| Course | MT140 Introduction to Management |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 10 |
| Paper type | Management report |
| Length | About 1,100 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MT140 Unit 10
Overtime Doubled and Retakes Missed: A Unit 10 Management Report for a School Portrait Company
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
MT140: Introduction to Management
Unit 10 Management Report
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Larkspur School Portraits, its figures, options and every finding are composite and illustrative; bracketed figures stand where the company's records would supply the numbers; the sources cited are real.
Executive Summary
I recommend that Larkspur schedule fall picture days by geographic cluster rather than by the order schools sign contracts, and assign one photographer team as a standby each weekday in September and October. This should reduce overtime by about a third and cut missed retake days to near zero, at a cost of one additional seasonal team. Hiring two more teams or outsourcing retake days were considered and rejected.
The recommendation addresses the cause found in the diagnosis, a schedule built without geography or slack, rather than adding people to a schedule that would waste their time in the same way.
Situation
Larkspur photographs about 224 schools each fall with 16 photographer teams. Last fall, photographer overtime rose from [1,400] hours to [2,900] hours, and [12] schools had their retake day missed or moved for company reasons, compared with [3] the year before. Contract renewals depend on retake days, which are the part of the service principals remember.
The two problems are connected. Overtime rose because teams spent more of their days driving and covering sick days, and retake days were the first thing moved when the schedule broke, because retakes are smaller and easier to push. Principals, however, treat a missed retake as a broken promise to the families who were absent or unhappy on picture day.
Diagnosis
I applied the four management functions to the problem, using the definitions the course text gives for each (Robbins & Coulter, 2021).
Planning is the primary cause. Picture days are scheduled in the order schools sign their contracts, so a team may drive from the north side of the region to the south and back in one week. The schedule has no slack: every team is booked every day, so one sick photographer forces overtime or a missed day. My Unit 3 memo forecast this need for slack, but last fall's schedule did not include it.
Organizing contributes. As my Unit 2 analysis found, two desks share responsibility for retake lists, which creates errors. That problem is being fixed separately.
Leading is not the main issue. Photographers worked the overtime willingly, but exit comments in my Unit 5 analysis suggest that heavy weeks drive seasonal staff away.
Controlling is weak. The company tracks overtime by pay period but not by its cause, so nobody saw that driving time was the largest share.
When I rebuilt last October's schedules from photographer mileage logs, driving accounted for about [38] percent of overtime hours, illness coverage for about [33] percent, and long shoots at large schools for most of the rest. Driving and illness coverage are both planning problems: one comes from the order in which schools are booked, the other from a schedule with no slack.
Options
The first option is to hire two additional photographer teams. Its advantage is simplicity: more capacity covers sick days and reduces overtime. Its drawbacks are cost, about [$74,000] for the season, and the difficulty of recruiting, since last year nine seasonal photographers left early.
The second option is to outsource retake days to a partner studio. Its advantage is that retakes would no longer compete with picture days for teams. Its drawbacks are lost control over quality and the risk that principals notice a different company at their school.
The third option is to schedule by geographic cluster and add one standby team. Clustering would put each team's week within one area, cutting driving time. The standby team would cover illness without overtime. Its drawbacks are that some schools may need to move their picture day by a week, and the standby team costs about [$37,000].
Decision Matrix
Each option received a score between one and five on four criteria, and the owner set the weights in advance: reducing missed retakes (40 percent), reducing overtime cost (30 percent), feasibility of recruiting (20 percent) and protecting quality (10 percent). Hiring two teams scored 3, 3, 2 and 5, for a weighted score of 3.0. Outsourcing retakes scored 4, 3, 4 and 2, for 3.5. Clustering with a standby team scored 5, 4, 4 and 5, for 4.5. Kepner and Tregoe (1965) recommend weighting criteria before evaluating options so that the decision rests on stated priorities rather than on a preferred answer, and the weights were agreed with the owner first.
Recommendation and Implementation
Clustering with a standby team is the best option. It addresses the primary cause, planning, rather than adding capacity to an inefficient schedule. In March, the scheduling desk will map all schools into six clusters. In April and May, it will offer schools picture-day dates within their cluster's weeks, contacting any school that must move. By July 15, the company will hire one additional seasonal team for the standby role. In September, the scheduling desk will begin tracking overtime by cause.
The main risk is school resistance to moving a picture day. To limit it, the scheduling desk will offer each school a choice of two dates within its cluster's weeks, contact the largest schools first, and allow up to ten schools to keep their old dates outside the cluster pattern if they insist. Even with those exceptions, most of the driving savings remain. A second risk is that the standby team sits idle on quiet days. On those days it will shoot retakes early, sports teams or make-up sessions, so its time is never wasted.
Finally, clustering depends on the scheduling desk holding to the plan when a large new school signs in August. A rule that late contracts join the nearest cluster's open dates, rather than taking any date they ask for, keeps one exception from unraveling the routes.
Two more teams would have driven the same inefficient routes; a better schedule makes the teams we have enough.
Measures
Success means overtime under [2,000] hours, no more than [2] missed retake days for company reasons, and fewer than five seasonal photographers leaving before October 1. Nutt (1999), studying hundreds of real decisions, concluded that roughly half failed, and he traced many failures to managers who settled on an idea at the outset and never searched for others. Comparing three options against weighted criteria, and measuring the result against stated targets, is meant to guard against that.
References
Kepner, C. H., & Tregoe, B. B. (1965). The rational manager: A systematic approach to problem solving and decision making. McGraw-Hill.
Nutt, P. C. (1999). Surprising but true: Half the decisions in organizations fail. Academy of Management Executive, 13(4), 75-90. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.1999.2570556
Robbins, S. P., & Coulter, M. (2021). Management (15th ed.). Pearson.
MT140 Unit 10 instructions, in plain terms
The final unit typically asks for a management report that brings the course together around one organizational problem. You diagnose the problem using the management functions, identify realistic options, compare them against stated criteria and recommend one with an implementation plan. An executive summary usually comes first, written last, and gives the recommendation, the reason and the expected result. Many sections want the earlier unit papers to feed this one, revised rather than pasted. A decision matrix or similar comparison is common, and the weights should be explained. Implementation should say who does what and when, and the report should name the risks and how they will be limited. Measures of success close it. Expect five to seven pages with headings, plus references in APA 7, including the course text and at least two other credible sources.
How this MT140 Unit 10 example is built
The executive summary states the recommendation in two sentences: schedule by geographic cluster and hold one team on standby each weekday in September and October. The situation section gives the overtime and retake figures and links them, since retakes were moved first when the schedule broke. The diagnosis applies each function in turn, naming planning as the main cause, organizing as a contributor already being fixed, leading as sound and controlling as weak because overtime was never tracked by cause. Rebuilt mileage logs supply the shares of overtime. Three options follow, each with an advantage and a drawback, and the decision matrix scores them on four weighted criteria. The implementation plan maps six clusters in March, offers schools two dates and keeps a rule for late contracts. The highlighted line rejects added capacity, and Nutt's study of failed decisions frames the measures.
MT140 Unit 10 rubric: what earns full points
A capstone report in this course is generally scored on the strength of the diagnosis, the fairness of the comparison and the practicality of the plan. The diagnosis earns more when it ranks causes with evidence, as the mileage logs do here, instead of listing every function as a problem. Options should all be realistic, and a grader will notice if two of them were built only to lose. The decision matrix gains credibility when the weights are set before scoring and explained. Implementation needs owners, dates and a named risk with a response. Measures of success should match the problem, so overtime hours and missed retakes are the right figures for this case. The executive summary must stand on its own. Professional formatting and APA 7 citations for Kepner and Tregoe, Nutt and Robbins and Coulter finish the marks.
MT140 Unit 10 help: mistakes that cost points
Final reports often go wrong by summarizing the whole course instead of solving one problem. Another frequent issue is a diagnosis that blames every function equally, which gives the recommendation nothing to aim at. Some writers pick their answer first and build weak options around it, which graders spot quickly. Others leave implementation at a sentence, with no dates or owners. Executive summaries that describe the report rather than state its recommendation also lose credit. If you are reusing earlier unit work, update the figures and connect each piece to the new question. Our team can help you rank the causes in your case, set up a weighted comparison, plan the rollout month by month and write an executive summary that would hold up for a reader who stops after the first paragraph.
Get an MT140 Unit 10 example written to your instructions
The final paper leans on everything before it, so earlier MT140 papers help, even rough ones, alongside the Unit 10 prompt, its rubric and the case or organization your section allows. One diagnosis and one defended decision, exhibits included, come back within 24-48h, free as a first request. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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MT140 Unit 10 questions, answered
Can I reuse material from my earlier MT140 papers?
Often yes, if your section permits reuse and you revise rather than paste. The final report works best when earlier analyses feed specific sections, such as a diagnosis or a control plan, updated for the case. Check the academic integrity policy and the prompt, since some instructors require new writing even when the organization stays the same.
How many options should the report compare?
Two or three is typical. One option is not a decision, and more than three usually leaves each one underdeveloped. Make every option realistic enough that a reasonable manager might choose it, then show why yours scores better on criteria you state openly. That fairness is often what separates the higher range from the middle.
What goes in an executive summary?
The recommendation, the main reason for it and the expected result, in that order and in a paragraph or two. Write it last, once the report is finished, even though it appears first. A reader who stops after the summary should know exactly what you propose and roughly what it will cost the organization.
Where can I find a free MT140 Unit 10 sample paper?
This page contains a complete MT140 Unit 10 management report on rising overtime and missed retakes at a composite portrait company. It diagnoses by function, weighs three options in a decision matrix, plans implementation and includes margin notes.
Why does the sample reject hiring two more photographer teams?
Because the main cause was the schedule, not a shortage of people. Two more teams would cost about $74,000 and still drive the same crisscrossing routes, while clustering and a standby team remove the driving and illness overtime directly.