Explain how you used the strategies and what you learned from applying them to your situation. Did you enjoy the critical thinking strategies?

Introduction

Expert critical thinking strategies are integral to successfully completing your college course work and advancing in your career. The purpose of this first assignment is to have a framework of focus that will ensure success with the upcoming course activities. Specifically, reflecting on previous critical thinking experience can be a powerful way to set the stage for successful completion of this course.

As you complete this assignment, avoid performing research and using citations. Internet research is not needed because you are reflecting on your own experience not that of another author. There is no right or wrong answer—have fun!

Choose a Situation

Think back to a personal or professional situation when you used critical thinking strategies to solve a problem and make a decision. Example situations are: making a computer purchase decision, deciding which cell phone best meets your needs, choosing a school for your bachelor degree program, or another situation of your choice. As you think about a situation when critical thinking strategies were used, reflect on the ideas in the next section to guide the composition needed for this assignment.

Required Composition of 400−600 Words

To ensure your composition meets the 400−600-word requirement, consider some of the following ideas as you compose your reflection.

In the chosen situation, which of these common critical thinking strategies did you use: describing the problem, breaking the problem into manageable parts, laying out potential solutions, weighing the potential outcomes of the various solutions, choosing the best approach, implementing the decision, and evaluating the outcome?

Explain how you used the strategies and what you learned from applying them to your situation. Did you enjoy the critical thinking strategies? Explain why or why not. In what ways were your strategies satisfactory or unsatisfactory? Were the strategies you used successful? Explain why or why not. How much time did it take to use the various strategies? Were there any of the strategies that you would not use again? Would you consider experimenting with a different strategy in future situations?

Write your composition here

Make sure your composition is error free. Then revisit the Unit 1, assignment 1 instructions for the two-step submission process.

What are the ramifications of failing to meet this challenge?

Complete the Motivation Concepts Table, located on Week One of the student website, utilizing the information provided in your course text. This table will serve as a convenient quick reference for the remainder of the course.

Prepare a 1,050- to 1,400-word analysis which must address the following topics:

·Choose one of the theories from the Motivation Concepts Table and describe how this theory would and would not be applicable if applied to two or more workplace situations drawn from your personal experience.

·In the instance in which the selected theory of motivation was not applicable to your workplace experience, assess the need to develop and create new theoretical models of motivation in today’s changing work environment. What are the ramifications of failing to meet this challenge? Among the issues to consider are effects on personal satisfaction and productivity.

Identify various levels and types of strategy in a firm.

Assignment 4: Merger, Acquisition, and International Strategies 

Due Week 8 and worth 300 points

Choose two (2) public corporations in an industry with which you are familiar – one (1) that has acquired another company and operates internationally and one (1) that does not have a history of mergers and acquisitions and operates solely within the U.S. Research each company on its own Website, the public filings on the Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR database (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml), in the University’s online databases, and any other sources you can find. The annual report will often provide insights that can help address some of these questions.

Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

1. For the corporation that has acquired another company, merged with another company, or been acquired by another company, evaluate the strategy that led to the merger or acquisition to determine whether or not this merger or acquisition was a wise choice. Justify your opinion.
2. For the corporation that has not been involved in any mergers or acquisitions, identify one (1) company that would be a profitable candidate for the corporation to acquire or merge with and explain why this company would be a profitable target.
3. For the corporation that operates internationally, briefly evaluate its international business-level strategy and international corporate-level strategy and make recommendations for improvement.
4. For the corporation that does not operate internationally, propose one business-level strategy and one corporate-level strategy that you would suggest the corporation consider. Justify your proposals.
5. Use at least three (3) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Identify various levels and types of strategy in a firm.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in business administration.
• Write clearly and concisely about business administration using proper writing mechanics.

discuss how you used each of the operations of the machine cycle in that activity.

CIS 107 Week 3 Written Assignment 2 – The Four Operations of the Machine Cycle

Thomas Edison State College

Answer the following in an essay of approximately 600-900 words (2-3 pages).

All of us use the four operations of the machine cycle every day. Think of an activity that you have performed this week and discuss how you used each of the operations of the machine cycle in that activity. Be sure to specify which parts of the activity relate to the machine cycle.

What are the independent, dependent, and control variables?

Each team member will pick an article for this worksheet. Replicate these set of questions for each team member for this worksheet.

Team member name:

Citation of article:

1. What is the author’s goal?

2. What questions remain unanswered?

3. If I had to design an experiment to test this hypothesis, what would I do?

4. What are the independent, dependent, and control variables?

Then answer the following two questions?

1. What is your research question?

2. What is your hypothesis?

do you think that there are drawbacks or advantages to the use of social media for this purpose?

post 1

Explain the three cost-effective recommendations you plan to list in your Unit 9 policy change proposal to implement your proposed policy change. Be sure the recommendations include a way to reach a global market.

post 2

Since the implementation of a policy change proposal requires that it be communicated to a large number of stakeholders, do you think that there are drawbacks or advantages to the use of social media for this purpose?

Assume that your best friend is starting a business, and wants you to invest. Speculate on which legal structure would make you most comfortable as an investor.

Week 6 Discussion 1

•From the first e-Activity, select the legal structure for a business
you would like to start.  Provide a rationale for your selection.

•Assume that your best friend is starting a business, and wants you to
invest. Speculate on which legal structure would make you most
comfortable as an investor. Support your response.

_____________________________

Week 6 Discussion 2

•From the second e-Activity, evaluate Ben and Jerry’s strategies and
efforts to address its ethics and social responsibilities to the
environment. Speculate on why many businesses do not follow Ben and
Jerry’s example regarding their responsibilities to the environment.
Support your answer.

•Companies have conflicting responsibilities to multiple stakeholders.
They need to satisfy shareholders, employees, customers, and the
community. Analyze the conflict created when managers are paid bonuses
that reflect only bottom-line profit. Propose alternative compensation
schemes and support your proposition.

How does an editor differ from a peer reviewer?

Information Literacy Assignment 

The purpose of this assignment is to learn about information literacy by exploring the concept of peer review. You may be familiar with peer review in prior writing courses, but what does it mean when you talk about peer review in relation to academic source material?

Click on the following link to a DeVry University Library presentation of Peer Reviewed Journals: The Creation of New Knowledge.http://library.devry.edu/pdfs/Peer_Review_PPT.pdf******** SEE ATTACHMENT

The PDF presentation contains 20 slides that will introduce the peer review cycle.

After reviewing the presentation, compose a 2-paragraph response in which you address each of the following points:

• In your own words, identify points in the peer review cycle that seem especially important and explain why.
• How does an editor differ from a peer reviewer? Use at least two points to support your response.
• Based on this information, explain whether your article for this week was peer reviewed? How can you determine this information?
• As you work on your research in this class, where specifically can you look to find peer-reviewed information?

Briefly describe the motivational theories that support your reasoning and tie the theories to the different parts of your plan.

Assignment 1: The MPBS Compensation Plan LASA (CO 1, 2, 3, 4)

NOTE:  As you prepare for this assignment, you should research typical United States, Japanese, and German approaches to compensation using your textbook, the University online library, and the Internet. Consider arguments for and against each of the three countries’ approaches to compensation.  Research the trends and issues affecting the global workforce. As you conduct your research, make note of the recent trends affecting the three approaches and the factors which might be causing each country’s approach to change.

The assignment:

MPBS has requested your assistance in developing a new and comprehensive compensation plan that will meet the company’s needs in both their domestic operations and their international operations.  MPBS management has asked you to review their current plan and prepare a report describing the new plan.

You have asked MPBS to describe the most important criteria they would like to see in the new plan and they have indicated they would like to have a compensation program that will:

• Help align organizational efforts to the company’s mission and strategic plan.
• Recognize, reward and stimulate good and excellent performance.
• Be considered fair and equitable by as many company personnel as it is realistic to expect.
• Withstand legal challenges.
• Be cost effective.
• Address the diverse needs of the scientific, administrative, sales, management, and technical staff.

MPBS recognizes that they have taken a very haphazard approach to employee benefits and have asked you to ignore the benefits they now provide as you develop a new employee benefits package for the company.  Your consulting team has met and worked up the framework of the report that should be submitted.  In addition to employee benefits, it must provide for annual adjustments to base pay, whether salary or hourly wage, and a pay for performance plan.   MPBS management has asked you to design the total compensation plan that will cover all employees located within the United States in detail first, then follow that detailed plan with recommendations on how it should differ for employees living and working in Germany and in Japan.

Your report should include the following:

1. The core of the benefits package [e.g., insurance, paid time off (PTO), and retirement programs].
2. Lifestyle benefits with appropriate summary details on each of these benefits.
3. Classification of the percentage of the total compensation budget that should be allocated for the benefits plan.
4. Annual adjustments to individual base pay.  Be specific.  Determine the extent (if any) to which adjustments to base pay should be tied to seniority, cost-of-living, or performance, or a specified combination of these.  Indicate any difference in guidelines for adjustments that should differ for specific occupational groups and/or geographical locations.
5. Short-term and long-term incentive, or pay-for-performance plans, including whether the incentives should be based on individual, team/group, or organization-wide performance.
6. Compare any differences that should be made for employees living and working in Germany and in Japan.
7. Provide rationale for how well your plan meets the most important criteria MPBS provided you in the beginning of the assignment.
8. Distinguish how your plan will motivate employees to best align themselves to MPBS’s goals.  Briefly describe the motivational theories that support your reasoning and tie the theories to the different parts of your plan.
9. Evaluate how the components of the recommended compensation plan shape a consistent message to employees and summarize the message the plan conveys.

To complete this assignment, you must submit a 6-9 page paper that addresses the twelve elements of the task as numbered above and provide reasons for your recommendations.

Describe your recommended approach and the expected impact of that approach on job performance. 

Assignment 2: Job Evaluation at MPBS

Review the team report on MPBS located in the Case Study Overview.

In this assignment you are expected to recommend the most appropriate method of job evaluation to use at MPBS and support your recommendations with your rationale. Your recommendation should consider the organization’s comprehensive job structure with major occupational groups including scientific, administrative, sales, management, and technical. Your rationale must be backed up with support from the text and/or other articles you may have researched.

Your recommendations must cover the following:

• Describe your recommended approach and the expected impact of that approach on job performance.   Address key HR and compensation issues identified at MPBS.
• Differentiate the components that would need to be included if MPBS were to use a point-based method as compared to a ranking and to a classification method.
• Provide a list of compensable factors for a point-based method and the factor weights you would suggest if using that method.
• Explain how your recommended method of job evaluation aligns with MPBS’s strategic focus.
• Describe the key challenges to effective implementation of the recommended approach to job evaluation at MPBS.

To complete this assignment, write a 3–5 page report in Word format and provide rationale and support.   Apply APA standards for writing style to your work.