failed to materialise. #he collapse is largely lamed upon inept promotion and the car is now solely availale through special order from ead )ffice. #he announcement shortly after launch of the si+ month minimum waiting time, led to an upsurge in complaints from customers and is thought to have dissuaded plenty of potential uyers, some of whom opted for the more e+pensive Especial from the same stale. #alk of the company*s imminent collapse, however, is unfounded and is thought to e propaganda spread y less profitale rivals. Parts of the plant lay temporarily idle after 0ianda production was cut. #he company will e forced to close very shortly. • •
81. )fficelink, an office e"uipment superstore, has grown y leaps and ounds since it opened in /((2. #his success has een attriuted to a comination of low prices, comprehensive stock and its location in the middle of a large and thriving usiness park. 3ntil recently, the stock control procedures failed to keep up with the increase in usiness, and customers fre"uently complained that staff could not find re"uested stock items. 4anagement attempted to overcome this prolem y authorising the purchase of the latest stock control computer software. #his software now keeps track of client credit accounts and logs all purchases according to specific stock codes. &t will also automatically re-order stock once supplies fall elow the pre-defined levels, which can now afford to e lower than ever. )fficelink will have to increase prices to cover the cost of the new stock control computer system. &n the past, stock control was done manually. • •
85. ' company*s environmental policy typically has a profound impact upon its standing in the community. #here are legal regulations, with stiff penalties attached, which compel managers to ensure that any waste products are disposed of without contaminating the air or water supplies. &n addition, employees can e educated aout the inevitale commercial and social enefits of recycling paper and other sustances produced as y-products of the manufacturing process. )ne popular method for gaining staff co-operation is the internal incentive scheme. #hese often target teams rather than individuals, since the interdependence of staff organising any reprocessing, masks the importance of a given player*s role. #he regard held for an organisation may e affected y its commitment to environmental issues. 4anagers reaking environmental regulations receive heavy personal fines. 6ertain organisations reduce profits y e+ceeding statutory environmental re"uirements. • • •
8. taff training can have a numer of o!ectives. &t can e educational, aiming to develop the knowledge, skills and ailities of the trainees it can e a vehicle to promote company policy or values or, finally, it can raise levels of staff satisfaction y ensuring employees are ale to improve their e+isting skills. 0ively deate usually accompanies the allocation of e+penditure to the annual training udget. 6ritics argue that certain costs associated with such programmes could e scaled down, and those courses which are unproductive could e a+ed. #raining sharpens an organisation*s competitive edge. c 9nowledge-ased training is the most effective form for staff. c #he amount of money spent on training tends to e unpopular with some people. t #raining programmes are usually only a+ed after modification has proved unsuccessful. c • • • •
8:. 4erchandising tactics, which address the effective packaging and positioning of goods, have long een deployed within retailing to stimulate customer demand. 3nprecedented changes in consumer uying haits and the escalating sophistication of technology have encouraged the everage retailers to make up lost ground and to adopt the merchandising philosophy wholeheartedly after years of neglect. #he principal penalty incurred y past caution is that decision making is now hampered y the scarcity of good "uality merchandising research. ;evertheless some retailers have decided to move to glass-fronted chilled cainets to display their everages. 'lternatively, such products are placed on shelves at eye level or, potentially more tempting still, near checkouts. #he application of merchandising principles is a recent innovation within general retailing. $everage retailers have a wealth of merchandising information to guide them. #he shelves near checkouts are often positioned at eye level. • • •
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&n supermarkets, goods placed near checkouts sell est.
