Explain which leadership style you find to be the most effective: transactional, transformational, autocratic, democratic, liberal, or servant. As part of your explanation, include a detailed description of the leadership style and why you find it to be the most effective.

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Unit I Discussion Board

Instructions

In this unit, you were introduced to various leadership styles and some of the benefits and challenges of each For the Unit I Essay, you will research this further and consider your own leadership style.

Your essay will address the following:
■ Explain which leadership style you find to be the most effective: transactional, transformational, autocratic, democratic, liberal, or servant. As part of your explanation, include a detailed description of the leadership style and why you find it to be the most effective.

■ Include examples of leaders who have successfully utilized this leadership style to increase the performance of their followers. Your essay should be a minimum of two pages in length in APA style. The title and reference pages do not count toward the minimum page length. Outside sources are not a requirement for this essay, but if you choose to use them, they must be cited and referenced according APA guidelines.

Resources The following resource(s) may help you with this assignment.
■ CI Submit Writing Center Request

Describe the characteristics of your ideal customers. What is the geographic location of your target market – is it a certain mile radius around your location, regional, national, etc.? What could be the size of your target market or estimated number of potential customers based on your target market definition?

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Mini Business Plan Assessment

Background:
A huge number of successful businesses–such as Apple, The Cheesecake Factory, and Amazon–were built around the personal passions of their founders. Consider your own personal passions. What do you love to do? What are you great at doing? Can you shape any of your interests into a business opportunity? Be sure to think big. For instance, if you love hanging out with friends and listening to music, a club promotion business might make sense for you. Or, do you see a business opportunity or unsolved need/problem in the marketplace that you could build a business around? (2019 Cengage Learning).

For inspiration, check out these top ideas or do other research:

Review the basic sections of a business plan in Chapter 7 and information shared in the class resources. Additional resources regarding business plans and research links can be found at:
https://articles.bplans.com/how-to-write-a-business-plan/

Write your business plan (Links to an external site.)
You will use elements from all the learning plans including the business environment, financing & accounting, marketing, managing a business, ethics/social responsibility, and creating a business to create a simple, 2-5 page mini business plan for your “dream business” as discussed in the background section.
You can complete the assessment individually or as a partnership. Please let instructor know as soon as possible.
Complete and submit the following criteria in a min of 2-5 page mini business plan (adapted from Bplans) in a Word document. It is advised not to download a business plan template as it may have different sections than what is required below.

Criteria to be included in your business plan are listed below with questions to answer. Use the main sections or bolded words as headers within your business plan (not the details/instructions).
Entitle your plan with the name of of your business and include your name such as: Business Plan for Cardinal Consulting by John Smith.
Business idea (product or service): [MARKETING, chapter 12]
Provide a detailed description of what your good/service/idea does or what is it overall and then:
Share a minimum of 3 features and benefits
If service business, explain the service scape as well (pgs 316-317) and include the physical location of the business (city, state). If an online service business, explain service scape relating to your website, customer service, etc.
How does your good/service/idea solve your potential customers’ problems or pain points better than other potential solutions or the competition…is it better performance, customization, design, price, convenience, delivery method, comfort, quality, etc.?

Target Market/Customer Segments: [MARKETING and RESEARCH, chapter 11]
Describe the characteristics of your ideal customers (demographics, behaviors, interests, values). Remember consumer markets can be segmented by: age, gender, location, income level, educational level, psychographics (purchasing patterns, hobbies, activities), and more. Business customers could be segmented by: type of industry, location, business size (revenue or employee size), technology used, and more.

What is the geographic location of your target market – is it a certain mile radius around your location, regional, national, etc.?

What could be the size of your target market or estimated number of potential customers based on your target market definition? (You may include general market trends or stats to support that there is a market by Googling it or by using the research resources from the IGNITE! website above. Please source where you got your information.)

Competition: [EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT, chapter 1]

Describe your direct (sell the same type of product/service) and indirect competitors (sell similar or a different type of solution to the same customers)? How do they differ from your business idea/what do they do better or known for?

What are the barriers to entry to the industry (type of business you are opening) and market such as capital costs to get the business started, technology needed, lots of competition, patents required, other external environmental factors like social trends, regulations, etc. from Chapter 1?

Sales & Marketing Activities: [MARKETING, chapters 12 & 13]

Describe how will your target market buy from you? (i.e. storefront, website or e-commerce, sales teams, distributors or retailers, direct face to face if consulting).
What are the key ways you will reach your customers and make them aware of, desire and purchase your good/service/idea (radio; direct mail; sales promotion; social media like Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, blogs, etc; website; sales people; word of mouth or buzz marketing; etc.)?

Revenue Streams/Pricing (How will you make $$?): [ACCOUNTING & MARKETING, chapter 8, 13]
How much will your good/service /idea cost the consumer to buy it?
What pricing strategy will you use such as penetration pricing, matching the competition, prestige, cost based, etc.? Explain why?
What does the target market currently pay for a different solution from a competitor to solve their problem?

Operations and Management: [ENTREPRENEURSHIP/BIZ FORMATION, MANAGEMENT, OPERATIONS, chapters 6, 14 & 17]
What is your relevant experience and education related to the product/business idea? For example, what’s your expertise, entrepreneurial characteristics, and Clifton Strengths that you bring to the business?
What are the backgrounds or strengths of your team or possible employees, if you hire people. What roles would they assume if your business would launch? (Think about who might you need to compliment your strengths and fill gaps of your weaknesses?)
Some businesses also need key partners in order to launch such as a lawyer for intellectual property, accountant, or other businesses that could compliment yours to sell your product, etc. List any additional partners and resources needed.
Explain how your business venture will be structured such as a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, or corporation. Give rationale about why this structure was selected and provide any other relevant details.

Ethics and Social Responsibility: [ETHICS, chapter 4]
Outline ethical standards, values, or guiding principles that will be used to guide decision making for the new venture.
What will be the company’s approach to social responsibility as it relates to stakeholder groups such as employees, community, environment, customers? For example, will you donate to the community and if so, what causes?

Cost Structure/Expenses/Funding: [ACCOUNTING & ENTREPRENEURSHIP, chapter 8 & 7]
What are your major expenses or costs to get the business started including customer acquisition costs (marketing), cost to produce good/service/idea (ingredients, supplies, raw material), distribution costs, human resources, equipment, tools, operating costs, building leases or purchase of property, etc.? Think fixed and variable costs. List these out and give estimates to those costs.
How much funding do you need to open the business based on first bullet about expenses/costs?
What will be the sources of that funding (personal savings, loans, lines of credit, friends/family, equity funding, etc.)? Give rationale about why these would be good sources.

StrengthsFinder Application: Select one or more of your strengths ( FUTURISTIC) from the StrengthsFinder LP and describe how you utilized it in the completion of this assessment.

REF :

Kelly, M., & Williams, C. (2018). Bundle: BUSN + MindTap Business (11th Edition). Cengage Learning US. https://ecampus.vitalsource.com/books/9781337671736
Last name, First Initial. Second Initial. Year of Publication. Title of Book (Edition of book if later than 1st ed). Publisher name.

Explain how your selected organization applies the six steps from key customer-focused practices for quality management in the customer focus to meet or exceed customer requirements. Identify which of the variety of methods, or “listening posts,” your selected organization uses to gather the voice of the customer, including their needs and expectations, their feeling of importance, and their satisfaction as a customer.

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Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence

For this final paper, you will be reviewing and reflecting on the quality management concepts and knowledge gained throughout the course. You will be applying your critical thinking, drawing your own conclusions, and applying what you have learned to improve quality and performance excellence. Follow the prompts below and make sure to address each in sufficient depth to answer the questions and cover the associated concepts. This will serve as a good review of the content, methods, and principles learned of total quality management (TQM).

As you work on your final paper, keep in mind the following bullet point observations on the role of quality.

Six quality perspectives are listed below and explain how each quality perspective applies to the product or service:
Quality in manufacturing.
Quality in service organizations.
Quality in business support functions.
The role of the quality function.
Quality and competitive advantage (business results).
Quality and personal values.
Modern day quality management practices represent the approaches that organizations use to achieve the quality management principles.
Customer satisfaction is vital to keeping customers and growing a business.
Customer requirements, as expressed in the customer’s own terms, are called the voice of the customer.
Organizations continue to learn that to satisfy customers, they must first satisfy the workforce. (Review Chapter 4, specifically Table 4.1: Key Workforce-Focused Practices for Quality, and the two Chapter 4 sections: High-Performance Work Cultures, and Principles of Workforce Engagement and Motivation.)
Motivation theories can be applied to support high performance in any organization.
In your paper,

Explain how your selected organization applies the six steps from key customer-focused practices for quality management in the customer focus to meet or exceed customer requirements.
Identify which of the variety of methods, or “listening posts,” your selected organization uses to gather the voice of the customer, including their needs and expectations, their feeling of importance, and their satisfaction as a customer.
Evaluate the principles of workforce engagement, and empowerment and motivation, and evaluate why these two items are important to quality, and which five of Deming’s 14 points relate directly to the notion of empowerment.
Apply one content theory, one process theory, and one environmentally-based theory to your selected organization, detailing the context and situation.
State if the selected organization has a high-performance work culture and describe why or why not.
Summarize how your selected organization embodies the Baldrige Award Excellence Framework, core values, and processes.
Assess the impact, if any, of the Baldrige Award Excellence Framework and the Deming philosophy on the organization.
Select a product or service that your organization, or an organization of your choosing, purchases on a regular basis:
Explain why quality is important to that product or service.
Evaluate the competitive environment for the product or service selected.
Appraise how each quality perspective applies to the selected product or service and why.
Illustrate how each of the seven quality management principles pertain to your organization or an organization of your choosing using three approaches per principle.
Appraise how the Deming philosophy and Deming’s 14 points may apply to the product or service selected.

Explain how your selected organization applies the six steps from key customer-focused practices for quality management in the customer focus to meet or exceed customer requirements. Identify which of the variety of methods, or “listening posts,” your selected organization uses to gather the voice of the customer, including their needs and expectations, their feeling of importance, and their satisfaction as a customer.

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Recommendations for Improvement

Prior to beginning work on this final paper, read Chapters 10, 11, and 12 in the course textbook. It is recommended to review Chapters 1, 2, and 3, too.

For this final paper, you will be reviewing and reflecting on the quality management concepts and knowledge gained throughout the course. You will be applying your critical thinking, drawing your own conclusions, and applying what you have learned to improve quality and performance excellence. Follow the prompts below and make sure to address each in sufficient depth to answer the questions and cover the associated concepts. This will serve as a good review of the content, methods, and principles learned of total quality management (TQM).

As you work on your final paper, keep in mind the following bullet point observations on the role of quality.

Six quality perspectives are listed below and explain how each quality perspective applies to the product or service:
Quality in manufacturing.
Quality in service organizations.
Quality in business support functions.
The role of the quality function.
Quality and competitive advantage (business results).
Quality and personal values.
Modern day quality management practices represent the approaches that organizations use to achieve the quality management principles.
Customer satisfaction is vital to keeping customers and growing a business.
Customer requirements, as expressed in the customer’s own terms, are called the voice of the customer.
Organizations continue to learn that to satisfy customers, they must first satisfy the workforce. (Review Chapter 4, specifically Table 4.1: Key Workforce-Focused Practices for Quality, and the two Chapter 4 sections: High-Performance Work Cultures, and Principles of Workforce Engagement and Motivation.)
Motivation theories can be applied to support high performance in any organization.

In your paper,

Explain how your selected organization applies the six steps from key customer-focused practices for quality management in the customer focus to meet or exceed customer requirements.
Identify which of the variety of methods, or “listening posts,” your selected organization uses to gather the voice of the customer, including their needs and expectations, their feeling of importance, and their satisfaction as a customer.
Evaluate the principles of workforce engagement, and empowerment and motivation, and evaluate why these two items are important to quality, and which five of Deming’s 14 points relate directly to the notion of empowerment.
Apply one content theory, one process theory, and one environmentally-based theory to your selected organization, detailing the context and situation.
State if the selected organization has a high-performance work culture and describe why or why not.
Summarize how your selected organization embodies the Baldrige Award Excellence Framework, core values, and processes.
Assess the impact, if any, of the Baldrige Award Excellence Framework and the Deming philosophy on the organization.
Select a product or service that your organization, or an organization of your choosing, purchases on a regular basis:
Explain why quality is important to that product or service.
Evaluate the competitive environment for the product or service selected.
Appraise how each quality perspective applies to the selected product or service and why.
Illustrate how each of the seven quality management principles pertain to your organization or an organization of your choosing using three approaches per principle.
Appraise how the Deming philosophy and Deming’s 14 points may apply to the product or service selected.

The Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence paper

Must be six to eight double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.

Prepare a 7-page demand management plan, including a forecasting, inventory management, and scheduling analysis, as well as recommendations, for a provided scenario or business of your choice. Option 1.

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Wild Dog Coffee Company Demand Management Plan

Prepare a 7-page demand management plan, including a forecasting, inventory management, and scheduling analysis, as well as recommendations, for a provided scenario or business of your choice. Option 1.

Describe in particular main macroeconomic characteristics like human resources (demographic trends, level of education), business environment, infrastructure, cultural peculiarities, etc. as elements affecting its economic progress.

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A country

First, your paper should have some logical structure. It is reasonable to start with a short introduction in which you explain importance of your topic and very briefly state what issues your paper is going to discuss. The main body of your paper ideally should have several subsections. Finally, you finish by discussion and/or conclusion section. I want you in conclusion to provide your own point of view, review your findings, and discuss what lessons can be made from your story, etc. The depth and originality of your conclusions will be an important factor in paper evaluation.

If your topic is a country, describe in particular main macroeconomic characteristics like human resources (demographic trends, level of education), business environment, infrastructure, cultural peculiarities, etc. as elements affecting its economic progress. You are always welcome to provide some broader context to the topic you research. For example, writing about education in South Korea can be preceded by more general basic information about that country, the same when you describe how some country manages Covid pandemic, etc.

Second important requirement to your paper is an adequate supply of current statistics on your subject. Clearly, amount of data you can easily find very much depends on your concrete topic, but in general, I expect you to support your narrative by data. The data you are using should be current, which usually means one-two years old (because Covid distorted many statistic parameters, many current studies refer to pre Covid year 2019). In some cases even 4-5 years old data are OK, especially if these are the most recent data you can find.

Think what data you have can be represented in the form of tables or charts. Using existing tables and charts from web is fine if their formats are appropriate for the paper, but making your own tables and charts by Excel is clearly a plus. Always provide references for all data you use.

Create an 8-12-slide PowerPoint presentation that summarizes the AFI Framework and the results of the internal and external analyses.

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Strategy Implementation

Create an 8-12-slide PowerPoint presentation that summarizes the AFI Framework and the results of the internal and external analyses. Your presentation must also include a SWOT matrix for the company and your recommendations for strategies to move the company forward that align with organizational structure and governance, and reflect ethical responsibility.

Introduction
This portfolio work project will help you demonstrate your understanding of strategy and the factors that must be considered when formulating and implementing strategy.

Introduction
This assessment will help you demonstrate your understanding of strategy and the factors that must be considered when formulating and implementing strategy.

Scenario
Organizational leadership of your company has requested that you present your analyses of the company, as well as recommend potential strategic actions that could be taken to address issues raised by your analyses.

Your Role
You are a strategic analyst for the company you have selected to use in this course.

Requirements
Develop a PowerPoint presentation of 8–12 slides that synthesize the work you did on Assessments 1 and 2. Use the speaker’s notes sections of each slide to expand your talking points. Be sure your presentation includes:

Identify and describe a scenario that involves an ergonomic injury and determine guidelines to prevent further injuries in the work setting. Explain how the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s criteria for ergonomic injuries might apply to the scenario.

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Ergonomic injury

Identify and describe a scenario that involves an ergonomic injury and determine guidelines to prevent further injuries in the work setting. Be sure to explain how the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s criteria for ergonomic injuries might apply to the scenario.

Imagine you are a Human Resource manager for a large firm and that one of your employees has suffered a temporary disability. What laws apply to temporary disability at the workplace? Under what general circumstances is the employee entitled to benefits? What are those benefits and who administers them?

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Employee entitled to benefits

Imagine you are a Human Resource manager for a large firm and that one of your employees has suffered a temporary disability.

What laws apply to temporary disability at the workplace?
Under what general circumstances is the employee entitled to benefits?
What are those benefits and who administers them?

What is a literature review? Why is a certain type of literature used? What must you include in a literature review? How do you find the information for a literature review?

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BUS-7100 Week 1

Understanding the literature review is the foundation of academic inquiry (Xiao & Watson, 2017). The literature review grounds your topic of interest with academic historical research from previous authors. This is where the saying of ‘Stand on the shoulders of giants’ comes into your research. Standing on the shoulders of giants could be as far back as Socrates and his philosophies or Newton and his determination of the universe. Every area of study has giants or ‘thinkers’ that have come to be accepted as reliable sources to follow. In this assignment, you will delve into the sea of knowledge to uncover the complexity and understanding of reviewing the literature and developing your knowledge in writing.

It is also imperative to include current literature and evidence in your literature. A general guideline is for approximately 85% of the literature review should include works literature published within the past five years. Evidence supporting a problem should be as current as possible.

The assignment is to conduct your own research first with the resources provided, and then any additional research you add and determine the following:

What is a literature review?
Why is a certain type of literature used?
What must you include in a literature review?
How do you find the information for a literature review?

Use the items above as headings in an APA formatted paper with a title page and reference page, plus a minimum of three pages and maximum five pages of content.