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Explore some ethical dilemmas that students may face in the “real world.” Provide a discussion of the alternative courses of action and why you did not choose those.

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Clarence Hall University and the Donation

Clarence Hall University and the Donation from Darden Business Publishing, UVA, at the following link: http://store.darden.virginia.edu/clarence-hall-university-and-the-donationLinks to an external site.

Instructions:

This case is intended to explore some ethical dilemmas that students may face in the “real world.” You are to address the following question: What is the best course of action? To successfully to do this, you must take a stance, provide an answer, and support your answer with sound ethical reasoning identifying and taking into account all stakeholders. In addition you should provide a discussion of the alternative courses of action and why you did not choose those. Some additional reminders:

Your submission should be professional, organized, etc. using appropriate grammar, spelling, and professional, clear, concise writing.

Create a headline – up to two lines of 30-characters each, or on line of 60 characters. Create a description line – one line of 80 characters.

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Wk5 Discussion Board – Creating SEM ads Wk5 Discussion Board – Creating SEM ads

Take a look at the sections in the provided Yahoo booklet about selecting keywords and writing SEM ads. Ignore the testing of keywords and use of online tools for now. You are going to write advertising for this assignment as if you were doing the marketing for your own company or a company you want to start. Not that character limits have changed since the guide was created (see below).
Make up a company if you need to and don’t necessarily think big – create a company for this exercise (and for a few exercises in the future) that is based upon a hobby or something you just like to do, or don’t do now but would like to. Make up a website address if necessary.
Tell us a little bit about the company to help us understand your ads.
Think about three keywords that you might “buy” on a pay-per-click basis and write the ad that a person would see if that word or word combination was searched on. Tell us what the selected keywords are.

Then write a PPC ad for your company.
Let’s use Google’s instructions (new 2016 guidelines):
Create a headline – up to two lines of 30-characters each, or on line of 60 characters.
Create a description line – one line of 80 characters.
Destination URL (the website address users will land on when they click your ad)
Look at Google search results so you can get a feel for how ads are written.

After doing your own research and reading about both sides of the Cottonwood Sand Mines project, try to put yourself in the shoes of people who support the project and people who oppose the project. What do you think is the right thing to do? Do you support or oppose this project?

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RESEARCH ESSAY

Kindly answer one discussion question with 250 words. With 2 REPLIES

The Cottonwood Sand Mine Project is a controversial development plan that proposes to convert the existing Cottonwood Golf Club golf courses in Spring Valley into a ten-year sand mining operation with an additional two-year reclamation period.

 

2)After doing your own research and reading about both sides of the Cottonwood Sand Mines project, try to put yourself in the shoes of people who support the project and people who oppose the project. What do you think is the right thing to do? Do you support or oppose this project? Choose one stance and justify your response using the principles of sustainable development and the principles of environmental justice. Post a response for yourself, then reply to at least two classmates’ posts.

 

As a consequence of a new satellite that the Pentagon developed, subscribers in LA are now able to get the NY broadcast and vice versa so Sal can charge only a single price. What is the profit-maximizing single price that he should charge?

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DISCUSSION QUESTION

Problem 1. 6.8 from Cabral: Sal’s satellite company broadcasts TV to subscribers in LA and NY.

Demand functions are

  • QNY=50-(1/3)PNY
  • QLA=80-(2/3)PLA

where Q is in thousands of subscriptions per year and P is the subscription price per year.

The cost of providing Q units of service is given by TC=1000+30Q, where Q= QNY + QLA.

  1. a) What are the profit-maximizing prices and quantities for the NY and LA markets?
  2. b) As a consequence of a new satellite that the Pentagon developed, subscribers in LA are now able to get the NY broadcast and vice versa so Sal can charge only a single price. What is the profit-maximizing single price that he should charge?
  3. c) In which situation is Sal better off? In terms of consumers’ surplus which situation do people in LA prefer and which do people in NY prefer? Why?

Problem 2. 6.10 from Cabral: SpokenWord:

Your software company has just completed the first version of Spoken Word, a voice- activated word processor. As marketing manager, you have to decide on the pricing of the new software. You commissioned a study to determine the potential demand for SpokenWord. From this study, you know that there are essentially two market segments of equal size, professionals and students (one million each). Professionals would be willing to pay up to $400 and students up to $100 for the full version of the software. A substantially scaled-down version of the software would be worth $50 to students and worthless to professionals. It is equally costly to sell any version. In fact, other than the initial development costs, production costs are zero. Although you know there are two market segments, you cannot directly identify a consumer as belonging to a specific market segment.

(a) What are the optimal prices for each version of the software? Suppose that, instead of the scaled-down version, the firm sells an intermediate version that is valued at $200 by professionals and $75 by students.

(b) What are the optimal prices for each version of the software? Is the firm better off by selling the intermediate version instead of the scaled-down version?

 

Riya is a human resources manager at a large marketing firm in Chicago, Illinois. Which of the following is correct regarding human resources management?

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Assessment question

Question 1

Riya is a human resources manager at a large marketing firm in Chicago, Illinois. Which of the following is correct regarding human resources management?

It consists of all activities involved in acquiring an organization’s human resources, with the responsibilities of maintaining and developing human resources relegated exclusively to line managers.

The acquisition process for skilled employees is rarely competitive.

It begins with the retention of human resources.

It is also known as staffing and personnel management.

 

Question 2

Toben is a human resources manager for a mid-sized law firm in Poughkeepsie, New York. This year, the firm would like to hire three new associate attorneys. To acquire these employees, Toben will be involved in all but which of the following activities?

Job analysis

Selection

Recruiting

Employee relations

 

What additional guidance and support could the Department have provided to this grantee? What internal controls need to be strengthened at the CSD?

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Case Study: Century Community Learning Center Assignment Instructions

Overview

As future grant managers you will find yourself in various ethical situations. Case studies can help provide you the opportunities to think though difficult ethical situations and learn from the mistakes of others. A grant proposal, if approved, becomes a contract between the funding agencies and organization receiving funds. When any deviation from the agreement occurs quick communication should take place between the funding agency and the grant manager.

Instructions

Background: A County School District (CSD) was awarded $224,875 in 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) grant funding for both fiscal years 2008-09 and 2009-10. The 21st CCLC Program was created as the only federal funding source dedicated exclusively to after-school programs. The program was established to provide a wide range of high-quality out-of-school services specifically focused on helping students meet state and local academic achievement standards in core academic subjects. Services are targeted to low-income students attending low-performing schools, and include both academic enrichment and additional services that reinforce and complement the regular school day. Programs also bolster communities by offering opportunities for literacy and related educational development to families of active program participants. By law, 21st CCLCs provide services only during non-school hours or periods when school is not in session. Programs funded with 21st CCLC grants must meet the following minimum performance standards: serve proposed numbers of targeted student participants; meet proposed levels of program operation; and provide the requisite hours of operation. Programs must demonstrate sufficient progress toward accomplishing program objectives by submitting semi-annual data. Funding levels are based largely upon proposed student attendance levels and hours of operation. Federal guidelines stipulate that failure to perform at operational levels as proposed in the approved grant application may result in reduced levels of funds.

Findings: Records obtained from the 21st CCLC program in the CSD indicate that the average number of students in attendance for the month of May 2010 was only 24.35, a figure substantially less than the proposed daily level of 100 students. Summer attendance levels forecasted in the contract indicated that an average of 90 students would be served daily, to include 60 students with disabilities. However, the average attendance for the month of June 2010 was only 39.92 students. End of year self-report data submitted to the Department indicated an average daily attendance of 12 during 2009-10. According to the program management, the CSD program started late during the first year and reported improved attendance levels during the summer of 2009 (53 students per day). Consequently, the Department decided not to reduce funding for the second year. However, the Department appropriately reduced the maximum award for the third year because the CSD fell short of meeting the “80% threshold rule for daily attendance in 2009-10” and the CSD County dissolved the program.

In terms of program operation, the CSD did not fully comply with the legal and regulatory requirements that stipulated that 21st CCLC programs must provide opportunities “to help student achievement … meet state and local student achievement standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and mathematics.” The 21st CCLC grant requires that providers must offer remedial education and academic enrichment, to include a strong reading, mathematics, and science component delivered by certified teachers. During the months of November 2009 and March 2010, an examination of the CSD’s lesson plans revealed that an insufficient amount of time was spent teaching core competencies. A disproportionate amount of time was devoted to the instruction of art, music, recreation, and entrepreneurial education in the after-school program. Although a computer lab was available to students in the after-school program, the extent to which students were utilizing the reading and math software to further remediate in core content areas was unclear.

Additionally, the grant program required that after-school programs must afford students 12 full hours of impact programming per week. It is apparent that only 1 to 2 hours per day of programming was offered based on the CSD data. The State OIG recommended that consideration be given to providing funds to higher risk sub-recipients on a reimbursement basis only. More stringent reporting requirements would help detect problems sooner.

Our focus in this course has been on foundation grants but grant management requirements of the federal government will play a role in your management experience.  This case study is a true event taken from the Office of Inspector General public audit reports. Even the best grant manager will make mistakes that have to be addressed during the annual audit. When the Inspector General conducts an audit it means that something has gone wrong beyond the average management mistake. As Christians, we are called to be good stewards of the resources we are given. In a 2 page paper address the questions below. Based on what you have learned in this course how could this situation have been avoided?

 

Questions:

  1. What additional guidance and support could the Department have provided to this grantee?
  2. What internal controls need to be strengthened at the CSD?
  3. What could the CSD have done about their low student attendance?
  4. What documentation could have been used to demonstrate their core content offerings?
  5. How could this have been avoided?

 

Reference

OIG Audit Reports (2020).  Century community learning center report. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/rpauditinvestmainpage.html

Why is the commingling of grant funds not allowable? What internal controls are not in place for the WFM program? How could the Council have prevented paying for costs that were unauthorized?

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Case Study: Wildland Fire Management Assignment Instructions

Overview

As future grant managers you will find yourself in various ethical situations. Case studies can help provide you the opportunities to think though difficult ethical situations and learn from the mistakes of others. A grant proposal, if approved, becomes a contract between the funding agencies and organization receiving funds. When any deviation from the agreement occurs, quick communication should take place between the funding agency and the grant manager.

Instructions

Background: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided the Department of Agriculture with $28 billion in funding, $1.15 billion of which was allotted to the Forest Service (FS) to implement projects that accomplish its mission of sustaining the nation’s forests and grasslands, creating jobs, and promoting U. economic recovery. FS’ Wildland Fire Management (WFM) program was allocated $200 million in grant funding to implement activities on State, county, and private lands. The funding was used to operate projects with State, local, and Tribal governments, and non-profit organizations that submit grant proposals to FS. FS approved 152 WFM projects on non-Federal lands from May through September 2009, including a project to perform hazardous fuels treatments on non-Federal lands. FS awarded a $3.6 million Recovery Act grant to The Council to implement this project.

Findings: The Council did not properly account for its FS Recovery Act grant funds, but, instead, comingled $2.7 million of the $3.6 million in FS Recovery Act grant funds it received with funds it received from other sources. As a result, the Council may have used $2.7 million of the FS Recovery Act grant funds to pay for non-Recovery Act costs during the 2-year period we reviewed. Commingled costs cannot be charged to Federal grants because it reduces or eliminates a grant recipient’s ability to identify which portion of the commingled  costs  relate  to authorized grant work and which do not. It also results in unallowable costs being charged to FS grants. For example, the Council received $800,188 from its $3.6 million FS Recovery Act grant in January 2011. Under 0MB rules, the Council was required to use that money solely to pay for authorized expenses incurred while performing Recovery Act grant work.  However, the Council only used $95,578 of the $800,188 it received in January 2011 to reimburse legitimate grant expenses and deposited the remaining $705,611 into an account that commingled funds from both the Recovery Act grant and other Federal grants. Over a 2-year period, the Council deposited $2.7 million of the FS Recovery Act grant funds it received into the commingled account. The Council did not identify the source of the funds once they were deposited into the account; it simply lumped all the funds together. The Council then used the money in the account to pay various expenses, such as rent, utilities, and other non-FS grant costs, even though none of the costs were authorized by the FS Recovery Act grant. We further determined that the Council’s commingling activities were exacerbated by the fact that it routinely, and inappropriately, requested FS Recovery Act grant “reimbursements” for expenses it had not yet paid. The Council was subject to the requirements of 0MB Circular A-133, which specified that grant recipients can only be reimbursed for costs they have already paid. On every reimbursement request we reviewed, the Council certified that it had already paid the expenses for which it was claiming reimbursement when, in fact, it had not. Upon receiving these “reimbursements,” rather than immediately utilizing the funds to pay for authorized Recovery Act grant expenses, the Council’s executive director deposited the Recovery Act grant funds into the commingled account and used them to pay unauthorized expenses associated with other, non-FS grants.

The OIG recommended that FS:

  • Recover from the Fire Safe Council the $2.7 million in Recovery Act grant funds that were unsupported.
  • Withhold from the Fire Safe Council any future fund reimbursements until the internal controls and grant administration policies and procedures to properly account for all grant funds in accordance with OMB and grant requirements.
  • Obtain documentations from the Fire Safe Council showing that the grant funds were adequately accounted for and used for their intended purpose; and,
  • In those instances where FS determine the charges to the remaining grant were not adequately supported, disallow the costs and recover any reimbursements already made to the Fire Safe Council.

 Our focus in this course has been on foundation grants but grant management requirements of the federal government will play a role in your management experience.  This case study is a true event taken from the Office of Inspector General public audit reports. Even the best grant manager will make mistakes that have to be addressed during the annual audit. When the Inspector General conducts an audit, it means that something has gone wrong beyond the average management mistake. As Christians, we are called to be good stewards of the resources we are given. In a 2-page paper address the questions below. Based on what you have learned in this course, how could this situation have been avoided?

 

Questions:

  1. Why is the commingling of grant funds not allowable?
  2. What internal controls are not in place for the WFM program?
  3. How could the Council have prevented paying for costs that were unauthorized?
  4. How could this situation have been avoided?

 

 

 

Reference

 

OIG Audit Reports (2020). Wildland fire management report.  https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/rpauditinvestmainpage.html

 

 

 

 

 

You have explained in a sheet named ‘Discussion’ describing what data is missing that would help make a better decision. What is the decision you could make from the data set if you could magically snap your fingers and have the data. What type of statistical test might you run to complete the analysis with the new data.

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Create Dataset with at least 30 observations

  1. Create your own dataset that includes at least 30 observations for four different variables, i.e. minimum 30 rows, 4 columns
  2. You have created a copy of the raw data and labeled the sheet ‘Raw Data’
  3. You have renamed the sheet you are working with ‘Analysis.’ The first step is to add at least one column and transform an existing variable (e.g., from text to a quantitative variable). You can choose any variable you want to transform. Hint: you should most likely be using an if() function to complete this step.
  4. You have provided descriptive (summary) statistics for each variable in a new sheet named ‘Descriptive Stats’ – refer back to the first weeks of class to see what is meant by descriptive statistics. Use your own judgment on how to best show the data.
  5. You have described the distribution of at least one variable in a sheet named ‘Distribution’ – you should use a histogram and its chart to show the distribution of the variable. In cell A1, explain why you think the variable has its distribution. Are there any outliers? How do you know?
  6. You have completed a t-test on comparing two variables in a sheet named ‘t-test’. In a cell of your choice, explain what the t-test tells you in plain English. The description should be at least 10 sentences. You need to describe a reason or multiple reasons why that test would make sense. It is ok to make some assumptions and be creative – in other words, tell a story about the data.
  7. You have completed either a decision making (input/output) model based on the data (using solver, expected value, or a custom model similar to what we performed in class) OR a regression and explained the regression in a sheet named ‘regression.’ In a cell of your choice, explain the input/output model or what the regression tells you in plain English. Again, you need to describe why you chose this methodology to look at the data. It is ok to make some assumptions and be creative – in other words, tell a story about the data.
  8. You have explained in a sheet named ‘Discussion’ describing what data is missing that would help make a better decision. What is the decision you could make from the data set if you could magically snap your fingers and have the data. What type of statistical test might you run to complete the analysis with the new data.

 

Do CEOs of large firms in the United States earn too much? If so, what steps—if any—should be taken to address this concern?

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Weekly Assignment 5 DB

Discuss one of the following questions within Weekly Assignment 5 DB.  Do not repeat responses already provided. Make sure to provide support (secondary sources) for your responses.

1. Do CEOs of large firms in the United States earn too much? If so, what steps—if any—should be taken to address this concern?
2. How pervasive are ethical problems in corporate America? What can be done to enhance ethical conduct at the executive level?

How aggressive should a grants manager become in cleaning up an embarrassing error? Explain the reason(s) for your position.

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Dealing with Grant Improprieties

How aggressive should a grants manager become in cleaning up an embarrassing error? Explain the reason(s) for your position. If you have any real-world experience/examples, feel free to share but do not disclose names. You can determine the number of sources you need.

Effective Grants Management
Author: Ward, Deborah