How may the structure have facilitated organizational skewing?

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Groups may be both a boon (for example, they statistically outperform individuals) and a bane (for example, they take too long) of decision making. While they can systematically outperform individuals, groups are also prey to systematic bias and organizational skewing.

Consider the systematic decision-making processes of your own organization. Using the readings for this module, the  online library resources, and the Internet, respond to the following:

  • What are the group decision-making processes and structures in place at your current or with a previous employer that were designed to eliminate bias, create structure, and cultivate consistently better decisions?
  • Were the processes successful? Why, or why not?
  • How may the structure have facilitated organizational skewing?

Write your initial response in a minimum of 300 words. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

External Environmental Scan

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Assignment 2: External Environmental Scan

In order to develop effective strategies, it is critical to understand the marketplace environment. In this assignment you will explore the relationship between marketplace positioning based on environmental factors.

Throughout this capstone course, you will work on a strategy audit for a selected organization. In Module 1, you selected an organization for your course project activities. So far you have completed a market position analysis for your organization.

In this module you will conduct a comprehensive external environmental scan of your business unit, including a Five Forces analysis, to identify the relevant trends that pose opportunities or threats to your business. These will serve as inputs into a final SWOT analysis that will be due in Module 4: Assignment 2.

There are many elements that can go into an environmental scan, and your analysis will depend on the nature of your business unit, product portfolio, target market, and other factors related to the scope of your business.

Your environmental scan should include some or all of the following elements:

  • Economic factors and trends
  • Political factors and trends
  • Regulatory and legal factors and trends
  • Societal factors and trends
  • Technological factors and trends
  • Geographic factors and trends
  • Porter’s Five Forces that consists of the following aspects:
    • Threat of new competition
    • Threat of substitute products or services
    • Bargaining power of customers (buyers)
    • Bargaining power of suppliers
    • Intensity of competitive/industry rivalry

Although your analysis will be tailored to your specific business, be sure to cover the following:

  1. A thorough Five Forces analysis of your industry
  2. The key factors and trends in any other areas affecting your industry
  3. A preliminary classification of the external factors and trends as either opportunities or threats which will be the inputs for the final SWOT analysis

Write a 3-page report in Word format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M3_A2.doc.

By Sunday, November 10, 2013, deliver your assignment to the M3: Assignment 2 Dropbox.

Assignment Component
Proficiency
Maximum Points
Conduct a Five Forces analysis of your industry. The Five Forces analysis is complete and clear.
28
Summarize the key factors and trends in any other areas affecting your industry. Key factors and trends in other areas affecting the industry are clearly identified and concisely summarized. How they affect the industry is briefly explained.
24
Create a preliminary classification of the external factors and trends as either opportunities or threats (inputs into a SWOT) analysis. Classification of external factors and trends is clear and accurate. It specifically identifies and labels the factors and trends as opportunities or threats.
20
Write using ethical scholarship and proper grammar and mechanics. Writing is clear, concise, and in an organized manner; demonstrates ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; and displays accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

 
8
Total:
80

How should an HR department evolve to match a company’s expansion overseas?

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1. In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges facing MNC’s in today’s economy and why? Allow for political, technological, and economic challenges.

 

2. Why is it useful to have an 8-step negotiation model? What are the consequences if a step is skipped?

 

3. How should an HR department evolve to match a company’s expansion overseas? Which leadership roles are most important in this scenario?

 

4. Characterize the future of US-based companies desiring to expand overseas within the next 5 years. What political, economic, and technological challenges might those companies face and why? How can they be overcome?

Linear Programming: Production Problem

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A manufacturing company produces four different models of integrated circuits. Each type of circuit requires material, labor, and machine time. The optimal combination of the four types of circuits is limited by the constraints of availability for these three resources. The formulation of the linear programming production problem is:

Maximize Z = 12x1 + 10x2 + 15x3 + 11x4 (objective function for profit)

Subject to the following constraints:

Material: 5x1 + 3x2 + 4x3 + 2x4 = 240 pounds
Machine time: 6x1 + 8x2 + 2x3 + 3x4 = 240 hours
Labor: 2x1 + 3x2 + 3x3 + 2x4 = 180 hours

Nonnegativity: x1, x2, x3, x4 = 0

Where: x1 = quantity of Product 1 produced
x2 = quantity of Product 2 produced
x3 = quantity of Product 3 produced
x4 = quantity of Product 4 produced

Use Microsoft Excel and Solver to find the optimal solution for the production problem. Be sure that values selected by the computer are integers (as it doesn’t make any sense to discuss producing part of a unit of a product).

Include your interpretation of the results by stating:

  • How many of each product will be produced?
  • What is the profit for the optimal solution?
  • What resource(s) is limiting the production?

Submit the solution for the production problem in a Microsoft Excel worksheet with proper labeling for columns and all required calculations. Submit your interpretations in a 1- to 2-page Microsoft Word document.

Support your responses with examples.

Cite any sources in APA format.

Submission Details

Name your documents SU_MGT4059_W3_A2_LastName_FirstInitial.docx and SU_MGT4059_W3_A2_LastName_FirstInitial.xlsx.

Submit your documents to the W3 Assignment 2 Dropbox by Tuesday, November 26, 2013.

Assignment 2 Grading Criteria
Maximum Points
Correctly implemented this problem in Microsoft Excel using the Solver add-in.
60
Determined how many units of each product would be produced.
45
Determined the profit for the optimal allocation of resources.
35
Discussed the resource(s) that is limiting the system from producing even more units of product (and, thereby, earning more profit).
50
Written components.
10
Total:
200