Week 4 Assignment 1 Submission

Sources must be cited in APA format. Your response should be four (4) double-spaced pages; refer to the “Assignment Format” page located on the Course Home page for specific format requirements.

One of the philosophies mentioned in your text includes the strategy of Plan, Do, Check, and Act. Please keep this philosophy in mind when considering the information required below.

1.      Discuss the premise of TQ. Then, Design a TQ initiative for your company outlining steps that will provide internal and external support for your initiative.

2.      Plan a team meeting with your managers and elaborate how together you will disseminate this plan to the entire company.

3.      Evaluate the impact of your meeting and the launching of your TQ plan, including two (2) strengths and two (2) weaknesses of the plan.

Some information from the chapter that can be helpful

The total quality approach to doing business may be radically different than what management and employees are used to. Managers who are used to sitting in their lonely towers at the top of the pecking order and issuing edicts from on high are likely to reject the concept of employee involvement and empowerment. Employees who are used to competing against their own fellow workers for promotion and wage increases may not be open to mutually supportive internal partnerships and teamwork. Situations such as this can create an environment that is hostile toward change, no matter how desirable that change is. Change can be difficult, even when people want to change. It can be impossible in a hostile environment.

In developing the Portfolio Project for this course, you have an opportunity to synthesize and apply the concepts, principles, and theories studied here in a practical scenario. You will be writing a white paper in response to the following hypothetical situation.

Scenario:

You work in strategy planning for an organization. You’ve been in the organization in a variety of roles for five years. More recently, the senior leadership team determined that your organization needed a more effective strategy planning process, and you’ve gladly stepped into a role to help determine what the improved process or activities might be.

You’ve been asked by your manager to put together a white paper to help the executive team better understand the concepts and principles of a well-designed strategy process. Further, the white paper is to include a set of examples of strategy planning activities specific to your organization. The concepts and examples will be used as the basis for discussion in an upcoming executive team retreat.

Use the template to help guide the formatting of your white paper. Your well-written Portfolio Project should include the following elements and meet the following requirements:

1. Your white paper should be no longer than three pages (in addition to a title page, reference page, and appendixes).Lengthier papers will be subject to a loss of points, so work to include substantive content presented in a concise and clear way.
2. Identify the industry in which you are working, the organization type, and the general size of your hypothetical organization. Include the parameters of your choice in an Appendix A of the white paper.

Industry – You choose
Organization type: Choose one of the following:

• Closely held for-profit, publicly traded for-profit, not-for-profit, public sector

Organization size or reach

• Small, medium, large (as you will define by revenue, employee size, geographic reach, or some other measure)

Other parameters of your choosing

1. Present the strategy concepts, theories, and principles that you believe are important for the senior executive leadership team to understand. If there are contradicting opinions from strategy experts, you may want to present both sides in an objective discussion. Be sure to tailor the concepts, theories, and principles to your organization’s parameters. Remember that your audience is a team of senior executives. Citations should be used heavily in this section.
2. Present seven examples of strategy planning activities designed specifically for your hypothetical organization. Present one sample activity directly related to each Module 1 through 12 of MGT510 (see breakdown of modules in Appendix B). 

   Example: In MGT510, the focus of Modules 2 and 3 is on Industry Analysis and Strategy. One example of an activity that would be relevant to content from those modules is a Demand and Competition Analysis.Your strategy planning activities should be presented in the Portfolio Project in the following way:

   • Within the white paper, include a clear and understandable title for each of your seven example activities, along with a brief overview description of 1 or 2 sentences for each with appropriate references.
   • In Appendix B, include the titles of the example activities, with more complete descriptions for each. The benefits and value of each activity specific to your organization parameters are required and this should be 1-2 paragraphs with appropriate references for each.
3. At least one original table or figure is required within the white paper; more tables and figures are acceptable. (Inserting tables and figures from published sources is not considered original work.) Be sure to format table and figure titles and notes according to APA standards.
4. In addition to your textbooks, a minimum of eight additional credible sources is required.
5. You should use all your credible sources and don’t forgot the in-text citation

Write an essay of 750-1,000 words describing the sociological forces that have generated the controversy over same-sex marriages and civil unions in the United States. Explain the ramifications of these unions on society and describe if and how this will result in further social change.