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Which aspects (‘problems’) of the organisation are the priorities to be addressed first?

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Assignment – Mastering Strategic Consulting

This is a long document. Please read, and reread. And discuss.

Your assignment paper should take the form of a consultant proposal. You should write to the client.

Your goal in your paper is build the trust and confidence of your client in you, so that they will be willing to take you up on your proposal. The proposal must therefore be professional, effective, efficient and acceptable.

Your client must see that you understand ‘business’, that you understand their business, that you understand their problems and needs, and that you are a capable consultant who can converse comfortably with top management.

Clients don’t want an ‘academic’ paper. Your proposal must communicate everything that needs to be said in a quick and easy-to-read way. The paper requires an economy of language, with short sentences, short words, and an absence of non-essential jargon. It should pass the readability test. (Look online for free readability tests.) Make use of charts, tables and graphics. Have a look at business sections in newspapers, magazines, online blogs, etc. Look at how business journalists write about organisations.

When we say we don’t want an ‘academic’ paper, this does not mean you should ignore references to authors of the concepts and tools you use. For example, if you use Porter’s five forces framework, then you should say so. You might write something like, “Using Porter’s five forces framework (1979), it can be seen that the industry that Company X operates in is……….” If you are a good consultant (!), you might say something like, “Using Porter’s five forces framework (1979) but updated by Tony Grundy (2006) in ‘Rethinking and reinventing Michael Porter’s five forces model’, it can be seen that the industry that Company X operates in is……….”

Your proposal should be accurate and objective. Your analysis of the current situation MUST be based on facts such as available hard data and information from reputable industry reports; of lot such hard data is available if you search for it. If you have the opportunity to have an initial conversation with the client, you should include information from that. Where this is not possible, or where some facts are not readily available, this should be noted in the proposal, for example by explicitly stating, ‘It is unknown whether….’ And in the recommendations section of the proposal you should state, ‘It is recommended to collect more facts about…..’ It is better to say something is unknown than to make a guess.

Observations, conclusions and recommendations need to be made objectively. They must be based on the facts presented. Conclusions range according to their level of certainty, from, “It can certainly be concluded that…..” to “It is possible to conclude that…….” Using language carefully will increase your credibility as a consultant; it is important to communicate the right degree of certainty in

You can however express personal opinions, based on your expertise and experience elsewhere, and even based on your intuition, but these need to be flagged up so the client does not mistake them for conclusions based on facts. You can say, for example, “The situation is similar to what I have seen before, so I think that….”, “In my experience, this means that….”, “In the absence of clear facts, my sense is that…..”

Proposals can range from speculative proposals, in situations where you are an outsider and you have little inside knowledge of the organisation and limited access to industry data, to more concrete proposals that you might expect from an internal consultant.

Your varied access to hard data and industry reports will mean that proposals will be more or less concrete and more or less detailed. Whatever the situation, even if there are gaps and there are a number of personal opinions expressed, your proposal must have a clear internal logic that means it makes sense. Remember, your goal is to ‘build the trust and confidence of your client in you, so that they will be willing to take you up on your proposal.’

Your proposal must be sensitive to the feelings and political issues of the potential client, or it may not be accepted by them. Wherever possible, you should try to estimate and address any possible negative reaction by the client. For example, the client might think something is excellent, but your analysis and conclusion might be that it is actually poor. You must find the language to communicate the reality so that the reader will accept it.

The assignment has four parts:

Part 1) A critical review of the current strategic position of an organisation of your choice, reflecting on past and current antecedent activities and providing an analysis of emergent strategies and/or strategic perspectives. (Approximately 45% of the proposal.)

In effect, this means an analysis of the industry the organisation operates in, and an analysis of the position of the organisation in the industry. You need as much hard data as you can get. This section should form the main part of your proposal. Divide Part 1 into two elements:

  1. a) Analysis of the industry (the industry that the organisation operates in):
  • industry boundaries (it is not always straightforward to define the industry the potential client organisation operates in)
  • PESTLE
  • five forces
  • analysis of key players (a competitor analysis)
  • KSFs (key success factors) needed to be successful in the industry
  • industry status (is it growing, stable, in decline, evolving, profitable)
  1. b) Analysis of the organisation:
  • brief history of previous changes that the organisation has made to address changes in the industry, and the changes that have been made to the organisation’s mission and strategies. (What changes has the organisation made in the past to fit better with external changes in the industry?)
  • current situation, for example:
  • stated mission
  • stated vision and current plan/ploy
  • position in industry value chain
  • brand, reputation among customers
  • outline of the main company structure
  • products and services, and the value proposition offered to customers
  • customers, segments served
  • main competitors, competitive position (cost, differentiation, broad/narrow focus, blue ocean) and % of market held
  • organisational culture
  • performance (profitability, and/or mission achievement)

The above is a long but not complete list of concepts and tools you should consider using; you may use other concepts and tools as well.

Some of the above may be answered in a single sentence, while others may be worth paying more attention to. It is your job to determine the most appropriate structure of the analysis and the degree of detail to go into. Your choice will be based on the hard data you have readily available to you and what you believe will convince the client to engage further with you.

The assignment requires you to take a ‘critical’ approach.  This means you should:

  • weigh up the quality of the data you have available to you before reaching any conclusions
  • identify when the data is conflicting, and use your judgement to reach a considered conclusion
  • evaluate the potential client organisation’s performance – for example, to what extent is it meeting its mission? To what extent is it creating value? How does it compare with competitors? Are its strategies working? Answering these questions requires sensitivity.

You might think that your client will know all of the above. Maybe they will know a lot, but often they will have the knowledge but they will not have organised it to turn knowledge into understanding. You, as the potential consultant, can help them a) by organising all the bits and pieces into a clear and coherent view of the organisation and the world it operates in, and b) by bringing some fresh insight or new knowledge. (Look at the Belbin team roles – a strategic consultant is often expected to be a resource investigator and plant – https://www.belbin.com/about/belbin-team-roles/ )

Part 2a) A critical analysis (using a method, or methods, of your choice) of the organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and the determination of possible strategic options for the future direction of the organisation. You should justify any recommendation for strategic posture(s). (Approximately 25% of the proposal.)

You might as well use the SWOT/TOWS matrix. If you have done a thorough analysis of the industry and the organisation in Part 1, you will have much of the data needed to fill in the SWOT. Remember, if there are gaps in your knowledge or you have uncertainties, you must say so.

Do some reading about how to produce an effective SWOT/TOWS to make sure you don’t make the usual mistakes. You must avoid producing a long list of factors. You must identify the ‘critical few’ factors that are the most important and urgent, perhaps following the 80/20 Pareto rule, and you must prioritise.

You should provide a brief commentary giving your reasoning for the results.

You should then use the SWOT results to outline a number of possible corporate and business level strategic options; you are NOT expected to go into great detail about each one.   The TOWS framework is good for addressing the specific findings in the SWOT. You can use it to define a number of business level strategies to address the most important Ss, Ws, Os, and Ts. Bundled together, this may form a sufficient corporate level strategy in which the internal aspects of the organisation ‘fit’ with the external environment. (Achieving ‘strategic fit’ is one approach to strategy.) But, you should also be proposing options identifying alternative future states of the organisation, alternative visions of what the organisation should be doing, what it should look like in the next 3-5 years or so.

You can also use one or more other strategy frameworks for identifying strategic options, for example, Reeves et al’s 5 approaches to strategy, Porter’s generic strategies, scenario planning, Miles and Snow’s aggressiveness, Kim and Mauborgne’s blue ocean,  Ghemawat’s AAA framework, etc. Your choice of framework(s) will depend in part on the situation and what you think will be attractive to the potential client.

How many options to identify? You need at least two options to choose from; more than five options is difficult to handle.

You should make a brief assessment of the options; this will be an approximate assessment only. To make the assessment more systematic and objective, you should apply a framework, for example, SAF – Suitability, Acceptability, Feasibility, de Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats, a risk analysis model, etc.

Part 2b) A proposal outlining your recommendations/general approach to further develop a future strategy. (Approximately 10% of the proposal.)

In this part of your proposal, you are NOT making a recommendation for a particular strategy; you are making recommendations for what needs to be done by you and the client to ‘further develop a future strategy.’

You need to address questions such as:

  • Which aspects (‘problems’) of the organisation are the priorities to be addressed first?
  • What uncertainties identified in the proposal need to be addressed?
  • What further information needs to be collected to make the analysis in the proposal of the current situation, the SWOT and the identification of options accurate and complete?
  • What process of strategy development could be followed (who, how, what, when and where)?
  • What type of consulting relationship you can offer the client?

Part 3) A critical reflection on the concepts and tools used. (Approximately 20%)

In this Part, you are no longer writing a Proposal to a client; instead, you are required to ‘step back’ and look objectively and critically at the concepts and tools you used in Parts 1 and 2. This is an ‘academic’ piece of writing. You should look for research articles which have identified their strengths and weaknesses in practice, and compare what they say to your own experiences. You should make proper references to the research in your discussion.

As a result, if the client asks you as a consultant to explain why you have used the concepts and tools that you have, you will be able to do so.

Part 4) A consulting CV (résumé) as an appendix, highlighting specific projects and experience that evidence the skills you have to develop your strategic recommendations. (Part 4 does not count in the word count, and is not graded, but it MUST be included for the assignment to be passed.)

Executive Summary. When you have finished, write an Executive Summary. You place this at the start of your proposal. It should summarise what is in your proposal. It should be written in such a way to make the client want to read in more depth what you have to offer. In the Executive Summary, add a statement saying why you are making your proposal. For example, something like, “Company X has been growing rapidly but it is facing capacity limits in a number of areas. It needs to make a choice about the next steps, for example to continue rapid growth, which will entail risk of overstretching itself, or to take a break and consolidate its gains. Other options identified in this proposal are also available for consideration.” This is a form of ‘problem statement’.

Produce a time plot of the data and describe the patterns in the graph.

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5.1 The data below (data set fancy) concern the monthly sales figures of a shop which opened in January 1987 and sells gifts, souvenirs, and novelties. The shop is situated on the wharf at a beach resort town in Queensland, Australia. The sales volume varies with the seasonal population of tourists. There is a large influx of visitors to the town at Christmas and for the local surfing festival, held every March since 1988. Over time, the shop has expanded its premises, range of products, and staff.

##            Jan       Feb       Mar       Apr       May       Jun       Jul

## 1987   1664.81   2397.53   2840.71   3547.29   3752.96   3714.74   4349.61

## 1988   2499.81   5198.24   7225.14   4806.03   5900.88   4951.34   6179.12

## 1989   4717.02   5702.63   9957.58   5304.78   6492.43   6630.80   7349.62

## 1990   5921.10   5814.58  12421.25   6369.77   7609.12   7224.75   8121.22

## 1991   4826.64   6470.23   9638.77   8821.17   8722.37  10209.48  11276.55

## 1992   7615.03   9849.69  14558.40  11587.33   9332.56  13082.09  16732.78

## 1993  10243.24  11266.88  21826.84  17357.33  15997.79  18601.53  26155.15

##            Aug       Sep       Oct       Nov       Dec

## 1987   3566.34   5021.82   6423.48   7600.60  19756.21

## 1988   4752.15   5496.43   5835.10  12600.08  28541.72

## 1989   8176.62   8573.17   9690.50  15151.84  34061.01

## 1990   7979.25   8093.06   8476.70  17914.66  30114.41

## 1991  12552.22  11637.39  13606.89  21822.11  45060.69

## 1992  19888.61  23933.38  25391.35  36024.80  80721.71

## 1993  28586.52  30505.41  30821.33  46634.38 104660.67

5.1a Produce a time plot of the data and describe the patterns in the graph. Identify any unusual or unexpected fluctuations in the time series.

Write a 5-6 page paper comparing and contrasting these two different models of leadership.

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The concept of Servant Leadership has been very popular since Greenleaf first wrote about it in 1970. Many Christians subscribe to this model of leadership as the most appropriate model for Christian leaders to use. In this course, you are studying the constructs of Steward leadership, which some would say is a broader construct that includes Servant leadership.
Use the materials from this course along with 3-5 other scholarly sources.
Write a 5-6 page paper comparing and contrasting these two different models of leadership.
Remember to include a title page and a reference page, but these do not count toward the page count.
2 of the references should be:
The Steward Leader, by R. Scott Rodin
Steward Leadership in the Nonprofit Organization, by Kent R. Wilson

What extended metaphors can you identify in Slater’s first three chapters?

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Purpose: All discussion questions in this course serve as means for students to practice low stakes writing and critical thinking; likewise, participating in these discussion forums are meant to aid in engagement with all participants in the course. Many of these discussion questions will scaffold you as you begin to work on the medium stakes and high stakes writing assignments for this course.
Instructions
1. Answer the questions assigned to you; the suggested length for this response is approximately 750 words.
2. Please write out the question before you write your answer in your posted response; this will help readers keep information in order and will allow for more smooth interactions in the discussion forums.
Here’s your prompt: Introduce yourself to me and your classmates and begin to reflect upon the course focus by answering the following questions: THIS IS MY INFO for the INTRO (you can edit it) name (make up I will change am male 29) Married wife , 28 dog Stella, we are full time travels in our RV.
• in response to the following questions (these particular questions focus upon the first half of the book) about Lying. Each question should elicit approximately a 250 word response.
• What extended metaphors can you identify in Slater’s first three chapters?
• Pick a section of this text that seems “odd” or “confusing.” (There are multiple, I am sure.) Now, write through your confusion; attempt to explain (even if you don’t fully understand) what this particular passage may mean within the scope of the book. What is the significance of Chapter 4 being constructed entirely as a letter to the reader? How does this juxtapose with the technical discourse used in Chapter 5?

Write a paper that creates a forecasting plan for the organization you work for or another organization with which you are familiar.

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BFO-701: BUSINESS FORECASTING

Final Project

OVERVIEW
For the final project, you will create and execute a forecasting plan for an organization of your choice. The purpose of the plan is to synthesize the concepts from the course. The project requires that you create a forecast for sales, budget, future events, or any other information that is used to make a business decision. You will be applying the information from your previous assignments to a practical forecasting situation.

Consider using a current or past situation in your organization where you are now or were previously employed. Or consider a potential business that you may want to start. Find a decision that could be helped by information that a forecast can provide. Choose the forecasting technique you think will best provide that information. Then, create and execute your forecasting plan. Explain, in detail, how you developed and implemented your forecast and how that information could help the organization make the decision you have chosen. Be as specific as possible explaining the forecasting technique you would use and why it applies to your scenario.

GENERAL PLAN
Write a paper that creates a forecasting plan for the organization you work for or another organization with which you are familiar. You will choose one of the forecasting tools discussed in the course to forecast the company’s sales, overall budget, or some other significant metric for the company. Ideally, the data would be real from the company, but if the information is not available, information can be estimated. Alternatively, you can create a plan for a business that you may want to start.

The forecasting paper should include the following:

Analyze the current situation. What is the business for which you are making your forecast? How will the forecast you are creating help the business? For what metric will you create a forecast? Why is it important? Why does a forecast need to be done? What do you know about this so far? How is it being measured?

What forecasting tool will you use? Which of the forecasting tool(s) in the course can be applied to the company and the metric you want to measure? Explain why you think this forecasting tool makes sense.

Apply the tool. Use the chosen tool to create a forecast for the project. Use real data if it is available; create data if the real data is not available.

Analyze the results. What do the results mean to the organization? How can the organization use this information to make better decisions? What do the results mean about the organization? What recommendations would you make to the organization based on the results?

Analyze the process. If you were going to do the project over, what would you do differently? What worked well? What did not work well?

To what extent does the empowerment of women impact the standard of living of the society in Rwanda, and is there a difference between Kigali city and Nyarugenge?

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The question of the paper is: To what extent does the empowerment of women impact the standard of living of the society in Rwanda, and is there a difference between Kigali city and Nyarugenge?

I am also sending you the draft, which is really confused and unorganized, therefore it should all be rewritten, but the table of contents is more or less how I would like the work to be structured. It is important that a lot of data for Kigali city and Nyarugenge is collected in tables, so that the analysis can be done well.
Also maps are important, so it would be great to add a couple in the work and add the sources and legend for each

Explain Elaboration Likelihood Model, defining the central and peripheral routes of persuasion.

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Throughout this week, keep a log of social influence attempts that come your way. Pick two and analyze the attempts in terms of the Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion, especially focusing on whether you processed the attempt through the central or peripheral route of persuasion.
Guidelines:
Your paper should be three pages and written using APA formatting.
The paper will have a minimum of four paragraphs: introduction, analysis of social influence attempt 1, analysis of social influence attempt 2, and conclusion. Be sure to include a title page and reference page in correct APA formatting.
The Gass and Seiter (2018) text should be referenced in your paper, especially as you explain Elaboration Likelihood Model, defining the central and peripheral routes of persuasion.

Define “networking.” Then, describe the type of career (i.e., provide a job title) you would like to acquire within the Sport Business industry.

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“Networking” and completing practical application experiences (e.g., an internship) can be valuable when an individual is attempting to gain an employment opportunity within the Sport Business industry.
For this week’s initial discussion post:
Define “networking.” Then, describe the type of career (i.e., provide a job title) you would like to acquire within the Sport Business industry. Briefly explain the steps you plan to employ in order to pursue your career objective(s).

Describe the manner in which your solution will protect the privacy of data transmitted across the WAN.

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Imagine you are an Information Systems Security Officer for a medium-sized financial services firm that has operations in four (4) states (Virginia, Florida, Arizona, and California). Due to the highly sensitive data created, stored, and transported by your organization, the CIO is concerned with implementing proper security controls for the LAN-to-WAN domain. Specifically, the CIO is concerned with the following areas:
Protecting data privacy across the WAN
Filtering undesirable network traffic from the Internet
Filtering the traffic to the Internet that does not adhere to the organizational acceptable use policy (AUP) for the Web
Having a zone that allows access for anonymous users but aggressively controls information exchange with internal resources
Having an area designed to trap attackers in order to monitor attacker activities
Allowing a means to monitor network traffic in real time as a means to identify and block unusual activity
Hiding internal IP addresses
Allowing operating system and application patch management
The CIO has tasked you with proposing a series of hardware and software controls designed to provide security for the LAN-to-WAN domain. The CIO anticipates receiving both a written report and diagram(s) to support your recommendations.
Use MS Visio or an open source equivalent to graphically depict a solution for the provided scenario that will:
filter undesirable network traffic from the Internet
filter Web traffic to the Internet that does not adhere to the organizational AUP for the Web
allow for a zone for anonymous users but aggressively controls information exchange with internal resources
allow for an area designed to trap attackers in order to monitor attacker activities
offer a means to monitor network traffic in real time as a means to identify and block unusual activity
hide internal IP addresses
Identify the fundamentals of public key infrastructure (PKI).
Describe the manner in which your solution will protect the privacy of data transmitted across the WAN.
Analyze the requirements necessary to allow for proper operating system and application patch management and describe a solution that would be effective.

What is the organization’s WORKFORCE profile? Identify your KEY WORKFORCE groups by department and function.

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P.1 Organizational Description: What are your key organizational characteristics? Describe your organization’s operating environments and your key relationships with residents, stakeholders, suppliers, and partners.

Within your response, include answers to the following questions:

  1. ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
  2. What is the organization’s environment: urban, suburban, rural, etc.?

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is an organization that is fortunate enough to operate in many countries, to be exact it is about 170 countries across the globe. IBM’s headquarters are based in Armonk, New York. Meanwhile the organization operates in many countries and its headquarters are based in the city, the type of organizational environment for IBM is urban.

  1. What are your organization’s main product or service offerings? What is the relative importance of each to your organizational success (e.g., skilled nursing, subacute, assisted living, etc.)?

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a business that attentions mainly on computer-based products. This organization produces and sells computer products like software, hardware and it also conducts professional consulting services. Although the main focus of the company is computers, it is very much so involved in patenting. The company has invented various products like the floppy disks and the automated teller machine among other products (Heckscher et al., 2017). By producing and inventing computer-based products, the company has higher value and it has been profitable in the market.

  1. What is the organization’s MISSION/VISION statement (verbatim) and the specific methods used to communicate it across the organization? What are your organization’s CORE COMPETENCIES and their relationship to your MISSION?

Mission statement

International Business Machines Corporation’s positions that the company aims to lead in the creation of the most advanced information technology products which include computer hardware and software. The company intends to transform these products to value creation for the customers.

Vision Statement

IBM’s vision statement is to become the most prosperous information technology organization in the world. The company aims to help its customer to use technology to solve the problems they face in their daily lives (Jörn, 2016).

More importantly effective leadership and instant response to customer needs are two key methods that are used to communicate both the mission and the vision statements of IBM. The core competencies of IMB are problem solving, client focus, communication, teamwork and commitment to success (Heckscher et al., 2017). These competencies are so important because they help this organization achieve its missions and visions.

  1. What is the organization’s WORKFORCE profile? Identify your KEY WORKFORCE groups by department and function. You may use a table to provide your response.