Assignment 4: Resistance and Communication

Using the organization that your instructor preapproved, diagnose the organization’s level of resistance and construct a solid communication plan.  Submit a  four (4) page paper.

1. Diagnose the reasons for resistance to change.
2. Interpret the potential causes of resistance in the organization. Identify and describe three (3) potential causes of resistance to your change plan. Identify and describe three (3) potential sources of resistance to your change plan.
3. Create a plan for minimizing possible resistance to your change management plan.
4. Elaborate on the relationship between resistance to change and communication.
5. Evaluate three (3) communication strategies.
6. Recommend one (1) communication strategy that would be applicable to your organization. Diagnose why this communication strategy is best for your organization.
7. Create a solid communication plan for your change initiative.
8. Use at least four (4) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other similar Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Note: 

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and 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 assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Evaluate strategies for communicating change.
• Evaluate the reactions to change including identifying signs of resistance and approaches to managing it.
• Evaluate strategies for communicating change.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in managing organizational change.
• Write clearly and concisely about managing organizational change using proper writing mechanics.

Assignment 1: Discussion—Value of Money

Business decisions are based on the time value of money. Bonds, stocks, loans, and other business investments are valued by determining the present value of an expected cash flow, which is also called discounting the cash flow. The time value of money finds considerable application in the decision-making processes of a business.

In this assignment, you will apply the basic principles of the time value of money to business decisions.

Tasks:

Part 1:

You are the chief financial officer of a firm. The firm has an expected liability (cash outflow) of $2 million in ten years at a discount rate of 5%.

• Calculate the amount the firm would need on the present date as savings to cover the expected liability.
• Calculate the amount the firm would need to set aside at the end of each year for the next ten years to cover the expected liability.

Part 2:

Using the Argosy University online library resources, identify an article that demonstrates the application of time value of money principles to a business decision.

• Explain the specific business decision that management made after computing this value. Analyze how management used the concept of the time value of money principles to make this decision.
• Analyze factors other than the time value of money that management considered or should have considered in reaching the business decision.

Submission Details:

• By Saturday, November 21, 2015, post your responses in a minimum of 500 words to this Discussion Area. Support your assumptions with reputable source material?

Assignment 2: LASA 1—Create an Interview Guide

By Wednesday, November 25, 2015 complete the following assignment below.

Directions:

During the first week of class you conducted your first practice interview.  You have since had the opportunity to learn about the formal process of interviewing and the techniques used in interviewing. With this new information in mind, it is time to develop a detailed plan for your second interview, which you may conduct face-to-face or over the telephone. Your second interview is broken down into two parts.

1. The first portion, preparing for the interview, is due this week in Module 3 (LASA 1).
2.  The second part of this assignment, conducting and analyzing the interview, is due in Module 5 (LASA 2).

For this week you will be completing A. You will need to:

1. 1. Locate a Volunteer:

      He/she will play the role of “client” seeking help for persistent headaches and problems sleeping. The person you interview can be someone you know personally or you can contact your classmates through the Student Lounge to arrange to interview one another.

      1. The client believes that stress may be part of the problem with his/her symptoms.  Remember that this is a role play, and your volunteer should be aware that this is a practice interview and not a real psychological interview.
      2. Prior to conducting your interview, ask your volunteer to think about stress that s/he can discuss related to the client’s problems (e.g., your client may think about stress from a job or stress related to a relationship with a significant other). However, DO NOT have your volunteer discuss this stress with you prior to the interview. You want to be able to explore this topic in depth during your interview. This scenario is intentionally left open-ended in order to allow students to maximize opportunity to utilize interview skills during the interview.
   2. Create an Interview Guide:
      1. In order to achieve a quality interview, you will need to first plan your interview, which is this week’s assignment (you will conduct and analyze the interview in Module 5).
      2. The purpose of your interview is to gather in-depth information to aid in diagnosis and treatment planning for the client.  You will need to gather detailed information about the symptoms being reported for both headaches and sleep problems (e.g., How often are the headaches occurring?  How long do they last?  What do they feel like?  Has any treatment helped?  Is there any pattern to the headaches?).  You will also need to present a complete picture of the patient.  What is the patient’s gender, age, marital status, and employment status?  Be sure to go beyond these example questions, and provide an in-depth, highly detailed interview with your client.

Interview Guide Topics

The Interview Guide should directly address the below topics.  Use each of these topics as headings within your paper to ensure that you directly respond to each.  You should respond with at least a paragraph for each topic/heading.

1. 1. 1. Identify and summarize the purpose of your interview.  How will the information you gather be used?
      2. Explain how you will structure the interview and your reasoning behind the structuring of the interview. Include a list of topics you plan to cover.
      3. Compose the questions you will use to obtain the information (develop a minimum of 15-20 questions). Be sure that you develop a minimum of 5 open and 5 closed ended questions.
      4. Develop a minimum of 5 examples of paraphrasing, summaries, or

         reflections techniques that could be used during your interview (must have at least one of each paraphrase, summary, and reflection). When you conduct your actual interview, these exact examples you create may not fit depending on the responses of your interviewee, but it is important to start thinking now about how you will incorporate these techniques.  For this Interview Guide assignment, develop hypothetical examples of each type of technique.

      5. Identify the opening techniques you will utilize to build rapport with the volunteer/client.
      6. Identify types/examples of questions you want to avoid during interview.

Include an Analysis Summary:

In addition to the Interview Guide include an analysis (2-3 paragraphs) of your own preliminary thoughts about this client based on the limited information you have about this client. Have you ever known a person with chronic headaches or sleep problems? What is your “gut reaction” to hearing about a patient with chronic headaches and problems sleeping? That the person is a complainer? Is he/she a victim of terrible illness? Spend some time examining your thoughts and attitudes. It is normal for all of us to make at least preliminary assumptions about everyone we come in to contact with, and a good interviewer has awareness of his or her preliminary assumptions. Include the following in your analysis:

1. Identify your own beliefs (sympathetic, unsympathetic, or some mixture of both) and explain how these could affect your interview. Do you think that your beliefs are influenced by your own age, cultural, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity?
2. Identify steps you can take to limit the impact of your own beliefs on the interview. Be as specific as possible.

Start planning now! Remember that you will need a volunteer to role play your client in Module 5. Work on identifying that person now and scheduling your interview well in advance to avoid any possible scheduling delays. You will also need to audio or video record the interview in Module 5 so that you can later transcribe the interview. Make sure you have access to the equipment you will need.

Submit your assignment to the M3: Assignment 2 Dropbox.

What You Don’t Know About Apple

Read this week’s required article: “What You Don’t Know About Apple”.

In a three- to four-page paper (not including the title and reference pages):

• Discuss if Apple will continue its path to be the front runner in revolutionizing the digital marketplace.
• Discuss if Apple’s competition has increased their share of the marketplace at Apple’s expense.
• Discuss if Apple will succeed without Steve Jobs.

The paper

• Must be three to four double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must use at least three scholarly sources from the Ashford University Library, one of which must be peer reviewed, in addition to the textbook.
• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.