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BUSW500 Module 2.4 Discussion latest 2016 July
2.4 – Discussion: Country Research – Traditional American
Business vs. Business in Another Country
77 unread replies.9494 replies.
There are many videos and websites identifying cultural
differences relevant to global business. Watch the following video on how different
cultures view punctuality.
Culture Shock: Punctuality (BBC Report on time keeping and
punctuality in different cultures.)
Duration – 4:15
Note: For this discussion you must choose a country that has
not yet been chosen and listed in this discussion area.
Think of a country you are familiar with, or wish to become
familiar with, and view the discussion area to determine if your country has
already been chosen. If it has not been chosen, you will need to post your
Title and Country to “claim” your country of choice. Follow these directions:
In this discussion, begin your post with a subject that
includes the following:
Title: Country
1. Once you claim your country, conduct Internet research on
what differences may exist between so-called traditional American business and
doing business in the country you choose.
2. Write a 2-3 paragraph discussion entry with the current
APA citations and identify the cultural dimensions of your country. Include the
following elements in your discussion entry:
Identify the cultural dimensions of the country of choice
using the Project GLOBE article or other internet tools and compare those
dimensions with traditional American culture. Do you foresee any conflicts?
How would American business best expand to the country you
chose?
What specific cultural, social, or professional conflicts to
you foresee and how would you remedy them?
3. Return to your original post and reply to it. Update your
post with your information.
4. Choose two of your classmate’s discussion threads and
post insightful comments about their information.
An example discussion post is located herePreview the
documentView in a new window. Students are encouraged to use the Cultural
Comparison tool found here (Links to an external site.) (please cite properly).
Review the Discussion Rubric by selecting the Gear icon and then “Show Rubric”. It will
assist you in creating effective posts and will be used to evaluate the
activity.
Embry
BUSW500 Module 3.2 Discussion latest 2016 July
3.2 – Discussion: Managerial Roles
14 14 unread replies. 86 86 replies.
Mintzberg on Managing
Duration – 10:18
Henry Mintzberg is a management education guru best known
for his categorization of managerial roles. Watch Mintzberg on Managing to
learn more about the evolution of management education from Mintzberg’s
perspective. Then, read Rounding Out the Manager’s Job (Links to an external
site.) to learn more about managerial roles and how those roles cannot reside
in a vacuum. Mintzberg over the course of 160 articles and 16 books has proven
to most that management is a practice and that management education must build
on practice to be of any real value.
With this in mind, think about a recent manager. Without
naming names, discuss how this manager managed using Mintzberg’s managerial
roles as a framework and whether or not you feel this manager was “well rounded”
based on the preceding article. Explain how this manager could improve and
become more “well rounded”. Also include what this manager did well. Include
observations about the managerial environment. Did this manager face any
organizational barriers to success? Did the organization’s culture facilitate
successful management?
Please begin your discussion with 2-3 substantive paragraphs
connecting your thoughts to the material you just read. Then, comment on the
experiences and observations of two other students
Note: If you need a distraction, read the online version of
Mintzberg’s hilarious opinion of aviation in his work titled The Flying Circus.
(Links to an external site.) This is not a class requirement, but it’s quite
entertaining.
Embry
BUSW500 Module 4.3 Discussion latest 2016 July
4.3 – Discussion: Managerial Decisions Making
35 35 unread replies. 76 76 replies.
Herbert Simon is often viewed as one of the most famous
economists of the late 20th century. He taught at Carnegie Mellon University
and earned a Nobel Prize for his work on decision making. He put forth the idea
that decisions made by managers are generally sub-optimal. Managers, due to
time constraints, resource limitations, external pressures, etc. often engage
in what Simon calls “satisficing”. Here, a decision is made that meets the
decisional criteria but the decision is not necessarily optimal. The term
satisficing comes from satisfy and suffice blended together. Furthermore, Simon
introduced the term “bounded rationality” to suggest that we, as managers,
cannot conceivably process all available information due to
time and cognitive limitations. Thus, there are boundaries on what we can
rationally take in and use.
Of course it must be noted that Simon was born in 1916 and
died in 2001 at age 85. Since then, the computer age has changed how we make
decisions to some extent. Quick reference dashboards, balanced score cards,
quality metrics, performance metrics, and the likes have enabled us to engage
in Evidence-based Management and data-driven decision making. Read Practical
Wisdom in Management Development (Links to an external site.) an article on
decision making.
*Note – Log into ERNIE in order to access the article.
Herbert Simon
Duration – 3:44
Although introduced decades ago, Simon’s concept of
Satisficing and Bounded Rationality holds true. In fact, today’s information
age may even make decision making more difficult! Other issues are a variety of
heuristics people use in their decision making. These issues were brought to
the fore front by the work of Daniel Kahneman (Nobel prize winner in 2002) and
Amos Tversky. A good simple summary of heuristics and their effect on decision
making is provided in this video (6:33).
I want to learn more about pilot fatigue. I Google “pilot
fatigue”. In .33 seconds, Google returned 13,200,000 results.For example:
I want to purchase a new house in my new zip code. I go to
Zillow.com and learn that in .20 seconds it returned 427 homes for sale that
meet my criteria. I have 2 weeks to purchase.
I need to purchase chairs for my new office. I go to
Amazon.com and search for “desk chair” and in .42 seconds have 202,155 to
choose from.
After reading the scenarios provided in Activity 4.3, how do
bounded rationality, satisficing and heuristics apply? Join the discussion and
address the following:
When making decisions that involve money, what steps do you
take to make sure you are making a good decision? Use an example or two.
When using sources of information to make a decision, how do
you know the information is accurate, relevant, and comprehensive (e.g., think
about customer reviews as one tool to make purchasing decisions online)? Use an
example or two.
Managers are often blamed when poor decisions are made. Is
there a difference between a bad decision (error) and a bad decision born from
insufficient information or satisficing? Use an example or two from your work
experience where a bad decision was made that could have been reasonable at the
time but still turned out to be problematic. You may also use examples of good
decisions that were made and how management arrived at an evidence-based
conclusion.
Please begin with three substantive paragraphs (one for each
question) connecting your thoughts to the material you just read. Then, comment
on the experiences and observations of two other students.
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BUSW500 Module 5.2 Discussion latest 2016 July
5.2 – Discussion: Managerial Problem
4040 unread replies.8282 replies.
The scientific method is an organized way to reach
conclusions that avoids relying on unscientific observations (e.g., anecdotes,
hearsay, propaganda, storytelling, etc.). With this in mind, think about a
business problem within your present organization or a managerial problem that
you are interested in solving. The goal here is not to solve the problem, but
use the scientific method to approach the problem in an orderly way.
Capstone Advice (for students in a degree program that
require a capstone project such as the MSM): Students will be required to
complete a Capstone and address a managerial problem at the end of this degree
program. It’s best to begin thinking about this process now. To leverage this
course fully, use this activity to begin thinking about a managerial problem
that may become the topic of your Capstone. For those of you in degree programs
that do not require a capstone project (i.e. MBAA) you will have other smaller
research papers and projects that will benefit from the information presented
in this module.
A shortened version of the topic or problem should become
the title of your Discussion Board post. You may address a managerial problem,
or research other business related topics. You may choose something you are
personally familiar with or simply curious about. (Note: the topic selected
will be used for Activity 5.3, 6.X, 7.X, 8.X and 9.X.)
Below are a few topic examples:
1. What role
does salary play in the retention of mid-level managers?
Explanation: This is a proposition that needs to be turned
into a testable hypothesis. A survey could be used to gather data on salary
levels and the desire to remain with the organization. These findings could be
correlated (keep in mind correlation does not imply causation) to determine if
there is a linkage between salary and retention. The literature review will
show what we already know about this topic.
2. Does the
time-in-chair work model (e.g., 9am – 5pm) have an effect on worker
productivity when compared the deadline-based (e.g., Complete XYZ by this date)
work model when performing the same task?
Explanation: This is a proposition. Once a specific task is
chosen, a hypothesis can be created using that representative task. An
experiment comparing two groups, one using each of the models, on productivity
measured by task completion would be the best way to test this hypothesis. The
literature review should uncover many existing theories on the nature of work
and productivity.
3. Does the
millennial generation perceive command-and-control leadership as incompatible
with their generational values?
Explanation: This is potentially a new theory that needs to
be tested if it has not been done already. The construct generational values
would need to be better defined. A qualitative method such as interviews may
work best to dialogue with millennials about different scenarios that use
different leadership styles. A survey could also be used where millennials
agree or disagree with certain leadership statements. The literature review
will help show how to best test this theory since others have used similar
methods to test similar theories.
Once you have a topic, create 1-2 substantive paragraphs per
section (a total of 3-6 paragraphs):
1. Provide a
brief background of the problem or area of research and the organizational
setting or context. Be descriptive.
2. Why is
solving this problem or conducting this research important to management and
the organization?
3. How can
other organizations or others within your organization benefit from your
research?
Then, read and comment on the ideas of two other students.
These comments should include high-level advice on the feasibility of the idea
along with low-level advice on how to conduct the research and solve the
problem.
Embry
BUSW500 Module 7.3 & 7.5 Discussions latest 2016 July
Module 7.3
7.3 – Discussion: BLS Data Review
30 30 unread replies. 66 66 replies.
Data sorting and filtering and basic data analysis are
important ways for you to gather and process data so that useful information
can be generated. Attached is an Excel spreadsheet containing Bureau of Labor
dataPreview the documentView in a new window for mean salary and number of
employment positions available based on a particular occupation code. In
addition, the data is sorted by state.
From this data, extract the following information:
Think about the state you wish to work in. Create table or
tab in the worksheet of all of the occupations in your state of choice that
have the word “manage”* in the Occupational Title field. You’ve now created a
subset of the original data set from which additional analysis can be made.
*The term managerial positions will be defined as any
position with the word “manage” in the title. The reason the word “manage”
should be used as a filter is that this will include occupations with the word
manager or management in the title.
grap.jpgAnswer the following questions using the data subset
you created:
What is the average salary for your chosen state of all
managerial positions?
How many total managerial positions are available in your
state?
What percentage of the total number of employment positions
in your state are managerial positions? ***Hint: You will need to refer back to
all of the positions in your state to calculate this.
What does this information mean to you as a prospective job
seeker in this state looking for a managerial position?
Note: Please do not just answer the questions in the
Discussion Board. You must show your work in Excel and upload an Excel
worksheet or some form of spreadsheet as an attachment to receive credit for
this activity. Your Discussion Board post should contain the summary data from
the questions to be answered.
Then, read and comment on two of your classmates summaries.
Module 7.5
7.5 – Discussion: Survey Design
25 25 unread replies. 102 102 replies.
NOTE: This activity
requires you to create a survey and take your classmates surveys. Surveys and
links were posted during module 6 (items 1 through 4); the remaining items are
completed in Module 7.
Complete following
1. Access surveymonkey (Links to an external site.) to
create a survey.
2. If you do not have an account already, select the Sign up
FREE option located to the right side of the webpage. Do not purchase anything!
3. Create a 5-10 question survey on one of the following topics
based on your last name.
Note: With a free account you will be limited to designing a
10 question survey using a variety of quantitative and qualitative question types.
You will not be able to download the data to use in Excel, but you will be able
to generate a PDF of your data.
Group 1: If your last name begins with the letters A – H
Your boss has asked that you create a survey to determine
how satisfied customers of your branch of the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
are when obtaining/updating a driver’s license, registering a new/used vehicle,
or obtaining a title transfer or replacement title. The goal of the survey is
to determine what problems may exist and how the DMV can improve customer
service. Your boss prefers that you use a Likert-type scale in addition to
write-in questions to capture the true nature of customer feelings.
Respondents: Respond based on your last experience with the
DMV in your area.
Group 2: If your last name begins with the letters I – Q
You work for a large manufacturer of consumer electronics
(e.g., televisions). Due to some recent returns where the product was damaged
in shipping, your company has chosen to improve the packaging so that it a) is
easier to open and b) provides better protection from damage. Your goal is to
survey people who recently purchased this large, consumer electronic device and
see what type of experience they had with the new packaging and whether or not it
was easy to open and the product was damage free. Since you have the consumer’s
attention, it may be a good time to briefly inquire about their purchase
experience as well.
Respondents: Respond based on your last electronics
purchase.
Group 3: If your last name begins with the letters R – Z
You are the sales manager for a car dealership. You have
concerns over the tactics that your salespeople are using to obtain sales
although you are pleased with the sales numbers. The mission of your dealership
is to provide honest advice, fair prices, and a low pressure, hassle free sales
experience. You need to survey customers who recently purchased a vehicle to
see if in fact your sales team is living up to the mission of your dealership.
It’s also important to know the Net Promoter Score of the dealership. (Hint:
Google – Net Promoter Score to learn more.)
Respondents: Respond based on your last car buying
experience.
4. Post your survey link to the Discussion Board.
5. Take 6 surveys created by your classmates utilizing the
advice for survey takers.
6. Reply to 2 survey link posts with:
A Critique of whether or not you think their survey achieved
the objective.
Comments about the look and feel of their survey.
Any suggestions for improvement based on survey objective.
7. The goal here is to critically analyze the work of others
to make sure the survey is well constructed. Finally, take a look at the
results of your own survey. View the Analyzing Your Questionnaire below to
learn how to interpret survey results. Did the respondents answer the questions
asked? Had 100 or more people taken the survey, could you have answered your
research question or addressed your hypothesis? There is an entire science
dedicated to asking questions and how to do so properly. Following best
practices ensures both a reliable and valid survey instrument that can generate
useful data.
Analyzing Your Questionnaire (Links to an external site.)
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