As you saw in the last workshop, leaders cast light when they master the ethical challenges of leadership. They cast shadows when they abuse power, hoard privileges, mismanage information, act inconsistently, misplace or betray loyalties, or fail to assume responsibilities. This assignment will help you examine your perceptions regarding the ethical dilemmas faced by leaders and examine some light-casting qualities depicted by ethical leaders.

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

• Identify legal and ethical leadership dilemmas that effect managerial decision making.
• Distinguish leadership actions that cast light from those that cast shadows.
• Examine the guidelines offered by the world and the Bible for ethical living.
• Distinguish behavior accepted by those serving the world from behavior by those serving Christ.

Resources

• Textbook: Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership
• Article: White’s Biblical Principles
• Website:Whistleblower Protection
• Article: Whistle Blowing in the Public Sector

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. Review Chapters 1 and 3 in Meeting the Ethical Challenge of Leadership textbook.
3. Read Chapter12 – Focusing on the Three Stages of a Crisis, Practice Transparency and Blowing the Whistle: Ethical Tension Points in Meeting the Ethical Challenge of Leadership textbook.
4. Read White’s Biblical Principles. : https://brightspace.indwes.edu/content/enforced/120839-3FA2020MGMT-512-01A/White%27s%20Principles%20512.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=pdnShIhg4mzJ8SLhlsbc2QSXY&ou=120839
5. Read the article Whistle Blowing in the Public Sector. : https://www.scu.edu/government-ethics/resources/what-is-government-ethics/whistle-blowing-in-the-public-sector/
6. Visit Website: Whistleblower Protection. : https://www.whistleblowers.gov/about-us
7. Choose and read two articles from the list below:
   1. Boeing
   2. Uber : https://search.proquest.com/docview/2130243492?accountid=6363
   3. Wells Fargo : https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/video/wells-fargo-fraud
   4. Firestone Tire recall : https://danielsethics.mgt.unm.edu/pdf/Firestone%20Case.pdf

Case Study I-3,  pp. 144-156.

After careful reading of the case material, consider and fully answer the following questions:

1.  What were the primary reasons for changing the current system at Butler?
2.  What role did Butler’s IS department play?
3.  List the objectives of the pilot.  Were there any problems?
4.  Do you think Butler made the right decision to utilize this new technology?  What implications does this decision hold for Butler’s IT department in the long run?
The assignment consists of several questions about the reading.  Each question may or may not have several parts; each part must be addressed in your answer.  You should use good paragraph structure (thesis, supporting evidence, summary), good grammar, and use your spell-checker.  Do NOT use bullet points, sentence fragments, or graphics.  Some questions (or parts of questions) may appear to be opinion questions.  State your opinion, then provide evidence and reasoning to support your position.

Your evidence may come from the case study itself, our textbook, or outside sources.  If you do use outside sources, you must cite them.  I’m not picky about the format of the citations; they can be in-place, or in notes following the text, and I should have no trouble in finding at least a reference to the source.  If you quote material from the textbook (chapters or case study), simply note the page number from which you got the quote.

As to format, I need only your name and the assignment name at the top in a header.  Page numbers and footers are not required.  Number each answer, but do not repeat the question in your answer.  Use standard margins (1 inch) and fonts no larger than 12pt.  For length, typically these assignments can be answered adequately in approximately one and half to two pages of single-spaced text.

I use Turnitin to check papers.  Make sure your work is original and your own.

NOTE: Butler refers to it’s IT department as IR.  You may consider these two acronyms as synonymous (i.e. IT = IS = IR for purposes of this assignment)

Case Study I-3,  pp. 144-156.

After careful reading of the case material, consider and fully answer the following questions:

1.  What were the primary reasons for changing the current system at Butler?
2.  What role did Butler’s IS department play?
3.  List the objectives of the pilot.  Were there any problems?
4.  Do you think Butler made the right decision to utilize this new technology?  What implications does this decision hold for Butler’s IT department in the long run?
The assignment consists of several questions about the reading.  Each question may or may not have several parts; each part must be addressed in your answer.  You should use good paragraph structure (thesis, supporting evidence, summary), good grammar, and use your spell-checker.  Do NOT use bullet points, sentence fragments, or graphics.  Some questions (or parts of questions) may appear to be opinion questions.  State your opinion, then provide evidence and reasoning to support your position.

Your evidence may come from the case study itself, our textbook, or outside sources.  If you do use outside sources, you must cite them.  I’m not picky about the format of the citations; they can be in-place, or in notes following the text, and I should have no trouble in finding at least a reference to the source.  If you quote material from the textbook (chapters or case study), simply note the page number from which you got the quote.

As to format, I need only your name and the assignment name at the top in a header.  Page numbers and footers are not required.  Number each answer, but do not repeat the question in your answer.  Use standard margins (1 inch) and fonts no larger than 12pt.  For length, typically these assignments can be answered adequately in approximately one and half to two pages of single-spaced text.

I use Turnitin to check papers.  Make sure your work is original and your own.

NOTE: Butler refers to it’s IT department as IR.  You may consider these two acronyms as synonymous (i.e. IT = IS = IR for purposes of this assignment)

After reading the Levi’s Case from our textbook, respond to the following prompts in one to five sentences:

Based on the information in the case (and as of the case’s date, Early 2000’s)

• What is Levi’s strategy?
  • Where is Levi’s on spectrums of differentiation and cost leadership? What are other important elements of Levi’s strategy? Would these change under CCTC’s proposal?
• How is Levi’s able to differentiate?
  • Which source(s) of differentiation are relevant (see Chapter 5 and Table 5.2 of textbook for sources)?
  • Which of Levi’s capabilities/resources are most important for maintaining a differentiation advantage?
• Evaluate the external environment and its strategic implications at two levels:
  • Broader industry: apparel manufacturers
  • Specific industry: jeans manufacturers
    • How attractive is its industry what are the key industry forces and success factors?
  • Do any major manufactures of jeans (with substantial market share) have broader product offerings (e.g. jeans < 50% of total revenue)
    • Should Levi widen their offering offerings (if so to where) based on the analysis of its competitors (both those who are focused and diversified)
• Analyze CCTC’s proposal & its impact on Levi’s participation in the value chain?
  • What does the value chain look like for Levi’s with & without the CCTC offer?
  • How else could Levi’s adjust its participation in the value chain?
  • Evaluate potential outcomes – Do Levi’s resources/capabilities support implementing CCTC’s offer; what are the strategic and financial upside and downside and how certain are the outcomes (e.g. impact of external environment change, reliability of the cost savings estimates, etc.)

v

BMGT 496 – Project 1: News Event (20%)

Project 1 is due Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. eastern time of week 3 unless otherwise changed by the instructor.

Purpose:  In the first assignment, you have the opportunity to see how ethics can play out in a real-world scenario.  You will read the case scenario and answers the questions in a narrative format. Use headings for each question.  Headings are not the question.  You are required to use the course material to support your reasoning and the conclusions made.

Outcomes met by completing this project:

1. identify ethical issues that arise in domestic and global business environments using an understanding of ethical concepts and of legal and business principles

Case Scenario:

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic required Americans to shelter in place thus causing the U.S. economy to freeze-up, resulting in millions of lost jobs.  The U.S. Congress passed legislation to try and limit the economic damage.  Included in the legislation was a stimulus package that would give $1,200 to single tax filers making $75,000 or less and $2,400 to married couples making $150,000 or less.  The purpose of the payment was to give people emergency funds and to stimulate the economy.  Also included was the CARES Act that provided the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).  The PPP was a program administered by the Small Business Administration that was targeted at small business.  It provided for a government loan that was forgivable if used to pay employees’ salaries and benefits, mortgages, rent, and utilities. According to the SBA website, “[t]he Paycheck Protection Program is a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll.”

USAA is a member-owned organization that provided insurance and financial services exclusively to current and former members of the military as well as their family members.  USAA has an excellent reputation as a well-run organization and for giving its members good service.  Many USAA members maintain checking accounts with it.  Some of those members who have checking accounts had overdrawn their balances and had a negative balance in their accounts.  When the $1,200 or $2,400 stimulus check were deposited, USAA used those amounts to offset the negative balances in some of its members’ accounts.  Members were not informed in advance that this would be the case.  This resulted in some USAA members not having any access to the stimulus money.  The action USAA took in crediting the funds to existing account deficits was perfectly legal.

Shake Shack is a corporation that owns and licenses restaurants selling traditional American fare like hamburgers and milk shakes.  It currently operates 124 locations in the U.S. and overseas.  As of May 4, 2020, the company had a market capitalization of $2.06 billion.  The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.  In 2019, Shake Shack’s CEO received $2.3 million in compensation.  Shake Shack applied for and received a loan of $10 million under PPP.  The loan was permissible under a provision in PPP the allows restaurant chains to apply when each location has fewer than 500 employees.  Shortly after Shake Shack received the loan, the PPP ran out of funds and many small businesses did not receive loans.

Small Business Administration. (2020) Retrieved from https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options/paycheck-protection-program

How to Set Up the Paper

Overview

To make sense of all the data available to them, business leaders work alongside data scientists who generate data visualizations to understand business questions via analytics. This process gives companies insight on what is working and what is not: for example, whether the products or services offered are meeting expectations, or if a shift in strategy is necessary.

Prompt

For this assignment, you will take on the role of a business leader who wishes to analyze if a new product their company has introduced is meeting the expectations. Imagine that you would like to create a post in the company intranet that summarizes your findings in an easy-to-read format for your team. Pay special attention to creating meaningful data visualizations. You should use techniques that make content easy to follow but that also display charts accurately without distorting or skewing data. Your company’s profit goal is 25% of the cost of goods sold (COGS). Remember, COGS is the cost of manufacturing the product, including labor, materials, and overhead. You will need to build trust and an open channel of communication with other leaders on your team. Pay close attention to the story that data visualizations tell you and others reviewing your post.

The purpose of this analysis is to better understand the cost, revenue, and profit associated with the new product launch. Review the Cost, Revenue, and Profit Spreadsheet retrieved from the company’s data center and consider the following while developing your ideas in this assignment.

• What is the importance of data analysis?
• What are the results of your analysis?
• Think about your analysis and its findings, including visuals. Use visuals and text to re-state the purpose of your analysis and summarize your most important findings.
  • What are you trying to represent with this data?
  • What kind of graphic have you selected and why?
• How did adding visual representations of the data change your analysis?
  • Does the target audience influence the way you display information?

Guidelines for Submission

Complete the Making Data Driven Decisions worksheet in your Soomo webtext, download your completed work, and submit it in Brightspace for instructor feedback. You should write using a professional voice, and any sources should be cited according to APA style. Your assignment must be between 400 and 800 words in length.

Overview

To make sense of all the data available to them, business leaders work alongside data scientists who generate data visualizations to understand business questions via analytics. This process gives companies insight on what is working and what is not: for example, whether the products or services offered are meeting expectations, or if a shift in strategy is necessary.

Prompt

For this assignment, you will take on the role of a business leader who wishes to analyze if a new product their company has introduced is meeting the expectations. Imagine that you would like to create a post in the company intranet that summarizes your findings in an easy-to-read format for your team. Pay special attention to creating meaningful data visualizations. You should use techniques that make content easy to follow but that also display charts accurately without distorting or skewing data. Your company’s profit goal is 25% of the cost of goods sold (COGS). Remember, COGS is the cost of manufacturing the product, including labor, materials, and overhead. You will need to build trust and an open channel of communication with other leaders on your team. Pay close attention to the story that data visualizations tell you and others reviewing your post.

The purpose of this analysis is to better understand the cost, revenue, and profit associated with the new product launch. Review the Cost, Revenue, and Profit Spreadsheet retrieved from the company’s data center and consider the following while developing your ideas in this assignment.

• What is the importance of data analysis?
• What are the results of your analysis?
• Think about your analysis and its findings, including visuals. Use visuals and text to re-state the purpose of your analysis and summarize your most important findings.
  • What are you trying to represent with this data?
  • What kind of graphic have you selected and why?
• How did adding visual representations of the data change your analysis?
  • Does the target audience influence the way you display information?

Guidelines for Submission

Complete the Making Data Driven Decisions worksheet in your Soomo webtext, download your completed work, and submit it in Brightspace for instructor feedback. You should write using a professional voice, and any sources should be cited according to APA style. Your assignment must be between 400 and 800 words in length.