Competencies

• Describe the process of creating data sets.
• Determine audience needs for effective data visualization.
• Discuss presentation of data using editorial thinking and communication.
• Translate quantitative and qualitative data into appropriate visualizations.
• Explain how visualizations are used to capture actionable insights and address business problems.

Scenario

Al Gore, the 45th Vice President of the United and renowned environmentalist, has hired you. Many people believe that global warming is a fallacy and that the current uproar about drastic climatic changes is mere political rhetoric championed by extremists. Their belief is that hydrocarbons released into our atmosphere over the past century are the main cause of major climate changes that have contributed to global warming.

Mr. Gore needs to demonstrate that there is merit to the present claim of a global warming crisis. To do this, he has asked you to create a visual presentation of the contiguous U.S. climatological changes for the past 100 years in yearly increments. Also, Mr. Gore would like you to create a visualization story utilizing qualitative data extracted from the various sources of 2015 Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The audiences that he intends to present your findings to are the naysayers both in Congress and key industrialists.

Instructions

Tableau Presentation

Create a Tableau visualization story that links the measures of quantitative and qualitative data necessary to support the communication Mr. Gore requires. Use visualization stories and visualization tools to capture key insights and express them in business terms.

• Utilize appropriate visualizations in your presentation, based upon your analysis of Tableau visualization options and audience needs.
• Create data sets that will be used in this presentation.
• Chart the average, minimum, and maximum temperatures, and precipitation levels in the contiguous U.S.
• Present changes in the occurrence of drought in the same 100 year time span using the U.S. Drought Severity Index (PDSI) rankings as compared to the 20th Century averages.
• Apply the proper visualizations for the qualitative data found on Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

Word Document

After your research and creation of the visualization story, draft a summary in Word addressing the following information:

• Identify the needs of your audience.
• Explain your presentation and the justification for the data sets you used.
• Discuss presentation of data using editorial thinking and communication.
• Identify data found to be unavailable, and provide an explanation of why it is not available.
• Devise a plan to turn insight derived from the data into actions to meet the communication goals.
• Explain what makes this insight actionable.

Q1. Reflect on  Chapter 1: Introduction: Why Project Management?  . Identify what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding.

Also, provide a graduate-level response to each of the following questions

Q2. Think of a successful project and an unsuccessful project with which you are familiar.  What distinguishes the two, both in terms of the process used to develop them and their outcomes

Q3. Consider the Expedition Everest case at the end of the chapter: what elements in Disney’s approach to developing its theme rides do you find particularly impressive? How can a firm like Disney balance the need for efficiency and smooth development of projects with the desire to be innovative and creative? Based on this case, what principles appear to guide its development process?

Q1. Reflect on  Chapter 1: Introduction: Why Project Management?  . Identify what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding.

Also, provide a graduate-level response to each of the following questions

Q2. Think of a successful project and an unsuccessful project with which you are familiar.  What distinguishes the two, both in terms of the process used to develop them and their outcomes

Q3. Consider the Expedition Everest case at the end of the chapter: what elements in Disney’s approach to developing its theme rides do you find particularly impressive? How can a firm like Disney balance the need for efficiency and smooth development of projects with the desire to be innovative and creative? Based on this case, what principles appear to guide its development process?

Overview: In a rapidly changing world of business, the nature and meaning of corporate nationality is in a state of flux. In this assignment you will take up the case of one international firm of your choice and ask whether its national identity carries any real meaning today. To do this, you need to select a company, research its corporate annual reports and other financial and business sources. You should look for attributes such as location of production, R&D, headquarters, workforce, product markets, ownership, assets, investment and finance. The core question here is whether the firm’s official “home” is relevant to its operations (as Tyson suggests) or irrelevant (as Reich suggests).

Question:

Your essay should be written in response to the following question, which should act as its title:

Corporate National Identity in the 21st Century: Is [FIRM] really a [NATIONALITY] company?

For example:

Corporate National Identity in the 21st Century: Is BP really a British company?
Corporate National Identity in the 21st Century: Is Huawei really a Chinese company?
Corporate National Identity in the 21st Century: Is Honda really a Japanese company?

4. Your firm today (this should make up half of the whole essay, and respond directly to the question of corporate national identity as discussed in section 2)

Tips:

1. Remember that the core question of corporate national identity (as debated by Reich and Tyson) was not merely whether firms conducted operations at home or abroad (these are all international firms by definition), but whether their national “home” is relevant to their business decisions and strategies. Therefore, simply listing the foreign activities of a firm does not necessarily tell us that the company is a “Reich-type” global firm, just as listing its home activities does not prove it to be a “Tyson-type” national firm. Instead, look for evidence that a firm is making decisions relating to the location of its activity that suggest a loyalty to its home country, or a reflections of its national values that can’t be explained by merely business strategy
2. Good essays will show a grasp of the the Reich-Tyson debate on corporate national identity, but will supplement this with other relevant (and more recent) scholarly material, some of which you will find in the Canvas reading list.
3. Good essays will also show a thorough and critical search for relevant firm data. You may use information from the firm itself (it’s website, annual reports, statements from its leaders), but remember to maintain a critical and skeptical approach to this information. Just because  CEO says that his/her firm is a proud citizen of its home country, this does not mean that it is true.
4. Choose a firm that will allow you to get flesh out the question of corporate national identity: make sure it is a multinational enterprise (MNE) rather than a small local firm, and make sure you can get enough data on the firm to analyse its operations  in sufficient detail.
5. It will be important to show some sense of the firm’s history, but avoid getting too bogged down in this. It is not necessary to give a year-by-year account of the firms history, especially if this comes at the expense of thoroughly discussing its contemporary operations.
6. In determining your firm’s national identity, consider the full spectrum of its actions: supply chains, R&D, production, direct and indirect employees, ownership, headquarters, and leadership. Better responses will cover all of these aspects.

Word Limit: 750 Words

Overview: In a rapidly changing world of business, the nature and meaning of corporate nationality is in a state of flux. In this assignment you will take up the case of one international firm of your choice and ask whether its national identity carries any real meaning today. To do this, you need to select a company, research its corporate annual reports and other financial and business sources. You should look for attributes such as location of production, R&D, headquarters, workforce, product markets, ownership, assets, investment and finance. The core question here is whether the firm’s official “home” is relevant to its operations (as Tyson suggests) or irrelevant (as Reich suggests).

Question:

Your essay should be written in response to the following question, which should act as its title:

Corporate National Identity in the 21st Century: Is [FIRM] really a [NATIONALITY] company?

For example:

Corporate National Identity in the 21st Century: Is BP really a British company?
Corporate National Identity in the 21st Century: Is Huawei really a Chinese company?
Corporate National Identity in the 21st Century: Is Honda really a Japanese company?

4. Your firm today (this should make up half of the whole essay, and respond directly to the question of corporate national identity as discussed in section 2)

Tips:

1. Remember that the core question of corporate national identity (as debated by Reich and Tyson) was not merely whether firms conducted operations at home or abroad (these are all international firms by definition), but whether their national “home” is relevant to their business decisions and strategies. Therefore, simply listing the foreign activities of a firm does not necessarily tell us that the company is a “Reich-type” global firm, just as listing its home activities does not prove it to be a “Tyson-type” national firm. Instead, look for evidence that a firm is making decisions relating to the location of its activity that suggest a loyalty to its home country, or a reflections of its national values that can’t be explained by merely business strategy
2. Good essays will show a grasp of the the Reich-Tyson debate on corporate national identity, but will supplement this with other relevant (and more recent) scholarly material, some of which you will find in the Canvas reading list.
3. Good essays will also show a thorough and critical search for relevant firm data. You may use information from the firm itself (it’s website, annual reports, statements from its leaders), but remember to maintain a critical and skeptical approach to this information. Just because  CEO says that his/her firm is a proud citizen of its home country, this does not mean that it is true.
4. Choose a firm that will allow you to get flesh out the question of corporate national identity: make sure it is a multinational enterprise (MNE) rather than a small local firm, and make sure you can get enough data on the firm to analyse its operations  in sufficient detail.
5. It will be important to show some sense of the firm’s history, but avoid getting too bogged down in this. It is not necessary to give a year-by-year account of the firms history, especially if this comes at the expense of thoroughly discussing its contemporary operations.
6. In determining your firm’s national identity, consider the full spectrum of its actions: supply chains, R&D, production, direct and indirect employees, ownership, headquarters, and leadership. Better responses will cover all of these aspects.

Word Limit: 750 Words

Assignment Content

1.     For this assignment, refer to the scenario located in “Problems – Series A,” section 8-19A of Ch. 8, “Performance Evaluation,“ of Fundamentals of Managerial Accounting Concepts. This scenario puts you in charge of preparing a budget for the Redmond Management Association annual public relations luncheon.

   Read the scenario in the textbook and complete the activity below.

   Use Excel—showing all work and formulas—to complete the following:

   • Prepare a flexible budget.
   • Compute the sales volume variance and the variable cost volume variances based on a comparison between the master budget and the flexible budget.
   • Compute flexible budget variances by comparing the flexible budget with the actual results.
   • Create a 6- to 8-slide presentation for the budget committee meeting. Complete the following in your presentation:
   • Summarize the results of the sales volume and variable cost volume variances computations based on the comparison between the master budget and the flexible budget.
   • Summarize the results of the flexible budget variances computations based on the comparison between the flexible budget and the actual results.
   • Justify the favorable or unfavorable budget variances.
   • Since this is a not-for-profit organization, address why anyone should be concerned with meeting the budget.
   • Make recommendations for what can be done differently to stay on budget for future luncheons. Provide specific examples to support your recommendations.
   • Cite references to support your assignment.

     Format your citations according to APA guidelines.

     Assignment Content

     1.     For this assignment, refer to the scenario located in “Problems – Series A,” section 8-19A of Ch. 8, “Performance Evaluation,“ of Fundamentals of Managerial Accounting Concepts. This scenario puts you in charge of preparing a budget for the Redmond Management Association annual public relations luncheon.

        Read the scenario in the textbook and complete the activity below.

        Use Excel—showing all work and formulas—to complete the following:

        • Prepare a flexible budget.
        • Compute the sales volume variance and the variable cost volume variances based on a comparison between the master budget and the flexible budget.
        • Compute flexible budget variances by comparing the flexible budget with the actual results.
        • Create a 6- to 8-slide presentation for the budget committee meeting. Complete the following in your presentation:
        • Summarize the results of the sales volume and variable cost volume variances computations based on the comparison between the master budget and the flexible budget.
        • Summarize the results of the flexible budget variances computations based on the comparison between the flexible budget and the actual results.
        • Justify the favorable or unfavorable budget variances.
        • Since this is a not-for-profit organization, address why anyone should be concerned with meeting the budget.
        • Make recommendations for what can be done differently to stay on budget for future luncheons. Provide specific examples to support your recommendations.
        • Cite references to support your assignment.

          Format your citations according to APA guidelines.

Because of the profound ways in which leadership affects us all, it would be nice if the people in positions of authority were actually good at it. But research shows that most people are woefully inadequate when it comes to influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals. (p. 638)

The authors describe the most common reasons why people fail in leadership positions—bad leadership, managerial incompetence, and managerial derailment—and the steps leaders can take to improve their odds of success.

Image source: Nonprofitrisk.org

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

• Create an ethical strategy and standard for communication during change.

 

Resources

• Textbook: Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience

Background Information

In The Leadership Challenge, authors Kouzes and Posner (2007) report on their considerable surveys and research on the subject of leadership. They identify four characteristics most selected in their surveys of admired leadership: honest, forward-looking, inspiring, and competent.

• Honest: “It’s clear that if people anywhere are to willingly follow someone—whether it’s into battle or into the boardroom, the front office or the front lines—they first want to assure themselves that the person is worthy of their trust” (p.  32).
• Forward-Looking: “People expect leaders to have a sense of direction and a concern for the future of the organization” (p. 33).
• Inspiring: “It’s not enough for a leader to have a dream. A leader must be able to communicate the vision in ways that encourage people to sign on for the duration and excite them about the cause” (p. 34).
• Competent: “To enlist in a common cause, people must believe that the leader is competent to guide them where they’re headed. They must see the leader as having relevant experience and sound judgment” (p. 35).

These characteristics supplement the reading from Chapter 16 of Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience, reinforcing the contention that effective leaders must be careful to safeguard the positive attributes of leadership and guard against the ominous dark side of leadership.

Reference

Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2007). The leadership challenge (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. Read Chapter 16 of our textbook, including all Profiles and Highlights for an additional perspective.
3. Read the minicase, “You Can’t Make Stuff Like This Up,” at the end of Chapter 16.
4. Write a paper incorporating information from the textbook. Respond to the following questions related to the minicase.
   1. How does Jim’s behavior depict the dark side of leadership described in Chapter 16 as it relates to “bad leadership, managerial incompetence, and managerial derailment”?
   2. How would a leader exhibiting the four characteristics of admired leadership noted above by Kouzes and Posner respond in this case study, in contrast to Jim’s behavior?
5. Your paper should be 400–500 words in length and should include at least two citations from the text applying the text concepts to the leadership challenge. Use proper spelling, grammar, and APA style in your paper and for any sources cited. For questions on APA style, go to OCLS APA Writing Styles Guides.
6. When you have completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself and submit a copy to your instructor by the end of the workshop.

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6.3 Assignment: Leadership as Situations Change

 

Getting Started

In this assignment, you will apply the theory and principles learned in Chapters 15 and 17 in our textbook on the subject of leading successfully in an environment of change.

This course is titled, “Leadership and Organizational Change,” so these two chapters, in particular, are strategic learning experiences as you conclude the course with this workshop. The authors note that the information in the latter chapters of the text is summative in nature and content, building upon the leadership theory and practice provided in earlier chapters.

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

• Describe a major change initiative that you have either experienced personally or of which you are familiar with.
• Illustrate how that change initiative depicted aspects of the rational approach to organizational change and charismatic and transformational leadership.

Resources

• Textbook: Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience

Background Information

In Chapter 15 of Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience, Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy (2019) describe a “rational approach” to organizational change, including a diagnostic framework for understanding why many change efforts fail.

The authors also provide an intriguing assessment of the charismatic and transformational leadership model and how these types of leaders can have a dramatic influence on change: “The personal magnetism, heroic qualities, and spellbinding powers of these leaders can have unusually strong effects on followers, which often lead to dramatic organizational, political, or societal change” (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2019, p. 583).

CHARISMATIC Vs. TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER

CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Leader influences the followers with the dint of his or her personality and charm.

Leader inspires change through his or her vision and passion to get things done.

Leader is the “head of the show.”

Leader is open to followers’ input and participation.

Vision fulfillment by stimulating followers to leader’s vision.

Vision fulfillment inclusive of follower and leader vision.

Charismatic leaders are most likely to emerge in crisis situations.

Transformational leaders can emerge at different levels of the organization.

Behavior aimed at leader-driven goals and promote feelings of obedience and dependency in followers.

Behavior aimed at encouraging teamwork and commitment to shared goals.

*Table adapted from www.techofunc.com ©Chartered Techofunctional Institute

In Chapter 17 of the text, the authors describe the skills necessary for optimizing leadership as situations change:

• Creating a compelling vision
• Managing conflict
• Negotiation
• Diagnosing performance problems in individuals, groups, and organizations
• Team building at the top
• Punishment (p. 694)

In this assignment, you will apply the leadership theory provided in Chapters 15 and 17 to a real-world change initiative based upon your personal experience or a situation with which you are familiar.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. Read Chapters 15 and 17 of our textbook, including all Profiles and Highlights for added perspective on the chapter’s content.
3. Write an analysis paper in response to the following:
   1. Describe a major change initiative that you have either experienced personally or of which you are familiar.
   2. Using the information in Chapter 15, illustrate how that change initiative depicted aspects of the rational approach to organizational change and characteristics of charismatic and transformational leadership. Provide a detailed explanation for your evaluation that demonstrates clear, insightful critical thinking.
   3. Using the information in Chapter 17, illustrate how that change initiative utilized one or several of the leadership skills listed in the chapter (i.e., creating a compelling vision, managing conflict, etc.). Provide a detailed explanation for your evaluation that demonstrates clear, insightful critical thinking.
4. Your analysis should be 600 to 800 words in length. Use proper spelling, grammar, and APA style in your analysis and any sources cited. For question on APA style, go to OCLS APA Writing Styles Guides.
5. When you have completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself and submit a copy to your instructor by the end of the workshop.

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