Assignment 2: Discussion—Supply Chain Careers

Choosing a career path can help you set professional goals and achieve desired results. In the area of Supply Chain, various career path are available. Visit some professional organizations’ (related to Supply Chain) websites and review various career alternatives. Then select one which is best suited for you. Discuss why you selected that particular career, your strengths and weakness concerning the career, and your concerns about the career.

After your initial post:

Constructively evaluate your classmates’ decisions based on their strengths and weaknesses. Share any careers that you have come across that your classmates may be interested in based on their strengths and weaknesses. Write your initial response in a minimum of 200–300 words. Apply APA standards to the citation of sources.

Beginning Week 5, Day 4, post your responses to the appropriate Discussion Area. Through Week 5, Day 7, comment on at least two of your peers’ responses.

Do the following when responding to your peers:

Read all posts from your peers. Respond to feedback on your post and provide feedback to other students on their ideas. Provide substantive comments by contributing new, relevant information or quotes from course readings, academic and trade journals, company websites, or other sources; building on the remarks or questions of others; or sharing practical examples of key concepts from your professional or personal experiences. Make sure your writing is clear, concise, and organized; demonstrates ethical scholarship through accurate representation and attribution of sources; and displays accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation. ________________________________________________________________________ this the two comments i have to write about

Best suited career in Supply Chain Management:

After reading and studying about the various career paths available in the area of Supply Chain I feel the best suited position for me would be Senior Project Manager. I love the analogy of ants working together to bring a product to a destination. I understand that people, unlike ants do not have this innate ability to understand or comprehend the logistics of bringing a product to from start clear to finish. The person responsible for this type of work needs to have a firm grasp from birth of the project clear to the final nail or product delivery. I like the saying “cradle to grave”… this describes where to begin and certainly where it all ends. In researching the availability of this type of career in Arizona I found many that pay six figures and for good reason. These positions are in high demand for just about any type of big business. It would take someone that has skills of being able to act as the client’s representative in managing a project through its design stages from concept through construction within the client’s time and value constraints. The role is defined as a planned undertaking with defined goals, work plans, timeliness and implementation strategies to correspond to client needs (Web, 2017).

Strengths Needed: Some of the essential elements of skills are the following, but certainly not limited in the responsibility of other areas:

· Supervise project staff and provide direction to a large and diverse project team

· Direct the development of project goals, work plans, timeliness and implementation strategies

· Manage and account for project budgets and contracts

· Identify and coordinate with program committees and advisory groups

· Administer project budgets, authorize expenditures, develop and monitor contracts

· Train and advise staff, project advocates and program participants

· Plan, facilitate and conduct meetings

· Measure, evaluate and communicate project performance

· Identify decision-making issues and key stakeholders, develop and implement strategies to encourage and obtain stakeholder and/or community awareness and support and identify project partners

The ideal candidate will demonstrate a positive proactive approach to the role, and will be committed to delivering customer service excellence, with good commercial results (Web, 2017).

My Experience and Strengths: After studying the various roles different management positions require, I do feel that my experience and overall strength of working to bring vision to people to understand where, what, who is involved and how to accomplish the task is a key part of a good project manager. With any type of project, large or small there will always be a need for a good supply chain/project manager. I have had much experience in different forms of leadership and project management from working with people in construction projects, to various volunteer positions in my church and community. Some of the experience throughout my life has included working in Boy Scouts of America as an Advancement Chairman and Committee Chair – 5 years, Young Women’s Youth Camps – 12-18 yr. olds – 4 years as Chair, President of a Community Women’s Organization where we oversaw and led working with displaced women and supporting families for over 4 years, to my personal work as designer and contractor on a number of small, as well as very large building projects. All of these experiences, as well as personal relationships in my life (I have seven children and 31 grand-children) have helped shape my awareness of working with a goal from beginning and overseeing the completion of that vision. These same experiences have helped me understand people and how to recognize their strengths and draw them out as I delegated individual jobs out to other very talented people from every single walk of life and worked alongside them to see the end results.

My weaknesses: In recognizing our strengths, we also must recognize our weaknesses and make adjustments to our managing style to compensate for those areas we lack in. My biggest weakness is delegating enough of the workload. A good manager or leader of any worth has to learn this most valuable skill. One can simply not do it all alone. We must rely on others to help us with the workload. Understanding how to let go, but still have your finger on the pulse is a most important attribute. No one…absolutely NO ONE likes a micro-manager. I certainly am not a micro-manager, but did have to learn to recruit individuals that were up to the tasks at hand and then learn to trust their judgement and let go of my way of accomplishing “their” tasks. I recognize this as my weakness and have worked long and hard at overcoming it. I love the quote from Henry Ford; “Coming together is a beginning – keeping together is progress – working together is success” (Web, 2017). One of my biggest weaknesses is staying on budget. I like to have every single area accounted for before the project begins, but the bigger the project the chances of something getting away from you is most likely. I found I needed to have someone keeping me on track in this area more than any other element of the projects. I am not an accountant. I recognize I am not a numbers person. I know that just as much as I realized I was not an architect, I could not design my project to scale. I had to utilize the talents of many others to make the projects come together. We have to understand this variable and recognize it for what it is. We need to reach out to those with the skills that can make the project work smoothly and efficiently. Recognizing where and when we need others to consult and keep us on track is a skill a good manager of any size or scope would need. No matter what area of business management or leadership we are in we must learn to come together and work for the whole of the team.

Working together: The last area of discipline that I feel is the most important is the synergy of working together. I really appreciated the module three study we had on synergy. This makes sense to me…”Working together” in a corporation designed around the concept of related diversification or broadening of different elements of the business works to achieve its synergy across its various units… (Argosy, 2017). The largest project I actually designed and contracted from the beginning of design throughout the construction/contracting the build to the very last plant on the landscaping/pool and the final pillow on the couch – was an 8000-sq. foot home on approx. an acre. This was a monumental task, but I took it on as a challenge and a life-long goal. I learned much…! The main skill I had to learn was that I could not do it alone. I had to surround myself with people I could trust and depend on. This is hard in the construction world, as there are many that are just plain dishonest. Overall, I found I could only trust a few and the main thing I learned was to have every single bid or contract agreed in writing! We worked great together as long as they knew what my expectations were and I was on site to trouble-shoot problems as they arose. The project manager can NOT simply delegate and walk away. We need to be there day in and day out to make sure the project is happening the way it is designed and specified on contract. When changes occur, it is imperative to contact the top of the chain of command on the build, as well as your client to make sure the changes are in sync with what is needed or agreed upon. The worst thing that can happen is to have an unhappy client and have to tear out something that would end up domino effect on everything else. Through a specific team of sub-contractors and other cross-functional team leads I was able to oversee not only this project, but stay on task with my other building projects, as well as in my community work. I believe I was heading up one of the girls’ youth camps for two of the years while I had this huge project going. Working together in every aspect to make sure everyone is on task is the goal and the skill we must have to effectively be the type of project manager we want to be and to be as successful as we can be.

As we learn to work together in whatever career path we choose we will be able to pool the resources and become much more efficient in every aspect of business. It takes a strategic plan of action on every front to create this type of management style. Developing the skills we require with the desire to become effective managers/leaders by utilizing every experience, learning important lessons from each area of our lives and taking the opportunity to critique ourselves will only help us as we move forward and become more successful in the future.

2. Career in the Supply Chain Area for Ruthann Tryon

This was an exciting assignment, because it gave me the opportunity to really reflect on what I am passionate about. The position that I have chosen highlights some of my strengths and stretches my opportunity for improvement where I need it. Most of all, the position is Outdoor life, which is an area I am passionate about.

Company Name:

Toad & Co

Location: Santa Barbara California (one of my favorite places in the world)

Product: Gear for outdoor living

Title of position: National Sales Manager, Specialty Retail (there is a supply chain element to this position)

Overview of the position

My duties as the Toad&Co national sales manager would be to become an owner of the retail channel. I would specialize in the outdoor gear in an effort to expand the business in distributors and working with the vendors to maximize productivity by increasing the supply chain.

My duties:

Sales force: lead, oversee productivity, train

New programs: enhance the current programs, create and build new ones.

Culture: Build relationships with suppliers, retailers, and internal employees to strengthen ties for future growth.

Identity what supplies and marketing needed to promote the product within the budget…and look at opportunities to grow the market. (The position suggests nationally, but my thoughts would be internationally)

Hold special events where products and services are highlighted.

Build a revenue producing team, through a strategic plan, that will grow the brand. The plan would be to collaborate with other suppliers and retailers that share the goal of the brand

“Our Mission: Creators of socially and environmentally committed garments that are equally suited for the rigors of the trail or the tavern. 90% of our products are eco-friendly and a portion of each sale supports people with developmental disabilities. Live well, do good.” (Web 2017. Toad&Co)

What draws me to this position is the personal element of the collaboration with the other Specialty channel store personnel to grow the value of the brand. With this collaboration creating strategic goals that will enhance awareness of the customers that are interested in sustainable products, and lead them toward the product that Toad&Co is so proud to offer.

I have always enjoyed working with major accounts…those individuals and organizations that have supported the company, and require personal contact attention. These relationships are not only key to the bottom line, but they are in a unique position to identify areas of growth that we may miss because we are too close to the target. (Web 2017 OIC Career Center)

The post Assignment 2: Discussion—Supply Chain Careers appeared first on Homeworkacetutors.com.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER THIS PAPER………………………NO PLAGIARISM Get 100% Original papers from the writing experts