Is affirmative action an effective way to reduce the effects of discrimination ?
Your reaction paper should be 500-words long and should cover:
The main points that were presented by each team
Your critical assessment of the arguments available. In this case I am not looking for your subjective opinion or how you “feel” about the debate. I am interested in your assessment of the logic used in the debate and the evidence presented.
Your opinion (based on #2) as to which team won the debate.
Three Topics to Consider
1. The Monthly Project Report: Each month, all project managers were called for an executive session to present the status of their projects. All project managers and the key project team members spent five to seven days a month preparing standardized briefing charts for this critically important meeting. The meeting lasted well over half a day while each project manager waited for his or her turn to receive executive guidance.
Result: The project managers, team members, and administrative assistants wasted hundreds of hours each month preparing detailed slides, graphics, analyses, and report papers to provide to the senior executive. The senior executive was gratified at the level of work and detail his people put in to keep him apprised of every project nuance. The senior executive had a much larger comfort zone of information to rely upon when queried by his boss.
Analysis: When most organizations work Monday to Friday, there are about twenty workdays in any month. Spending over 25 percent of the available monthly work time in preparing reports drove project management costs up and undermined organizational commitment to disciplined project management. Worse, tremendous amounts of overtime were required to offset the lost project productivity. This forced the project managers, team members, administrative assistants, and contractors to work late nights and weekends. Productivity losses were staggering. The senior executive was promoted, but the organization was ultimately branded a failure and subsumed under another executive. Several project managers no longer work for the company.
Discuss:
Evaluate the executive sessions. Should they be held on the basis of project performance norms and the key project milestone dates and not per a fixed schedule? Why? Would this require changes in organizational culture? Explain.
How might a culture of openness be established that encourages briefings to senior executives regarding deviations from expected performance (both good and bad)? Offer a few ideas.
Explain some of the less time-consuming and systematic ways through which an executive manager can update himself or herself on the status of a project.
Review the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to address the accounting scandals in the late 1990s and early 2000s (Enron, WorldCom, etc.). Identify the provisions that you believe made the most significant impact. What other provisions could ha
Assumption and Context: You have been the manager of a Dunkin Donuts store in the Midwest for the past two years. The store is owned by a Dunkin Donuts franchisee who owns 20 other Dunkin Donuts locations. Your employer took an employee inventory and examined all current employees. It has been noted by the owner that you have a highly successful track record. You have been recognized for doing an exceptional job staffing, leading, training, coaching, and managing people. You have been recognized for successfully managing all key components of your store and have successfully managed key business drivers such as cash, profits, growth, asset utilization and people. In regards to the metrics that are used to measure their stores for sales, quality, and customer service, your store is the top performing store in their system.
Congratulations! You have just been promoted to District Manager! The Dunkin Donuts franchisee sees your growth potential and the growth potential in your geographic area. The owner now has committed significant capital and plans to open five new locations over the next two years. You will be given complete autonomy, authority, and responsibility to structure, staff, and operate these five new locations. You will be playing a key role in this expansion for growth.
Prepare a five-page paper , including at least three scholarly sources, in addition to the textbook, formatted according to APA style guidelines. In your paper, explain your chosen job design, organizational design, your recruiting strategy and methods, and your training and performance appraisal process as the new District Manager for Dunkin Donuts.
Assignment 3: Keys to Success in Multinational Companies
It is widely known that Knowledge Management Systems are the key to success in multinational companies. Imagine that you are a Vice President of a company that is ramping up to go global.
Please choose one (1) of the following industries for the purposes of this assignment:
· Jewelry
· Fashion / Apparel
· Chemicals
· Consumer electronics, electronic components
· Medical supplies or equipment
· Bins, totes, crates, material handling
· Food products
· Drug products
· Children’s products, clothing, toys, etc.
Note: You may create and / or assume all necessary assumptions needed for the completion of this assignment.
You have been tasked with designing a comprehensive best practices policy list geared towards managing existing knowledge and any new knowledge as it becomes viable. The best practices policy should include a compiled task list that will help your company to handle not only the regular issues of conducting business within a foreign country, but also the unexpected events (e.g., earthquakes, demonstrations, bomb threats, etc.), no matter the country or countries into which you will be expanding. The policy list should also take any unique challenges that your company may face into consideration.
This assignment focuses on how the management practices of planning, leading, organizing, staffing, and controlling are implemented in your workplace. If you are not currently working, you may use a previous employer. In this assignment, you must:
Analyze the application of these management concepts to your place of work; the paper will not simply be a report on the five functions in general.
Identify specific examples and explain of how each applies to the functions practiced in your place of work.
Assignment 2: Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
In this assignment, you will begin to think about the effect that gender has on your general everyday conversations. Answer the following questions:
Have you ever had a conversation where you were left thinking that gender differences may have created a misunderstanding?
Have you ever thought to yourself that individuals of the opposite gender think differently than you do?
It is a common stereotype that men are more comfortable with stats, or so-called report talk, like a box score in a sporting event, whereas women are more comfortable with rapport talk, or conversations regarding feelings. This gender stereotype is one example of the potential effect of gender on general communication styles. It shows some gender differences that can affect all areas.
A 2007 study conducted at the University of Chicago showed how stereotypes can actually impact math performance. Even if a person doesn’t believe a stereotype is true, but does believe other people believe it to be true, performance can be impacted.
Answer the following questions:
Are these stereotypes even accurate?
Are gender differences in communication real or simply a result of theoretical fiction?
This assignment will encourage you to consider the effect of gender on your own interpersonal communication and the communication of those around you.
Tasks:
Think of an example of a conversation or a discussion in a situation at work, on television, or in a movie where gender differences in communication were readily apparent. In your response, address the following:
Provide a brief synopsis of the conversation.
Explain what role gender played in the conversation.
How would this conversation be different in light of a person’s age?
How have gender stereotypes and/or gender roles changed?
Discuss how either the Muted Group Theory or Gilligan’s model could be used to explain the gender differences. Click here to read the article.
In this week’s journal entry, you will critically reflect on your own beliefs and biases about your Final Research Paper topic by using the concept of self-reflexivity. Paraphrasing Crapo (2013), self-reflexivity is the process of confronting one’s own preconceived notions and examining how these may influence how one understands (or misunderstands) others. Understanding biases and beliefs about other cultures helps researchers apply cultural relativism to their work.
For this journal, consider the sources that you summarized for Part I and Part II of your paper in your “Week Three Assignment Worksheet.”
What was your initial response to what you read?
Can you identify any biases that you might have about the cultural practices you will discuss in either Part I or Part II of your Final Research Paper?
Identify any problems you might be having in looking at your own culture from an etic perspective or the other culture from an emic perspective.
Assignment 2: Interview a Human Service Professional
In this assignment, you will explore the extent of training and education a chosen health care provider has in listening skills. You can compare your findings with those of your classmates to see the differences that may exist between different professional groups. You may be surprised by the results that you find.
Tasks:
For this assignment, you are to conduct a thirty-minute interview (an ideal interview would be in person or via the telephone, but an e-mail or chat-based interview is also acceptable) with a human service professional (for example, a social worker, community-organizational professional, or a counselor). The focus of the interview should be on the person’s training and education in listening skills. Ask questions to determine whether he or she has had formal training in listening as well as what specific strategies he or she uses to effectively listen to patients or clients.
In addition to your interview, use your textbook, the Argosy University online library resources, and the Internet to conduct research on how listening skills impact and are critical to a client-patient relationship.
Submission Details:
By Wednesday, September 9, 2015, prepare a 3- to 4-page paper. Your response should rely upon at least two sources from professional literature. This may include the Argosy University online library resources, relevant textbooks, peer-reviewed journal articles, and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (.edu, .org, or .gov). Write in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrate ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources (i.e., APA format); and use accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Save your paper in a Microsoft Word document with the name M2_A2_LastName_FirstInitial.doc, and upload it to the M2 Assignment 2 Dropbox.
write an organized essay of about 1,000 words, using plenty of evidence from this course only, that answers ONE of the following questions per the instructions in the midterms to use as many of the total readings as possible in a cohesive essay.
a) After World War II, ecology gained a reputation for being a “subversive science.” Was this reputation justified? Defend your view using specific historical examples
b) Pick a viewpoint that you had about the natural environment before taking this class, and write an essay disagreeing with it. Formulate a strong thesis in opposition to your prior view, and support it with specific historical examples.
c) “Environmentalism is a rich man’s game.” Evaluate this sentiment and agree or disagree with it, using historical evidence to substantiate your claim.