Discussion Questions

Chapter 5

1. What are planning, strategy, and strategic management, and why are they important to me as a manager?

2. What are mission and vision statements, and what are three types of planning?

3. What are the three types of goals, and what are different kinds of plans?

4. What are SMART goals and MBO and how can they be implemented?

5. How does the planning/control cycle help keep a manager’s plans headed in the right direction?

Chapter 6

1. What is strategic positioning, and what are the three principles that underlie it?

2. What’s the five-step recipe for the strategic-management process?

3. What are the characteristics of good mission and vision statements?

4. What tools can help me describe where the organization stands from a competitive point of view?

5. How can three techniques—Porter’s four competitive strategies, diversification and synergy, and the BCG matrix—help me formulate strategy?

6. How does effective execution help managers during the strategic-management process?

Structure Follows Strategy -SWOT

The purpose of this assignment is to give learners experience developing an organizational SWOT analysis that they may use for strategic planning. This assignment is pre-work for the Learning Team assignment this week. 

Assignment Steps 

Resources: Management: A Practical Introduction; strategic plan for organization you chose; a leader or manager to interview. 

Select the organization you work for or an organization of your choice. WALMART

Interview one leader or manager from the organization so that you may complete a SWOT for the organization. Let the interviewee know you are working on a class project. Prior to your interview, develop a 5- to 7-question interview questionnaire you will use to query the interviewee to complete the organization's SWOTs. 

Conduct a SWOT analysis of the organization. 

Create a 525-word limit summary of the analysis. 

Format the assignment consistent with APA guidelines. 

Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.

Risk Paper

   Write a four-page paper regarding a project, either real or fictitious, where one is able to discuss how risks were identified, ranked, and monitored. The student is also welcome to write about a major purchase or major decision in his or her life, such as buying a new car, buying a new home, or even the decision to return to school to earn a degree. All of these are considered projects or procurement that require some form of formal or informal risk review. Your project and the risks you identify should be significant enough to merit the risk management process. The risks should not just be typical but should actually put the project in jeopardy. You should use a risk register to support the process of identification, ranking, and monitoring. You do need to illustrate the use of your process with actual risks discussed in your project.

Business Proposal Topic

Topic Proposal:

•  
• Your business proposal topic selection should be about a change in your organization's INTERNAL processes, procedures, products, people, or structure that will be beneficial to your organization based on events that are currently happening in your business environment.  For example, what are the main issues happening at your current or previous employment? Briefly identify the problem(s) and propose solution(s) to the problem. Please see Chapter 15.5, "Reducing Electrovision's Travel and Entertainment Costs," which you will use as your guide in writing your final paper. This is NOT a proposal to start a new business. 

VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure your business topic proposal is neither too broad nor too narrow of a topic. Your business proposal topic selection must be one full page, minimum. Use essay format. Use at least one credible source in support of your topic proposal; list as your reference using APA style of writing. 

•  
• The business field i work in is Support Coordination for Developmentally Disabled Adults:

Brief Overview of Position: Provides case management services to individuals with developmental disabilities by ensuring the individual's needs are met, health and safety maximized, and that rights are not infringed upon. The Support Coordinator serves as an advocate and works to ensure that the individual is satisfied with services, and the optimal goal is to ensure that individual's are integrated within their community.

• Manages a 35-40 person caseload
• Collaborates with families, natural supports, physicians, and community providers on the behalf of the individuals served
• Completes monthly documentation
• Completes Individualized Support Plans, Critical Incident Reports, Technical Assistance Consultation Forms, and Request for Additional Services Forms
• Facilitates meetings for addendums and individual support plans
• Assist individuals with developing community supports
• Assist individuals in obtaining Medicaid and social security eligibility
• Attends monthly staff meetings
• Completes annual training

Discussion 2

Many universities, industry professionals, and organizations feel that operations management and project management go hand in hand. 

Indeed, often the degree programs are similar, and professional organizations like APICS provide certifications in both. Why do you think it is important for those who manage operations functions to understand project management techniques? 

How does a firm integrate principles of both operations management and project management to create customer value? Find and cite examples. Many universities, industry professionals, and organizations feel that operations management and project management go hand in hand. 

Indeed, often the degree programs are similar, and professional organizations like APICS provide certifications in both. Why do you think it is important for those who manage operations functions to understand project management techniques? 

How does a firm integrate principles of both operations management and project management to create customer value? Find and cite examples. 

Inventory Management Methods

Please clearly label each response in your

1. Do you think it is possible to use the methods described in the course to manage inventory using only manual processes?  
2. Do you think any one of the methods described this week (order point, EOQ, min/max, etc) offer better control than the others?  Do any of these methods offer a process that will meet customer demand reliably?
3. Do you work with inventory? If so (and remember, we are all consumers, so to a degree we all work with inventory), please use an example from your own experience to illustrate how inventory management affected your experience.

M5 A2

Workforce 2020 Executive Report

Both leadership and organizational strategy in the next decade will see major trends affecting the way organizations conduct business. These include the deployment of more technology to extend reach and access, increased globalization, increased diversity, more focus on extended supply chains, and a more nomadic workforce. In this assignment, you will consider these trends and analyze how they may impact your selected organization and what actions are necessary to get ready to address these trends.

You have been appointed by your organization (either a hypothetical one or one you are familiar with) to prepare its Workforce 2020 executive report. 

The report should be as detailed as possible for the CEO of your organization. That means it should include the key points of your research, analysis, and findings. The report should also contain examples of specific application to your company in a clear, concise, and informative document. 

In Module 4, you began your research on Workforce 2020. In this module, you will expand on the work you did in Module 4. Take Module 4’s paper, and incorporate the items below into your work. Be sure to use the module readings, online library resources, and the Internet, including federal guidelines. Select at least 3–4 scholarly resources for use in this assignment.

Complete the following:

Analyze your organization in its present form. Explain your organization’s structure, workforce diversity, market/customer diversity, and communications technology.

Forecast future trends. Identify the economic, social, demographic, and workforce parameters that are expected to be in the U.S. in the year 2020. Explain how those trends will or will not be reflected in your organization. Consider addressing the following:

What are the general workforce trends?

How will these trends impact your industry?

What are the general trends in leadership/management that are impacting your organization?

Synthesize data and recommend changes needed for the future. Identify and recommend leader, organizational, and workforce trends that must be considered for change in the larger macro environment (for example, advances in technology or globalization) in your organization. Identify related outcomes for each specific topic: Consider addressing the following:

What leadership actions should the organization take?

What competencies will be needed?

What does the organization need to do to be prepared?

To conduct a holistic assessment of your selected organization and the challenges and opportunities it faces in addressing the noted trends, consider some of the concepts listed below as you develop your recommendations for the organization. It is not necessary to include all the concepts, but you should include 2–3 of them to do a thorough analysis. For example, leadership models and diversity management are likely to be pivotal areas for the organization. You could talk about the environment trends that were noted in the beginning of this assignment and then discuss how leadership practices and approaches in your selected organization may have to change to meet or address those trends.

Analyze how the following concepts apply to your organization:

Diversity management

Leadership models

Ethics

Decision-making models

Problem solving

Conflict management processes 

Ensure that your paper includes the following:

An integrated report with an introduction and summary

A set of recommendations that will enable the organization to meet the expected challenges of 2020

Trends in your own organization

3–4 credible, cited sources supporting your projections

Support your assertions using the selected scholarly resources.

Your final product will be in a Word document and be approximately 12 pages in length and utilize 5–7 scholarly sources in your research. Your paper should be written in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrate ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; and display accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation

UEVP

1. Identify your Unique Economic Value Proposition (UEVP), an analysis or statement of the combination of goods and services offered by a health care organization to its customers in exchange for payment. Choose 1 health-care-related topical area or function of interest (e.g., quality improvement, health care systems of care) and combine this with 1 of the areas of prospective practice (e.g., community-based, not-for-profit, acute-care hospital, for-profit urban hospital, public health facility).
2. Review 6 or more contemporary, research-based articles of interest that relate to your chosen topical area or function and area of prospective practice. Summarize the problems that the research articles are addressing. Identify whether the research is qualitative or quantitative.
3. Create 6 PowerPoint slides that detail your topic of interest, area of application or function related to health care, and summary of problems based on your research review. All slides should be accompanied by speaker notes. Notes accompanying slides should have speaker notes of several brief paragraphs per slide and adequate for a speaker to deliver your presentation.

Developing an Ethical Culture

Prior to beginning your assignment, read Chapters 7 and 8 of the textbook, and Creating an ethical workplace   For this assignment, you will take on the role of a mid-level organizational manager.  In your current job role, you have noticed that the organizational culture is contributing to some unethical decision making by subordinates and peers. You feel strongly that leadership must be not only made aware of the situation but also given appropriate solutions. To communicate with the CEO and shareholders, you must create a memo.  In the memo, you will explain the issues, as well as offer appropriate solutions.  For help in the format and writing style of a memo use  Good example of a persuasive memo.   

In your memo include:

• Header: with To, From, Date, and Subject
• Introductory paragraph
• One to two paragraphs outlining the issues.
• Three to six paragraphs describing solutions
• A closing paragraph that summarizes the information.

In the memo:

• Describe the issues of the current ethical culture
• Describe which stakeholders are affected by the issues, such as employees, shareholders, local community, society, etc. 
• Formulate a plan to change the ethical culture
• Convince the CEO and shareholders of the importance of the changes

Memos are a business style of writing rather than academic. You do not need to use in-text citations in the memo. However, your work should be paraphrased rather than quoted. You must include a reference page to demonstrate the use of any resources.

Assignment 2: Required Assignment—Potential Public Health Impacts

Public health professionals play various roles including being expert witnesses. This case study presents a situation where you are called upon to provide expertise.

Consider the following scenario:

A major agribusiness is interested in opening a beef confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) in your community. To ensure compliance to procedures, there will be public hearings on the proposal. The local government is very interested in seeing the operation established because it will generate employment and income for the community.

Using the readings for this module, Argosy University online library resources, and the Internet, explain the health impacts the CAFO can have on the community in a 6–8-page research paper. In your research paper, at a minimum, make sure you address the following:

1. Describe the typical health effects a CAFO can have on a community. Remember to:
   1. Discuss both natural and man-made health issues that may arise from the CAFO.
   2. Discuss both short- and long-term effects, individual and community effects, and environmental effects.
2. Explain the legal standards surrounding CAFO as they are in the United States, and explain how the local government agencies would respond to help alleviate or mitigate any health risks.
3. Propose specific efforts the community can make to provide risk reduction, risk control, and risk communication, helping to mitigate any negative effects of the CAFO in the community.

Your paper should be written in proper research paper format with full APA compliance, to include a title page, header, page numbers, abstract, use of Level I and II headings, in-text citations, and a properly formatted references page.