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Argosy University COURSE SYLLABUS B6028 Solutions to Organizational Challenges Chicago Campus, Spring 2009-I

Faculty Information Faculty Name: Bharat S. Thakkar, Ph.D. Campus: Chicago Contact Information: (312)777-7716, [email protected] Office Hours: Fridays 4:00p.m.-5:55p.m. and by appointment Short Faculty Bio

Currently Thakkar is Associate Professor and core faculty for business graduate programs at the Chicago Campus. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Illinois Institute of Technology at Chicago in 1967 and 1976, respectively. He has been engaged in the practice of electronic systems packaging, design, development, compliance, and reliability engineering over last thirty years of which last twenty-six years were spent with Lucent Technologies (formerly AT&T Bell Laboratories). He has addressed the problems of system reliability, electronic packaging, shock and vibration, thermal management and physical design. Prior to joining Bell Labs, Thakkar was engaged in research and development of materials forming. He has been active in teaching at the Illinois Institute of Technology as Adjunct Associate Professor in Mechanical, Mechanics, and the Aerospace Engineering Department. He also taught at the Midwest College of Engineering, where he was Chairman of Mechanical Engineering Department. Bharat published and presented over twenty technical papers and holds two U. S. patents. He also has received several awards for community service and affirmative action activities at Bell Labs.

In fall of 1997, IIT conferred Alva C. Todd Professorship upon Dr. Thakkar. This honor is granted to a part-time faculty member who has a minimum of 15 years of peer-recognized experience in the field of engineering with significant responsibility for engineering projects, design and research. Dr. Thakkar was also appointed as a member of the Education Task Force of the Electrical and Electronic Packaging Division (EEPD) in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Currently, as Consultant and CEO, PREM Group, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois, he offers workshops and seminars to domestic and international clients.

Course description: This is a Capstone Course that "puts it all together" through a program application project. Students must complete a minimum of 30 semester credit hours before taking this course. The course is intended to help students frame unstructured business problems. Students must identify the central issues and determine the most appropriate tools and concepts from the core curriculum to apply in order to gain insight into these issues. This approach helps develop a cross-functional approach to business

issues. Students are engaged in a project with an outside organization of their own choosing and receive extensive feedback as they carry out the project. Their project is presented to a faculty panel acting as decision makers for the organization.

Course Pre-requisites: None

Required Textbook: Thompson, A. A., Strickland, A. I., & Gamble, J. E. (2008). Crafting and executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage: Concepts and cases. (16/e). Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 0-07-338124-1

Course length: 7.5 Weeks

Contact Hours: 45 Hours

Credit Value: 3.0

Program Outcomes: 1. Communication 1.1. Oral/Written – Present business information orally and in writing using appropriate technology that is concise, clear, organized, supported, and persuasive in a professional manner appropriate to the business context 2. Critical Thinking/Problem Solving 2.1. Critical Thinking – Incorporate and synthesize information, theory, and practice in order to implement appropriate business actions 2.2. Problem Solving/Decision Making – Given a business situation, diagnose the underlying causes of the situation, evaluate possible solutions, and determine and defend appropriate course of action 2.3. Information Literacy – Access information from a variety of sources, evaluate the credibility of the sources, and apply that information to solve business problems 3. Team 3.1. Leadership – Describe the requirements of team members and leaders to work effectively and creatively in achieving team goals 3.2. Collaboration – Collect, categorize, and consider the views of all stakeholders 4. Ethics 4.1. Ethics – Identify the ethical principles related to personal and corporate behavior in specific business situations and explains the potential consequences 5. Diversity 5.1. Diversity – Identify the impact of both cultural and economic factors on the modern enterprise and explain the potential consequences 6. Analysis/Application 6.1. Applied Technology – Select and defend business technology solutions to typical business problems 6.2. Integration – Describe the interrelationship of the functional business areas of statistics, accounting, finance, marketing, operations, and strategy within the context of specific organizational goals

Course Objectives: 1. Communication: Oral/Written – Present business information orally and in writing using appropriate technology that is concise, clear, organized, supported, and persuasive in a professional manner appropriate to the business context 2. Critical Thinking – Incorporate and synthesize information, theory, and practice in order to implement appropriate business actions 3. Problem Solving/Decision Making – Given a business situation, diagnose the underlying causes of the situation, evaluate possible solutions, and determine and defend appropriate course of action 4. Information Literacy – Access information from a variety of sources, evaluate the credibility of the sources, and apply that information to solve business problems 5. Leadership – Describe the requirements of team members and leaders to work effectively and creatively in achieving team goals 6. Collaboration – Collect, categorize, and consider the views of all stakeholders 7. Ethics – Identify the ethical principles related to personal and corporate behavior in specific business situations and explains the potential consequences 8. Diversity – Identify the impact of both cultural and economic factors on the modern enterprise and explain the potential consequences 9. Applied Technology – Select and defend business technology solutions to typical business problems 10. Integration – Describe the interrelationship of the functional business areas of statistics, accounting, finance, marketing, operations, and strategy within the context of specific organizational goals

College of Business Mission Statement The Argosy University College of Business is dedicated to providing practical, evidence-based, high-quality, solutions-focused business programs at the undergraduate and graduate level, as well as continuing business education and specified certificate training to business practitioners and educators in public, private, and non-profit sectors across industries. All undergraduate and graduate programs of the College of Business are designed for the business practitioner and business educator, to instill excellence of execution in knowledge, skills, and ethical values relevant to today’s global business environment. The inherent goal of these academic programs is to foster values of social responsibility in a supportive, learning-centered environment of mutual respect and professional excellence.

Assignment Table

Topics Readings Assignments 1  Introduce SFL Textbook Solutions Focused Learning (SFL) - Project Scenario Description Guidelines & Process Chapter 1: What is – Scenario and Strategy and Why is This project requires research, imagination, and logic in applying the content Storyboards it Important? of this course and the various text and article readings. You will assume roles of top management, such as CEO, CFO, CIO, and COO, and apply knowledge Allio, R. J. (2006). gained through the weeks to an imaginary company. Your company has been STUDENT SFL Strategic thinking: operating in the domestic aviation arena for some time. You will examine and Guide.doc The ten big ideas. evaluate the situation from a leadership perspective and will propose the  Business Strategy Strategy & solutions necessary to take the company global. Your aim will be to suggest Leadership. Chicago. ways to gain and maintain competitive advantage, with a focus on creating 34(4), 4. value over time.

This course is grounded in the learning objectives of the curriculum. The scenario provides you with an opportunity to view real-world issues and challenges and will help you practice the application of knowledge gleaned. You must identify the central issues and determine the most appropriate tools and concepts from the core curriculum to apply in order to gain insight into these issues.

Student Role

As an active student, your role is paramount to a successful learning experience. In this Capstone course, you have the opportunity to review various types of businesses and situations. This course will provide you a chance to develop a cross-functional approach to identify the central issues and apply the appropriate tools and concepts in order to gain insight and resolve specific business issues.

You will assume a leadership role. Over the course of the next seven weeks, you will work to examine the issues and problems facing the industry, generate solutions to the problems, and create the necessary vision and instruments of change required to transform the industry into a viable competitive force in the 21st Century.

Assignment # M1/A1: Sharing Decision-Making Experiences

Individually, write an account of yourself in about 100 words or more, exploring the dimensions of your personal and professional qualifications and interests.

Go to Discussion Board.

Assignment # M1/A2: Time To Go International

Include the following issues in the project plan:

 Entry strategy  Reasons for the strategy  Organizational chart showing the company's domestic operations and prospective overseas operations, with rationale

At the end of the course, in Week 8, you will collate all information you have gathered into a business plan using the Organizing Project document. Go through the sections in this document to get an idea of how your final project submission will take shape. This is necessary because this will ensure that your project task in each module is completed with this final goal in mind.

Discuss the following:

 Process to complete the entire project  Issues that will be solved in the project

Go to Discussion Board. 2 Company Situational Textbook Assignment # M2/A1: Ethical Decision Making Analysis Chapter 2: The Mission Statement Managerial Process The purpose of this individual assignment is to help you learn more about Ethical Decision Making of Crafting and ethical decision making and company situational analysis. Consider the Executing Strategy issues on ethical decision making and company situational analysis and write a one- or two-page analysis of the article in double-spaced format. Your Chapter 10: Strategy, analysis should address the following issues: Ethics, and Social Responsibility Adhere to APA standards as established in the 5th edition. Submit your

analysis to the instructor.

Assignment # M2/A2: Ethics and Situational Analysis

Your process of researching the industry will help you identify the problems. It will also give you clues about possible solutions. You will conduct a situation analysis of your company and define its ethical code of conduct. This will happen at two levels:

 Internally, you will thoroughly chart your company's position, including its customers, its strengths, its growth capacity, and the current market environment. This will help you define your company’s ethical code of conduct.

 Externally, you will conduct an industry analysis through readings and research. You will need to read about the global trends in the aviation industry and evaluate future trends.

You will consider the importance of ethical principles, personal and company values, and socially responsible management practices. Based on this, your team will provide an understanding of the competitive challenges in the global market environment.

Analyze the findings to develop a mission statement and a cultural profile of the local area in which you will be operating.

Create an five-slide PowerPoint presentation of your mission statement and the cultural profile of the country in which you will operate, and submit to Discussion Board. Adhere to APA standards as established in the 5th edition. 3  Industry and Textbook Assignment # M3/A1: Value Chain and Competitive Analysis Competitive Analysis Chapter 3: Evaluating  Key Success Factors a Company’s External Find a case study and analyze the Value Chain and Competitive Analysis  Value Chain Environment  Porter’s Competitive Go to Discussion Board. Strategy Model Chapter 4: Evaluating a Company’s Resources and Assignment # M3/A2: Industry and Competitive Analysis

Competitive Position In the previous modules, you identified a country of operation for your company, decided on the entry strategy, and organization structure. Next, you identified ethical issues related to overseas operations. You developed your company’s mission statement and the cultural profile of the country where your overseas operation will be located. You identified the human resources challenges, issues concerning the local government, suppliers, distributors, and so on.

In this assignment, you will evaluate your company's value chain, decide on its overseas staffing policy, and analyze the industry and competitive forces. This evaluation will help you identify the key success factors in your overseas operations. Present your findings in a PowerPoint presentation of five to seven slides. Submit the PowerPoint presentation to Discussion Board. 4  Crafting Strategy Textbook Assignment # M4/A1: Choosing an Operating Strategy  Operating Strategy Chapter 5: The Five Generic Competitive Individually read the following: Strategies: Which One to Employ? Choosing an operating strategy Chapter 6: Supplementing the Write an analysis on an article, in one to two pages in double-spaced format, Chosen Competitive answering the questions below: Strategy: Other Important Strategy Consider the following pointers to help you write your analysis on the article: Choices  Research the company of your interest.

 Conduct a strategic analysis exploring the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

 Investigate what services are offered

 Research the top four leaders comparing and contrasting each.

 Use the Argosy University online library and find articles

Go to Discussion Board.

Assignment # M4/A2: Mid-Project Assessment

In this module, you will conduct a Mid-Project Assessment of the project that you are creating, and compile the findings in the downloadable Mid-Project Assessment document.

AU_B6028_MidProjec tAssessment[1]

Incorporate the concepts learned until now and then step back and assess what you learned in the previous modules. The document should reflect the scenario completed so far, including:

 Your decision on expanding your company overseas.

 Your organizational chart depicting your domestic and overseas operations developed to gain a broad-level understanding of these operations

 Your studies of the industry environment and critical operational factors to support your decision. Your company’s ethical policy and principles for overseas operations. Include the cultural and workforce profile you created to state this.

 Your consideration of the usual overseas concerns, such as the local government, suppliers, distributors, and so on.

 Your identification of the key success factors for your company. Include your analysis of the value chain and staffing policy of senior members in your overseas operation.

 Your analysis that supports your research on the industry.

Now, you will focus on the company's operating strategy by examining, at a macro level, the strategies for individual business

units. You will consider legal, financial, and marketing strategies. These will help you to focus on your objective of having a profitable overseas operation. 5  Differentiation, Niche Textbook Assignment # M5/A1: Doing Business Differently Market Chapter 8: Tailoring  Diversification Strategy to Fit Individually read the following:  Strategic Fit Specific Industry and Company Situations No matter what your strategic choice or how diversified you are, today we do business differently Chapter 9: Diversification: Strategies for The purpose of this exercise is to help you learn more about how Managing a Group of differentiated, niche, and focus companies are using information technology Businesses to offset traditional face-to-face meetings, putting to use these technologies in different ways, depending on how diversified they are and their generic strategic choice.

Write an analysis on the article, in one-to-two double-spaced pages. Use the Argosy University online library to find current information to support your views. Adhere to the APA 5th edition guidelines. Submit your analysis report to Discussion Board.

Assignment # M5/A2: Differentiation, Diversification, and Strategic Fit

Your company has set up an overseas operation. You have established ethical standards and defined the structure of your operation; analyzed the competitive scenario to define the key factors and the value chain; and crafted your company’s strategy and operating strategy.

Now, your next step is to analyze and decide on a diversification strategy for your company. The challenge here is to decide whether to diversify or focus on a niche market.

Discuss how and why your company should diversify. Examine if the diversification complements the present operations. Also identify the advantages of diversification. Discuss your company’s strategic fit, core competencies, and diversification strategy.

Discuss all the issues faced in this assignment and compile individual slides in a PowerPoint presentation of seven to eight slides. Your presentation should include your findings on strategic fit, core competencies, and diversification strategy. Submit the presentation to Discussion Board. Adhere to APA standards as established in the 5th edition. 6  Functional Strategy Textbook Assignment # M6/A1: Ready for Globalization  Multicultural or Global Chapter 7: Competing Strategies in Foreign Markets Individually read the following:  Strategic Management Ready for Globalization

Write an analysis in one to two pages in double-spaced format, answering the questions below:

1. What is globalization?

2. What challenges can businesses face when gearing up for globalization?

3. Comment on how globalization is changing.

4. Evaluate the benefits and challenges of globalization to today's businesses.

5. To follow-up the questions above, use the Argosy University online library and find a recent article on a company that has decided to take part in the emerging global economy. Examine the company’s decision to go global.

Assignment # M6/A2: Creating a Global Business

In this module, you will decide your globalization strategies with special focus on how the high-level business strategies tie in with the functional strategies.

Collate your findings on:

 What will be your company’s diversification strategy?

 How will you plan high-level business strategies to tie in with your functional strategies? Compile individual slides in a PowerPoint presentation of seven to eight slides and submit your plan to Discussion Board.

 Adhere to APA standards as established in the 5th edition. 7  Strategic Evaluation Textbook Assignment # M7/A1: Assignment 1: Strategic Evaluation  Mission, Goals and Chapter 11: Building Value Evaluation an Organization Individually read the following:  Value Over Time Capable of Good Strategy Execution This week you will synthesize your learning and evaluate how business was run earlier, how it is run now, and make projections about how your business Chapter 12: Managing will run in the future. Internal Operations: Actions That Promote Good Strategy Prepare an analysis report in two to three double-spaced pages by Execution considering the issues below:

Chapter 13: Corporate 1. Evaluate your learning from the last six modules. What generalizations Culture and can you make about business organizational structure, managerial Leadership: Keys to styles, and organization culture? Good Strategy Execution 2. Extrapolate from your weekly learning, and discuss some of the challenges facing the business of tomorrow.

3. What have you learned in your Capstone course, where you have synthesized and applied learning from across your core courses, which will help you become a strong and effective manager of tomorrow?

Submit your analysis report to Discussion Board.

Assignment # M7/A2: Strategic Progress

Examine your budget allocation, cost and risk factors, and manpower

specifications. Also check your mission, goals, and strategies as they evolve.

Discuss all the issues you faced in preparing the Capstone project. You will compile this information as a 10– 15-page project plan to address the work issues that you have been working on for these seven weeks. Your project plan revolves around an imaginary company that you have created. You have role-played as the top management (CEO, CFO, CIO, and COO) of the company. Your plan will show how your company, which has been operating in the U.S. for a few years, decides to go international.

Use the Organizing Project document to create the project plan. Remember that you will create a PowerPoint presentation next week on this project. Please check in your project to http://www.turnitin.com/ before you submit it. Adhere to APA standards as established in the 5th edition.

AU_B6028_Organizin gProject[2] 8  Capstone Project TBD by Instructor Assignment # M8/A1: Assignment 1: Project Presentation

In the last module, you developed your Capstone project and used the Organizing project document to track your progress. This week, you will prepare a PowerPoint presentation of your Capstone project.

Upload your Project on DocSharing and Discussion Board.

Grading Criteria

Grading Scale Grading requirements

A 100 – 93 Attendance/participation 30% Weekly Assignments 30% A- 92 – 90 Final project (Report) 25% B+ 89 – 88 Final Project Power Points 10% B 87 – 83 Final Project Presentation 5% B- 82 – 80 100% C+ 79 – 78 C 77 – 73 C- 72 – 70 F 79 and below Library:

All resources in Argosy University’s online collection are available through the Internet. The campus librarian will provide students with links, user IDs, and passwords.

Library Resources: Argosy University’s core online collection features nearly 21,000 full-text journals and 23,000 electronic books and other content covering all academic subject areas including Business & Economics, Career & General Education, Computers, Engineering & Applied Science, Humanities, Science, Medicine & Allied Health, and Social & Behavior Sciences. Many titles are directly accessible through the Online Public Access Catalog at http://library.argosy.edu. Detailed descriptions of online resources are located at http://library.argosy.edu/misc/onlinedblist.html.

In addition to online resources, Argosy University’s onsite collections contain a wealth of subject-specific research materials searchable in the Online Public Access Catalog. Catalog searching is easily limited to individual campus collections. Alternatively, students can search combined collections of all Argosy University Libraries. Students are encouraged to seek research and reference assistance from campus librarians.

Information Literacy: Argosy University’s Information Literacy Tutorial was developed to teach students fundamental and transferable research skills. The tutorial consists of five modules where students learn to select sources appropriate for academic-level research, search periodical indexes and search engines, and evaluate and cite information. In the tutorial, students study concepts and practice them through interactions. At the conclusion of each module, they can test their comprehension and receive immediate feedback. Each module takes less than 20 minutes to complete. Please view the tutorial at http://library.argosy.edu/infolit/

Academic Policies

Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism: In an effort to foster a spirit of honesty and integrity during the learning process, Argosy University requires that the submission of all course assignments represent the original work produced by that student. All sources must be documented through normal scholarly references/citations and all work must be submitted using the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition (2001). Washington DC: American Psychological Association (APA) format. Please refer to Appendix A in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition for thesis and paper format. Students are encouraged to purchase this manual (required in some courses) and become familiar with its content as well as consult the Argosy University catalog for further information regarding academic dishonesty and plagiarism.

Scholarly writing: The faculty at Argosy University is dedicated to providing a learning environment that supports scholarly and ethical writing, free from academic dishonesty and plagiarism. This includes the proper and appropriate referencing of all sources. You may be asked to submit your course assignments through “Turnitin,” (www.turnitin.com), an online resource established to help educators develop writing/research skills and detect potential cases of academic dishonesty. Turnitin compares submitted papers to billions of pages of content and provides a comparison report to your instructor. This comparison detects papers that share common information and duplicative language.

Americans with Disabilities Act Policy

It is the policy of Argosy University to make reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If a student with disabilities needs accommodations, the student must notify the Director of Student Services. Procedures for documenting student disability and the development of reasonable accommodations will be provided to the student upon request.

Students will be notified by the Director of Student Services when each request for accommodation is approved or denied in writing via a designated form. To receive accommodation in class, it is the student’s responsibility to present the form (at his or her discretion) to the instructor. In an effort to protect student privacy, the Department of Student Services will not discuss the accommodation needs of any student with instructors. Faculty may not make accommodations for individuals who have not been approved in this manner.

The Argosy University Statement Regarding Diversity

Argosy University prepares students to serve populations with diverse social, ethnic, economic, and educational experiences. Both the academic and training curricula are designed to provide an environment in which students can develop the skills and attitudes essential to working with people from a wide range of backgrounds.