Topic Exploration Paper

BUS/721: Issues In Optimizing Operations

Wk 1 – Topic Exploration Paper

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Assignment Content

Top of Form

Note: Review the Week 8 – Summative Assessment: Leadership Optimization Business Plan assignment instructions before completing this week’s assignment.

 

In Weeks 1-7, you will take steps toward analyzing, drafting, and designing an optimization business plan, which will be due in Week 8. This week’s assignment will help you brainstorm and develop your ideas.

 

To begin, select an organization to research that is of interest to you.

 

Write a 500- to 750-word paper in which you:

1. • Describe the organization. What is the industry and in which country (or countries) does it operate?
   • Explain why this organization is of interest to you. What makes it a suitable topic for your Week 8 assignment?
   • Explain how this organization is related to your career and/or career goals.
   • Describe 2-3 potential opportunities for optimization. As you proceed through Weeks 1-7 you will be able to narrow your focus to a single issue, which will be presented in the Week 8 assignment.
   • Include any preliminary plans you may have for using data analytics and business intelligence (BI) systems.
   • Identify an initial set of sources you will use to obtain information on the organization (history, current products/services, financial performance, corporate social performance, etc.).

 

Cite organization-specific, industry/trade, and peer-reviewed references.

 

Bottom of Form

 

Wk 8 – Summative Assessment: Leadership Optimization Business Plan

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Assignment Content

Top of Form

Scenario: Imagine you are a management consultant for an organization seeking to optimize its operations. You have been tasked with conducting research before developing a business plan which you will later present to stakeholders for their consideration.

 

Select an organization or industry of your choice and identify an optimization challenge you would like to address.

 

Write a 1,750- to 2,100-word paper in which you present a leadership and optimization plan to address the challenge.

 

Note: This assignment requires that you integrate content you have created in Weeks 1–6. Be sure to create a consistent and coherent plan; avoid simply appending prior submissions. Each week, consider how you can incorporate feedback received from your instructor and your peers.

 

Include the following in your plan:

Introduction

1. • Describe your chosen organization or industry by providing context and relevant details about its operations.

 

The Vision

1. • Explain one optimization challenge and your vision for optimization. Be sure to support your idea(s) with a theoretical framework or concept.
   • Explain your strategy/strategies for implementing your vision.
   • Predict 3-4 optimization outcomes your plan will have on operations. Consider the following guiding questions:
   • Positive outcomes
   • How will your plan drive performance excellence?
   • How will your plan provide a competitive advantage to the organization or industry?
   • Does your plan have long-term sustainability? Why or why not?
   • What kind of impact will your plan have on domestic/global operations?
   • Potential challenges
   • What are 1-2 negative repercussions you anticipate occurring as a result of implementing your plan? How can they be mitigated to reduce stakeholder concerns?

 

Leadership Competencies

1. • Describe how you will apply leadership principles to execute the vision.
   • Assumptions – Explain how you assessed your assumptions.
   • Alignment – Explain how you will align people, processes, and systems to implement the changes.
   • How will you develop and prepare organization leaders?
   • What changes must occur in the organizational structure to execute the plan?
   • What changes must occur in organizational behavior to execute the plan?
   • How will your plan provide clarity, encourage dialogue, and inspire the organization?
   • Incorporate insights you gained from the interviews you conducted in Week 3 and Week 4.
   • Incorporate concepts from the VAE model in The Work of Leaders. 

 

Data/Metrics

1. • Explain the role data will play in the execution of your vision. Be sure to support your rationale with relevant details about how you will:
   • Acquire the data
   • Measure the data
   • Incorporate Business Intelligence (BI) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to manage the data
   • Include relevant details from the Wk 5 – Data Analysis Worksheet assignment as well as the Wk 6 – Data Table assignment.

 

Execution

1. • Explain how you will build momentum, structure, and provide ongoing feedback. What will the feedback loop look like? Include applicable details from the Value, Alignment, Execution (VAE) model on page 9 of The Work of Leaders.

 

Sources

1. • Support your plan with applicable sources from the list below:
   • Scholarly works such as applicable graphs, charts, tables, and figures which are excluded from the word count maximums
   • Organization-specific, industry/trade, and peer-reviewed references
   • Key theoretical or conceptual frameworks that support your plan

 

Format your paper and presentation according to APA guidelines.

 

Bottom of Form