CASE BAGBY COPY COMPANY essays

CASE BAGBY COPY COMPANY essays 1. Discuss the tradeoffs that Bagby faces in choosing between specialized and broad task assignment. Bagby Copy Company manufactures 10 different copiers. The main part of these copiers is a wiring bundle. This device is plugged into various components during the assembly process. They can assign each major task in this process to different employees using a broad task assignment or one individual can be assigned the task of producing the completed bundle using a specialized task assignment. Some of the advantages that Bagby's managers will obtain if they divide the total task of the manufacturing process into specific jobs or tasks are: Exploiting comparative advantage: Specialized task assignments will permit managers at Bagby to match people with jobs based on skills and training so this will permit employees concentrate on their particular specialties. For example, Bagby can hire engineers to design and develop a product and business people to do the marketing. The principle of comparative advantage suggest that this specialization will often produce higher output than using individuals to perform a broad tasks. Lower cost-training expenses: With specialized task assignment, each employee is trained to complete one basis function. With broad task assignment, employees are trained to complete more than one function, this can be very expensive. For instances, suppose at Bagby the designing function requires an engineer, while in the line of production function requires a person with a lower education. Specialized task assignment allows Bagby's managers to hire one engineer and one person without an advanced degree. With broad task assignment, the level of education required is usually the highest level, so it will cost more for Bagby to hire two persons with college degree than one. Broad task assignment is more expensive than specialized task assignment. Some of the costs of specialized task as...