Unit Assignments
Unit II Scholarly Activity
In Unit VIII of this course, you will submit a final paper on a company of your choice. You will complete this paper over several units in this course. In this unit, you will be completing the first part of this project. For this first part of the project, follow the instructions below.
Using the Waldorf Online Library, select a Fortune 500 company to research for your paper. Compose a brief paper that gives an overview of your company. Your paper should include the following:
Introduce the type of company, what industry it is in, and any relevant background information. Analyze the company’s current mission statement and vision statement. Create a revised mission and vision statement. Explain why the mission and vision statements were changed. Summarize how the company’s actions are vision and mission driven. Describe how the organizational culture helps keep employees motivated in the company.
You will need to reference your textbook and at least one source from the Waldorf Online Library for this assignment. Your project must be a minimum of two full pages in length. Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment. APA formatting, however, is not necessary.
You can locate official information about the Fortune 500 company of your choice in the ABI/Inform database, which features company profile information about public and private companies alike. This database can be found on the A-Z Databases page in the library.
Unit III Case Study
You work as a strategist for your selected Fortune 500 company in the Unit II assignment. As you read through the Required Unit Resources, pay close attention to your firm’s strategy, and write a case study analyzing the following points:
Examine your firm’s internal strengths and weaknesses. How can organizational relationships improve performance in the firm? Who are your firm’s competitors? Do you see your firm’s strategy as effective or ineffective? Why?
Your completed case study must be at least two pages in length, and you must use at least your textbook as a reference. Other references may be used as needed. Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment.
APA formatting, however, is not necessary.
Unit IV Case Study
In this unit, you will continue researching the company that you selected for your final project. For this assignment, you will create a new product or service line for your firm. In your analysis, include the following items:
Provide a brief description of the product or service. Explain how the new product or service line fits into the firm’s strategy and new mission statement. Create a new organizational structure/chart for the company; explain how the new organizational structure/chart is improved. What are the company’s short-term and long-term goals?
You will need to reference your textbook and at least one source from the Waldorf Online Library for this assignment. Your case study must be a minimum of two full pages in length. Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment. APA formatting, however, is not necessary.
In the Waldorf Online Library, the database Business Insights: Global (a GALE database) carries access to all kinds of individual company information, including SWOT Reports on individual companies. You can either do a quick company search in the general search box on the search page inside the database or you can first navigate through the Companies tab then to SWOT Reports to view of list of SWOT Analysis reports.
Unit VI PowerPoint Presentation
In Unit II of this course, you selected a Fortune 500 company and revised the mission and vision statements. In Unit III you identified the firm’s internal strengths and weaknesses, and in Unit IV you created a new product or service line for your selected project firm. In this unit, the board of directors have requested that you conduct a SWOT analysis for the company and relate how the information may affect the new product or service line. The board is requesting that you present the information in a PowerPoint presentation.
Remember that a SWOT analysis identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of an organization. This is an important analysis for any organization as it can be used for strategic planning. Include the following components in your presentation:
Identify at least two strengths of the company. Identify at least two weaknesses of the company. Identify at least two opportunities the company has. Identify at least two threats facing the company. Based on information from your SWOT analysis, explain where the company stands in relation to its competitors. Discuss how information from the SWOT analysis can be used in developing and launching the new product or service line. What role does company leadership have in implementing changes and processes?
Use of speaker notes is required in the presentation. In the speaker notes, you will provide what you would say if you were actually giving the presentation to the board. Explain each element of the SWOT analysis and how it affects the company. Please write your notes in complete sentences and adhere to typical grammar and/or punctuation rules.
Your PowerPoint presentation should be at least 10 slides, not including the title slide and reference slide. You must use a minimum of one academic or peer-reviewed reference source in addition to your textbook. Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment.
The PowerPoint Basics tutorial from the Success Center is a great resource to help with creating your presentation.
Unit VIII Project
For the final assignment of this course, you will continue your work with the company you used in previous units. The Unit VIII Project will now combine what you previously developed into a final strategic plan for the company.
When creating your strategic plan, focus on the following points:
Analyze internal and external issues. Assess global and national competition. Analyze key financial statements, and explain how items such as corporate tax rates can affect your company’s ability to compete on a global scale. Examine the future outlook for the industry and your selected organization.
Regarding the future of the organization, you may be creative and add your own insight on where you see the company going. This can include information about how the new product or service line you introduced in Unit IV will impact the company.
Your paper must be at least three full pages in length (does not include the title page or the reference page), and you must use at least two academic sources from the Waldorf Online Library. Adhere to APA Style when constructing this assignment, including in-text citations and references for all sources that are used. Please note that no abstract is needed.
This formal paper example provided by the Waldorf University Writing Center shows this type of formatting.
The How to Find Journal Articles tutorial is another great resource to help with your research.
Submitting Course Papers/Projects
Once you have completed your papers/projects, submit your completed papers/projects by uploading through the Assignment tab in each unit. Do not e-mail your paper directly to your professor. By using the Assignment tab, your record will automatically be updated to indicate you have submitted your papers/projects, and the assignment will be provided to your professor for grading. Instructions for submitting your assignment can be found under the Assignment tab in each unit.
APA Guidelines
Waldorf University requires that students use the APA style for papers and projects. Therefore, the APA rules for formatting, quoting, paraphrasing, citing, and listing of sources are to be followed. Information about using APA style can be found in APA Style Help in the Course Menu. This area provides links to Internet sites, tutorials, and guides that provide comprehensive information on APA formatting, including examples and sample papers.
Grading Rubrics
This course utilizes analytic grading rubrics as tools for your professor in assigning grades for all learning activities. Each rubric serves as a guide that communicates the expectations of the learning activity and describes the criteria for each level of achievement. In addition, a rubric is a reference tool that lists evaluation criteria and can help you organize your efforts to meet the requirements of that learning activity. It is imperative for you to familiarize yourself with these rubrics because these are the primary tools your professor uses for assessing learning activities.
Rubric categories include (1) Discussion Board, (2) Assessment (Written Response), and (3) Assignment. However, it is possible that not all of the listed rubric types will be used in a single course (e.g., some courses may not have Assessments).
The Discussion Board rubric can be found within Unit I’s Discussion Board submission instructions.
The Assessment (Written Response) rubric can be found embedded in a link within the directions for each Unit Assessment. However, these rubrics will only be used when written-response questions appear within the Assessment.
Each Assignment type (e.g., article critique, case study, research paper) will have its own rubric. The Assignment rubrics are built into Blackboard, allowing students to review them prior to beginning the Assignment and again once the Assignment has been scored. This rubric can be accessed via the Assignment link located within the unit where it is to be submitted. Students may also access the rubric through the course menu by selecting the “Grades” link.
Again, it is vitally important for you to become familiar with these rubrics because their application to your Discussion Boards, Assessments, and Assignments is the method by which your instructor assigns all grades.