Day: January 16, 2018

Organizational Theory 

 

Competitive advantage in the 20th century was created by making quality products and services faster, cheaper, and moving them quickly around a town, state or nation. Business organizations in the 21st century must continue to produce goods and services faster and cheaper than its competitors; however, unlike the 20th century, competitive advantage is gained only when a business can customize the goods and/or services to meet customer demands and have them delivered around the world. Ironically, while the pace of doing business has magnified thousands of times, employees desire more than ever to slow down and balance work with family.  People who successfully manage this 21st century paradigm must comprehend all facets of the organization and how they compose the company’s competitive advantage. Manager’s in particular have to find ways to secure competitive advantage via innovation of the process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling the organization’s rules, procedures, processes and people who execute them.

As seen in week one organizational theory has evolved to embrace a human centric framework. This week theme one seeks to explain how 21st century businesses’ must blend 20th and 21st century management theory and application to create a competitive edge.  In theme two the material for the week begins to explain that the foundation of most existing managerial practices stems from Fayol’s four functions of management. It is upon Fayol’s foundation that manager’s will have to build their practices for a new agile organization structure. In the coming weeks, students will examine the four functions so that they can understand the common practice upon which new ideas of management are built.

Theme 1: Helping a business to create a competitive edge among competitors is a crucial job of the manager.

Theme 2: The Functions of Management and the New Organization

The role of the manager in a business organization has been defined as a person who can implement the vision, purpose and mission of the business by creating processes, procedures, and short/long term goals that put the organization on a competitive path. The manager does this through the implementation of the four primary functions or pillars of management – planning, organizing, leading/directing, and controlling. Henri Fayol’s functions of management mentioned in our organizational theory timeline has created a foundation for the modern management role and are very much alive in running businesses today (it should be noted that it is currently five not four [to include staffing] management pillars). The challenge for the manager in the 21st century is to merge the traditional functions of a manager to include a greater role in developing long term goals and leading people while still maintaining the traditional functions of management. This week’s themes explore the definition of the four functions of management and how they form the foundation of the manager’s job.

Select an existing company in your community, and think about applying the political, economic, social, and technological (PEST) analysis to this company. Explain how you would use the PEST tool to assist marketers in analyzing the external environment in which they are operating.

In a 500-750 word essay, define a hypothesis statement and its importance in validating a research study. Use a minimum of two references to support your thoughts about how a hypothesis can enhance the research and the reporting of your results.

Be sure to strictly follow APA style guidelines in your formatting, your writing, and in your citations.

Write a 1,000 word paper on present-day challenges for criminal justice administrators.

 

Select a functional role in one of the three major areas of criminal justice administration–police, courts, or corrections–and describe what you consider the major issues and satisfactions of that particular role. Has this course helped prepare you? If not, what might improve the course?

 

Include at least four peer reviewed references.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Assignment 1: LASA 2—The Marketing Plan

The marketing plan format is one that is utilized by major corporations all over the country. However, writing a comprehensive marketing plan is a difficult and challenging task, yet, the ability to write such a plan is critical to the development of a marketing manager and an organization. As you draw to the culmination of this course, apply all that you have learned to develop a comprehensive marketing plan.

Directions:

Identify a company you would like to use for this assignment. This should be an organization that you are familiar with, or have access to their information. You will complete a comprehensive marketing plan, which will include an analysis of their current market situation. In other words, ask yourself: Is the industry growing? What is the market share for the organization that they represent? Who is the dominant player in the marketplace? Remember, you will need to justify your approach using market research and data.

The second step in the process is the actual writing of the plan. Think about the following: What are the goals and objectives for the organization? What is the timing of the plan? What resources will be required to achieve the plan? What are the financial goals?

In your marketing plan, be sure to include the following sections:

1. Executive Summary and Table of Contents

In the executive summary, make sure you address all the main goals and objectives of your plan. These goals and objectives need to be clear, measurable, and reasonable.

1. Situational Analysis

A situational analysis presents a snapshot of the market in its current state by describing the company's products/services, target segments, distribution networks, and position of the products/services in the segment, along with competing offerings and relative positioning. It includes current and future assessment of the business conditions and challenges. Within your situational analysis, analyze all the following points:
Market summary
SWOT analysis
Competitor analysis
Product offering
Keys to success
Critical issues
Pricing

1. Marketing Strategy

The marketing strategy describes the planned direction and goals of the marketing activities, incorporating facts and assumptions about the market size, growth, and financial objectives. Think about the following questions: Where do you see your business going in the next 3-5 years? What is unique about your product portfolio? How will you tell the consumer about your products and unique value proposition? How will you stay connected to your target market’s needs and wants? How will you price your product? Within your market analysis, be sure to address the following:
Mission
Marketing objectives
Product positioning
Marketing mix (4 Ps)
Marketing research

1. Financials

The financials of the marketing plan describe a set of five-year revenue, cost, and profit projections for the marketing plan, including any initial startup costs, sales by channel and segment, and profit margins. Think about the following questions: How much do you plan to sell? What are your factory cost targets? What is your profit target by percent and dollar amount? Remember to include the following in your financials:
Sales Forecast
Profit targets

1. Controls

The controls of the marketing plan describe the budget tactical activities for implementing the plan, as well performance benchmarks for each activity. These include pricing, product configuration, promotion, and distribution performance benchmarks, and plans for changing any of the parameters if performance measures are not met. They are in place to measure forecast and profit attainment. Forecasts should be reviewed monthly and quarterly. Secondly, a 12-month calendar should be developed to clearly target specific dates for product introductions and promotional activity. 

Remember to include the following:
Milestones
Implementations and timelines

1. Summary

The summary of the marketing plan should summarize the plan by summarizing the size and scope of the opportunity, and reiterating the STP (segmentation, targeting, positioning) and 4 P (product, price, place, promotion) elements of the plan. It should tell the reader that the plan is real, how you will win, and why it is worth pursuing as an organization (RRW). This section should be no longer than one page.
Remember to review the grading criteria as you write the plan to ensure you address all needed elements.

Assignment 2: Executive Summary of M3: Assignment 2

The ability to present one’s findings from an evaluation or research study in a concise and persuasive manner is a requirement for any successful manager.

In M3: Assignment 2, you evaluated the buying process of an online consumer product or service from the marketer’s point of view using the five stages of the buying decision process.

Using your research findings from M3: Assignment 2, create an executive summary PowerPoint presentation. Cover the following:

• Include a statement of the problem or the topic of M3: Assignment 2.
• Concisely evaluate the findings from your research.
• Recapitulate any main conclusions or recommendations.

Develop a 6–8-slide presentation, excluding the title and reference slides, in PowerPoint format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M4_A2.ppt.

Assignment 1: Discussion—Marketing Plans and Customer Satisfaction

Corona beer is the number one imported beer into the United States, and has developed into a global brand (General Distributors, Inc., n.d.). Corona created its competitive advantage through an innovative marketing strategy.

Like Corona beer, identify a recent example of a firm that was cited as having a competitive advantage due to its innovative marketing plan. Respond to the following:

• Discuss implementation activities that positively impacted customer satisfaction.
• Describe three advantages and three disadvantages of standardizing the marketing mix worldwide.

Think about products that you would love to see revamped to meet your needs or a new product that has not yet been created.

 

Create a video showing the product that you would like to see revamped. Describe the changes you would like to see (NOTHING AUTOMOTIVE).

 

Remark:  The response must be in a PowerPoint format that includes video and audio. Please provide in a mp3 format.

Please respond to one (1) of the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:

 

Listen to one (1) composition (for a symphony) by Haydn or Mozart, either at the Websites below or in this week's Music Folder. Identify the work that you have chosen, and describe the way in which the composition expresses the specific qualities of the Classical music style. Use the key terms from the textbook that are related to that particular music style, and explain what you like or admire about the work. Compare it to a specific modern musical work for which you might use the term "classic" or "classical".

 

Explain whether you think an autobiographical or fictional account by a slave (such as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano) is more persuasive than a biographical or fictional account by a white author (such as John Gabriel Stedman or Aphra Behn). Explain whether you believe the representations of slavery in the visual arts (such as William Blake’s illustrations, William Hackwood’s cameo, or John Singleton Copley’s painting) were more compelling and convincing of the injustices of slavery than the literary representations already mentioned. In your explanations, use specific examples and consider both audience and the content and nature of the work. Identify the literary or art form in modern times that you think is most effective at depicting injustice.

Explore:

 

Classical Music

 

Chapter 25 (pp. 826-832), classical style described; examples; review the Week 3 “Music Folder”

Haydn at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JESXMWrwzVQ and http://www.npr.org/artists/16110605/franz-joseph-haydn

Mozart at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hywOY9BS9tQ and http://www.npr.org/artists/15327819/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart

 

Early Abolitionist Art & Literature

 

Chapter 26 (pp. 870-2): Equiano, Stedman, Wheatley, Behn; Chapter 26 (pp. 877-879): Equiano and Behn

Wheatley at http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/Wheatley/phil.htm

Chapter 26 (pp. 870-873): Blake, Hackwood, Copley

Case Study 1: Understanding the Court System
Due Week 3 and worth 200 points
The U.S. Court System is a complex system that includes both federal and state-level courts. The federal system includes the judicial branch of the government. This system is designed to help society interpret the U.S. Constitution and provide guidelines for society. Court cases may concern many different topics and have an unlimited number of outcomes. 
Use the Internet or Strayer databases to research a civil or criminal court case in which you are interested.
Write a five to eight (5-8) page paper in which you:
 

1. Summarize the seminal facts of the case that you chose.
2. Explain the main laws that have been violated in the case that you chose.
3. Describe the possible penalties that could be associated with the laws that you just described.
4. Explain whether your specific case was heard in the state or federal court system, and include any related jurisdictional requirements. Explain the fundamental reasons why it was necessary for the case to be heard in that particular court system.
5. Summarize the outcome of the case, and indicate whether the judge or jury made the decision.
6. Discuss whether or not you believe that the outcome of the case was justified. Provide a rationale for the response.
7. Use at least (3) quality academic resources. Note: Wikipedia and other websites do not qualify as academic resources.
8. Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
    

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
• The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
   
• Examine the organizational frameworks and decision-making environment in the judicial process.
• Examine the rule of law in the American court system and in the judicial process.
• Detail the history and organization of the levels of the American court system and the issue of jurisdictional boundaries.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in the criminal court and the judicial process in America.
• Write clearly and concisely about the American court system using proper writing mechanics and APA style conventions.