Category: Essays

Choose two of the three stories we have read and make an argument about how they are similar.

The Dialogue Essay Due next Sunday, November 1 2.5 pages double spaced The second essay asks you to put two writers’ ideas in conversation with one another. You will be analyzing two stories alongside each other in an effort to find a connecting idea or element. TOPIC: Choose two of the three stories we have read and make an argument about how they are similar. Clearly the stories are all very different, but here you are challenged to consider them for how they operate in similar ways – something you began in your freewriting exercise for this week. You can take what you worked on an

Identification of the successful characteristic of establishing self-directed, high-performing teams.

You have just attended a manager’s meeting about establishing self-directed, high-performing teams. The company is concerned because some of the managers are having success building self-directed, high-performing teams while others are not. A discussion occurred that identified the characteristics of the successful team building elements and compared them to those managers that have not been successful. This is a situation where those who are struggling need to learn from those who are doing well. The discussions included identifying what could be going wrong and what steps might be taken for success.

You have been asked to write a research report that summarizes the meeting and offers some recommendations that might be helpful to those managers who are struggling. Specifically, your report must include:

Identification of the difficulties the managers may be having in establishing self-directed, high-performing teams

Identification of the successful characteristic of establishing self-directed, high-performing teams

Recommendations for success

A designed plan that might help guide the struggling managers and improve negotiation and conflict resolution skills

Use the Library and Internet to research this topic.

Present your findings as a 3-4 pages Word document formatted in APA style.

Submitting your assignment in APA format means, at a minimum, you will need the following:

Title page: Remember the running head and title in all capital letters.

Abstract: This is a summary of your paper, not an introduction. Begin writing in third-person voice.

Body: The body of your paper begins on the page following the title page and abstract page, and it must be double-spaced between paragraphs. The typeface should be 12-pt. Times Roman or 12-pt. Courier in regular black type. Do not use color, bold type, or italics except as required for APA level headings and references. The deliverable length of the body of your paper for this assignment is 3–4 pages. In-text academic citations to support your decisions and analysis are required. A variety of academic sources is encouraged.

Reference page: References that align with your in-text academic sources are listed on the final page of your paper.

The references must be in APA format using appropriate spacing, hang indention, italics, and upper- and lower-case usage as appropriate for the type of resource used.

Remember, the reference page is not a bibliography, but it is a further listing of the abbreviated in-text citations used in the paper. Every referenced item must have a corresponding in-text citation.

what are some of the challenges associated with managing change?

The aim of this assignment is introduce learners to the idea that change does not occur easily and is often resisted. It helps you to understand the answer to a broader concern and that is – what are some of the challenges associated with managing change?
Instructor Comments

Put yourself in the position of a senior executive or a member of a board of directors of a company employing 20,000 individuals located in seven different countries. Imagine that a new organization wide objective has arisen, which is to make the company more customers focused by pushing decision making down the hieararchy to the individuals who have face to face contact with clients. The company is 60 years old, successful and has over 5000 employees who have been with the company at least a decade. Now consider all the possible challenges or impediments to the change effort that might arise from individuals who want to continue working for the company but don’t necessarily want to alter how they perform their jobs. The list would probably be quite long. This assignment focuses your attention on this important issue and suggests some of the means by which inertia can be overcome.

Assignment

You should base your responses to the following questions on the insight found in the following readings:

Oxman, J. and Smith, B, 2003. The Limits of Structural Change, Sloan Management Review. 77 – 82.

Beer, M. Eisenstat, R. A., and B. Spector, 1990. Why change programs don’t produce change Harvard Business Review.68(6) 158 – 66.

Simons, R. Mintzberg. H., Basu. K.2002. Memo to: CEOs Fast Company 59, 117 – 121

Cascio W.F. 1993 Downsizing: What do we know? What have we learned? Academy of Management Executive 7(1) 95 – 104.

Please answer the following questions:

For each paper, please use one paragraph to summarize the main ideas.

Please use one half page to summarize the ideas that are similar among all of these papers.

What are some of the challenges associated with managing change?

Please limit your response to this assignment to three single spaced, typed pages. Please cite your sources in the text and please reference them at the end of your assignment. Please end your write-up with one paragraph that summarizes what you think is the importance of this assignmen

Describe how organizations use statistical thinking to be more competitive.

Ben Davis had just completed an intensive course in Statistical Thinking for Business Improvement, which was offered to all employees of a large health maintenance organization. There was no time to celebrate, however, because he was already under a lot of pressure. Ben works as a pharmacist’s assistant in the HMO’s pharmacy, and his manager, Juan de Pacotilla, was about to be fired. Juan’s dismissal appeared to be imminent due to numerous complaints and even a few lawsuits over inaccurate prescriptions. Juan now was asking Ben for his assistance in trying to resolve the problem, preferably yesterday!

“Ben, I really need your help! If I can’t show some major improvement or at least a solid plan by next month, I’m history.”

“I’ll be glad to help, Juan, but what can I do? I’m just a pharmacist’s assistant.”

“I don’t care what your job title is; I think you’re just the person who can get this done. I realize I’ve been too far removed from day-to-day operations in the pharmacy, but you work there every day. You’re in a much better position to find out how to fix the problem. Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

“But what about the statistical consultant you hired to analyze the data on inaccurate prescriptions?”

“Ben, to be honest, I’m really disappointed with that guy. He has spent two weeks trying to come up with a new modeling approach to predict weekly inaccurate prescriptions. I tried to explain to him that I don’t want to predict the mistakes, I want to eliminate them! I don’t think I got through, however, because he said we need a month of additional data to verify the model, and then he can apply a new method he just read about in a journal to identify ‘change points in the time series,’ whatever that means. But get this, he will only identify the change points and send me a list; he says it’s my job to figure out what they mean and how to respond. I don’t know much about statistics — the only thing I remember from my course in college is that it was the worst course I ever took– but I’m becoming convinced that it actually doesn’t have much to offer in solving real problems. You’ve just gone through this statistical thinking course, though, so maybe you can see something I can’t. To me, statistical thinking sounds like an oxymoron. I realize it’s a long shot, but I was hoping you could use this as the project you need to officially complete the course.”

“I see your point, Juan. I felt the same way, too. This course was interesting, though, because it didn’t focus on crunching numbers. I have some ideas about how we can approach making improvements in prescription accuracy, and I think this would be a great project. We may not be able to solve it ourselves, however. As you know, there is a lot of finger-pointing going on; the pharmacists blame sloppy handwriting and incomplete instructions from doctors for the problem; doctors blame pharmacy assistants like me who actually do most of the computer entry of the prescriptions, claiming that we are incompetent; and the assistants tend to blame the pharmacists for assuming too much about our knowledge of medical terminology, brand names, known drug interactions, and so on.”

“It sounds like there’s no hope, Ben!”

“I wouldn’t say that at all, Juan. It’s just that there may be no quick fix we can do by ourselves in the pharmacy. Let me explain how I’m thinking about this and how I would propose attacking the problem using what I just learned in the statistical thinking course.”

Source: G. C. Britz, D. W. Emerling, L. B. Hare, R. W. Hoerl, & J. E. Shade. “How to Teach Others to Apply Statistical Thinking.” Quality Progress (June 1997): 67–80.

Assuming the role of Ben Davis, write a three to four (3-4) page paper in which you apply the approach discussed in the textbook to this problem. You’ll have to make some assumptions about the processes used by the HMO pharmacy. Also, please use the Internet and / or Strayer LRC to research articles on common problems or errors that pharmacies face. Your paper should address the following points:

Develop a process map about the prescription filling process for HMO’s pharmacy, in which you specify the key problems that the HMO’s pharmacy might be experiencing. Next, use the supplier, input, process steps, output, and customer (SIPOC) model to analyze the HMO pharmacy’s business process.
Analyze the process map and SIPOC model to identify possible main root causes of the problems. Next, categorize whether the main root causes of the problem are special causes or common causes. Provide a rationale for your response.
Suggest the main tools that you would use and the data that you would collect in order to analyze the business process and correct the problem. Justify your response.
Propose one (1) solution to the HMO pharmacy’s on-going problem(s) and propose one (1) strategy to measure the aforementioned solution. Provide a rationale for your response.
Use at least two (2) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

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 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:

Describe how organizations use statistical thinking to be more competitive.
Apply the basic principles of statistical thinking to business processes.
Apply the SIPOC model to identify OFIs in business processes.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in business process improvement.
Write clearly and concisely about business process improvement using proper writing mechanics