Category: Essays

Due Week 4 and worth 200 points

Imagine you are an HR manager, and you have been challenged with the task of reducing expatriate turnover. Think of one or two (1-2) strategies to accomplish this task, and write a one (1) page memo to your boss summarizing your ideas. Persuade him that this is the direction to go.

Write a one (1) page memo in which you:
Develop two (2) strategies that will help your company reduce expatriate turnover.
Summarize both ideas in memo format to present to your boss.
Create compelling arguments in favor of your solution to persuade your boss.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:

a. Typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.

b. Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, your name, your professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

Analyze international business strategy to identify human resource requirements and formulate supporting HRM plans that can improve productivity and contribute to the firm’s competitiveness.
Propose staffing alternatives for foreign operations and address the considerations for the use of expatriates versus localization or third-country nationals.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in global HRM.
Write clearly and concisely about global HRM using proper writing mechanics

What is values-based service? How can a company create value for customers and other stakeholders?

Values-based service is defined as service that is firmly based on the core company values as well as social and environmental responsibility. When the core company values and the social and environmental values are in accordance with the values of customers and other stakeholders, resonance (rather than dissonance) occurs. To be successful, a values-based service business must seek resonance with its customers and other stakeholders in terms of values and avoid any suggestion of dissonance. Companies, such as IKEA, nurture and communicate values in their customer relationships.

Read the article “Values-Based Service Brands: Narratives from IKEA” by Edvardsson from the readings for this module. Using IKEA as the company in point, conduct research.

Based on your research, write a report addressing the following points:

IKEA’s Marketing (1 page)

Corporate strategy begins with marketing and understanding the key elements of the marketing plan. For IKEA, describe the following elements of its marketing strategy:
How do IKEA’s products, services, and related attributes satisfy the wants and needs known as its value proposition?
How does IKEA create a well-defined market position that appeals to customer wants and needs and differentiates its offering from competitive offerings in a process known as positioning and differentiation?

Assess IKEA’s strategy using the criteria listed below:
Value Chain (1 page)

Analyze the three sources of value (economic, social, and environmental) in IKEA’s value chain.
Explain sources of value as they relate to the wants and needs of IKEA’s core customer.
Explain how IKEA’s supply chain supports its value proposition.
Explain how IKEA’s focus on customer value (economic, social, and environmental) is reflected in its supply chain.
Intangible Products (1 page)
Explain IKEA’s intangible products and benefits.
Explain how other firms employ this concept of intangibles to erect barriers to entry for competitors.
Explain how the concept of intangible benefits is used to increase profits.
Customers (1 page)

IKEA considers the customer to be a critical stakeholder. The IKEA message is directed to the majority of people and what they can afford, and its pricing is dependent on the economic values that serve a majority of its customers.
Explain how this approach may or may not maximize profits for IKEA.
Explain if this premise is at odds with supply and demand economics. Give reasons for your answer.
Performance Measures (1 page)

Suppose you are a vice-president of manufacturing for IKEA and are responsible for establishing operating performance measures.
For all of the performance factors other than quality and cost, create a set of 4–6 performance measures for evaluating your managers that integrates IKEA’s values (economic, social, and environmental) as discussed in the article written by Edvardsson.
For each performance measure, identify one specific process measure that demonstrates how well these values are being upheld in the manufacturing activities including suppliers of the company.
Recommend how you would develop the workforce to livethese values in the workplace. Suggest types of hiring, training, and performance management criteria that you will apply to the workforce.

Write a 6–8-page paper in Word format. Please use 3–7 scholarly articles in your research. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

Then, develop a short 6–8-slide Power Point presentation (not including the title and reference slides) covering the same information. Include headings for each slide, and provide your talking points in the notes section to explain the content if the presentation is given verbally

Does anyone have WGU INC1 Integrated Natural Science Exam answers?

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Looking to see if anyone has the questions and answers to the WGU INC1 Integrated Natural Science exam.

Due Week 6 and worth 280 points

Please choose from one (1) of the scenarios below. Note: The scenario that you choose in this assignment will be the one (1) with which you continue for Assignment 2.

Scenario 1

You are a Human Resources Manager of an expanding technology company consisting of 170 employees that develops and distributes small electronic devices. Over the past two (2) years, a research group formed, designed, and built prototypes of small remote surveillance cameras used for security. Recently, your company won a contract to build and provide these remote surveillance cameras to various government agencies. The contract will begin with your company supplying these cameras to agencies within your home state. If all orders are fulfilled sufficiently, the contract will be expanded to supplying agencies outside of your home state.

For the immediate future, you will need to secure a larger facility and hire more staff to sustain the first part of the contract. This staff will consist of ten (10) Assembly Technicians, one (1) Certified Quality Control Engineer, one (1) Contract Administrator, and one (1) Office Support Paraprofessional. Meanwhile, there is a contract clause requiring that you provide a staffing plan in order to ensure future product deliveries and sustain the possible future growth.

Scenario 2

You are a former certified education administrator who departed your former position to become the owner of a small, in-home day care consisting of you and a part-time assistant where you care for children from age three (3) to age ten (10). Over the course of time, your demographic population has increased due to significant business growth that has resulted in many families relocating to your area. With more businesses projected to move to the area and the building of new housing developments, it is projected that this growth could be long term.

You have decided that this is a good opportunity to expand your day care business as you have received many inquiries for childcare. In order to comply with your home state regulations, you will require a larger facility and will need to hire additional staff in order to sustain the larger demand for day care. This staff will consist of five (5) Certified Day Care Professionals, one (1) Registered Nurse Professional, five (5) After-School Assistants and one (1) Office Support Paraprofessional. You have secured approval for a bank loan and qualify for future loans for future expansion if your current endeavor is successful. Meanwhile, the state in which you operate has requested that you provide a staffing plan before it will issue licensure for your expanded capacity.

Note: You may create and / or make all necessary assumptions needed for the completion of these assignments.

Select one (1) of the scenarios and write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:

Identify two (2) types of staffing models that could apply to your chosen scenario and determine which model would be best suited for efficiency, productivity, and possible future growth. Examine the significant effect of each identified staffing model on processes that may be occurring within the organization (e.g., outsourcing, contingent workers, consulting firms, etc.).
Predict the major potential legal issues that you may encounter when establishing equal employment opportunities and diversity within the workplace while still aiming to acquire employees with the needed certifications and credentials. Next, explain the method of achieving transparency within your staffing model. Justify your response.
Specify three (3) tasks that you need to perform to identify, analyze, and develop job requirements and task statements that you will include in formalized job descriptions. Next, predict the frequency with which you would need to review and adjust these job descriptions as your company progresses. Provide a rationale for your response.
Describe three (3) methods to deal with high employee turnover and the availability of employees with required knowledge, skills, or abilities. Next, describe the primary manner in which the described succession-planning methods would be beneficial to your company. Justify your response.
Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality 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 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:

Explain the role of staffing to support an organization’s strategy and improve productivity.
Develop a model for staffing an organization that supports the firm’s Human Resources Management strategy and sustains productive operations.
Summarize the key legal compliance issues associated with staffing organizations.
Explain the planning considerations for staffing organizations, the use of job analysis, and the components of a staffing plan.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in staffing organizations.
Write clearly and concisely about staffing organizations using proper writing mechanics.

Due Week 4 and worth 350 points

Choose an industry you have not yet written about in this course, and one publicly traded corporation within that industry. Research the company on its own Website, the public filings on the Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR database (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml), in the University’s online databases, and any other sources you can find. The annual report will often provide insights that can help address some of these questions.

Write an eight to ten (8-10) page paper in which you:

Choose the two (2) segments of the general environment that would rank highest in their influence on the corporation you chose. Assess how these segments affect the corporation you chose and the industry in which it operates.
Considering the five (5) forces of competition, choose the two (2) that you estimate are the most significant for the corporation you chose. Evaluate how well the company has addressed these two (2) forces in the recent past.
With the same two (2) forces in mind, predict what the company might do to improve its ability to address these forces in the near future.
Assess the external threats affecting this corporation and the opportunities available to the corporation. Give your opinions on how the corporation should deal with the most serious threat and the greatest opportunity. Justify your answer.
Give your opinion on the corporation’s greatest strengths and most significant weaknesses. Choose the strategy or tactic the corporation should select to take maximum advantage of its strengths, and the strategy or tactic the corporation should select to fix its most significant weakness. Justify your choices.
Determine the company’s resources, capabilities, and core competencies.
Analyze the company’s value chain to determine where they can create value using the resources, capabilities, and core competencies discussed above.
Use at least three (3) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality 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; 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 page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

Identify how the six segments of the general environment affect an industry and its firms.
Identify the five forces of competition.
Analyze the external environment for opportunities and threats that impact the firm.
Analyze the internal environment of a company for strengths and weaknesses that impact the firm’s competitiveness.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in business administration.
Write clearly and concisely about business administration using proper writing mechanics.

Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric

The name of my 3 pg paper is called The Flexible Organization: How Contemporary Employees Construct the Work/Life Border.

Social psychologists have long studied the relationship between emotion (affect) and cognition, and there are many studies which demonstrate that emotion does indeed impact social cognitive functioning. For example, emotion can impact attention, judgments and decisions, cognitive processing/flexibility, perceptions of morality, and stereotypes/prejudice. Not only does emotion impact social cognitive functioning, but research also indicates that emotion, itself, is a social construction wherein social factors influence emotional response and emotional responses have social ramifications.

For this Discussion, select a peer reviewed article from the Walden Library which studies emotion (affect) and its impact on social cognition, including but not limited to attention, judgments, decisions, cognitive processing, flexibility, perceptions of morality, and stereotypes and prejudice. Based upon the article you selected, consider whether or not emotion is a social construction.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 3 a brief summary of the peer-reviewed article you selected from the library (include the key variables, the design, and the main findings). Then, post an argument for or against the notion that emotion is a social construction. Use the article you selected to support your argument and include any connections between emotions and social cognition.

 

 

 

 

 

Impact of Mood on Decision Making

The awareness of moods and emotions provides you information about your individual circumstance and about your interactions with others. This information, in turn, helps you make decisions and judgments. For example, if you were in a bad mood, you might make a global judgment regarding life satisfaction. If you were in a good mood, you might decide to sky dive from an airplane because you were feeling elated and excited to try something new. Moods and emotions greatly impact your decision-making process, and it is important to understand this connection.

For this Discussion, review the media titled Social Cognition and Affect, and consider why the person in the video made the decisions he or she did and what impact moods and emotions may have had on his or her decisions.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 4 a brief explanation of three possible reasons why the person in the media made his or her decision. Be specific. Then, explain two ways mood/emotion may have impacted this person’s decision. Finally, describe one life or death situation and explain how mood/emotion could impact decision making in this situation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning Resources

Course Media

• Media: Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Social cognition and affect. Baltimore, MD: Author.

  (Click on the television screen once the video opens in a new window. “The Company” will appear on the television image.) Note: While the content within this media piece references Week 10, it is intended for Week 9 in this course.

• • Transcript

Readings

• Course Text: Handbook of Social Psychology
  • Chapter 9, “Emotion”
• Article: Bruyneel, S. D., Dewitte, S., Franses, P. H., & Dekimpe, M. G. (2009). I felt low and my
• purse feels light: Depleting mood regulation attempts affect risk decision making. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 22(2), 153–170. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Business Source Complete database.
• Article: Forgas, J. P., Laham, S. M., & Vargas, P. T. (2005). Mood effects on eyewitness memory: Affective influences on susceptibility to misinformation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41(6), 574–588. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the PsycINFO database.
• Article: Moreland, R. L., & Zajonc, R. B. (1977). Is stimulus recognition a necessary condition for the occurrence of exposure effects? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(4), 191–199. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the PsycARTICLES database.
• Article: Zajonc, R. B. (1980). Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist, 35(2), 151–175. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the PsycARTICLES database.

Write a four to five page paper (at least two pages per exercise) that addresses the following audit exercises, found at the end of each respective chapter. Include an introductory paragraph about the business you have chosen, its mission, and its immediate M.T.I goals.

Audit Exercise Chapter 3: This exercise involves evaluation of the firm. Addresses: demand for the product, factors that could block success of an innovation, competitive response, standards, level of novelty of the innovation, and other factors.

In developing plans for an innovative strategy, the top management of the organization must ensure that the strategy helps the organization add value for customers and shareholders plus maintains or builds a competitive advantage for the firm. Because of the uncertainty of most innovative products and/or processes, managers need to develop a systematic approach to assess how time, effort, and resources should be spent and which opportunities will be pursued. McGrath and MacMillan19 presented the following list of factors for determining the value of an option.

1. Favorability of the demand for the product

2. Factors that could speed adoption

3. Factors that could block the success of an innovation

4. Likelihood of strong competitive response

5. Likelihood that the potential competitive advantage is sustainable

6. Factors within your organization that would allow you to set standards

7. Cost factors in commercialization

8. Resources available for commercialization

9. The level of novelty the innovation captures

10. Cost considerations in development

11. Other opportunities that could be leveraged

12. Potential area where damage might occur

What are the key questions that need to be addressed under each area? What areas covered in this chapter do you believe are most relevant for each of these factors? Explain your answer.vorability of the demand for the product

Audit Exercise Chapter 4: (see attached files)This exercise involves assimilating a checklist for innovation for the organization to consider. Determining the organization’s readiness to implement an innovation strategy.

a checklist for innovative organizations to consider. How could you use this checklist to determine an organization’s readiness to implement an innovative strategy? Be specific about how you would use the checklist. Identify at least one other major area that should be examined. What questions should be asked in that area

Continue to use the organization you selected for your final project in Week 1. This week, you are being placed on a ten-person virtual team. You are quite excited and want yourself and the team to be very successful. You decide that prior to the team getting started on the project, you want to do some research that will help you identify ways to make your virtual team most effective. You may need to create hypothetical details about the team and its purpose on the basis of what you know of the organization you selected for the final project.

On the basis of your research, write a paper addressing the following:

Assess the purpose of the team and the contribution of key members to team purpose.
Analyze four to six potential problems that virtual teams typically face. Is the hypothetical team you described susceptible to these problems? What specific problems might it develop?
Justify four to six viable solutions to make your team effective, including why these solutions will work.

Provide at least three sources and cite them appropriately throughout your paper.

Submission Details:

Present a 5- to 6-page paper in a Microsoft Word document formatted in APA style.
On a separate page, cite at least three sources using APA format

Select an organization and prepare a strategic plan to grow the business over the next three years. Your strategic plan must include the following:

Describe your organization’s history, products, and major competitors.
Explain the current situation of the organization in the market.
Conduct a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and trends) to determine areas that offer opportunities for change.
Choose at least three areas from your SWOT analysis and explain why the areas you have chosen are essential to your strategic plan. Use theories and examples from your text and additional sources to support your rationale.
Explain your method to measure the success of your strategic plan.

Your paper must be EIGHT PAGES in length (excluding the title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. In addition, you must use at least three scholarly sources, in addition to the text. Remember to incorporate information that you have learned from this course as well as your personal experience.

Your Final Project

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 include an introductory paragraph with a succinct thesis statement.
Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought. If possible, provide the context of a first-person experience where you saw this academic concept in operation.
Must conclude with a restatement of the thesis and a conclusion paragraph.
Must use APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center to document all sources.
Must include a separate reference page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.