Hazel

Hazel had worked for the same Fortune 500 Company for almost 15 years. Although the
company had gone through some tough times, things were starting to turn around. Customer
orders were up, and quality and productivity had improved dramatically from what they had been
only a few years earlier due to a companywide quality improvement program. So it came as a
real shock to Hazel and about 400 of her coworkers when they were suddenly terminated
following the new CEO’s decision to downsize the company.
After recovering from the initial shock, Hazel tried to find employment elsewhere.
Despite her efforts, after eight months of searching she was no closer to finding a job than the
day she started. Her funds were being depleted and she was getting more discouraged. There was
one bright spot, though: She was able to bring in a little money by mowing lawns for her
neighbors. She got involved quite by chance when she heard one neighbor remark that now that
his children were on their own, nobody was around to cut the grass. Almost jokingly, Hazel
asked him how much he’d be willing to pay. Soon Hazel was mowing the lawns of five
neighbors. Other neighbors wanted her to work on their lawns, but she didn’t feel that she could
spare any more time from her job search.
However, as the rejection letters began to pile up, Hazel knew she had to make a
decision. On a sunny Tuesday morning, she decided, like many others in a similar situation, to go
into business for herself—taking care of neighborhood lawns. She was relieved to give up the
stress of job hunting, and she was excited about the prospect of being her own boss. But she was
also fearful of being completely on her own. Nevertheless, Hazel was determined to make a go
of it.
At first, business was a little slow, but once people realized Hazel was available, many
asked her to take care of their lawns. Some people were simply glad to turn the work over to her;
others switched from professional lawn care services. By the end of her first year in business,
Hazel knew she could earn a living this way. She also performed other services such as
fertilizing lawns, weeding gardens, and trimming shrubbery. Business became so good that
Hazel hired two part-time workers to assist her and, even then, she believed she could expand
further if she wanted to.
CASE Questions

1. In what ways are Hazel’s customers most likely to judge the quality of her lawn care
services?
Basically, Hazel's lawn services can be judged through appearance. Her customers can
decide satisfaction by simply observing the area in which Hazel did some service whether
she succeeded in eradicating those unsightly and tall grasses leaving the yard to have a more
pleasing scenery than before. It can also be judged if the instructions being specified were
met by Hazel. In addition, Hazel’s credibility and insights from other customer will also be
considered by the customers

2. Hazel is the operations manager of her business. Among her responsibilities are
forecasting, inventory management, scheduling, quality assurance, and maintenance.

a. What kinds of things would likely require forecasts?

Hazel should be able to forecast the weather in performing the services. It is not
good to do some mowing when the weather is not good particularly if it's raining or
there’s a storm. Furthermore, Hazel should also determine the demand for her lawn
care services such as the average number of requests she gets daily. This way, she
can properly schedule work and maintain the necessary equipment. It is also
advantageous to Hazel if she can forecast how many weeks before the grasses will
grow longer to the point in which her regular customers will need her again to take
care for their respective lawns.

b. What inventory items does Hazel probably have? Name one inventory
decision she has to make periodically.
Usually, when someone engages to lawn care business, the items that will most
probably be needed include lawn mowers, fertilizers, seeds, grass cutters, and other
gardening tools such as rake, weeders, hedge shears, shovel, and many others. Of all
these inventory items, the most important would be the lawn mower and she has to
keep its maintenance periodically in order for it to last longer and ensuring that it's
on the best condition since it brings a material impact for her business. Aside from
its usage, the lawn mower is technically an equipment with machine that needs
maintenance.
Hazel most probably has trucks to transport her equipment, trailers to
store her equipment, and her equipment. Her equipment includes lawn
mowers, weed whackers, and gardening tools. She also has an inventory of, gasoline,
oil, fertilizer, and replacement parts.
 c. What scheduling must she do? What things might occur to disrupt schedules
and cause Hazel to reschedule?
Hazel may schedule the time when to perform service and how many hours will it
take to complete. It is highly important because it would ensure smooth operations for
her business and keep the customer well-informed, thus, gives more probability of
their satisfaction. The duration of service is also an important thing to schedule
because it would determine the appropriate compensation and the number of clients
she can handle in a given period of time. In relation to forecasting, factors such as
weather and customer demand as well as malfunctioning of the machines and
availability of her workers affect the scheduling of Hazel's services. Moreover, lawn
area, lawn condition, and the number of services of a requested by a given customer
can also affect Hazel’s scheduling.
She must schedule the times she and her employees will do the
lawns of her customers. In order to maximize the number of lawns completed each
day she must have a monitoring of how long each employee finishes a lawn in a day.
She also need to schedule the maintenance of her equipment to ensure that the
business will operate well.

d. How important is quality assurance to Hazel’s business? Explain.

Simply stated, quality assurance is assuring quality. Quality assurance is assuring

that tasks, procedures and processes are executed exactly as intended every time. Like
most establishments, quality assurance is indeed highly important for Hazel’s lawn
care business since it would help her to clearly identify weaknesses and
inconsistencies in her business and enable her to design techniques on how to remedy
or prevent them. As mentioned, it would ensure smooth operations and help increase
customer demands, thus, it would mean more profit. Quality assurance also reflects
on her business credibility or reputation.

Quality assurance is assuring

that tasks, procedures and
processes are executed
exactly as intended every time. It
is important that Hazel keep an
effective quality
assurance in her business, for
example the procedure done in
her customer’s lawn.
She should assure that her
employees are following the
standard procedures on caring
their customer’s lawns. Each
time that procedure is not
followed properly, it will
likely reduce the satisfaction of
its customer and will give a
negative result to the
business.
e. What kind of maintenance
must be performed?
The only way to a lush, green
lawn is through regular lawn
maintenance. Proper tools
are critical in maintaining an
attractive lawn. Hazel should
ensure that each tools and
It is important that Hazel keep an effective quality assurance in her business, for
example the procedure done in her customer’s lawn. She should assure that her
employees are following the standard procedures on caring their customer’s lawns.
Each time that procedure is not followed properly, it will likely reduce the satisfaction
of its customer and will give a negative result to the business.
 e. What kinds of maintenance must be performed?
Even if Hazel is starting a small business, there are still a need for some
maintenance specifically on service quality, inventory management and contact with
the customers. On service quality, Hazel should be able to maintain the quality of her
work on all of her customers which can be judged based on indicators given on the
first question. Of course, maintenance of her inventory items and equipment are
critically a need. She should maintain and check that the condition of her
lawnmower/s and gardening tools are in best condition. In addition, the checking of
expiration dates for her fertilizers should also be consistent. When it comes to
customer contact, Hazel should maintain good communication with her customer in
order to be updated and effectively deal with any changes. Like for example, if a
customer decides to cancel his/her requests or reschedule it for some other time
because of some reasons, Hazel can then take proper measures on these occurrences.
Therefore, it would help maintain healthy client relationship and contribute to a
smooth flow of operations.

The only way to a lush, green lawn is through regular lawn maintenance. Proper tools
are critical in maintaining an attractive lawn. Hazel should ensure that each tools and
equipment they use in their lawn care business are properly maintain to be able toper
form an excellent service for her customers. Proper mowing techniques is the most
regular form of lawn maintenance, it will keep the lawn healthy and vibrant, which in
turn will keep larger problems and pests away. Second to mowing in
lawn maintenance is watering, start by creating a regular schedule of lawn watering.
This schedule will be different throughout the various seasons and your climate zone.
Next is weeding, which is simply a part of any lawn and will always be a constant
battle. Following a good lawn maintenance schedule will ensure your lawn's natural
defense against most pests and weeds. Lastly is fertilizing, a necessary ingredient for
a truly healthy lawn and it should be done regularly. Proper lawn maintenance will
increase customer satisfaction that is very beneficial in Hazel’s lawn business.

3. What are some of the trade-offs that Hazel probably considered relative to:

a. Working for a company instead of for herself?

wtimaset tdhawt
In deciding between the two options, Hazel should probably consider a trade-off

heinll bloeokingfor a
on the al r a aut ty With regards t salary Haze s be able to assess her
earnings whether which alternative would give more value to her. However, she must
first consider the risks between losing the job and bankruptcy of the business
depending on the applicable factors such as demand and status of industry.
Nevertheless, whether Hazel personally wants to be supervised or be the supervisor
can become a considerable trade-off. Hazel should try to choose which option gives
her more opportunity to achieve personal growth, contentment, and security.
 If she will work again for a company, there might be a possibility that she
will encounter the same problem she had with her previous employment, and she will
not be able to put up her own lawn care business if she will work for a company.

b. Expanding the business?

Trade-offs that exist on expanding a business lies on the weighing of benefits as

to the costs and additional profit. After careful analysis based on the present factors,
if the costs of expanding the business outweigh the additional income that might be
earned, it is better for Hazel not to undergo expansion, however, she can opt to just
make improvements.
Expanding the business means more profit, but it requires capital and worst comes
to worst it would lead to profit lost if not managed properly.

c. Launching a Web site?

If the current campaign methods are enough for Hazel's business in which she can
maximize her business capability and capacity, there is no need to launch a website.
Nonetheless, launching a website could also prove beneficial in reaching a wider
range of customers and provide information about Hazel's lawn care helping the
customer decide remotely without Hazel answering or attending the same queries
every single time.
A website is a powerful sales tool and one that can allow Hazel to
address her customers’ concerns, give them the information they need to make a
decision and create compelling calls to action. Her website will be the home turf
where people can go to seek out trusted information about her business and engage
with her on a more personal level. Use it to build confidence in the brand
and to give customers important buying information.

4. The town is considering an ordinance that would prohibit putting grass clippings at
the curb for pickup because local landfills cannot handle the volume. What options
might Hazel consider if the ordinance is passed? Name two advantages and two
drawbacks of each option.

The obvious option in which Hazel can make on the given situation would be
extending her services covering the disposal of grass clippings. Instead of letting the
trashes be picked up by the authorities she could make additional profit by replacing the
role. In other words, it would make Hazel's lawn care service to be a complete package.
As a result, more customers will patronize her business since it creates a good image
 being socially responsible by following the new ordinance. However, major drawbacks
for this option would be the additional costs that will be incurred in extending the service
as well as the resources that would be wasted particularly labor, money, and time that
will be consumed in finding a landfill location which is probably far. Another option
would be instead of extending her services and finding a landfill, she may sell or give the
grass clippings to farmhouses or fields filled with grass eating animals such as cows,
goats, horses, etc. This way, she can have an additional profit and made the grasses be of
used which is helpful for the animal owners and of course, to nature. Disadvantages
would be the costs that would be incurred particularly in transportation and storage and
the presence of thorns and other harmful substances mixed with the grass clippings.
Accordingly, whatever option Hazel might follow, still, the fact remains that it leaves her
no choice but to follow the law to avoid future consequences and just choose the best
decision.

5. Hazel decided to offer the students who worked for her a bonus of $25 for ideas on
how to improve the business, and they provided several good ideas. One idea that
she initially rejected now appears to hold great promise. The student who proposed
the idea has left, and is currently working for a competitor. Should Hazel send that
student a check for the idea? What are the possible trade-offs?

Unfortunately, Hazel made the wrong decision in the first place although it was not
her intention because of the unforeseen circumstances. If there are no risks associated
with checking that student's idea, I guess, finding it out is worth a try. Considering ethical
principles including the consent of the competitor and the willingness of the student.
Accordingly, possible trade-offs could occur in the sense that without knowing the idea
might pose as a challenge for Hazel to do better for her business and could even surpass
or destroy that idea with her own. Furthermore, if she chooses to check the student's idea,
it would make her incur additional costs and might pose a problem knowing that her
competitor has already worked it out.

6. All managers have to cope with variation.

a. What are the major sources of variation that Hazel has to contend with?

Normally, a lawn care business experiences variations with regards to inputs in

productivity, quality assurance, wages, and even with the seasons. It is really difficult
for Hazel to achieve uniform inputs in providing services since it varies in different
customers depending on the area of their lawns. Like many service type businesses, it
is highly difficult to measure productivity and the appropriate compensation.
b. How might these sources of variation impact Hazel’s ability to match supply
and demand?
 The variations presented on the previous question affect Hazel's ability to match
supply and demand since as stated, inputs may be less than or more than adequate to
meet the desired outcome. There will be times when supply is not enough to meet the
customer's demand, resulting to miss opportunities or to incur unwanted costs.

c. What are some ways she can cope with variation?

Before designing strategies, Hazel must first conduct careful study and analysis as
to causes, nature, correlation, and effect of these variations. She should be able to
identify the significant variables that give large impact on her business as a whole.
Until then, she can create new ideas and develop coping strategies in order to manage
the existing variations. She could resort to imposing certain criteria and standards that
maintain balance between inputs and outputs, hence, matching supply with demand.
This way she can ensure an efficient and effective operation of her start-up business.

7. Hazel is thinking of making some of her operations sustainable. What are some
ideas she might consider?
Aside from quality assurance, the other ideas that would help Hazel make some of her
operations sustainable include innovations that maximize profit and reduce costs, offering a
wider range of services, reaching new groups of customers, improving the service quality
based on insights from past customers, and investing on high quality tools and equipment.
Hazel can also encourage her customers to grow beneficial plants that add beauty to the
surroundings which are also healthy for the environment.