Author: chris

Assignment 2: Required Assignment 1—Ethical and Legal Issues

HR ethics are important to organizations as they can have legal and moral implications. In this assignment, you will develop a plan to resolve some of the ethical and legal issues involved in a merger. Use the Argosy University online library and textbooks to read about ethical and legal issues.

Consider the following scenario:

As part of the employment contracts, employees have certain rights. For example, employees have the right to not be coerced into situations against their will. They expect to be able to access the information, which affects their job, company, and career. Such work situations can increase stress, lower self-esteem and productivity, cause loss of trust, and decrease efficiency.

Good employees who are looking for a more secure work environment may resign and take valuable tacit knowledge and talent with them. It is the responsibility of HR management to create an ethical work environment before, during, and after the merger.

Instructions:

As a strategic HR Director, you have been asked to identify ethical and legal issues involved in a merger and develop a plan to resolve these issues. Your plan should address the following:

• Identify specific legal and ethical issues that should be considered before, during, and after the merger.
• Develop an implementation plan for managing the potential legal and ethical concerns for the merger.
• Explain how the proposed plan would help managers establish an ethical work environment.
• Develop a plan for how to resolve ethical and legal issues.

What is values-based service? How can a company create value for customers and other stakeholders?

Values-based service is defined as service that is firmly based on the core company values as well as social and environmental responsibility. When the core company values and the social and environmental values are in accordance with the values of customers and other stakeholders, resonance (rather than dissonance) occurs. To be successful, a values-based service business must seek resonance with its customers and other stakeholders in terms of values and avoid any suggestion of dissonance. Companies, such as IKEA, nurture and communicate values in their customer relationships.

Read the article “Values-Based Service Brands: Narratives from IKEA” by Edvardsson from the readings for this module. Using IKEA as the company in point, conduct research, using the Argosy University online library and the Internet, to better understand the “IKEA environment.”

Based on your research, write a report addressing the following points:

• IKEA’s Marketing (1 page)

  Corporate strategy begins with marketing and understanding the key elements of the marketing plan. For IKEA, describe the following elements of its marketing strategy:

  • How do IKEA’s products, services, and related attributes satisfy the wants and needs known as its value proposition?
  • How does IKEA create a well-defined market position that appeals to customer wants and needs and differentiates its offering from competitive offerings in a process known as positioning and differentiation?

• Assess IKEA’s strategy using the criteria listed below:
  • Value Chain (1 page)

    Analyze the three sources of value (economic, social, and environmental) in IKEA’s value chain.

    • Explain sources of value as they relate to the wants and needs of IKEA’s core customer.
    • Explain how IKEA’s supply chain supports its value proposition.
    • Explain how IKEA’s focus on customer value (economic, social, and environmental) is reflected in its supply chain.
  • Intangible Products (1 page)
    • Explain IKEA’s intangible products and benefits.
    • Explain how other firms employ this concept of intangibles to erect barriers to entry for competitors.
    • Explain how the concept of intangible benefits is used to increase profits.
  • Customers (1 page)

    IKEA considers the customer to be a critical stakeholder. The IKEA message is directed to the majority of people and what they can afford, and its pricing is dependent on the economic values that serve a majority of its customers.

    • Explain how this approach may or may not maximize profits for IKEA.
    • Explain if this premise is at odds with supply and demand economics. Give reasons for your answer.
  • Performance Measures (1 page)

    Suppose you are a vice-president of manufacturing for IKEA and are responsible for establishing operating performance measures.

    • For all of the performance factors other than quality and cost, create a set of 4–6 performance measures for evaluating your managers that integrates IKEA’s values (economic, social, and environmental) as discussed in the article written by Edvardsson.
    • For each performance measure, identify one specific process measure that demonstrates how well these values are being upheld in the manufacturing activities including suppliers of the company.
    • Recommend how you would develop the workforce to live these values in the workplace. Suggest types of hiring, training, and performance management criteria that you will apply to the workforce.

Write a 6–8-page paper in Word format. Please use 3–7 scholarly articles in your research. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M3_A2.doc.

Then, develop a short 6–8-slide Power Point presentation (not including the title and reference slides) covering the same information. Include headings for each slide, and provide your talking points in the notes section to explain the content if the presentation is given verbally. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M3_A2.ppt.

By Wednesday, October 7, 2015, deliver your assignment to the M3: Assignment 2 Dropbox.

This assignment is worth 200 points and will be graded using a rubric. Download and read the rubric to understand the expectations.

Complete an APA-formatted two-page paper (not including the title and reference pages)

answering the following questions.

1. Organizations that decide to issue bonds generally go through a series of steps. Discuss the six steps.
2. An alternative to traditional equity and debt financing is leasing. Leasing is undertaken primarily for what purposes?
3. Discuss the two major types of leases.
4. Discuss the terms short-term borrowing and long-term financing.
5. What are the primary sources of equity financing for not-for-profit healthcare organizations?
6. The capital budgeting process occurs in several stages, but generally includes what?
7. Discuss and list the three discounted cash flow methods.

Identify a business research project in your own business or locate a business research article. This project should be one that you perceive to be conducted in an ethical manner.

Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper in which you create a set of ethical research guidelines for the research:

Summarize the business research project or article.What unethical research practices should be avoided in this project?Which particular parties involved in the research could face injury? What injuries could occur?How could unethical behavior in this research affect the organization, the individual, and society?How could the unethical behavior be monitored or resolved if found to be occurring?

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Read Ross, S.A. (2013)  Fundamentals of corporate finance (10^th ed). New York, NY:  McGraw Hill/Irwin Chapter 9.

After reading the 9th chapter of the text and doing some research on the internet regarding how a company makes capital decision

You should be able to explain and support your reactions to the following questions:

• What is the difference between NPV,IRR, Payback analysis and how are these methods related?
• What are examples of opportunity costs and incremental cash flows?
• How does the cash flow of a project impact whether or not a company pursues a certain project?
• Give an example of how you would employ the different capital budgeting techniques to a real life situation or a situation you can envision. How would you differentiate among three different projects if you could only pursue one of those projects?

Case Study:

Ross, S. A. (2013). Fundamentals of corporate   finance (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

After you have completed the readings for chapter 10, you should be ready to complete this assignment. Return to the case study on p.341-342 of the text and reread it carefully. As you are thinking about your response, please remember that one thing about cases – usually the quick answer is not the correct one. You need to be able to decide what the issues at hand are and what information is really critical to giving the correct advice.

Use the questions at the end of the case for guidance, but remember you may add to your explanations. One thing that student’s tend to do with a case is bring in more information than what is needed – stick to the facts as presented in the case and the chapter readings.

Please prepare and submit a 1-3 page response including synthesis of chapter readings and applications to corporate organizational structure.

SELECT TWO TOPICS. WRITE A 2-3 PAGE ESSAY PER TOPIC (typed font 12). USE ONLY YOUR TEXTBOOK, CLASSNOTES AND MATERIAL SHARED FOR THE CLASS (INCIDENTALLY, YOU CAN USE EXAMPLES FROM YOUR OWN RESEARCH).

1. According to specialists, the study of international migration requires of a multidisciplinary perspective. State why. Did Political Science offers a unique contribution? Since different disciplines emphasize a macro, micro or meso approach, in other words an emphasis in different levels of analysis, provide examples. Discuss in more detail the approach of two of these disciplines that are (even hypothetically) more useful for your own research, or alternatively the approaches that can better explain the plight of the main characters of La Jaula de Oro and El Norte.

1. Why is it so that advanced democracies seemed to have so many difficulties to assemble a strong immigration policy (that media frequently labeled as “chaotic”). Explore their diverse internal challenges (paradoxes that they confront), and the apparently incoherent outcomes in this policy area. You can cite examples from your own research if pertinent.

1. Analyze the “politics of closure” in liberal democracies. Include its genesis, at least three main arguments that usually accompanied this discourse, and examine in detail how key political actors, such as political parties use these arguments (if your research is related to this topic, you can use examples from it).

1. The so-called “global governance” on immigration includes a tapestry of overlapping institutions and procedures. Provide examples. Why is it so that there are rather few binding multilateral agreements and bilateral agreements? Even when they exist, state why they seemed to be plagued by unintended consequences. Is the European Community an exception of such trends?

Fitness Factors

1. Explain each health-related factor of physical fitness (cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition)

2. Give at least three (3) examples of specific exercises to improve each factor.

Please separate each factor into a new paragraph.

3. List and define the Skill-related of fitness (i.e. Balance, agility, power, etc…).

4. List 15 specific physical benefits of exercise (i.e. lower resting heart rate and blood pressure, etc…).

5. Explain the difference between heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

6. What are the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. 7.

Explain the difference between aerobic and anaerobic AND give three (3) examples of exercises that are aerobic as well as three examples of exercises that are anaerobic.

8. Explain how you could gage the proper intensity for your workout (i.e. Training heart rate, etc…). What is your personal training heart rate range and explain how you determined that range?

9. Explain the difference between systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

10. Explain the following methods of determining body composition: bioelectrical impedance , hydrostatic weighing, skinfold measurements, and Body Mass Indexing (BMI).

Papers must be completed in perfect APA style (6th ed.) – (Include reference page with rough draft)

Locate 3 or more peer-reviewed journal articles that would allow you to delve deeper or otherwise explore the topic (or its tangents) in a manner beyond the required readings. The theme of your paper should be a characterization of the latest thinking regarding your selected topic: (Motivation, Reinforcement & Attribution). Historical analysis is fine, but the emphasis should be on current (2015) scientific consensus in research and/or practice.