Day: October 7, 2020

Throughout this course, you will complete assignments that lead up to a final project. The project, titled Consultant to the Client Organization, is based on a scenario presented below. It may be helpful to refer back to this scenario as you complete each assignment.

Consultant to the Client Organization

Fig Technologies is a global technology solutions firm with offices around the globe. Fig Technologies corporate headquarters is just outside Mobile, Alabama. Fig recently acquired several smaller firms in different regions to expand its products and service lines. Assimilating the processes, systems, and human capital has presented a significant challenge. The leadership has chosen to bring in an outside firm to address concerns. You are the consultant from that firm, The Solution Group.

In each of the assignments in this course, you will be given a scenario to address the concern that is presented. You will be expected to develop assessment, analysis, and research in order to support your proposed solution. Often, you will be asked to present the top three solutions for the concern and support your answer. Use of course materials (textbook and required readings) and external credible materials is strongly encouraged. The scenario is not intended to have a set answer but to develop critical thinking on what can often be very emotional and opinion-based topics. Consider carefully your position and how you will support the proposed solutions.

Grading will not require simply meeting format standards and word count. It will require substantive content, research, and critical thinking. Each assignment will be a section of a comprehensive report that will be submitted to the Fig Technologies Executive Leadership Council (ELC) in written form in Unit VII. The presentation will be made in Unit VIII. Consider as you work on each assignment how it will fit into the final report that will be sent to the ELC for review. The final report will include recommendations for continued improvement regarding managing diversity in the organization.

The project serves as an opportunity to stretch your thinking and your organizational skills whether you are a business or human resources major. Working in an organization or being contracted to an organization will require this type of thinking from you as to how you will handle diversity issues within an organization. The project and the course will allow you to build a solid foundation to build upon while also enriching your resource library on the topic for future business world opportunities.

Click here to download a copy of these instructions for the project scenario.

Fair Treatment of Ethnicities

The Executive Leadership Council (ELC) has authorized The Solution Group, (the company you work for) to assess assimilation of recent transfers into the workplace environment in the newly opened IT division of Fig Technologies in Tyler, Texas. The Tyler IT division was aligned with its counterparts in Qatar and Germany. In an effort to assimilate the newly formed virtual teams, a contingent from each of the three offices went to the other offices for a two-month immersion. The purpose of the short-term exchange was to learn culture, process, and systems. Some hostilities have been reported in all three offices by team members as to difficulties with the visiting team members. The ELC wants more information.

Your objective is to determine how to assess the assimilation progress of workers to different people and cultures. Is there acceptance? What are possible roadblocks and obstacles (e.g., language, common terminology, customs, and work ethics). As a consultant, how would you complete this assessment and report results?

Your assignment instructions are as follows:

Introduce the composition of the three 10-member teams in each of the sites. You do not need names, though you should develop an ethnically diverse team of locals and visitors from the other respective worksites and national cultures. Explore the differences in culture, perspective, and experience of your team. Include whether the work culture in these countries is individualistic or collective. This section should be 200 words, approximately half of a page. 
Develop a short assessment tool in order to measure assimilation. Tools may include one of the following: a survey (no more than 10 questions), an interview (no more than 10 questions), or natural observation (approximately half of a page, including a copy of the assessment tool questions). The CSU Online Library is a great place to find information about research questions.
Assessment and results: Develop a one and a half-page summary of your assessment results and how you determined these results based on the answers. The results must address the challenges of these three dynamic cultures and perspectives working together in a live, onsite, and remote environment. Also, identify the demographic data and cultures that make up the organization and how these relate to the U.S. population. Show how you will analyze and use this data in your assessment.
Present your three approaches for improving assimilation onsite. Support your approaches. This section should be approximately half of a page.
Your completed homework assignment should be three to four pages in length, not counting your references page. No title page is required. The report will require you, as the hired consultant, to review briefly the cultures in play in this scenario. What would be challenges these teams might face? Work ethics, religions, systems, cognitive processes, and cultural dynamics are all factors.

Important: The homework assignments in each unit will build upon each other to create the entire project. The assignments are deliberately general for you (the consultant) to have a little fun as well as possibly apply the homework assignment to a situation you face or are likely to face in your chosen career field. These assignments will also allow you to apply practical knowledge for continuous improvement in your field.

You are required to use at least two outside sources for this assignmentone of which may be the textbook. You are encouraged to use the CSU Online Library. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations. All references and citations used must be in APA style.

As the school principal I was always evaluating the quality of my instructional staff and making sure that I had the best quality teachers in the school.  One of my superstars was Mrs. Jones, a licensed middle school math and science teacher (it’s not easy to find high quality teachers with such credentials).  After two years on my teaching staff and just before the Thanksgiving holidays Mrs. Jones informed me that she and her husband were expecting their first child, and that her due date was early June.  She also said that the schedule would work out well because she planned to continue teaching and would be back after the summer break.

As the school  year progressed, a few teachers mentioned to me that Mrs. Jones was having second thoughts about returning the following year and was considering staying home once her baby was born.  I asked her on numerous occasions if she had changed her mind but she continued to tell me that she would be back.  Still, other teachers said they did not believe she would return.  I kept the position open, assuming that Mrs. Jones would tell me if she did not plan to come back the following year.  However, I was beginning to have serious doubts.  In early June, Mrs. Jones delivered a healthy baby boy.  I congratulated her and her husband in person and said that I looked forward to seeing her in a couple of months.  She did not say anything in response, which heightened my concerns, but I did not feel it was an appropriate time to ask her again if she would return.  I did, however, start to look over my available resumes.  Unfortunately, by mid to late summer most of the good teachers have accepted teaching offers – the pickings are often slim.  Still, I assumed that Mrs. Jones would contact me if she was not planning to return.

In early August – about three weeks before the start of the school year – Mrs. Jones called to let me know that she and her husband decided that it would be in their best interest if she took time off to be with the baby.  I now had to scramble, not only to hire a teacher but one with hard-to-find credentials.

What were my ethical responsibilities to Mrs. Jones?  What were her ethical responsibilities to the school?  Should I have paid attention to the rumors once they became more credible, and simply hired a math and science teacher to replace Mrs. Jones?  How should I have balanced my obligations to Mrs. Jones with my obligations to the middle school students?  What are the ethical issues associated with this dilemma?

Note:  My school was operating on a very tight budget and there was not enough money to hire someone on a contingency basis.  In essence, there were only enough funds to pay for one teacher per classroom.