Week 1 discussion

DQ1

The Plucknette article suggests that there
are considerable differences between being a leader and being a manager. Is it
possible or desirable to be both? Chapter 2 of the Management textbook suggests
that the four functions of management are planning, organizing, leading, and
controlling. Provide one challenge posed by serving as a leader and one
challenge posed by serving as a manager in each of these functions?

DQ2

What roles do leadership and innovation
play within each of the four management functions? Provide an example of how to
integrate leadership into at least two management functions.

Week 2 discussion

DQ1

Provide an example of a challenge you have
experienced in the workplace leading a cross-functional team or as part of a
cross-functional team. How was this challenge solved? Would you have approached
the challenge differently? If so, how?

DQ2

Organizations are increasingly transcending
country boarders and physical space limitations. What are some effective
strategies to motivate dispersed team members in a virtual setting? What are
some emerging trends that deal with this challenge in your field? Provide an
example.

Week 3 discussion

DQ1

An individual manager’s ability to make
ethical decisions is influenced by many factors, such as individual traits and corporate
culture. Applying conscious capitalism principles typically starts with a plan
from the CEO and requires the plan to be implemented through various management
levels and all employees. What role does ethics play in conscious capitalism
and how do the ethics of conscious capitalism impact management tactics within
an organization?

DQ2

Post a draft of your Strategic Management
and Socially Conscious Organization Presentation assignment to the Main Forum.
Read two classmates’ presentations and provide feedback to your peers about
their presentations. Are there areas that need adjustments?

Week 4 discussion

DQ1

What are the major elements of strategic
planning? Refer to HBS case reprint, Southwest Airlines: In a Different World.
What elements of strategic planning are present in the case study? Based on the
case study, what are the major challenges of strategic planning, especially for
large, complex organizations like Southwest airlines? What challenges does
strategic planning on such a large scale pose for leaders?

DQ2

What have you experienced or what do you
anticipate as the most challenging aspect of strategic planning in your field
of interest? What do you think can be done to improve strategic planning
processes in your own organization or field?

Week 5 discussion

DQ1

In “Business Model Innovation in
Practice,” Euchner and Ganguly (2014) discuss the challenge of
implementing innovations within organizations that are naturally resistant to
change. They present a systematic approach for integrating innovations to
increase the likelihood of acceptance and success. Review their five-step
approach and discuss how the four functions of management (planning,
organizing, leading and controlling) can be leveraged within in their suggested
approach to assist organizations in implementing successful innovations.

DQ2

What do you anticipate will be the greatest
challenge of operationalizing strategy across various business functions? Do
you think the challenges change depending on the circumstances? Provide an
example within your field.

Week 6 discussion

DQ1

Return to HBS case reprint, “Southwest
Airlines: In a Different World.” The case study makes it clear that a
significant shift in organizational strategy requires collaboration across
multiple departments, or functions, within a business. Review the case and
discuss how you think Southwest’s plan to serve La Guardia would impact two primary
business functions (e.g., marketing, operations, human resources, finance,
accounting, and IT). Consider how coordinating efforts of the two functions to
successfully serve La Guardia might affect management and decision making. How
integral is collaboration among business functions to the success of
Southwest’s plan? Cite specifics from the case in your response.

DQ2

Provide an example in which managerial
decision making has positively or negatively affected you? How did the personal
decision-making styles used by managers apply to the situation? What is your
take away from the example you provided after your reading about managerial
decision making in this topic?

Week 7 discussion

DQ1

An organization’s landscape can be
expansive and complex. Most organizations rely heavily upon information
technology as a way to achieve outcomes. Conduct a needs assessment on your
current organization or a familiar organization. Evaluate the
cross-functionality of departments to identify gaps or opportunities for more
effectively utilizing information technology to improve collaboration,
efficiency, and communication. Recommend improvements based on your assessment.
Include an explanation of the benefits in your proposal.

DQ2

Respond to the “Apply Your Skills:
Case for Critical Analysis: Email Adventure,” located at the end of
Chapter 17 in the Management textbook.

Week 8 discussion

DQ1

From the perspective of a general manager
in your field, which of the organizational control methods outlined in Chapter
19 of the Management textbook do you think would be the most universal? What
does organizational control look like in your sphere of influence?

DQ2

Consider your Strategic Plan: Presentation
video assignment. Write a brief description on how you plan to organize and
present your Strategic Plan or share a draft of your video. Provide feedback to
your peers about their initial plans for their videos. Are there areas that
need adjustments?

Week 3 assignment

Strategic Management and Socially Conscious Organization Presentation

Create a 7-10 slide presentation with
speaker notes on an organization that exhibits characteristics of a socially
conscience organization. Cite the mission and vision in your presentation.
Explain how the mission and vision are translated into implementation of
strategy. Be sure to provide specific examples.

As a manager, your role is to carry out the
mission and vision of the organization in daily life, ensuring alignment
between managerial tactics and the organization’s mission and vision. Examine
the organization’s alignment through the following concepts: corporate social
responsibility, corporate culture, personal ethics, leadership, followership,
and competitive advantage.

APA format is required for essays only.
Solid academic writing is always expected. For all assignment delivery options,
documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines,
which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success
Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review
the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the
expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment
to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.

Week 4 assignment

Strategic Planning: SWOT Analysis and Goals

Strategic planning within organizations
provides a plethora of benefits to the organization including meeting goals
specified in the plan and contributing to the long-term success of an
organization. Refer to Exhibit 8.3: The Strategic Management Process, located
in Chapter 8 of the Management textbook.

For this assignment, select either your own
organization or one you know enough about to complete a series of assignments
related to strategic planning for a proposal you would like to implement. The
same organization will be used in the following assignments:

Strategic Planning: Strategy Map (Topic 4)

Strategic Planning: Action Plan (Topic 5)

Strategic Planning: Communication Plan
(Topic 7)

Strategic Planning: Evaluation (Topic 8)

Strategic Planning: Presentation (Topic 8)

Once you have selected the organization,
identify a strategic goal through preforming a SWOT analysis within your sphere
of influence. For example, if you are not currently in a management or leadership
position, it is acceptable to focus on a more focused area of your organization
you are currently in a position to impact. If you are a classroom teacher,
perhaps you see opportunities for improving access to technology in your
district. If you are a nurse, perhaps you see opportunities to improve
communication processes in your department, etc.

A SWOT analysis is part of strategy
formulation that leads to goal setting and then progresses to the development
of a strategic plan. Be sure to follow the criteria for effective goals as
illustrated to Exhibit 7.5, located in Chapter 7 of the Management textbook.

Complete a SWOT analysis using the
“SWOT Analysis” template. Consider the following guiding questions as
you complete the SWOT Analysis:

What are the recognized strengths of your
identified area?

What does your identified area do better
than other companies?

What unique capabilities or resources does
you identified area possess?

What do other companies consider to be your
strength?

What are the recognized weaknesses of your
identified area?

What do competitors do better than your
identified area?

What areas can be improved at your current
position?

What do other companies consider to be your
weakness?

What trends or conditions impact the
company in a positive way?

What opportunities exist for the identified
area?

What trends or conditions impact the
identified area in a negative way?

What is the competition doing that may have
an impact on your identified area?

Does your identified area have solid financial
support?

What impact does your weakness have on the
threats your identified area faces?

These questions are samples of what you may
need to address in your SWOT Analysis. Using the SWOT analysis results, develop
at least one strategic goal. Submit both the completed SWOT analysis document
and the strategic goal.

APA format is not required, but solid
academic writing is expected.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please
review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the
expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment
to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.

Week 5 assignment

Strategic Planning: Strategy Map

The Strategic Planning: SWOT Analysis assignment
completed in Topic 4 helped you identify a strategic goal within your sphere of
influence. This assignment asks you to visually represent the cause-and-effect
relationship among goals, operations, and stakeholders. In addition, this
assignment seeks to examine the impact on various operational processes within
the selected organization

According to your Management textbook, a
strategy map “is a visual representation of the key drivers of an
organization’s success, showing the cause-and-effect relationship among goals
and plans.” Refer to Exhibit 7.4 in the textbook. A strategy map seeks to
align organizational goals into strategy and provide clear direction for the
organization.

Review the mission statement of your
selected organization. Prior to creating a strategy map, identify your
stakeholders. Complete a stakeholder analysis to identify and prioritize the
various stakeholders. Refer to the “Stakeholder Analysis” resource
from Mindtools and complete all steps.

Based on your strategic goal, create a
strategy map using Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Visio, or
other software. Include only the required perspectives (financial, customer,
internal, and learning and growth) that pertain to the strategic goal in your
map. The cause-and-effect relationships are described by connecting arrows.

APA format is not required, but solid
academic writing is expected.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please
review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the
expectations for successful completion.

You are not required to submit this
assignment to Turnitin.

Week 6 assignment

Benchmark – Strategic Planning: Action Plan

Use your completed strategy map to
formulate functional-level strategy for the primary business functions included
in your plan. Functional-level strategies are the action plans used by
departments within organizations to support the execution of business-level
strategy at the managerial level. Create a 500-750 word action plan that
addresses the following:

Identify which management tactics and
strategies you will implement to meet your strategic goals for each of the
stakeholders, departments, or business functions impacted by your plan: MBO,
MBM, single-use or standing plans, competitive advantage, contingency planning,
building scenarios, crisis planning, and innovation.

Provide an explanation of how you will
apply managerial decision-making methods throughout your action plan.

Which business functions will be impacted
by your action plan? What tactics will you use to manage implementation across
business functions? What can you do to enhance
collaboration/cross-functionality to ensure the success of your plan?

Identify leadership strategies you plan to
implement throughout the execution of your action plan. In particular, explain
which strategies you would implement to foster team collaboration among the
multiple stakeholders who must collaborate to successfully implement the plan.
Why do you think these will be successful?

While APA format is not required for the
body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation
of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be
found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please
review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the
expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment
to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.

Week 7 assignment

Benchmark – Strategic Planning: Communication Plan

Using your completed action plan, create a
500-750 word communication plan for disseminating your action plan to all of
the stakeholders. Which strategies do you plan to utilize and why? Your plan
should demonstrate how you plan to use formal and informal communication
channels to implement the plan.

In addition, explain how the communication
plan addresses what you are hoping to achieve with your strategic goal. What
leadership or managerial skills will you draw upon in implementing this plan?

While APA format is not required for the
body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation
of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be
found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please
review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the
expectations for successful completion.You are required to submit this assignment
to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.

Week 8 assignment

Strategic Plan: Presentation

Effective oral communication is essential
in the business setting, especially when it comes to achieving buy-in for
significant, complex, or costly change. To practice your oral communication
skills, create a 5-7 minute oral presentation of your strategic plan for your
manager or director or other essential stakeholders whose approval you would
require. Be sure to address the “why” and “how” for your
strategic plan in the presentation, providing all the necessary details your
audience needs to make an informed decision. Record yourself presenting the
plan using YouTube or any other video site that allows you to post your video.
Adhere to the following:

Be sure to demonstrate appropriate and
meaningful professionalism for the intended audience which include proper pace,
tone, inflection, pronunciation, and meaningful gestures that convey clarity.

Be sure the audio included in the video is
clear and free of technological glitches that diminish the audio quality.

Be sure the visual appearance of the video
is free of technological glitches that diminish the visual quality.

Please refer to the “How to Share a
Private YouTube Video” if you are concerned with privacy issues.

APA format is not required, but solid
academic writing is expected.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please
review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the
expectations for successful completion.

You are not required to submit this
assignment to Turnitin.

Week 8 assignment

Strategic Plan: Evaluation

In order to complete your strategic plan,
select the methods you will use to evaluate how your strategic goal is being
met. Include specific metrics that will be used to evaluate the success of the
implementation of the plan. What types of controls will you use? Provide your
response in 250-500 words.

APA format is not required, but solid
academic writing is expected.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please
review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the
expectations for successful completion.

You are not required to submit this
assignment to Turnitin.

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