Week 8 Assignment and Discussions

– (LEADERSHIP) M8D1: CSR and Leadership
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CSR and Leadership
In completing this activity, you will demonstrate the ability to relate the concept of corporate social responsibility to leaders’ roles.
Read about corporate social responsibility (CSR) and respond to the following:

CSR and going green—are these fads? Are they trends? Are they sustainable strategies? Give examples in your answer.
What role do leaders play in promoting ethics and CSR in organizations?

Be certain to integrate the readings and research from the online library to support your opinions. You must cite your sources in text and include multiple references in addition to the textbook for your initial response and your replies.
By Day 4 of the week:

Post your primary response.
By Day 7 of the week:
Respond to two or more of your colleagues’ postings in one or more of the following ways:

Address a colleague’s analysis and evaluation of the topic(s).
Expand or remark upon a colleague’s integration of relevant resources.
Answer question(s) posed by your colleague(s) for further discussion.
Link a colleague’s posting to other postings or to course materials and concepts, where appropriate and relevant.
Extend or constructively challenge your colleagues’ work.

Remember to read the feedback to your own major postings and reply to it throughout the module.

Consult the Discussion Posting Guide for information about writing your discussion posts. It is recommended that you write your post in a document first. Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to make your initial post, click on “Reply.” Then copy/paste the text into the message field, and click “Post Reply.” 
To respond to a peer, click “Reply” beneath her or his post and continue as with an initial post.
Evaluation

This discussion will be graded using a rubric. Please review this rubric prior to beginning your work. View the rubric by clicking on the gear icon at the top right side of this page or on the Course Rubrics page within the Start Here module. All discussions combined are worth 20% of your final course grade.
Keep the following points in mind:

Evaluation of CSR is logical and objective and supported by reasons and examples.
Leader’s role in promoting ethics and CSR is clearly described and is plausible.

–  M8A1: Final Project: Leadership Paper:

You have done a good deal of work on your Final Project in Modules 2–5. Read the guidelines for the paper below and review the work you have done so far. Complete and submit the paper in this module.
Guidelines for the Final Project Paper
Overview
You have acquired a great deal of knowledge about many topics relevant to managers and leaders. Using the leadership models you studied throughout the course and other relevant literature, you will develop an experiential case study of a leadership issue or problem from a past or current organization. This is your opportunity to demonstrate your ability to consider and recommend actions to successfully lead the organization through the issues and determine how the organization can be most competitive in the global environment.
Development of the Plan
You will identify a leadership issue or problem in your current organization or an organization that you have worked for in the past. Assume a leadership role. Develop and design a plan to successfully lead the organization through the dilemma using a leadership model and other relevant literature. You will look at the significance or implications to leadership and organizations and draw conclusions. The end product is a paper that presents a comprehensive plan for the organization that includes the concepts that you have learned from the textbook and outside resources. You must include citations in text and a reference page (APA format). The paper needs to be 10 – 15 pages (maximum), not including cover sheet and references page(s), should include 6 references minimum, and must be in APA style.
Parameters for the organization

You are free to describe the organization that you are currently associated with or one that you have been associated with in the past. You will need to provide some level of detail of your organization. Use your general knowledge, coursework, and research to accomplish this.
Even though you are required to provide general organizational details, your primary function is a leadership role. Analyze based on this premise.

Suggestions for developing the Overview/Background of the organization

What does the organization do and what is the organizational structure? Be specific. You may include an organizational chart.
What is the mission and vision of the organization?
How does the organization operate? How are tasks/work projects accomplished?
Is the organization domestic or international? What are its locations?
Who are the competitors?
What are the factors that you believe are critical to success in this organization?
What is the organizational culture?
How is information communicated within the organization?
Why would people want to work for this organization?
What is the leadership like? How are decisions made? What is the use of power and authority?
What is the teamwork like?
How is conflict resolved?

Structure of the document

Introduction
Background of the organization
Background of the problem/issue
Your leadership role
Plan/recommendations for leading the organization through the change using a leadership model and other literature to support your ideas and application
Significance or implications to leadership and organizations (supported by the literature)
Conclusions
References
Appendices (if applicable)

Compose your work in a .doc or .docx file type using a word processor (such as Microsoft Word, etc.) and save it frequently to your computer. For those assignments that are not written essays and require uploading images or PowerPoint slides, please follow uploading guidelines provided by your instructor. 
Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to submit your work, click “Upload Submission.” Enter the submission title and then click on “Select a file to upload.” Browse your computer, and select your file. Click “Open” and verify the correct file name has appeared next to Submission File. Click on “Continue.” Confirm submission is correct and then click on “Accept Submission & Save.” 
Turnitin® 
This course has Turnitin® fully integrated into the course dropbox. This means that you should only submit your assignments to the dropbox below. Please do not submit your assignment directly to Turnitin.com.  
Once submitted, your assignment will be evaluated by Turnitin® automatically. You will be able to view an Originality Report within minutes of your first submission that will show how much of your work has been identified as similar to other sources such as websites, textbooks, or other student papers. Use your Originality Report as a learning tool to identify areas of your assignment that you may not have cited appropriately. You may resubmit your assignment through this dropbox as many times as you need to check to see if you have made improvements, until the due date of the assignment. However, once you have made your first submission, you will need to wait 24 hours after each subsequent submission to receive a new Originality Report. Plan accordingly as you draft your assignment. Once the due date has passed, your assignment submission will be considered final.  
Evaluation 
This assignment will be graded using the SBT Research Paper Rubric located on the Course Rubrics page within the Start Here section of the course. Please review the rubric prior to beginning your work so that you ensure your submission meets the criteria in place for this assignment. This assignment is worth 30% of your final course grade. 
Keep the following points in mind:

Information about the organization is drawn from authoritative sources and appropriately summarized.
Leadership theories and models are accurately applied to the organization and its difficulties.
The problem or issue is accurately analyzed.
Recommendations for resolving the problem or issue are feasible and effective.

– (BUSINESS) M8, D1 PROCESS IMPROVEMENT PLAN PRESENTATION :

In this learning activity, we will evaluate process improvement plan presentations. Your presentation will be based on the process improvement plan you developed throughout the course. Your presentation will be graded by your instructor separately, while your discussion grade will be based on whether or not you post your presentation and the depth of your follow-up posts.

Your presentation should include:

A slide presentation 10-15 slides in length.
A 5 to 7 minute narration.
Presenter notes.
A discussion of the deficiencies in the current processes, your proposal of a new process, the requirements to successfully implement the process, and your plan of action.

The audience for your presentation is the board and stakeholders of the organization implementing the plan.

When responding to another student’s post consider the following:

What were the strengths of the presentation? Explain why.
How could the presentation have been improved? It is not acceptable to state no recommendations or to say they should continue with what they are already doing.
Justify your response with critical thinking and application of course material.

Your presentation should include the slides and be recorded with audio. You can use the following websites to narrate your presentation:
Screencast O Matic

Present.me
Things to Remember!

Post your presentation to the discussion board by Thursday at 11:59 pm ET. Include the title of your presentation in the subject line of your discussion thread.
Be sure to review your writing for grammar and spelling before posting. Read any postings already provided by your instructor or fellow students.
Respond to two other students.
Remember to read the feedback to your own major postings and reply to it throughout the module.

For information about writing your discussion posts, consult Discussion Tips. Be sure to check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors before you post it. When you are ready to make your initial posting, please click on the “Create Thread” button, copy/paste the text from your document into the message field and click “Submit.”
Use the EC Library resources to properly cite your work:

APA Format Tip Sheet [PDF, 176.82 KB]
Citing Sources 
Plagiarism & Copyright

Review the SBT Discussion Rubric located in the “Start Here-Course Information” section of the course for more information on grading criteria. Please review the rubric carefully so you are familiar with the expectations of the activity.

– M8A1 Process Improvement Plan: Finalize Your Plan:

Your company has asked you to create a process improvement plan. Your process improvement plan will evaluate an area in which managers are consistently falling short of expectations. Here are a few areas that managers commonly miss the mark on:

Effective motivation
Sharing the vision
Setting effective expectations
Holding employees accountable
Helping employees with career development

For this assignment, you will select an organization to create a process improvement plan for. This may be the organization you work for or another real organization that you are familiar with.
A thorough process improvement plan provides an overview of the problem, identifies the current processes in place and why they are ineffective, presents a proposal for a new process, establishes the goals and objectives of the new process, the resource requirements to incorporate the new process, the risks associated with the new process, and finally includes a plan of action stating how the process can be integrated.

Your plan will include the following key components:

Statement of the Problem

What is the problem with the current processes and why are they ineffective?
State the current policy and procedure.
Provide examples that show a direct correlation between the processes and the deficiencies in management.

SWOT Analysis

Provide a mini-SWOT analysis on the current processes.
You should clearly highlight the weaknesses as you will be convincing the board and the stakeholders that the process does in fact need to be changed.

Process Proposal

After identifying the problem, you will need to propose a new process.
Provide evidence that the new process will be better than the old process.
Prove that this process is in line with the organization’s goals.

Goals and Objectives of the Process

What do you hope to accomplish by implementing the new process?
When specifically when do you plan to fully integrate the new process? Create a timeline.
Specifically demonstrate the value of your process to the organization.

Identification of Required Resources

How much will it cost the organization to create this new process?
What human resources will we need in order to complete this project successfully?
How long do you plan to spend fully integrating the process, training employees, and updating all documents?

Budget

After identifying the required resources, determine your budget.
Consider things such as paying employees for training on the new process, or the time lost doing evaluations to determine whether or not managers are following the new process.
This budget should include not only money, but time as well.

Risk Assessment

What obstacles will prevent you from integrating the new process?
How do you plan to manage these obstacles and risks?

Plan of Action

Provide the exact steps you will take to fully integrate the new process.
After creating your plan of action, compile all of these components together into one final plan.

Each week you completed one or more of the required elements listed above. Feedback was provided by your instructor and must be incorporated into your final submission. Your completed process improvement plan should be a minimum of 15 to 18 pages and address, in a comprehensive fashion, each of the areas listed above. Research should be included where appropriate with proper in-text citations and a properly formatted reference page. The expectation is that you will support the information provided in your process improvement plan with a minimum of ten credible resources.
Things to Remember!

Include justification from your research for each of the parts of your marketing plan.
Incorporate graphics such as tables, graphs, charts, etc. to justify your claims.
Format following APA guidelines.

Compose your work using a word processor (or other software as appropriate) and save it frequently to your computer. Be sure to check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors before you upload it. When you are ready to submit your work, click “Browse My Computer” and find your file. Once you have located your file, click “Open” and, if successful, the file name will appear under the Attached files heading. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Submit.”
This assignment is worth 30% of your overall course grade. This assignment will be evaluated according to the M8A1 rubric. Please review the rubric carefully so you are familiar with the expectations of the activity.
Review the SBT M8A1 Rubric by clicking on the “View Rubric” button at the top of this page, or by going to the “Start Here-Course Information” section of the course to see more information on grading criteria.
For more information about the final project, please see the Process Improvement Plan – Final Project Overview. 

– M8A2 Process Improvement Plan: Presentation:

Here is where you will submit your presentation from the discussion forum for a grade.

Compose your work using a word processor (or other software as appropriate) and save it frequently to your computer. Be sure to check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors before you upload it. When you are ready to submit your work, click “Browse My Computer” and find your file. Once you have located your file, click “Open” and, if successful, the file name will appear under the Attached files heading. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Submit.”
This assignment is worth 25% of your course grade and will be evaluated according to the M8A2 rubric. Please review the rubric carefully so you are familiar with the expectations of the activity.
Review the SBT M8A2 Rubric by clicking on the “View Rubric” button at the top of this page, or by going to the “Start Here-Course Information” section of the course to see more information on grading criteria.