capella MBA6022 unit 1 dq 1 & dq 2 latest 2016 feb.
Discussion Posting Expectations
Before starting your first discussion, please review the following discussion posting expectations for the course:
- Actively participate in discussions. To do this, you should create one initial substantive post for each of the discussion topics. Each post should demonstrate your achievement of the participation criteria.
- Respond to the posts of at least two of your fellow learners for each discussion question per weekâunless the discussion instructions state otherwise.
- These responses to other learners should also be substantive posts that contribute to the conversation by asking questions, respectfully debating positions, and presenting supporting information relevant to the topic.
- Also, respond to any follow-up questions the instructor directs to you in the discussion area.
In summary, each week you will have:
- One initial post for each discussion question.
- Two response posts to other learners for each discussion question.
Activity Instructions
In your assignments throughout this course, you will build an operations improvement plan (OIP) based on the real-world example of the Toyota Motor Corporation’s recent product failure crisis. For this discussion, complete the following:
- Using the research you have conducted on the Toyota accelerator crisis and this unit’s readings, address the following questions:
- Based on strategic, structural, and cultural challenges, consider the causes of Toyota’s accelerator recall crisis. Why is Toyota facing this crisis?
- How are Toyota’s management, employees, and external stakeholders able to support their corporate brand?
- Has Toyota effectively adhered to ethics and managed public relations in the United States? Who should be accountable for this activity? Has the company lost sight of its long-term philosophy, a key principle behind “the Toyota Way”?
- How could Toyota’s crisis management be improved?
- What are several dimensions of quality that were not properly addressed by Toyota, prior to this crisis?
Response Guidelines
Read the posts of your peers and respond to at least two. When responding to others, seek clarification, share your personal experiences that relate to their experiences, and provide feedback on their posts.
dq 2
Activity Instruction
Using Deming’s 1987 article, “Transformation of Today’s Management,” address the following:
- Explain how you think some or all the principles proposed in his 14 Points for Management apply to the candidate processes you identified for your assignment in this unit. Explain why.
- What additional information would you need to better understand the process?
Response Guidelines
Read the posts of your peers and respond to at least two. When responding to others, seek clarification, share your personal experiences that relate to their experiences, and provide feedback on their posts.
capella MBA6022 unit 2 dq 1 & dq 2 latest 2016 feb.dq 1
Activity Instructions
For this discussion, read the library article “What Is Strategy?” by Porter (1996) and review the case study Toyota: The Accelerator Crisis(2010) by Greto, Schotter, and Teagarden. Then, respond to the following questions:
- Describe the four basic types of production processes. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? When should each be used?
- Consider the Porter article in the context of the Toyota accelerator crisis.
- Porter claims that operational effectiveness is not a strategy. Why was operational effectiveness such a focus at Toyota, prior to the recall crisis?
- What are the downsides of lean manufacturing?
- Throughout the recall situation, has Toyota successfully enacted the principles espoused by “the Toyota Way”? What has the company done well, and where is there room for improvement?
- In pursuing its aggressive global expansion, what tradeoffs has Toyota made? How effectively has the company managed the tension between global standardization and local responsiveness? Have the company’s value chain activities been managed effectively?
- Had Toyota sacrificed quality and customer focus at the expense of extreme cost reductions?
- What role has Toyota’s supply chain and keiretsu structure played in the recall?
- What lessons can other companies take from Toyota’s crisis?
Response Guidelines
Read the posts of your peers and respond to at least two. When responding to others, seek clarification, share your personal experiences that relate to their experiences, and provide feedback on their posts.
dq 2
Activity Instruction
This unit’s assignment includes developing a problem statement for your OIP. An important step in this development is to clearly identify the problem.
For this discussion, consider problem statements as you respond to the following:
- In the development of a problem statement, what are some components you consider important when identifying the real causes of a problem?
- How would you describe a problem in a way that is clear to the management team that will be evaluating the OIP?
- Why is it important to keep your audience in mind as you determine what level of information and detail is appropriate?
- What role does the cost-benefit relationship play as you frame the problem and proposed opportunity?
Response Guidelines
Read the posts of your peers and respond to at least two. When responding to others, seek clarification, share your personal experiences that relate to their experiences, and provide feedback on their posts.
capella MBA6022 unit 3 dq 1 & dq 2 latest 2016 feb.dq 1
Activity Instruction
For this discussion, review the case study Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A., Inc. (1995) by Mishina and the article “What Really Happened to Toyota?” by Cole (2011). Then, respond to the following questions:
- If you were Doug Friesen, manager of assembly at the company’s Georgetown, Kentucky, plant, what would you do to address the seat problem? Where would you focus your attention and solution efforts?
- What options exist? What would you recommend? Why?
- Where, if at all, does the current routine for handling defective seats deviate from the principles of the Toyota Production System?
- What is the real problem facing Doug Friesen?
- What is your plan to solve the seat problem?
- Is the production in Toyota a lean production? Why?
Response Guidelines
Read the posts of your peers and respond to at least two. When responding to others, seek clarification, share your personal experiences that relate to their experiences, and provide feedback on their posts.
dq 2
Activity Instruction
For this discussion, analyze the features of a flow chart that helped you to understand the process you are addressing in your course project. In addition, explain how you intend to use these features to support your process improvement objectives.
Response Guidelines
Read the posts of your peers and respond to at least two. When responding to others, seek clarification, share your personal experiences that relate to their experiences, and provide feedback on their posts.
capella MBA6022 unit 4 dq 1 & dq 2 latest 2016 feb.dq 1
Activity Instruction
Respond to the following:
- Describe three strategies for expanding capacity. What are the advantages and disadvantages of incremental versus one-step expansion?
- Review the case study Southwest Airlines 2011 (2011). Describe Southwest Airlines’ strategy and process, and then respond to the following questions in view of your knowledge about expanding capacity:
- Is the United States airline industry attractive?
- Why is Southwest successful?
- How easy would it be to imitate this strategy?
- Is the strategy sustainable?
- Should Southwest become an international airline?
Response Guidelines
Respond to the posts of two peers. When responding to others, seek clarification, share your personal experiences that relate to their experiences, and provide feedback on their posts.
dq 2
Activity Instruction
Deming (1987) states that one of the seven deadly diseases is using only visible figures as an input to management.
- How do you think this concept could affect your selection of data and measurement strategies?
- When historical data are not available and the product or service is new, how would you go about arriving at a reasonable forecast?
- Explain this as it relates to your job or personal experience.
Response Guidelines
Read the posts of your peers and respond to at least two. When responding to others, seek clarification, share your personal experiences that relate to their experiences, and provide feedback on their posts.
Reference
Deming, W. E. (1987). Transformation of today’s management. Leadership Excellence, 4(12), 8.
capella MBA6022 unit 5 dq 1 latest 2016 feb.dq 1
Activity Instruction
For this discussion, refer to Chapter 13 of your Operations and Supply Chain Managementtextbook, and review the case study Scientific Glass, Inc.: Inventory Management(2011) by Wheelwright and Schmidt. Respond to the following questions:
- Identify the two basic decisions addressed by inventory management, and discuss why the responses to these decisions differ for continuous and periodic inventory systems.
- What were the problems facing Scientific Glass, Inc. in January 2010?
- How much external funding would have to been raised in 2010 in order to finance operations?
- How do Scientific Glass, Inc.’s problems illustrate the relationship between the number of warehouses and inventory levels?
- What alternatives are available for dealing with the inventory problems? How would you evaluate the alternatives?
- What actions should Eva Beane have proposed to Eric Gregory and Melissa Hayes?
Response Guidelines
Read the posts of your peers and respond to at least two. When responding to others, seek clarification, share your personal experiences that relate to their experiences, and provide feedback on their posts.
capella MBA6022 unit 6 dq 1 & dq 2 latest 2016 feb.dq 1
For this discussion, reflect on the knowledge and skills you have developed over the past six weeks. Address the following questions in your post:
- How has your ability to perform these skills and apply this knowledge evolved?
- What concepts, skills, or insights were most relevant to you?
- How have you grown in your academic and professional goals? Have you made progress on any items in the action plan you developed during first course?
Response Guidelines
Read the posts of your peers and respond to at least two. When responding to others, seek clarification, share your personal experiences that relate to their experiences, and provide feedback on their posts.
dq 2
For this discussion, reflect on the knowledge and skills you have developed over the past six weeks. Address the following questions in your post:
- How has your ability to perform these skills and apply this knowledge evolved?
- What concepts, skills, or insights were most relevant to you?
- How have you grown in your academic and professional goals? Have you made progress on any items in the action plan you developed during first course?
Response Guidelines
Read the posts of your peers and respond to at least two. When responding to others, seek clarification, share your personal experiences that relate to their experiences, and provide feedback on their posts.
capella MBA6022 unit 1 assignment 1 latest 2016 feb.
This assignment helps you develop the skills to master the following course competencies:
- Develop innovative and sustainable solutions to strategic and global operations management challenges.
- Apply theories, models, and practices of global operations management to address business problems.
- Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for members of the business professions.
Activity Overview
In your assignments throughout this course, you will build an operations improvement plan (OIP) based on the real-world example of the Toyota Motor Corporation’s recent product failure crisis. The essential purpose of an OIP is to provide the rationale and data to support a change proposal for a particular organizational process that could benefit from improvement. It is a formal recommendation presented to an audience of organizational leaders. The OIP contains data-based descriptions of the existing problems and presents ideas for effectively modifying the organizational process. At the core of an OIP are a variety of tools that can be used to both analyze findings and present them for an executive audience.
If you have not already done so, take some time now to read all of the assignments for this course. Each of the first five assignments represents a component of a typical OIP. For the final assignment, you will compile your work to deliver a finalized OIP, incorporating updates and focusing on the message you want to deliver to the organizational leaders (in this case, the leaders at Toyota Motor Corporation).
Note that several case studies and library resources that address the Toyota accelerator crisis have been assigned throughout the course. These materials should give you a starting point for your research, but it will be necessary for you to conduct further independent research on the Toyota crisis in order to build your OIP. The Capella library is a recommended source of scholarly and professional information on the subject.
Activity Instructions
For this assignment, complete the following:
- Using your preliminary research, identify several of Toyota’s existing organizational processes at the time of the accelerator crisis. You will be developing an OIP that would replace some (or one) of these processes.
- For each process you identify, write a short summary addressing the following specific topics. Your analyses should be as thorough as possible. Be sure to cite your resources for this information.
- Importance: What is the importance of the process to the Toyota organization?
- Scope: What is the scope of this process (what is the breadth of its reach)?
- Parties involved: What customers, as well as internal and external suppliers, are affected by this
- process?
- Priority: What is the timeliness or urgency for resolving the issues involved in this process?
- Benefits: What is the overall impact or benefit for Toyota in improving this process?
- Cost: What are the costs to Toyota if the process is not improved?
- Select one of the processes you have identified as needing improvement to use as the basis for your operations improvement plan (OIP). Select a process that lends itself to an in-depth analysis and that is important to the Toyota corporation. Be sure to focus on a process that you will be able to evaluate and address within the scope of your OIP, given the relatively short duration of this course. Take into account the amount of time required to complete the OIP.
- Explain why you think this process should be addressed, focusing on your analysis of its importance to the organization and how the process would benefit from improvement.
Submission Requirements
- Written communication:Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
- Resources:Minimum of 2 sources required.
- Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12-point.
Refer to the Process Identification Scoring Guide to ensure that you meet the grading criteria for this assignment.
Note: Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.
capella MBA6022 unit 2 assignment 1 latest 2016 feb.
- Apply theories, models, and practices of global operations management to address business problems.
- Integrate operations management analyses into general business management planning and decision making.
- Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for members of the business professions.
Activity Instructions
Based on the information you gathered in your process identification assignment in Unit 1, you selected a process to carry forward through the remainder of your Operations Improvement Plan (OIP) project. The process selected should lend itself to an in-depth analysis and should be important to Toyota.
In this assignment, write a report analyzing the organizational problem and the process you have identified for your OIP. Outline your process improvement idea, including the following elements:
- Problem statement:What exactly needs to be improved? Use problem framing and cause-and-effect analysis to develop a brief, preliminary problem statement. Note: You will expand your problem statement in the Unit 3 assignment.
- Background of the issue: Detail relevant historical data, including how long the problem has been occurring, and what it is costing the organization. Note: You are not expected to provide specific data results at this early stage of your investigation.
- Implications: What could happen if the problem continues as it is? What could happen if the process is improved? Outline both tangible and intangible pros and cons for improving the issue or ignoring it. Identify some potential general business results and impacts on business relationships.
- Desired outcome: How will your new process be different from the old? What competitive advantages will it yield? How will it impact stakeholders? Consider the cost-benefits of the process improvement, estimating how much will it cost the organization and outlining how costs will be offset by the benefits derived.
Submission Requirements
- Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
- Resources:Minimum of 1 source required.
- Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12-point.
Review the Process Improvement Scoring Guide to make sure you have met all of the criteria of this assignment.
Note:Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.
capella MBA6022 unit 3 assignment 1 latest 2016 feb.
This assignment helps you develop the skills to master the following course competencies:
- Develop innovative and sustainable solutions to strategic and global operations management challenges.
- Apply theories, models, and practices of global operations management to address business problems.
- Integrate operations management analyses into general business management planning and decision making.
- Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for members of the business professions.
Activity Instruction
You have examined and broadly identified the organizational problem you will address in your OIP and have begun to identify the new process you would propose to address it. The next critical step is to refine your problem statement by defining and demonstrating the problem and process in detail. There are a number of tools you can use to do this. Two of the most useful are the cause-and-effect diagram and the process flowchart.
For this assignment, complete the following:
- Create a cause-and-effect diagram to identify, analyze, and graphically depict all potential causes related to the problem, in order to uncover its root causes.
- Create a graphic flowchart that briefly details all of the steps you will need to implement in your new process, over time. Identify what this flowchart reveals about the following:
- Previously unidentified yet important steps.
- Products or services that should have been undergoing quality checks but were not.
- Instances in the old process when critical information was not shared among all involved people and functions.
- Create a before-and-after flowchart that illustrates the process that was used before your proposed improvements and what it might look like after your recommendations are incorporated.
- Based on the preliminary problem statement you developed in Unit 2, briefly describe the scope of your process improvement objective. For this assignment, focus on only one of the contributing causes of the problem.
- Write a refined version of your problem statement based on what you have learned about your objective by using the diagram and flowchart tools.
Submission Requirements
- Written communication:Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- APA formatting:Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
- Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12-point.
Review the Refining the Problem Statement Scoring Guide to make sure you have met all of the criteria of this assignment.
Note:Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.
capella MBA6022 unit 4 assignment 1 latest 2016 feb.
This assignment helps you develop the skills to master the following course competencies:
- Develop innovative and sustainable solutions to strategic and global operations management challenges.
- Apply theories, models, and practices of global operations management to address business problems.
- Integrate operations management analyses into general business management planning and decision making.
- Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for members of the business professions.
Activity Instructions
There are two parts to this assignment.
Part 1:Continue your analysis of the organizational problem and the process you will propose in your OIP by researching, collecting, and verifying further data. Complete the following:
- Address the following questions, as well as any other new questions you encounter in your research:
- Does any information from the cause-and-effect diagram or the flowcharts you created in Unit 3 seem to point to a particular cause?
- Does your cause-and-effect diagram conflict with your flowchart? If so, how?
- Does the cause-and-effect diagram reveal any process steps that were not previously documented?
- Do you need to do further research on any causes identified in the cause-and-effect diagram?
- Is there a key stakeholder who might have additional or updated feedback for the process flowchart? If so, identify the position (or role) of the stakeholder and describe what he or she might say.
- Does any of this information change or impact your problem statement?
- Update the before-and-after flowchart you initially created in Unit 3, changing the information based on your new findings, focused on the causes of the organizational problem. Write a summary describing your revisions to the flowchart. Describe how (if at all) your problem statement is impacted by the revisions. Include copies of both the original flowchart and the revised version within the text of your paper.
Part 2:The tool that you use to measure the effectiveness of your new process will make a difference in defining and quantifying your outcomes. For this part of your assignment, complete the following:
- Research various measurement strategies that you might use for your OIP.
- Develop a measurement strategy that enables you to measure the improvements your proposed process will offer. Your measurement strategy should help you determine whether the results are actually positive and ensure that your process does not have an unanticipated negative impact elsewhere. Note that you may need to revise your measurement strategy as more historical data is gathered.
- Identify what types of quantitative or qualitative measures you will employ in your measurement strategy, including the following:
- An analysis of potential quantitative and qualitative measurement strategies that would apply to your OIP.
- A description of the qualitative or quantitative measure (or measures) you have chosen.
- A description of how often the improvement results are measured when using this strategy.
Submission Requirements
- Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
- Resources:Minimum of 2 sources required.
- Font and font size:Times New Roman, 12-point.
Review the Management Strategy Scoring Guide to make sure you have met all of the criteria of this assignment.
Note:Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.
capella MBA6022 unit 5 assignment 1 latest 2016 feb.
This assignment helps you develop the skills to master the following course competencies:
- Apply theories, models, and practices of global operations management to address business problems.
- Integrate operations management analyses into general business management planning and decision making.
- Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for members of the business professions.
Activity Instructions
In this assignment, you will build support for your OIP by collecting and evaluating data. Then you will update the completed portions of your OIP based on your results. Complete the following to prepare for this assignment:
- Start by researching and identifying data collection tools that would be appropriate for your OIP.
- Select one appropriate tool and use it to collect your data. It may not be possible to collect actual data for your OIP within the time constraints and scope of this course. Instead, you may need to make assumptions about the data you would expect to collect.
- Evaluate the data to draw relevant information from your results.
- Analyze how your results enhance, support, or change the portions of the OIP you have already developed (the problem statement, flowchart, measurement strategy, and anticipated recommendations).
- Finally, modify your OIP, based on your findings.
Then, write a paper that includes the following:
- A brief evaluation of the most appropriate tools and techniques for collecting real or anticipated data for your OIP.
- An explanation of why the data collection tool you have chosen is best suited for your OIP. Include the following as appendices to your paper:
- A prototype (or template) of the tool proposed.
- A realistic (either real or simulated) data sample using your collection tool.
- A description of your data collection process. If you are doing a simulated data collection, describe the process you would have used.
- A summary describing how the data results enhance, support, or change the following:
- The problem statement.
- The flowchart.
- The measurement strategy.
- Your anticipated recommendations.
Submission Requirements
- Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- APA formatting:Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
- Resources:Minimum of 2 sources required.
- Font and font size:Times New Roman, 12-point.
Review the OIP Implementation Scoring Guide to make sure you have met all of the criteria of this assignment.
Note: Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.
capella MBA6022 unit 6 assignment 1 latest 2016 feb.
This assignment helps you develop the skills to master the following course competencies:
- Develop innovative and sustainable solutions to strategic and global operations management challenges.
- Apply theories, models, and practices of global operations management to address business problems.
- Integrate operations management analyses into general business management planning and decision-making.
- Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for members of the business professions.
Activity Instruction
In this assignment, you will submit your final operations improvement plan (OIP). Your final OIP should be divided into five basic components:
- Process Identification.
- Process Improvement.
- Defining the Problem Statement.
- Measurement Strategy.
- Data Collection and Evaluation Tools.
You have developed each of these components as individual assignments and you have updated them as your OIP has developed. Take into consideration all of the research and groundwork you have completed thus far. Incorporate feedback from previous assignments as well as the tools, techniques, and methodologies you have examined throughout the course. Finalize your comprehensive OIP as if you were to present it as a formal recommendation to the organizational leaders of the Toyota Motor Corporation. Focus your writing appropriately for that audience.
Your final OIP should include the following elements:
- A problem statement, including an overview of the Toyota recall crisis, with a brief history and description
Categories: