| Course | MGT 500 Management |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | MBA management practices paper |
| Length | About 1,049 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Master of Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MGT 500 Module 1
Does Management Matter at a Plant Nursery? Scoring Twelve Practices After a Family Succession
Student Name
Master of Business Administration, Aspen University
MGT 500: Management
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Does Management Matter at a Plant Nursery? Scoring Twelve Practices After a Family Succession
Cascade Root Nursery, a composite family business near Canby, Oregon, grows shrubs, perennials and young trees on about 300 acres and sells them to garden centers, grounds contractors and home builders across the western United States. It employs about 140 people, half of them seasonal. Sales have been flat at about $21 million for four years, while two competitors have grown. The founder retired last spring, and his son, who had run the shipping operation, became general manager. He has asked whether the nursery's results reflect its market or the way it is managed.
The Environment
The nursery's external environment is mixed. Housing starts in its markets have slowed, reducing builder demand, but homeowners continue to buy plants for gardens. Labor is the tightest constraint: seasonal workers are harder to find each spring, and wages have risen faster than prices. Water rights and summer heat create growing risk. Large retail chains buy directly from a few big growers, squeezing midsize nurseries that sell through independent garden centers. These conditions affect every competitor, yet two rivals have grown in the same market, which suggests that something inside Cascade Root is holding it back.
Evidence That Management Matters
Interviews with managers at several hundred medium-sized manufacturers in the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom scored eighteen practices covering monitoring of operations, setting targets and using incentives (Bloom & Van Reenen, 2007). Firms with higher management scores had higher productivity, profitability, growth and survival rates. Practices were worse on average where competition was weak and where family firms passed control to the eldest son, a pattern the authors linked to choosing managers by birth order rather than ability. The finding is uncomfortable for Cascade Root, but useful: it means the nursery's performance may respond to better practices.
Can Practices Change Results?
Correlation does not prove that better practices cause better results. Bloom et al. (2013) addressed this with a field experiment in Indian textile plants, randomly assigning some firms free consulting to introduce basic practices, such as recording quality defects, organizing inventory and holding daily production meetings. Productivity in the treated plants rose by about 17% in the first year, through better quality, lower inventory and more efficient production. Practices that seemed obvious to the consultants had not been adopted because owners did not know about them or doubted their value.
Scoring the Nursery's Practices
Adapting the survey approach, the general manager and an outside adviser scored twelve practices from 1, poor, to 5, best practice, using interviews, records and observation.
| Practice | Evidence | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory tracking | Plant counts done once a year; losses unknown | 1 |
| Production scheduling | Potting based on last year's sales | 2 |
| Quality checks | Shipping crew rejects poor plants at loading | 2 |
| Performance review | No regular reviews for supervisors | 1 |
| Target setting | No targets below the sales total | 1 |
| Problem solving | Problems handled by the founder personally | 2 |
| Hiring | Seasonal hiring through word of mouth | 3 |
| Training | New workers shadow others | 3 |
| Pay and incentives | Flat wages; no link to performance | 2 |
| Safety | Weekly meetings; good record | 4 |
| Customer feedback | Sales staff hear complaints informally | 3 |
| Information sharing | Supervisors learn plans the day of | 3 |
| Average | 2.3 |
What Supervisors and Workers Said
Interviews with the six section supervisors and a dozen workers explained several scores. Supervisors said they rarely knew what the sales team had promised customers until trucks arrived, so plants were pulled from the wrong sections and replaced later. Workers said they could tell which plants were struggling weeks before anyone acted, but no one asked them. Several supervisors said they would welcome targets if the targets were fair and if they had a say in setting them. These conversations matter as much as the scores, because practices adopted without the people who use them tend to fade.
Why Succession Is a Moment of Risk
Bloom and Van Reenen's finding about eldest sons is not a judgment on any one successor; it reflects the risk of choosing leaders from a small pool. The new general manager knows shipping well but has never managed production or sales. He can reduce the risk by building routines that do not depend on him alone and by bringing in an experienced production manager, as the founder never did.
Management as Craft, Art and Science
Mintzberg (2009) argued that managing is neither a profession nor a science alone but a practice that blends craft rooted in experience, art rooted in insight and science rooted in analysis, with craft usually the largest part. The founder managed almost entirely by craft: he walked the fields daily and knew by sight what was ready. That knowledge left with him. The new general manager does not need to become an analyst, but the nursery needs enough science, counts, targets and records, to replace knowledge that once lived in one person.
Priorities for the First Year
The lowest scores point to three priorities. Weekly inventory counts by growing section, recorded on tablets, will show losses and availability. Simple targets for each section, such as plants ready for sale by date and losses below 8%, will give supervisors something to aim for. And monthly reviews with each supervisor will discuss those numbers and what is getting in the way. Pay will remain flat this year, until targets are tested and trusted.
Risks of the Plan
New routines can feel like distrust to supervisors used to working from experience. The general manager will introduce counts and targets in two sections first, let supervisors adjust the targets and share what the counts reveal before expanding. Tablets and software cost about $18,000, a modest sum next to the losses the nursery cannot yet measure.
How Results Will Be Judged
The general manager will rescore all twelve practices after twelve months and track plant losses, orders filled on time and sales per employee.
Conclusion
Cascade Root's flat sales reflect a difficult market, but rivals' growth and the evidence from Bloom and his colleagues suggest management practices are a large part of the story. Scoring the nursery's practices turns a vague sense that things could be better into specific gaps, and Mintzberg's view explains why the founder's craft must now be supported with simple routines anyone can follow.
References
Bloom, N., & Van Reenen, J. (2007). Measuring and explaining management practices across firms and countries. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(4), 1351-1408. https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2007.122.4.1351
Bloom, N., Eifert, B., Mahajan, A., McKenzie, D., & Roberts, J. (2013). Does management matter? Evidence from India. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 128(1), 1-51. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjs044
Mintzberg, H. (2009). Managing. Berrett-Koehler.
Reading the MGT 500 Module 1 assignment instructions
MGT 500 is the management core of Aspen's MBA, covering planning, decision making, organizing, leading and controlling along with current issues. A first-module paper usually establishes what management is and why it matters, often by examining one organization. Rely on your classroom's Module 1 wording for exact requirements; here a family nursery is assessed. Describe the organization and its external environment, including competitors and the labor market. Use research to show whether and how management practices affect performance. Assess the organization's practices with a structured framework rather than impressions. Interpret the strongest and weakest areas. Recommend priorities for the manager, linked to the management functions the course will cover.
Inside the MGT 500 Module 1 example
The paper begins with Cascade Root Nursery, which grows shrubs and trees on 300 acres for garden centers and builders across the West, with sales flat at $21 million for four years. Bloom and Van Reenen's Quarterly Journal of Economics study scored monitoring, targets and incentives in medium-sized manufacturers and linked higher scores to productivity, profitability and survival. Bloom and colleagues' experiment, also in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, found that free consulting on basic practices raised productivity in Indian textile plants by about 17% in the first year. Mintzberg's book on managing describes management as craft, art and science. A table scores twelve practices from 1 to 5, with an average of 2.3; inventory tracking, performance review and target setting score lowest. The plan starts with weekly inventory counts and simple targets per growing section.
Reading the MGT 500 Module 1 grading rubric
An MBA paper of this kind is judged on how well it ties research to a real organization, uses a structured assessment instead of opinion and turns findings into priorities. This example draws on large-sample evidence and a randomized experiment, so the claim that management matters rests on more than anecdote. The scoring table applies a research framework to the nursery's practices with evidence for each score. Mintzberg's view keeps the analysis from treating management as a checklist alone. The plan targets the lowest-scoring practices first, with measures, and draws on what supervisors and workers said.
Common MGT 500 Module 1 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Opening MBA papers in management tend to explain the functions in the abstract and never test them against a working organization. Use a framework, such as management practice scores, and give evidence for each judgment. Another weakness is assuming better management obviously helps; cite evidence on its effects. Describe the external environment, since it shapes which practices matter. Avoid recommending everything at once; choose priorities. Keep the analysis grounded in numbers such as sales, turnover or waste. Finally, connect your recommendations to the planning, organizing, leading and controlling topics the course will address. Speak with the people who will use the new practices.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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MGT 500 Module 1 questions, answered
What does MGT 500 Module 1 usually ask for?
Aspen's MGT 500 opens with management and its environment, so an MBA paper assessing how an organization is managed and why it matters is typical. Read your classroom prompt.
Do management practices affect company performance?
Bloom and Van Reenen found that firms with better monitoring, targets and incentives tended to be more productive, more profitable and more likely to survive.
Can management practices be improved?
Bloom and colleagues' field experiment found that introducing basic practices in Indian textile plants raised productivity by about 17% in the first year.
Where can I find a free MGT 500 Module 1 sample paper?
The example above scores twelve management practices at a family-owned plant nursery after a succession and sets a first-year plan.
Is management a science?
Mintzberg argues that managing blends craft from experience, art from insight and science from analysis, with craft usually the largest part.