bus 475 week 2 questions

Course Syllabus

BUS/475 Integrated Business Topics Course Start Date: 02/09/2010 Course End Date: 03/15/2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please print a copy of this syllabus for handy reference. Whenever there is a question about what assignments are due, please remember this syllabus is considered the ruling document.

Copyright Copyright ©2009 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. University of Phoenix© is a registered trademark of Apollo Group, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft©, Windows©, and Windows NT© are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Use of these marks is not intended to imply endorsement, sponsorship, or affiliation. Edited in accordance with University of Phoenix© editorial standards and practices.

Facilitator Information                                                                                                      

Dr. Laura Pogue [email protected]  (University of Phoenix) [email protected]  (Personal) 248-866-0443 (Arizona Time)

Facilitator Availability I am in the classroom frequently and questions will be answered within 24 hours.  I also have office hours Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 7-8 PM Arizona Time.

Please do not hesitate to contact me, if you have questions or need assistance. The best way to contact me is through the classroom. Please post a note in your Individual Forum or, if the answer to the question may benefit the entire class, in the current week’s question forum.

For emergencies, when you are not able to gain access to your class, please send a message to my alternate email address, which is listed within my Contact Information post or contact tech support.

Where to Go to Class                                                                                                        Main: This is the main forum for the class and is where discussion is conducted. It has read-and-write access for everyone. Chat-Room: This is a read-and-write access forum. It is designed as a place to discuss issues not related to the course content. This is the forum to which we will send our bios. Course-Materials: This is a read-only forum, which means you can read messages here but cannot send any. This is where I will post the course syllabus and materials. Learning-Team-A, B, C, D, E and F: These six Learning Team forums will be used as workrooms for the learning teams. You will be assigned to one of these learning teams. Individual Forum: You will see one forum with your name on it. This is a private forum, shared only by you and me, the facilitator. Your classmates will not have access to this forum. This is where you will post your individual assignments, and where I will post your feedback. You can also ask questions here. However, if you have general questions about instructions of assignments, please post those in the Main forum, since other students may benefit by that exchange as well.

Policies                                                                                                                               For class policies, please see the Policies link on the left side of the Materials page for the course on eCampus. Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within that link. University policies are subject to change so please be sure to read them at the beginning of each class as it may have changed since your last class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities it is important you read the policies governing your current class modality.

Late Assignments                                                                                                             

Late assignments receive a 10% deduction for each day they are late if assignments are not posted by 11:59 p.m. M.S.T. on the day they are due. Assignments more than 4 days late will not be accepted. Technological issues are not considered valid grounds for late assignment submission. In the event of a University of Phoenix server outage, students should submit assignments through email to the instructor and post to the individual forum when systems are restored. Unless an Incomplete grade has been granted, learner assignments submitted after the last day of class will not be accepted.

Learning Teams                                                                                                                 University of Phoenix students are expected to work effectively in diverse groups and teams to achieve tasks. They must collaborate and function well in team settings as both leaders and followers. They should respect human diversity and behave in a tolerant manner toward colleagues and peers. If you experience difficulties working with your team, you are expected to resolve them within the team if possible. However, please feel free to contact me for guidance if you have concerns in this area. Because Learning Team projects are outcome-based, all members of your Learning Team will generally earn the same grade for Learning Team projects. However, I reserve the right to report different grades for different Learning Team members if I see a substantial imbalance in individual contribution. Learning Teams should provide a brief summary of any communication held outside the forum. Therefore, if you hold conference calls, work in a real-time chat room, or get together outside the OLS (Online Learning System) environment in another way, please post a log, transcript, or summary in the Learning Team forum. Further, do not use any of these supplementary communication tools unless everyone on your Learning Team agrees to the method and to the schedule. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Several of the assignments in this class will be completed in Learning Teams of three to five students. I will set up these teams by the end of Week 1. Learning Team Charters and Peer Evaluation forms are required. Please see the instructions in the weekly sections for more information. All Learning Team assignments must be submitted to the Learning Team forum.

It is expected that you will actively participate with your learning team and contribute to the team discussions by a) contributing original work that is accepted and used by the team with proof of originality b) participating in the project from assignment organizing through meaningful final review of the team project for submission, and c) ensuring to your team that your contributions are your original work and properly quoted, cited, and referenced.

Technical Support                                                                                                             Technical Support is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Call 1-877-832-4867, or use the e-mail support form . Answers to the most common issues are found in the Knowledge Base by clicking Help, found at the top of every student Web site.

Feedback                                                                                                                            Each week, I will provide grades or scores and comments on assignments within 6 days of when they were submitted. I will send feedback to your Individual forum. After I send feedback each week, I will post a notification in the Main forum.

Grading Formula                                                                                                               

Points	Grade
95+	A
90-94	A-
87-89	B+
84-86	B
80-83	B-
77-79	C+
74-76	C
70-73	C-
67-69	D+
64-66	D
60-63	D-
<59	F

Course Description                                                                                                            The integrated business topics course examines strategic business management while integrating topics from previously completed business foundation coursework. This allows students to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the undergraduate business curricula with a significant emphasis placed on the assessment of individual outcomes to determine content mastery.

Course Topics & Objectives                                                                                             Week One: Introduction to Strategic Management

· Define strategic management and planning.

· Create an organizational mission and vision statement.

· Analyze an organization in terms of its structure, culture, and purpose.

· Develop a strategic plan.

Week Two: Internal and External Environment

· Conduct a SWOTT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats, and Trends) analysis.

· Analyze the effect of the external and internal environments on an organization’s strategic plan.

Week Three: Strategy Development

· Develop strategic objectives.

· Create organizational objectives and goals.

Week Four: Strategy Implementation

· Recommend an implementation strategy for a strategic plan.

Week Five: Monitoring and Control

· Develop methods to monitor and control the implementation of a strategic plan.

Course Materials                                                                                                               

Pearce, J. A. II, & Robinson, R. B. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control (11th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Thompson, A. A., Gamble, J. E., & Strickland, A. J. (2006). Strategy: Winning in the marketplace: Core concepts, analytical tools, cases (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

All electronic materials are available on your student Web site.

Point Values for Course Assignments                                                                           

ASSIGNMENTS	Points
Week Two
Individual Assignment: Strategic Plan, Part I: Conceptualizing a Business	10
Learning Team Assignment: Value Alignment	10
Week Three
Individual Assignment: Strategic Plan, Part II: SWOTT Analysis	10
Learning Team Assignment: Functional Area Interrelationships	10
Week Four
Individual Assignment: Strategic Plan, Part III: Balanced Scorecard	10
Learning Team Assignment: Communication Plan Outline	5
Week Five
Individual Assignment: Final Strategic Plan and Presentation	20
Individual Assignment: Final Exam	15
All Weeks
Participation (2 points per week)	10
Assignment Totals
Individual	75
Learning Team	25
Point Total	100

Week One

Introduction to Strategic Management

· Define strategic management and planning.

· Create an organizational mission and vision statement.

· Analyze an organization in terms of its structure, culture, and purpose.

· Develop a strategic plan.

Course Assignments

1. Readings

· Read Ch. 1–3 & Ch. 2 Appendix of Strategic Management.

· Read Ch. 7 of Strategy: Winning in the Marketplace.

· Review this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.

2. Discussion Question

Select a small business that you may want to start. What is strategic management and planning? Why would a strategic plan be important to the success of this business? How are the four functions of management relative to creating and implementing a strategic plan?

Weekly Reminders

Weekly Summaries

Weekly summaries will be required in this course and counted as class participation.

Discussion Question

Discussion question responses will count towards the class participation requirement.

Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your class participation score.

Participation

All Week: Remember to participate in the class discussions 4 out of 7 days during the week.

Summary of Week 1 Deliverables

Assignment	Individual or Learning Team	Location	Due
Discussion Question Response	Individual	Main Forum	2/11/10
Participation	Individual	Main Forum	2/15/10
Weekly Summary	Individual	Main Forum	2/15/10

Week Two

Internal and External Environment

· Conduct a SWOTT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats, and Trends) analysis.

· Analyze the effect of the external and internal environments on an organization’s strategic plan.

Course Assignments

2. Readings

· Read Ch. 4–6 of Strategic Management.

· Read Ch. 3 of Strategy: Winning in the Marketplace.

· Review this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.

3. Individual Assignment: Strategic Plan, Part I: Conceptualizing a Business

· Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper in which you explain the importance of your selected business’s vision, mission, and values in determining your strategic direction. Include the following:

· Define your business, products or services, and customers by developing a mission statement. Ensure that you are differentiating your product or service.

· Create a vision for this organization that clearly demonstrates your decision on what you want your business to become in the future.

· Define your guiding principles or values for your selected business considering the topics of culture, social responsibility, and ethics.

· Analyze how the vision, mission, and values guide the organization’s strategic direction.

· Evaluate how the organization addresses customer needs and critique how they achieve competitive advantage.

· Format your paper according to APA guidelines.

· Prepare to discuss this assignment with the class.

4. Learning Team Assignment: Value Alignment

· Discuss with your Learning Team an existing organization with which you are familiar that is different than the one you used for the Conceptualizing a Business paper.

· Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper in which you analyze the individual values and the organization’s values as reflected by the organization’s plans and actions. Include the following in your paper:

· Analyze the origin(s) and subsequent evolution of your personal and workplace values.

· Explain how your individual values drive your actions and behaviors, and analyze the alignment between your values and actions and behaviors.

· Analyze the degree of alignment between the organization’s stated values and the organization’s actual plans and actions.

· Explain the differences and analyze the degree of alignment between your values and the organization’s values as reflected by the organization’s plans and actions.

· Format your paper according to APA guidelines.

· Prepare to discuss this assignment with the class.

5. Discussion Questions

· What is a SWOTT analysis? What is its purpose in strategic planning? Must you conduct a SWOTT analysis to have an effective strategic plan? Why or why not?

Weekly Reminders

Weekly Summaries

Weekly summaries will be required in this course and counted as class participation.

Discussion Question

Discussion question responses will count towards the class participation requirement.

Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your class participation score.

Participation

All Week: Remember to participate in the class discussions 4 out of 7 days during the week.

Summary of Week 2 Deliverables

Assignment	Individual or Learning Team	Location	Due
Discussion Question Response	Individual	Main Forum	2/18/10
Participation	Individual	Main Forum	2/22/10
Weekly Summary	Individual	Main Forum	2/22/10
Strategic Plan, Part I: Conceptualizing a Business	Individual	Individual Forum	2/21/10
Value Alignment	Learning Team	Team Forum	2/22/10

Week Three

Strategy Development

· Develop strategic objectives.

· Create organizational objectives and goals.

Course Assignments

6. Readings

· Read Ch. 7 of Strategic Management.

· Read Ch. 4 of Strategy: Winning in the Marketplace.

· Review this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.

7. Individual Assignment: Strategic Plan, Part II: SWOTT Analysis

· Conduct an internal and external environmental analysis for your proposed business.

· Discuss with your Learning Team the forces and trends below that must be taken into consideration while developing a strategic plan. Given today’s business environment and each Learning Team members’ selected business idea, provide a list of the lessons learned from your Learning Team’s discussion for each of the items listed below. Use this discussion to complete this assignment.

· Create a SWOTT table summarizing your findings. Your environmental analysis should take into account, at a minimum, the following factors. For each factor, identify the one primary strength, weakness, opportunity, threat, and trend, and include it in your table.

· External forces and trends considerations:

· Legal and regulatory

· Global

· Economic

· Technological

· Innovation

· Social

· Environmental

· Competitive analysis

· Internal forces and trends considerations:

· Strategy

· Structures

· Processes and systems

· Resources

· Goals

· Strategic capabilities

· Culture

· Technologies

· Innovations

· Intellectual property

· Leadership

· Write a 1,400- to 1,750-word synopsis in which you analyze at least seven of the forces and trends from the list above. Your analysis must include the following:

· Include economic as well as legal and regulatory forces and trends.

· Critique how well the organization adapts to change.

· Analyze the supply chain operations of the organization.

· Identify issues and/or opportunities:

· Identify the major issues and/or opportunities that the company faces based on your analysis above.

· Generate a hypothesis surrounding each issue and research questions to use for conducting analysis.

· Identify the circumstances surrounding each issue; classify the circumstances; attribute the importance of each classification; and test the accuracy of the importance for each classification.

· Format your paper according to APA guidelines.

8. Learning Team Assignment: Functional Area Interrelationships

· Select one organization of the Virtual Organizations from the student Web site.

· Write a 1,400- to 2,100-word paper in which you complete the following:

· State the primary reasons for the organization’s existence from an analysis of the mission, vision, values, and goals.

· Analyze the reason for the type of organizational structure employed by the organization, and identify the key positions that support that organizational structure.

· Identify and explain the steps of the collaboration process among the functional areas that must be employed to achieve organizational goals, and prepare an action plan to implement the collaboration process.

· Identify and provide an example of the use of lateral collaboration and vertical collaboration within the organization, and prepare an action plan to use lateral and vertical collaboration.

· Identify the key stakeholders and their roles needed to achieve the organizational goals, and recommend the collaborative interactions among the key stakeholders to facilitate the organization’s success.

9. Discussion Question

· What are the different types of strategies? What are the differences among these strategies? How do you determine which type of strategy is most appropriate for your organization?

Weekly Reminders

Weekly Summaries

Weekly summaries will be required in this course and counted as class participation.

Discussion Questions

Discussion question responses will count towards the class participation requirement.

Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your class participation score.

Participation

All Week: Remember to participate in the class discussions 4 out of 7 days during the week.

Summary of Week 3 Deliverables

Assignment	Individual or Learning Team	Location	Due
Discussion Question Response	Individual	Main Forum	2/25/10
Participation	Individual	Main Forum	3/1/10
Weekly Summary	Individual	Main Forum	3/1/10
Strategic Plan, Part II: SWOTT Analysis	Individual	Individual Forum	2/28/10
Functional Area Interrelationships	Learning Team	Team Forum	3/1/10

Week Four

Strategy Implementation

· Recommend an implementation strategy for a strategic plan.

Course Assignments

10. Readings

· Read Ch. 10–12 of Strategic Management.

· Read Ch. 8 of Strategy: Winning in the Marketplace.

· Review this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.

11. Individual Assignment: Strategic Plan, Part III: Balanced Scorecard

· Resources: Exhibit 7-1 in Ch. 7 of Strategic Management

· Develop the strategic objectives for your business in the format of a balanced scorecard. The strategic objectives are measures of attaining your vision and mission. As you develop them consider the vision, mission, and values for your business and the outcomes of your SWOTT analysis. Consider the following four quadrants of the balanced scorecard when developing your strategic objectives:

· Shareholder Value or Financial Perspective, includes strategic objectives in areas such as:

· Market share

· Revenues and costs

· Profitability

· Competitive position

· Customer Value Perspective, includes strategic objectives in areas such as:

· Customer retention or turnover

· Customer satisfaction

· Customer value

· Process or Internal Operations Perspective, includes strategic objectives in areas such as:

· Measure of process performance

· Productivity or productivity improvement

· Operations metrics

· Learning and Growth (Employee) Perspective, includes strategic objectives in areas such as:

· Employee satisfaction

· Employee turnover or retention

· Level of organizational capability

· Nature of organizational culture or climate

· Technological innovation

· Develop at least three strategic objectives for each of the following four balanced scorecard areas identified above (Financial, Customer, Process, Learning and Growth). Your objectives should be selected, in part, based on an evaluation of a number of potential alternatives to the issues and/or opportunities identified in the SWOTT Analysis paper and table you completed in Week Three. Base your solutions on a ranking of alternative solutions that includes an identification of potential risks and mitigation plans, and a stakeholder analysis that includes mitigation and contingency strategies. You should also incorporate the ethical implications of your solutions into your selection.

· For each strategic objective, develop a metric and target using a balanced scorecard format. (For example, a strategic objective in the shareholder or Financial Perspective is to increase market share. A metric to actually measure this strategic objective of market share increase is, "The percentage of increase in market share." The target is the specific number to be achieved in a particular time period. The target for the metric of "Increase market share" could be "Increase market share by 2% for each of the next 3 years" of an increase of 2% per year for 3 years.)

· Write a 700- to 1,050-word summary that explains your critical thinking on how you derived your objectives from your vision, mission, values, and SWOTT analysis.

· Format paper according to APA guidelines.

12. Learning Team Assignment: Communication Plan Outline

· Develop a generic communications plan and template. This template will be used to develop a communication plan for your Final Strategic Plan, due in Week Five.

13. Discussion Question

· Why is it important to continuously update the implementation and communication of a strategic plan? Who should be responsible for updating and communicating a strategic plan? Why?

Weekly Reminders

Weekly Summaries

Weekly summaries will be required in this course and counted as class participation.

Discussion Questions

Discussion question responses will count towards the class participation requirement.

Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your class participation score.

Participation

All Week: Remember to participate in the class discussions 4 out of 7 days during the week.

Summary of Week 4 Deliverables

Assignment	Individual or Learning Team	Location	Due
Discussion Question Response	Individual	Main Forum	3/4/10
Participation	Individual	Main Forum	3/8/10
Weekly Summary	Individual	Main Forum	3/8/10
Strategic Plan, Part III: Balanced Scorecard	Individual	Individual Forum	3/7/10
Communication Plan Outline	Learning Team	Team Forum	3/8/10

Week Five

Monitoring and Control

· Develop methods to monitor and control the implementation of a strategic plan.

Course Assignments

14. Readings

· Read Ch. 13 of Strategic Management.

· Review this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.

15. Individual Assignment: Final Strategic Plan and Presentation

· Resources: Vision, mission, values, SWOTT analysis, balanced scorecards, and communication plan

· Write a 700- to 1,050-word section for your strategic plan in which you add your strategies and tactics to implement and realize your strategic objectives, measures, and targets. Include marketing and information technology strategies and tactics. Develop at least three methods to monitor and control your proposed strategic plan, being sure to analyze how the measures will advance organizational goals financially and operationally. Finally, recommend actions needed to address ethical, legal, and regulatory issues faced by the organization, and how they can improve corporate citizenship.

· Combine your completed strategic plan. This includes the vision, mission, values, SWOTT analysis, balanced scorecard, and communication plan. Your consolidated final strategic plan should be 2,800 to 4,200 words in length.

· Prepare three to five Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides, in which you briefly outline the vision, mission, values, and balanced scorecard that you have developed for your business. Share your presentation with your classmates and provide substantive feedback by commenting on the work of your classmates.

16. Individual Assignment: Final Exam

· Resources: Final Exam & assigned readings from all weeks

· Select the link to the final exam on your student Web site. The exam is available from the end of Week Four through the end of Week Five.

· Complete the final exam. Only one attempt is allowed, which is timed and must be completed in 3 hours. Results are auto-graded and sent to your instructor.

Note. Final exam questions are adapted from business content students will have completed in the Bachelor of Science in Business program.

17. Discussion Question

· What are examples of regulatory issues that affect the controlling aspect of a strategic plan? What are examples of organizations that have failed to comply with regulatory requirements in controlling their strategic plans? What were some repercussions that these organizations have faced?

Weekly Reminders

Weekly Summaries

Weekly summaries will be required in this course and counted as class participation.

Final Week Requirements

Discussion question responses will be required during the final week of the course.

Only posts in the Main classroom forum will count towards your class participation score.

Participation

All Week: Remember to participate in the class discussions 4 out of 7 days during the week.

Summary of Week 5 Deliverables

Assignment	Individual or Learning Team	Location	Due
Discussion Question Response	Individual	Main Forum	3/11/10
Participation	Individual	Main Forum	3/15/10
Weekly Summary	Individual	Main Forum	3/15/09
Final Strategic Plan and Presentation	Individual	Individual Forum/Main Forum	3/14/10
Final Exam	Individual	Individual Forum	3/15/10