Day: November 3, 2020

After completing the readings assigned in this Module and by the end of this SLP assignment you will demonstrate your knowledge of key issues related to organizational culture and diversity.

Required Reading

Brunetta, F., Marchegiani, L., & Peruffo, E. (2019, September 8). When birds of a feather don’t flock together: Diversity and innovation outcomes in international R&D collaborations, pp. 1-2, 7. Manuscript submitted for publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.08.033. Available in the Online University.

Hsiao, A., Auld, C., & Ma, E. (2015, July). Perceived organizational diversity and employee behavior. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 48, 102-104. Retrieved from the Online Library. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2015.04.009

Podsiadlowski, A., Grsc, D., Kogler, M., Springer, C., & van der Zee, K. (2013, March). Managing a culturally diverse workforce: diversity perspectives in organizations. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(2013), 159-161. Available in the  Online Library.

Organizational behavior. (2017). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Edition. Retrieved from http://open.lib.umn.edu/organizationalbehavior/. CC BY-NC-SA License.

Read the following sections in Chapter 2:

Section 2.2 Demographic Diversity
Section 2.3 Cultural Diversity

Read the following sections in Chapter 15:

Section 15.2 Understanding Organizational Culture
Section 15.3 Characteristics of Organizational Culture
Section 15.4 Creating and Maintaining Organizational Culture
Section 15.5 Creating Culture Change
Section 15.6 The Role of Ethics and National Culture

Discussion: Rate your Organizational Culture

In this two-part discussion, you first have the opportunity to increase your awareness of the feeling of being different (diverse) through the completion of a short five-question surveya tool used to measure the diversity of cultures in organizations. In the second part of the discussion you will reflect on your thoughts about inclusivity of all employees voices in company-wide decisions. You can use your current or past employer or an organization whose culture you know a lot about to address this part of the assignment.

Part 1

Being Different Survey

Think back to a recent situation in which you experienced being different and address the following questions:

Describe the situation in which you experienced being different and explain how you felt.
What did you do as a result of being different? (In what ways did your behavior change due to the feeling of being different?)
As a result of that experience, how will you behave differently in the future when put in a similar situation or when you see others in the situation?
What is the overall characterization of the organizational culture profile where you work or where you have worked in the past? (See Chapter 15 in Organizational Behavior)
How is a culture of diversity measured at your workplace? (This is an opportunity to talk with your HR Manager.)
Part 2

Respond with your thoughts as you relate the following statements to your own experiences:

Diverse and balanced teams produce better results; but how? When groups are formed, the teams are not usually a complete representation of a companys employee base, especially when it comes to visible demographic diversity, such as gender and race. When employees feel that perspectives like theirs are included in decision-making, they often feel a strong sense of inclusion which, in turn, results in higher engagement and retention.

Healthy debates about options to move forward occur when team members are from different backgrounds. When team members of varying backgrounds fear voicing their concerns, however, debates and discussions are not reflective of the true culture of a company. Diversity works only when team members are comfortable with sharing their opinions without fear of negative consequences.

I can voice a contrary opinion without fear of negative consequences. Perspectives like mine are included in decision-making.

Additional Key Elements of the Assignment:

Your Initial Post should occur in a timely manner (by the third day of the module for full timeliness points). Include the original questions along with your initial, informative post. Support your post with information from at least one high-quality peer-reviewed academic reference and provide the complete source information (so that your peers can find the article if they wish).  Refer to your own personal experiences, as applicable.

Your Subsequent Posts: Read through responses by peers and post responses to at least two classmates posts. Introduce ideas/comments and/or research not mentioned yet. In your response, please underline the ideas/comments and/or research new to the discussion.

Remember: To receive full credit in this forum, you need to post a minimum of three quality posts (your own initial post, and responses to two classmates). Only one outside source is needed (in the initial post). But in any post, if you borrow ideas/information from other authors, give them credit for their work.

Note: A URL (website address) is NOT a reference. A reference always contains four parts: author, publication date, article title, and the source of the article. Sometimes there is no author, but the APA manual tells you what you can put in that spot instead, such as the first few words of the article title. The source for a high-quality peer-reviewed journal article is the journal you found it in.

Be sure to also complete the Reflective Discussion that follows. It is also graded.

*****

Now that you have completed the three assignments in this module, do you agree with the statement, “Yes, I can meet the three Module 4 learning objectives”?

Case Assignment
For this assignment, the deliverable is a 4- to 5-page essay, not counting the cover or reference pages, in which you discuss the cultural differences of two respected companies that are successful in their industry. You have the option of choosing between:

Walgreens and CVS or
Zappos and Amazon
For Option 1, Walgreens vs. CVS, after you discuss the culture of both companies, your ultimate final question is whether CVS should buy Walgreens. You must support your response with at least one high-quality reference.

For Option 2, Zappos vs. Amazon, after you discuss the cultures of these two companies, your ultimate final question is whether the purchase of Zappos by Amazon in 2009 was the right strategy based on the findings of your own online library research and the articles provided. You must support your response to that question with at least one high-quality reference found in the Trident Online Library.

For either option, prepare a 4- to 5-page (not including title page and references, and not less than 4 full pages) critique per the following format:

Title Page. Be sure to include 5 components of relevant information (e.g., Name, Class, Professor, Assignment, Date) centered on the title page.

Introduction. Discuss the topic of the paper and how you will approach it. It is best to write this section after you have written the rest of the paper. The title of this first section is NOT the word Introduction; it is the company names for this assignment, such as Walgreens vs. CVS Health or Zappos vs. Amazon. (The heading for each of the other sections of the paper are in bold in the following four subtopics.)

OPTION 1

The History and Culture of Walgreens. Describe the history and key elements of the culture of Walgreens and explain why these cultural elements are essential to Walgreens success. Be sure to apply the background material and support your writing with high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles found in the Trident Online Library.

The History and Culture of CVS Health. Describe the history and key elements of the culture of CVS Health and explain why these cultural elements are essential to CVS Healths success. Be sure to apply the background material and support your writing with high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles found in the Trident Online Library.

CVS Health Should or Should Not Purchase Walgreens. Make an argument that CVS Health should or should not purchase Walgreens. Discuss the specific differences between the cultures of Walgreens and CVS Health in support of your position. Be sure to use the background material and support your writing with high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles found in the Trident Online Library.

Conclusion. Discuss the key points in your analysis that demonstrate the importance of understanding that organizational cultures are not easily changed and why culture should be a primary consideration when organizations contemplate an acquisition or merger.

Reference List. List all references that you cited in the paper using APA or other standard formatting. References include materials from the required background readings as well as any outside high-quality, peer-reviewed library sources you used in researching and writing your paper. Their purpose is to take the reader directly to the page on which you learned some information.

OPTION 2

The History and Culture of Zappos. Describe the history and key elements of the culture of Zappos and explain why these cultural elements are essential to its success. Be sure to apply the background material by supporting your writing with high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles found in the Trident Online Library.

The History and Culture of Amazon. Describe the history and key elements of the culture of Amazon and explain why these cultural elements are essential to its success. Be sure to apply the background material by supporting your writing with at least one high-quality peer-reviewed journal article found in the Trident Online Library.

It was or was not a good decision for Amazon to Purchase Zappos. Make an argument that Amazon made the right or wrong choice to purchase Zappos. Discuss the specific differences between the cultures of Amazon and Zappos in support of your position. Be sure to use the background material by supporting your writing with at least one high-quality peer-reviewed journal article found in the Trident Online Library.

Conclusion. Discuss the key points in your analysis that demonstrate the importance of understanding that organizational cultures are not easily changed and why culture should be a primary consideration when organizations contemplate an acquisition or merger.

Reference List. List all references that you cited in the paper using APA or other standard formatting. References include materials from the required background readings as well as any outside high-quality, peer-reviewed library sources you used in researching and writing your paper. Their purpose is to take the reader directly to the page on which you learned some information.

Refer to the Writing Guide or Purdue OWL APA Guidelines for reference formatting guidelines.

Upload your assignment to the Case 3 Dropbox. Be sure to review your TurnItIn Originality report. If the score is over 15%, contact your professor. You need to review the report and add any missing citations noted.

Discussion: The Art of Connecting

There is a high demand for leaders who are able to communicate effectively. An early Harvard Business School study on what it takes to achieve success and be promoted in an organization emphasized the importance of communicating, making sound decisions, and getting things done with and through people. Unfortunately, many leaders have overlooked this important concept and are unable to connect to others while communicating. In todays global society, it is important for leaders to be able to connect with their followers because it creates an atmosphere of unity, equality, and transparency. A leader should realize that he or she has successfully connected with followers when he or she senses:

extra effort (followers go the extra mile)
unsolicited appreciation (positive things are said)
increased communication (followers express themselves more readily)
enjoyable experiences (followers feel good about what theyre doing)
emotional bondedness (a connection on an emotional level is displayed)
positive energy (followers’ emotional batteries are charged by being together)
growing synergy (followers effectiveness is greater than the sum of contributions)
unconditional love (followers are accepting leadership without reservation)
In order for organizations to continuously improve and innovate, leaders should master the art of connecting to others because of both the short-term and long-term implications it will have on job performance, organizational commitment, and quality of work-life.

Please answer the following question(s):

Please respond to this topic where you (the CEO of a large company) communicate a new controversial policy change (e.g., no more working remotely/telecommuting or allowing employees to bring their pets to work or a different policy change) to your employees. Be sure to connect with your employees.

Discussion Expectations

Respond to the topic an informed, rigorous, and professional manner. Your response should demonstrate an application of the concepts as well as a reflection of your personal experience.

Discussion General Expectations

In each discussion forum, students are expected to respond to the topic by providing an informed, rigorous, and professional post. These should be around 100-150 words. In addition, students are required to respond at least 3 times to your classmates posts in a similarly informed, rigorous, and professional manner.

Once you deploy a smart contract on a blockchain, that smart contract code is stored on the blockchain forever (immutability). Understanding that you cannot simply overwrite previously deployed smart contracts, contrast approaches to deploying traditional applications and blockchain apps. Does blockchain make deployments easier or harder? Are there any potential risks when deploying blockchain apps that either dont exist in traditional environments or arent as prominent? What should a development organization do differently to mitigate these risks?

Your response should include the following;
    Contrast approaches to deploying traditional applications and blockchain apps.
    Explain whether blockchain make deployments easier or harder.
    Identify any potential risks when deploying blockchain apps that either dont exist in traditional environments or arent as prominent.
    Describe what a development organization should do differently to mitigate these risks.
Im interested to read what YOU learned from this weeks readings. Do NOT submit a research paper. Tell me what you think. Must be a minimum of 2 pages.

PRESENTATIONS
This is a Signature Assignment for Oral Communication

Learning Outcomes

Evaluate PowerPoint presentations.
Create an engaging PowerPoint presentation.
Presentation

Please read Chapter 10: Developing Business Presentations from Business Communication for Success ebook and the accompanying background resources.

Create a PowerPoint slideshow as described here. Add audio to your presentation by using the Record Narration option under the Slide Show tab in PowerPoint. You will need a microphone, which should be built in on most computers. (There is no need to have a real audience, unless you want to.)

If you have difficulty recording audio, please contact your professor ASAP.

The presentation must have at least 9 slides, including the opening and ending slides which should not be blank. Include the appropriate recorded narration for these slides.

You are acting as a nutrition consultant to the restaurant. Address your presentation to Mr. Adrian Hammersmith, owner, and his staff at Adrian’s Steak House, 974 South Cobb Drive, Marietta, GA 30060. You will explain information about the Healthy Dining program which can be found at the Healthy Diet Finder (2015) home page (The home page is primarily for diners. A link at the bottom of the page, labeled Nutrition Services, takes dietitians and restaurateurs to information about nutrition and other services. Your presentation should provide the audience with an overview of the program, including information about the services provided by and benefits of Healthy Dining. Additionally, you should have at least one slide that describes the impact on the staff that adopting the Healthy Dining practices will have.
http://www.healthydiningfinder.com/home).

Save your PowerPoint presentation with recorded narration as a slideshow. Submit it by the module’s due date.

Intervention Evaluation

After reading Case Study 5.2, “Community Healthcare Association of the Dakotas: A Five-Level Evaluation Model” on pages 577584 in your Fundamentals of Performance Improvement text, please respond to the following questions:

    1) What type of evaluation (formative, summative, confirmative, meta) did the consulting team use in this case study?

    2) Identify the type of evaluation and describe specifically how and when they applied it (for example, during the performance analysis phase or intervention design-development phase, or intervention implementation-maintenance phase)?

    3) Had you been on this consulting team, what evaluation methods/tools from your readings would you have found helpful for this case? Explain why.