Answer 2

1. What is your EQ?

How can a fruit and flower shop owner-manager best organize and grow her family business?

2. What is your first thesis sentence answer?

Ensure that both Sweet Fruit Arrangements and Sweet Flower Arrangements stores meet 1800Flowers expectations of ordering and delivering processes.

3. What is your second thesis sentence answer?

Employees should be hired and trained to meet 1800Flowers expectations on producing the arrangements.

4. List 3 reasons your answer is true with real world applications:

1. When the employee doesn't understand how to properly create an arrangement. An employee should be trained to be able to create a fruit and flower arrangement, its too difficult just to observe and start making the product, which could lead to many errors for new employees. This also entails understanding how to clean and cut the stems of the flowers and fruit.

2. When the employee doesn't understand how Bloomnet processes work. Bloomnet is the online wire by which we receive orders. I believe every employee should understand how to use Bloomnet online service so that when an order comes in last minute they are able to respond efficiently. Especially, when we receive messages through the wire for cancelations or adjustments, employees need to understand how to read them.

3. When the employee doesn't understand the kinds of arrangements and names of fruits and flowers used. 1800Flowers sends their own books with a huge variety of arrangements. These are the arrangements that a consumer choses from 1800Flowers.com. So when the customer orders the arrangement an employee would have to look through the book to find out how many flowers are in the arrangement, what container we are using, what it looks like, etc. One of the biggest parts of this job is remembering the many names of the flowers, fruits and arrangements.

5. What printed source best supports your answer?

Gitman, Lawrence J., and Carl D. McDaniel. ʺChapter 12.ʺ The Future of Business: The Essentials. Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western, 2008. N. pag. Print

6. What other source supports your answer?

Gutierrez, Lisa. ʺBusiness is Blooming: Florists Need Flowers, Creativity--and a Whole Lot of Muscle.ʺ Career World, a Weekly Reader Publication, 38.3 (2009): 11-15.

7. Concluding Thoughts:

I drafted this answer while working in the store for my Independent Component 1 and my Interview 3 with my second mentor was also an inspiration. I have worked in the store as an employee for many years and now with this project I observe real world applications as stated above. My first answer was specifically related to order and delivery processes, now my second answer is specific to employees. The only way to organize and grow our business is to start from the bottom with the employees and work towards the top. If they don't function efficiently we will not be able to successful at organizing the business.