Assignment Instructions

Hair Salon Business Opportunity and SWOT analysis paper:

This SWOT analysis paper is required to be approximately 4 -6 pages in length, not including the title page and the reference page. No fewer than 1400 words. 

Paper should be double spaced, cite sources, limit quotes, and edit work well!

Your work will automatically be reviewed by Turnitin upon submission.  You will be able to see your similarity report within 20 minutes after your submission.   Resubmit is not permitted.  Please make sure you cite your work properly and AVOID direct quotes.

For this assignment you will invent a new HAIR SALON business.  This is a new start – up venture, not an existing one or one that is expanding.  Do not use a business  THAT HAVE BEEN created previously. Make up the business, the location, the client base, and the product or service.  Do not use any real company.  You may review a real company's website for ideas, but the basis of this paper should be your own ideas.   Your opening sentence should begin with something like this: "The new business venture that I will evaluate is …………….." Expect that your business will be opened in this coming year, not one that opened 10 years ago. 

Your introduction should include a description of your company and any details that are important to the reader.  The description of your company should be a couple paragraphs with a summary of the business.   The other details can be discussed when you are reviewing each of the SWOT elements.   The final goal of this paper is to prepare a SWOT analysis of your new venture company.   

At least two sources to supplement your work.

After developing your new venture and describing it thoroughly in the beginning of your paper, provide a thorough SWOT analysis. Make sure you have included the actual SWOT analysis quad chart (embedded within your paper) listing the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities. You can use your own chart, but your paper should include a simple SWOT chart with the four segments.  Then, you must discuss each segment thoroughly and explain what you have learned from performing your analysis.

So, your paper should include a title page and a reference page (no abstract is required) also:

1.  a description of your new venture (have a clear introduction)

2.  include a simple quad chart with the four basic quadrants embedded in your paper

3. a thorough explanation of what you have learned from the analysis, further defining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats 

4. be sure to include monetary information. You can't evaluate a new start up for a beauty salon if you don't include the costs to start up.   How many hair cuts would you have to provide customers before you break even each month (of course you can estimate costs).  For instance, you have to purchase equipment (dryers, chairs, etc) and you have to rent space (or buy space). What is the monthly rent or mortgage payment and how easily will that be earned each month. Include all other costs also (payroll, supplies, advertising, etc). Where will the start up money come from?

5. an evaluation, based on what you have learned, will you continue your business venture?  Be sure to answer that question at the close of your paper. 

Font and Spacing – Use Times New Roman 12 pitch font with double-spaced lines.

Length – Write a 4 to 6 page essay not including the title page and citation page. Make sure you have t least 1400 words, not counting the title and reference page. 

Reference Page – Include all sources on a Reference page

Utilize the APA Style for documenting sources. Finally, remember Wikipedia is NOT a scholarly source.

Assignment Instructions

Discuss why is it important for HR Management to transform from being primarily administrative and operational to becoming a more strategic partner. Provide a background of HR history and some data from a specific organization (like McDonalds, Amazon, Netflix, H&M, or Google) to support your ideas, arguments, and opinions.

IMPORTANT!!
Submit your work as an MS WORD ATTACHMENT in either a .doc, .docx, or .rtf format.

Please support your ideas, arguments, and opinions with independent research, include at least five (5) supporting references or sources (NOT Wikipedia, unknown, or anonymous sources).

Format work in proper APA format, include a cover page, an abstract, an introduction and a labeled conclusion.

A minimum of eight (8) FULL pages of written content, and a reference section. 

Double space all work and cite all listed references properly in text in accordance with the 6th edition of the APA manual, chapters 6 & 7.

As the global marketplace becomes increasingly more competitive, it is incumbent upon human resources to broaden its strategic mission and become a strategic partner with executive staff. This requires human resources to have a detailed understanding of not only the human resources field, but the strengths and challenges of its organization, and the complexities of its industry. Through these units of knowledge, human resources can maximize its value by providing competent advice and counsel to its organization as it strives to achieve its strategic objectives.

The comprehensive Final Paper comprises four parts, with Parts 1, 2, and 3 submitted during the first three weeks of the course. In Week 5, a cohesive final paper will be due that includes Part 4, an executive summary, and the previously submitted Parts 1, 2, and 3. This final paper should be eight to ten pages and should incorporate any comments or suggestions made by the instructor on Parts 1, 2, and 3.

Focus of the Final Paper
In your final project, you are to choose a major problem/issue affecting an organization of your choice, and then utilize your detailed knowledge of human resources and strategic planning to develop a comprehensive plan that minimizes, and hopefully eliminates, this threat to your chosen organization’s ability to meet its long-range organizational goals and objectives.  The components of this comprehensive project are as follows:

• Part 1 – Overview of Organization/Problem (due in Week 1): In a 2-3 page paper, provide an overview of the organization and the problem/issue that challenges that organization.  Next, detail how the problem/issue affects (or can affect) the future viability of the organization. Finally, discuss the principle role of human resources in an organization and how human resources can provide critical advice and counsel to the organization in addressing this challenge.
• Part 2 – Environment Analysis (due in Week 2): Optimal solutions are determined when a researcher has a thorough understanding of a company and its industry, along with the strengths and weaknesses that impact its future viability.  In the second part of your plan, perform a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunity, and Threats) on your chosen organization and provide an analysis of these results in light of the problem or issue under study. Be attentive to identifying how the problem or issue impacts the organization and its competitive position within the industry. The paper should be 2-3 pages.
• Part 3 – Financial Analysis (due in Week 3): Nearly every problem or issue confronting an organization has a financial or budgetary impact. For instance, staff turnover has not only a direct cost on recruitment expenses, training costs, and productivity, but also an indirect cost related to the loss of organizational learning. In Part 3, detail the financial implications to the organization related to your problem or issue, including the additional costs that may arise if the problem or issue is not resolved effectively.  The paper should be 1-2 pages.
• Part 4 – Recommendations (due in Week 5): The final part of your comprehensive project incorporates your recommendations.  Based on your work in Parts 1, 2, and 3, provide 2-3 recommendations to organizational leadership that would resolve the problem/issue in question. Be sure to detail any challenges the organization should consider in implementing your recommendations (culture, motivation, etc.) and your strategy to overcome these challenges. The recommendations section should be 2-3 pages.
• The Final Paper due at the end of Week 5 will comprise Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.  It should begin with an Executive Summary, which is an abbreviated capture of the entire paper and as such should touch upon all major points while engaging the reader. The final paper should be 8-10 pages.

Note that some of the information related to this project may not be readily available in course materials, requiring you to research contemporary management trends in the public sector.

Writing the Final Paper
The Final Paper:

• Must be eight to ten double-spaced pages in length, and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.
• Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
• Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
• Must use at least four scholarly sources.
• Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

In this discussion, you will evaluate, differentiate, and interconnect the dynamics of power and influence of an organizational leader. In your response, consider the traits, values, ethics, and skills found in effective leaders.

APPLICATION: As you generate your response, consider an organization or a leader you know or have read about. Provide specific examples to support your discussion.

Instructions:

1. Identify the leader or organization.
2. Select a characteristic or value that you think is important to this leader’s or organization’s success.
3. Discuss this characteristic or value in the context of the topic of power versus influence in organizational leadership.

Your original post should be no more than three to four paragraphs written in clear, concise form. Support your writing with at least two scholarly sources that are in addition to required readings, and cite using APA style.

Your executive vice president (EVP) has decided to restructure six of the current business units into one sector structure. He has asked you to put together two deliverables for his team to review.

Part 1

You are to write an Executive Summary White Paper reflecting the benefits of the recommended change. Include the following in your white paper:

Short introduction about the alignment between organizational structure and organizational strategy  

Productivity improvement analysis for each organizational structure option  

Potential cost of each organizational structure option  

Potential schedule for the merger  

Your recommendation and why

Part 2

For this part, you are to write a Change Proposal Paper of 2,500 words in which you reflect upon your recommendation from Part 1.

Your EVP is very excited to get started on the change plan for the business unit merger project that you recommended in your Executive Summary White Paper. Before he signs off on the launch date for the project, the EVP wants to see a proposed change plan. Each of the impacted six divisions have approximately 830 employees, and each are organized in the following functions:  

Project management  

Manufacturing operations  

Engineering  

Quality  

Information technology  

Human resources  

Accounting  

Public relations  

Procurement

He was very impressed with your ideas on a customer service organization and wants to include this new function in the new organization. The change plan should include the following:

Assessments  

Examples of the return on investment (ROI)  

Training required  

Who will be involved in the full change planning  

Communication plan  

Places for potential economies of scale in the merger  

Action plan  

Schedule on the implementation of the new structure

He would also like to know what you need him and the other executive team members to do in support of this project.

What you learned about your client team in the previous change assignments is that they like to see charts with clear objective facts and the latest research in support of the ideas you are presenting in the documents that they review prior to the full team discussion. This is a critical project, so you will want to develop a standard list of questions to interview each of the seven executives to gather their input regarding this project. Be sure to build this diagnostic data collection into the overall project schedule.

Note: You may use applicable prior assignments from this course only as part of the development of this Change Plan.

Topic:

• Political, Economic, Legal, and Technological Environment, or
• Social Responsibility, Ethics, and Sustainability

You should submit the following:

• Choose one topic among the topic for the specific week.
• Search for a recent article (within 6 months) related to the topic of the week in an online business newspaper or business magazine of your choice (e.g., Fortune, Inc., Business Week, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Money, etc.).
• Submit the following, in a word document, using Turnitin tool (submission via email or message will not be accepted):   
• A summary of the article (150-250 words)
• How the article relates to the topic selected (100-150 words)
• The link to the article
• Attach a PDF copy of the original article

Presenting is a skill that can be improved upon through practice just like riding a bike, driving a car, or playing an instrument or a sport. You may feel anxious about the thought of making a presentation, but the AIU environment is a safe place to practice what you will be learning and to reflect on the process.  

Use the M.U.S.E. materials to help you prepare, and be sure to read the textbook chapters for information on listening, verbal and nonverbal communication, and the modes of delivery. 

As Mark Twain said, “There are two types of speakers: Those who get nervous and those who are liars” (as cited in Saks, 2014). If you are nervous, that is normal. If you believe you are beyond nervous, be sure to talk to your instructor for assistance in completing this assignment.

After you have reviewed the readings for our January 18 class and the instructions below, please write your two-page paper and provide it to the Professor in two ways: 1) a hard copy of it handed in at the beginning of our January 18 class; and 2) in the Assignment drop box here on Canvas any time prior to the start of class on January 18.  As we will see, the readings for this class and two-page paper introduce us to what was, in the history of American labor and employment law, the FIRST exception to the at-will doctrine, namely, the National Labor Relations Act, particularly its provision prohibiting an employer from retaliating or discriminating against a worker who has engaged in “concerted” activity for "mutual aid and protection."

Your two-page essay should address both of the topics below:

1. After you have read the discussion of the Hendricks Country Rural Electric Membership Corp case, found at pp. 37-40 of our Supplemental Text, please put yourself in the place of Mary Weatherman. If you had been in her position, and based on your view of the pros and cons of her situation, would you have signed the petition to the board of directors?  Why or why not?
2. After you have read pp.123-33 of our text, including the excerpts from the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Washington Aluminum case, please assume that you were one of the workers on that cold morning. Based on your view of the pros and cons of the situation, would youhave joined your co-workers who walked out in protest that cold morning?  Why or why not?

As you compose your thoughts, and eventually report your decision, you might wish to address:  As you thought through your decision, did you consider any reasons to decide "the other way"?  If you saw pros and cons, how did you reconcile them? Are there assumptions about proper workplace behavior by employees that you bring to your thinking? Assumptions about proper workplace behavior by managers/supervisors that you brought to your thinking?  If your decision in either case was a close or difficult one, that’s OK, but be sure to explain why.  If your decision was an easy one, what made it so? Were there no offsetting considerations? By the way, in the actual Washington Aluminum case, the courts did not consider the dare by the foreman, Mr. Jarvis (he's the fellow who said that if the workers “had any guts at all, they’d go home”) to have given any kind of employer permission for the workers to leave.

In preparing your essay, you might consider the following:  

1. Your should choose whether to reason from general principles or from the particular facts of the situation or some blend of both. Try to pay close attention to the facts, and use your powers of "visualization."  For example, are you clear on exactly what position Ms. Weatherman occupies? For another example, are you aware that factory workers spend much of their time handling tools and equipment made out of cold-conducting metal? Etc. etc.
2. Try to fairly assess the potential cost of taking the stand you take. A university student of today – especially one who will soon have a bachelor’s degree – might feel he or she has a certain amount of value and security in the labor market, and thus a college student might be more willing to risk losing a “mere” clerical or factory job. If this affects your thinking, don't be afraid to say so.  Perhaps, in the shoes of Mary Weatherman or an aluminum factory worker, you would feel that you still have plenty of career options and therefore little to lose. But try to put yourself in the circumstances of these employees and weigh the “upsides” and “downsides” as you’d see them in their situation.
3. To be realistic in this exercise, we should note that there is a possibility that your employer will fire you if you join in the group activity (after all, that’s exactly what happened to the employees here!). And bear in mind that, if your employer does fire you in retaliation for your action, and if you file a charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to enforce your right to engage in what the law considers to be “protected concerted activity for mutual aid and protection,” it may take the prosecutor at the NLRB (the “General Counsel”) one or even two years to get an enforceable court order restoring you to your job, and that's the kind of enforcement activity that is required against many employers. In the meantime, and unless you can find other work, you will suffer a loss of employment and income, so you might have disruption in your life. And even assuming you eventually win your job back, you'd probably assume you’d get “full back pay” (measured by the earnings you lost from the date of your firing to the date of your reinstatement), but here’s an advance look at how labor law works on that topic:

The NLRA case law has a special rule regarding recoverable “back pay" for persons who are unlawfully fired for concerted activity: The NLRA requires you (the fired person), while you’re off the payroll but fighting your allegedly unlawful discharge, to make reasonable efforts to “mitigate” (or reduce) your damages. That means the law will reduce your back pay award by amounts that you in fact did earn during the back pay period, or – and here comes the tough part – it will reduce your back pay by any amounts you COULD have earned had you diligently looked for substitute employment. Thus, even if you’re ultimately victorious in winning back your job (reinstatement) and recovering back pay for your period of unemployment, the latter recovery, backpay, comes with a hitch:  an NLRB back pay award will consist of 1) your lost pay, plus benefits and seniority, minus 2) the amounts you earned in interim employment or could have earned had you made reasonable efforts to find replacement work.  

On the other hand, there may be costs to your not joining the group activity, right? Are you keeping those in mind? 

1. The Benefit Side: What benefits might collective action (or refraining from collective action) have? Might those pluses win you and your co-workers anything beyond a solution to the immediate issue? If you do decide to take a stand, what are your demands – that is, what will it take for you to stop your protest activity?  For some students, these decisions may go beyond "costs" and "benefits" — they may be about principle.  If that's the case for you, fine, but please be sure to explain your thinking.
2. Having Your Cake and Eating It Too? Are you tempted to take a pass on your joining in the protest, on the theory that you can leave the fight to others, and if your co-workers win a solution, you’ll enjoy the benefits of their victory without having had to take any risks? That is, assuming you would like to see the employer be challenged here, can you let your co-workers do the heavy lifting and sacrificing, in the meantime "lay low" and collect your paycheck and enjoy job security, but enjoy the fruits of your co-workers' sacrifice if they win improvements in conditions? Or is there a cost to this strategy too?
3. Is all this talk of “costs and benefits” beside the point for you? Is this largely a moral decision? Are you driven by any ideas you have about the duties that a good employee or good employer owes to the other?

I hope these questions might stimulate your thinking. You need not address all of them or even most of them. They’re really just to get you launched and thinking. Write about what you think is important.

Writing

Good writing is a critical component of this exercise. Take time to organize your thoughts – please write, edit, and re-write. A good paper should not consist of whatever first occurs to you to say. If you hand in the first thing that you typed, you will probably not produce college-level writing on your first attempt, unless, of course, you have a gift for writing. So you’ll need to edit your first draft, probably significantly, then re-write, add material, delete other stuff, and re-arrange. Please make your essay thoughtful and well-organized. And don’t be afraid to recognize the merit of an argument going against your ultimate decision; recognizing the points “on the other” side of your thinking usually works to make an ultimate conclusion more thoughtful and persuasive.

                  On the writing itself, please:

• Use good sentence and paragraph structure.
• Strive to hand in a paper that has absolutely no mistakes. Don’t rely exclusively on “SpellCheck” or “AutoCorrect” – to put it plainly, they don’t always check and correct. Be a careful proofreader. You might be interested to know that professional proofreaders read a document four times over after the principal writer believes it to be “perfect.” Each reading concentrates on a different thing (grammar, then punctuation, then spelling, etc.)
• In sum, please produce a written product you’re proud of. If you find that it’s difficult and even a bit painful to produce a good piece of writing, then you’re obviously doing all of the right things. Good writing doesn’t happen by itself. Hang in there!

 One of the Crucial Legal Lessons from These Readings

As you work on this paper assignment, you also want to be absolutely sure that you can answer for yourself the following basic labor law questions arising out of  these cases:

In Washington Aluminum, was it an unfair labor practice under the NLRA for the employer to have supplied a frigidly cold workplace to its employees? Did that violate the NLRA? That is, did furnishing a very cold workplace violate the NLRA? Or was it something else that was the employer's unfair labor practice?

Similarly, in Hendricks County, did it violate the NLRA (that is, did it constitute – in the words of the NLRA — an “unfair labor practice”) for the Electrical Cooperative to have fired Mr. Hadley because of his physical incapacity? Does our reading teach us that firing Lloyd Hadley violated the NLRA? Or was it something else that constituted the employer’s unfair labor practice? What exactly violated the NLRA in these cases?

Develop a business plan for operating a child care facility. Select a state within which you would like to develop and operate a child care facility, locate and determine a local region within that state, and name the state and location. Locate and determine the guidelines and regulations that must be followed to operate a child care facility. Discuss the state and local region that selected. Include a brief mention of the state labor statistics and economic outlook for this field. Discuss a state's licensing and certification requirements. Explain a state's Department of Human Resources requirements as they apply to the operation of a child care center, e.g. hiring practices, teacher/student ratios, licensing, etc. Recall that our constraints are that your center will provide services to no infants, 12 toddlers, and 72 preschoolers.

Describe reasons why joining armed forces is favorable.