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As you have learned from your reading, knowing when a part or system will fail is important for a company. Mean time between failures (MTBF) is the expected time between failures of a part, process, or system and is a common matrix for a firm to use to understand how often a failure will occur.
Assume that you are the manager of a production line and are responsible for keeping the machines running 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. When a machine breaks, it must be repaired and put back onto operation as soon as possible. The problem is that your machines are always breaking down, and you really do not have a good understanding of how often a machine breaks down.
Hint: For this assignment, you will NOT be using the OM software but should use Excel to work the problem.
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Step 1: Calculate the MTBF
You decide to run a test to determine the mean time between failures. During the test, you start with 75 operational machines on your production line producing widgets. You record breakdowns during a 120-hour observation period in which three of the machines broke down. One at 40 hours into the test, one at 50 hours into the test, and the 3rd failure comes at 90 hours.
Use Excel and the data you collected to calculate the MTBF of your machines. Analyze your results and place them on the spreadsheet.
Continue to Step 2: Calculate the Expected Breakdown Maintenance Costs . . . 
Step 2: Calculate the Expected Breakdown Maintenance Costs
After collecting and analyzing the MTBF data, you were surprised at how often your machines really broke down. At your last company, you remember that they had a service firm that would come in and perform preventive maintenance (PM) on your machines and you wonder if this would be an option to reduce breakdowns. However, before you go to your boss to pitch the idea, you want to see if using an outside PM firm would reduce your cost.
So you do some research on the cost and run another study on the number of breakdowns of your machines.
Over the last 12 months, the machines have broken down at the rate indicated in the following table:
Number of Breakdowns Number of Months that Breakdowns Occurred
0 1
1 7
2 4
3 1
You also do some research on breakdown cost and find that the average cost of a breakdown to your firm is $350. You find a service firm and request a price quote from them. The PM service firm costs $200 per month, but they tell you that you can still expect on average of 2 breakdowns per month even with the PM service.
Use Excel and the data to calculate the expected breakdown maintenance cost versus hiring the PM firm to service your machines.
Analyze your results and indicate which of the options you will recommend to your boss – hire the firm or continue dealing with the breakdowns at the current rate?
Continue to Step 3: Recommend and Submit . . . 
Step 3: Recommend and Submit
Submit one spreadsheet containing a tab for each step. Be sure to include a detailed analysis of your results on each of the tabs. Save your assignment using a naming convention that includes your first and last name and the activity number (or description). Do not add punctuation or special characters.
Review the Problems Rubric for detailed grading information.

Welcome to Week 8, Ethics, Security, and Terrorism in IHRM
The complexity of international human resources management suggests the organization should meet the constituency needs and be responsible on ethics issues. So, it is necessary to analyze the ethical and social responsibility issues that arise in IHRM practices.
Managers involved in international business activities face many of the some of the same ethical issues as those in domestic business, but the issues are made more complex because of the different environment.
Since 9/11, organizations have been concerned with Homeland security war on local and international terrorism and destruction from natural disasters to kidnapping threats, to the employee privacy act.  Organizations (MNCs) must be better prepared to address the full range of threats that expatriates working globally may face.
IHRM is responsible for recruiting good employees on an international level, as many employees came from different countries and different cultures. So, that their thinking level and behaviors may be very different from the local staff. This becomes a challenge for the IHRM practices to manage the human resource, where training and measures must be set in place.
Week 8 Discussion Questions:
What is your view of international initiatives to criminalize foreign bribery?
Beyond checklists and systemic analysis, what actions can MNEs take to reduce risks related to terrorism? What roles can HRM take in these processes?
What IHRM activities would be pertinent to the sending, by Médecins Sans Frontieres, of a medical team into a country such as Bangladesh?
List each heading to you know when the criteria is met in APA Format with 2 references.
Global and international courses must use current resources – 2009 to current – as the global community is ever evolving.
Articles from 2009 – present only. Use your online library.  No Wikipedia, BLOGS with Ads from Yahoo, UK Essay Buzzle.com, or sites that challenge as they present a biased opinion. Google Scholar is accepted. Works in APA Format with a minimum of 2 references.
***I also attached the powerpoint from the learning this week***

Paper Logistics
2 to 3 pages in length
Use APA format
Avoid using direct quotes. Paraphrase!
Ensure that information is properly attributed to works cited. Generally, in a research paper, most of the information should be cited
Avoid first person and passive voice
Check and double check your grammar and spelling
Structure of a Research Paper
Introduction that clearly states the thesis and aims of the work. Using what you found in your preliminary research, write a thesis statement that succinctly summarizes what your research paper will be about. This is usually the first sentence in your paper, making it your reader’s introduction to the topic. 
Body – Position/finding/challenge supporting the thesis
Supporting content
Supporting content
Conclusion – The conclusion of a research paper restates the research, summarizes your arguments or findings, and discusses the implications.
In constructing the body of the paper, you may consider developing your paragraphs using the MEAL plan. Well-organized paragraphs guide readers logically through a paper’s development, adding to the effectiveness of the argument and the credibility of the writer. Paragraphs vary in length and structure based on context, but they should focus on only one idea. Most paragraphs also include the following elements: a statement of the paragraph’s main (M) idea, evidence (E) to support that main idea, analysis (A) of that evidence, and some link (L) to the paper’s thesis. The MEAL Plan is an easy, effective strategy to help you organize paragraphs.
MAIN IDEA  – All paragraphs should have a main idea or point. Typically, this main idea is expressed in a topic sentence – a sort of mini-thesis statement for the paragraph. Often, a topic sentence is the first sentence of the paragraph, though it may come after or within a transition statement.
EVIDENCE/EXPLANATION/EXAMPLES  – This next section of the paragraph elaborates on the main idea. Depending on the type of assignment, the paragraph might require one or more of these “E”s:
Evidence—What does the main idea of the paragraph need to support it? Make sure to cite outside information.
Explanation—Do you need to explain key terms, concepts, or events? What information in the paragraph may be especially complex or unclear?
Examples—Other main ideas are best suited to examples, either from personal experience or research, to illustrate or highlight elements of the main idea.
ANALYSIS – Once the main idea has been stated and supported, it is time to break that information down and analyze it. What more do your readers need to understand about the evidence or examples you provided? How can you make it clear that you are interpreting this information in a certain way? In other words, this is the section of the paragraph where the HOW? WHY? or WHO CARES? of your evidence is explained.
LINK – Linking refers to the link between a paragraph and the paper’s thesis. Ask yourself how does this paragraph contribute to the overall effectiveness of the paper? You may not end up including that answer as part of the paragraph, but you must make sure you have made the connection clear. Too often writers assume readers automatically will recognize the link on their own, but your job as a writer is to make it impossible for a reader to miss how each paragraph supports your overall goal for the paper. Think about this connection to your thesis as a way to develop a smooth transition to the next paragraph.