Week 6 Assignemnt 2

This week I learned about thing that will help me in my current work environment. It will also apply to my BA in Human Resources or in SCM Logistics if I choose to pursue that as well. I am not a supervisor or a manager now, however, I am a trainer and there were many beneficial motivators in the article I found this week that would help me encourage new staff to take things more seriously. I believe managers get caught up in certain duties and task and forget to be a leader, forget to motivate and communicate with employees effectively. I think this research will help me in any management profession I choose whether it be in Human Resources or Supply Chain Management and Logistics. There is still a lot I can research each week I get taken away while researching and get taken in a new direction. I enjoy learning new things and I feel I have a good basis to write the paper for week eight now

There are not any aspects of academic integrity and plagiarism that I am unclear about, however, I did learn something new. I was not aware I could use work from a previous class if the teacher approves it. I never thought to ask to use older work. I always felt it was necessary to research again and use new information for the new assignment. I still probably will not utilize this but it is nice to know it might be a possibility.

Amanda Kalil

Week 5 Assignment 2

I have been reading the book I purchased on Amazon called The Goal. Wow I cannot put it down! There is so much information it is overwhelming at first. The author doesn’t write it like a text book at all. Al is having trouble in his warehouse and at home, I am invested in wanting to know what happens next after each chapter. There are concepts I have not heard before when it comes to a warehouse. For example, most business people measure the success of a company by three things net profit, ROI, and cash flow. However in this book there are new concepts that relate to the SCM world; Throughput, operational expenses, and inventories. Those three things can help to determine if the business is succeeding in the goal, to make money. “Increase throughput while simultaneously reducing both inventory and operating expense”(Goldratt, 1336 Kindle Edition). 

My research question is “what are logistics managers’ responsibilities”. This book and the articles I have found have been able to help me to understand more just what occurs on a day to day basis for a manager in a SCM position. My focus is still to go into depths about logistics duties and more in the warehouse setting. I feel my search skills are improving I am able to word things appropriately and weed through irrelevant information for my topic while reading enough on a specific article to know I need to keep it or not.

My article I found this week was really beneficial. “Supplying demand If you choose to take a job in logistics, what will be its demands and what rewards might you expect?”. I finally found an article that helps to seal the deal on me being extremely interested in Logistics. This article is all about informing people about the benefits and responsibilities of a person in the Logistics career. There are so many opportunities in Supply Chain Management and Logistics. As Nigel Finch puts it: "Whatever else happens, people will always need to move goods from A to B.'' Therefore there is always going to be jobs in a supply chain management position. There are lots of opportunities to gain more knowledge and experience in a wide array of careers. There article specifically states people with high energy levels do well in Logistics.

Amanda Kalil

Adams D. (2007).Supplying demand If you choose to take a job in logistics, what will be its         demands and what rewards might you expect?.The Daily Telegraph       (LONDON).SPECIAL BROADSHEET; Careers in logistics; Pg. 2

Goldratt, Eliyahu M.; Jeff Cox (2014-07-01). The Goal: A Process of Ongoing      Improvement.North River Press. Kindle Edition.  

Week 4 Assignment 2

I have narrowed my search to logistics management. This article helped me to understand how important time is to a logistic manager. The Logistics Reporting Tool LRT system had some bugs, but as a logistics manager part of their job is to implement new software to ultimately help make things as efficient as possible. “LRT most importantly saves time and effort and puts logisticians back to work doing logistics work instead of PowerPoint slides and Excel spreadsheets” (Kibbey).

Previously I used google for most of my searches. I was able to explore General Databases more for this assignment. I have used Academic OneFile - Gale Cengage a few times but never Academic Search Premier - EBSCO Industries.  I was searching; logistics management, logistic managers, logistics responsibilities. I had no luck finding anything interesting or useful. There were a lot of articles on particular logistics statistics and comparing logistics to other companies. I wanted more basic information about the importance of logistics to a company and the benefits.

I will now attempt to enhance my research to learn about more day to day responsibilities of logistics management. I will more than likely conduct some google searches and then go back to general databases to find specifics on logistics responsibilities.

Amanda Kalil

Kibbey, B. (2010). 1st Infantry Division Recognizes Benefits of Logistics Reporting Tool.Army             Sustainment, 42(6), 64.

Week 3 Assignment 2

The book I have chosen is:

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement By: Goldratt, Eliyahu M.; Jeff Cox        

Again my topic is Supply Chain Management, so while researching for a book I of course gained new knowledge. However, I gained inspiration as well. Like I have mentioned before SCM isn’t an exciting topic to explore through text. But I found a book that is very informative in daily production life, the struggles one faces keeping things afloat, as well as a novel that is an easy read and fun with a real storyline. This book isn’t a text book that is going to bore me.

The advanced search really was helpful; I did find some books I wish I could read more about from the school library site. The advanced search narrowed lots of the results down, in fact it actually narrowed them down a little too much at one point and had to adjust different specifics a few time. I did not end up choosing a book from the school library I went back to google(home). I was able to find a credible source but I had to do a little more research. When doing a search from the library I am normally sure they are all credible and will pass CRAAP. However when searching google I triple check sources.

Now that I have a book I am interested in I hope to continue my research on  SCM but to maybe specify my area of SCM I am most interested  in.

Amanda Kalil

Week 2 Assignment 2

While researching Supple Chain Management I gained a lot of information. Some information I have heard before and some brand new. The information I already knew like, “supply chain is a collection of activities a company uses to plan, source, make and deliver a product or service” was introduced to me in an easy to understand way. SCM is not going to be the most exciting topic; in fact I took a SCM class a long time ago in the summer and ended up dropping it because it was so boring to me. About a year ago I became employed with Amazon in their warehouse; I witness Supple Chain Management every day and didn’t realize it until last eight weeks when I took the Operation Management class. Now that I have a clear understanding of Supply Chain I would like to research into a little more in-depth. I would like to learn more about the four areas

Our text states, “A lot of searchers, in fact, don’t look beyond the first five results”(Badke, p.143) So during this search to locate my sources I looked pasted the first five results. I admit I have often not done this and it was difficult to do. I feel after each result comes less of what I am looking for. Also before I read each source throughout I checked to make sure it was a legitimate source that the author is qualified to write about the topic. I am learning a lot from this class already. However I need to set aside more time in the week to complete the assignments as I am submitting these late due to the lack of time I had this week, my apologizes.

Amanda

Badke, William (2014-01-16). Research Strategies: Finding Your Way Through the Information   Fog, 5th Edition. iUniverse. Kindle Edition.

Week 1, Assignment 2

Hey everyone my name is Amanda I have been attending Brandman part-time since the summer session in 2013. I work for an Amazon Fulfillment Center. Currently live in Southern California but hope to move somewhere up north after I graduate. I have family in Reno, NV and enjoy the many outdoor activities it has to offer.  I have been thinking either Reno or Northern California, who knows maybe even Washington State. I am hoping to gain a position in Human Resources with Amazon after I graduate and will transfer wherever the opportunity is present.

This class has been getting pushed back on my education plan for some reason, but here I am finally. I will graduate in May 2016 with my BA in Human Resources. I recently took a class in Operation Management and have now become very interested in Supply Chain Management. I plan on pursuing a master’s degree after a little time away from school, and Supply Chain Management is something I am considering looking more into.

An areas I hope to improve on this term, is evaluating websites to ensure the information is legitimate and authoritative and. I am guilty of believing google, sometimes without checking any sources. It is so easy to type in a few words and get exactly what I want. I would like to be more knowledgeable in how to check if information is accurate or not.

Amanda