Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Developing Your Own Career Goal

Prior to beginning work on this interactive assignment, read Chapters 5 and 6 and Gleeson’s article How Values-Based Leadership Transforms Organizational Cultures (Links to an external site.). After completing your career goal using the process below, you will attach it to your first post by Day 3.

My Goal Sheet

Many individuals may not know how to develop a career goal; follow the steps below to help you determine where to start. There are a few steps that can be helpful in determining your career goal, which include conducting a self-assessment, exploring industries and careers, and determining factors that are non-negotiable (e.g., geographic location, salary requirements, health care benefits, etc.). The final step of goal setting is writing the first draft of your goal.               

Step 1: Self-Assessment

• What do you do well?
• What energizes you?
• If you knew you could not fail, what would you do?
• What high school subjects did you do well in?
• What issues do family and friends come to you for help?
• What do you receive praise for at work or home?
• What are some of your greatest accomplishments?
• What is something you do where you lose track of time when you are doing it?

Step 2: Career Exploration

Explore job industries by researching the type of careers that use your interests and skillset. O*Net OnLine (Links to an external site.), the Occupational Outlook Handbook (Links to an external site.), and Bureau of Labor Statistics (Links to an external site.) are great web resources for career exploration, job analysis, and education requirements.

While deciding on a goal, consider your current lifestyle and where you would like to be in the future. Some helpful questions to consider are listed below.

• Does the career you want pay a salary that meets your needs?
• Will it offer you opportunities to advance?
• Are you comfortable sitting at a desk all day, or do you prefer to travel?
• Is the career you are considering likely to exist when you are ready for a job?

Step 3: Determining Your Non-Negotiable Items

Although we may not speak them aloud, we each have things we are not willing to compromise on. During this step, write out your must-haves for your future career.

To help get you started, think about the minimum salary you need to have, where you want to live, and desired work hours.

Must Have
Do Not Want
1.1.2.2.3.3.4.4.5.5.

Step 4: Pulling It All Together—Write the First Draft of Your Goal

Now that you have conducted a self-assessment, explored industries and occupations, and written down your non-negotiable items, what are your future career goals? Be as specific as possible.

Example Career Goal

I would like to become a project manager within a large organization (5000+ employees) utilizing my organizational skills, education in organization development, my ability to plan strategically, and my detail-oriented nature. Since I have a family, I must have a salary of $50,000 or more, work within 25 miles of Houston, Texas, and work a 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. traditional work schedule.

Attach your paper as part of your first discussion post.

Submissions should be double spaced, 12 pt font, 1 inch margins, and 5-7 pages in length. All should be properly formatted in MLA style. 

Write a synopsis (a brief overview) of the case. Please prepare your synopsis as if I (and your colleagues) do not have the whole case study. Your synopsis should be concise, complete, and fully describe the situation “as you see it.” The synopsis should not exceed 4-5 paragraphs.

Identify three (3) problems (Stop 1) and utilizing the material (Stop 2) we have covered in the course and make three (3) recommendations (Stop 3) to solve the problems. Each problem will require a justified recommended solution.

Support your recommended solutions with rational thought learned from the course material, other courses, online resources provided for this course, and real-life experiences.

The Importance of Reflection

As we look back on 15 weeks of this course, I hope we remember that nearly all our early Experiential Education Champions (from the week 2 reading) identified Critical Reflection as a key element to Outdoor Education and broader Experiential Education. 

Reflection (also referred to as Debriefing) helps us create connections between seemingly disconnected experiences and across gaps in time. By purposely pausing, during/after an experience, we can reorient our current thoughts, knowledge and emotions to the beginning of the experience, to another situation in our lives, and/or toward the future. 

We can reflect on any element of the experience and gain some new understanding(s) that we can apply to future experiences. 

http://meganmcmillan.weebly.com/uploads/3/1/7/9/31791771/the_importance_of_reflection_outside_of_outdoor__environmental_education_settings.pdf (Links to an external site.)

Kolbs Reflective Cycle- (remove the narrators use of ‘teach

Please answer three guided reflection questions, and two questions that you create for yourself. 

*Reflections do not have to relate directly to subject material. Review your work from the entire course, and any reading that were meaningful to you and draw any conclusions that are readily available on a personal level. 

1. How did your understanding of Outdoor Education change from the first week of this course? How did your concept/perception of the Back Country change? (review your introduction from Week 1 if you need a reminder)

2. Reflecting on your academic career, would you like to see more Outdoor Education strategies practiced; in the elementary setting, in the secondary setting, in the collegiate setting? In what ways could Outdoor Educational practices be implemented at these levels? What might be the effects (positive or negative)?

3. Now What? How can you apply something that you learned to any of the following spheres-

1. Your social life

1. Family

2. Friends

2. Your Academic self

3. Your professional environment

4. Personally/Internally

4 and 5. Create two additional Reflection Questions and answer them. 

bibliography assignments: you are required to read two articles and complete an annotated bibliography for each article (scholarly/peer-reviewed journal articles) 

Discussion

Lesson 5 Discussion Forum 2:

Based on your experiences, as well as the chapter information, what are some good “rules of thumb” for conducting successful performance appraisal interviews?

Your discussion is to be submitted in 12-point Times New Roman font using APA format with a minimum of two sources

Students are required to post their primary response (200 word minimum)  by Thursday midnight. Students will respond to at least 2 other  postings (150 words minimum each) by Sunday midnight.

Reply to post 1:

Rules of thumb in conducting appraisal interviews

Rules of thumb mean a set of guidelines that provides simplified advice on a particular subject. During the successful appraisal interviews,         the evaluation of the particular candidate during the process is important. Managing the workforce and developing their skills according to global development is a high priority for many companies. It is difficult to know about the employees through performance reviews. Because some reviews might create a negative impact as the employees not satisfied with the reviews. A strategic interview-based session should conduct between the employees and the manager for appraisals (Almond, 2014). 

Managers should treat this review meeting seriously and it is more formal. It directs the employees to climb one more step in their career. So it is mandatory for the managers to evaluate all the work done by the employees before starting the interviews. By creating separate folders about the employees according to their names in order to get through their projects and targets completion becomes easy. This makes the employees that you are well prepared for the interview with kinds of background work (Lai & Kwok, 2015). 

The performance meeting is all about the facts but not opinions. It may be hard to differentiate but it is about the proper facts done by the employee throughout the annual year and the outcomes he gave to the organization. By making proper notes regarding the employee’s work can make a more easy way to analyze the candidate.  The main thing in this performance interview is mangers should leave the personal elements with the employees outside the room itself. Be straight forward to the employees on giving raise and tell him the situations and communicate according to that. No favoritism should be shown during the performance appraisal meetings (Gu & Nolan, 2017).

Reply to post 2:

Discussion on the experience on the good “rules of thumb”

It is one of the, most important aspect for a human being, an adult is not just blowing candles or cutting cake on a birthday. It is much more than that; it is about building good habits and carrying responsibilities for all life. There are 11 rules of thumb, which will help us in life. Here are a few essential and ethical rules listed. It is effortless to leave things and leave our work or task for being piled up, and thus it becomes a burden for us when all the small tasks or works get piled up. So we should do our tasks on time. If it takes less than two minutes, then we must complete it right away this characteristic or the rule is applied to any work or situation which comes in our life such as doing the household works to responding to emails or working with emails as it is seen in the studies that sticking at one particular work results in being more productive (Barnum, 2020). Whatever task we have, we must complete it on the desired time that is right now. We should not leave it for the future, keeping your essential document safe and organized. Documents are one of the essential parts of one life; it is a very precious data that needs to be protected, or we can help we should keep our relevant data and documents safe. It should be appropriately organized nowadays. Data is like a very precious or fundamental property that needs proper care, so we should keep our data and essential document safe and secure both physically and digitally. 

The ways for conduction successful performance appraisal interviews 

Appraisal interviews are the interviews that are taken by the supervisors or the managers of the employee, where they discuss the performance of the employees, increment, and setting goals for the next appraisal interview (Clark et al., 2019). These interviews are critical as they help to track the employee’s performance and identify the employees who are not working correctly and not to provide anything to the company. There can be many ethical “rules of thumb” for successful performance appraisal interviews like having the full data and the record of the employee’s whole year to know his or her performance as it is essential to know every work record in the employee. The other rule is only putting up the facts regarding the employee’s work to avoid irrelevant discussions and not being emotional. At the same time, an appraisal interview is an essential rule because it can harm if you become emotional regarding the employee’s incompetency, which is essential to deal with. Being mere formal can impact the other meetings, so it is important to be formal with the employee to put up your points that need to be improved. These rules of thumb can help for making a successful performance appraisal interviews (Simonson, Zvacek&Smaldino, 2019). Every year, the managers or supervisors interview the employees regarding their work for performances of the whole year, discuss it, and set goals for them of the next appraisal interview. The excellent “rules of thumb” while taking a successful performance appraisal interviews are having full records of the employee’s work and performance based on which they can identify how well the employee is doing.

For each assignment, you are required to read two articles and complete an annotated bibliography for each article (scholarly/peer-reviewed journal articles). See syllabus for example. 

1. Annotated Bibliography
   1. You are to research two peer-reviewed articles from the CU Library. You can find the directions to accessing the library at the top of our Moodle page.                                                                                                                       Your AB’s should be 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 pages long. It should be double-spaced, and you are to use Times new Roman 12 font.
      For your AB, you must have:
   • Your name, date, course, and AB number at the top (see example)
   • APA Reference before the information (see example)
     Annotated bibliographies must be written in manner, in which, they are understandable. You must describe all-important data such as:
   • The participants
   • The reason the study was conducted
   • What research design was used (surveys, interviews, case study, etc.)
   • Which research analysis was used (MANOVA, ANOVA, Kruskal Wallace, etc.)
   • The results of the study along with any conclusions of the author(s)
     Your study must include all of these (if applicable). Your AB MAY NOT be copied and pasted directly from the source. There MUST NOT be any form of plagiarism in your annotated bibliography (or any other assignment). You are required to write this assignment in your own words. You should pick the topic for your AB from the objectives listed at the beginning of each week’s module or from the syllabus.

Personal Theories

Analyze the foundation of two of the counseling and theoretical orientations discussed in this unit based on their view of human behavior and the nature of change. Discuss the theory that is most like how you view human nature. Why are you drawn to this theory?

Summary of attached case, 1 page

Your team’s approach is to involve everyone, to help people be generalists, and to share information openly. What is your team’s approach?​

​Self-censorship

​Mind guarding

​Continuous improvement

​Direct pressure

A long-range, big-picture process to assist companies in better overall management for the entire organization is known as:

​Long-range goal analysis

​Productivity

​Value-added analysis

​Total Quality Management (TQM)

What should effective motivational programs do in terms of offering rewards?

​Make a distinction between workers based on seniority

​Not make a distinction between workers

​Make a distinction between workers based on performance regardless of effort

​Make a distinction between workers based on effort

What is the natural tendency of people in resolving problems?

​Select the last solution possible after evaluating all the alternative.

​Select the first reasonable problem that comes to mind

​Select the first reasonable solution that comes to mind

​Select the best solution after evaluating all the alternatives

Which is best when generating alternatives?

​Focus on the short term; bad decisions in the short term means there is no long term to worry about.

​Evaluate the alternatives after all alternatives have been proposed.

​Separate alternatives from one another.

​Evaluate the alternatives as they are proposed; this saves time.

You are a manager of a team of 50 professionals. One particular professional persists in accusing you of having your priorities out of order. Since the planning activity you do often is not urgent, this particular professional tries to undermine the activity. Which research-based principle should the manager remember?

​People who experience the most time stress are those who allow others to generate their personal principles statement for them through their demands for time.

​Relationship conflicts should be handled at the end of the day so that the important things can be given your best energy in the morning hours.

People who steal time from you should be removed from your work environment in order to avoid situational stress.

​People who steal time from you can be dealt with by talking to them while standing.

As a manager, you are trying to hire someone for a critical position in your department. You have called references on three applicants. Bob’s reference, his former supervisor, said, “Bob has more information and communication flowing through him than anyone in our company.” Joe’s reference said, “Joe can get others to get things done better than anyone I know.” Albert’s boss said, “Albert is the greatest person to be around. He is so optimistic and giving.” Based on the information in the text about creating positive change, who should you hire?

​Bob

​Albert

​Joe

​Not enough information to determine

Which of the following is an unconscious aspect of an organization’s culture?

​Dress codes

​Office furniture

​Mission statements

​Perceptions

According to the text, Management, one approach to translate a performance development vision into a reality involves a three-tier quality and innovation approach focused on:

​benchmark, strategic monitor, progress monitor

​universal, selected, targeted

​facilities, process, and talent

​early prevention, targeted intervention, intensive intervention

If you would like to expand your power base horizontally, what could you do?

Have lunch with co-workers in your department every day

Do an excellent job on all your assignments

Have lunch with workers from other departments

Focus on increasing your power through the formal organizational power

If someone believes that the possible alternatives to a problem must conform to her perception of the boss’s expectations, which conceptual block is she a victim of?

​Ignoring commonalities

​Artificial constraints

​Perceptual stereotyping

​Not separating figure from ground

Dividing a company into sub-units where each unit would be assigned a specific function and employees would perform different tasks, and a manager(s) would be put in place to oversee the department is an example of which technique?

​diversification

​differentiation

​integration

​Implementation

In the workplace, people are most likely to interact with which co-workers?

​Co-workers with diverse social values

​Co-workers with different self-awareness traits

​Co-workers similar to the.

​Creative co-workers

You need a little extra money, so you added an extra $100 to your expense reimbursement statement before handing the receipts over to accounting. Your co-worker Sara added over $1000 to her statement. If you believe Sara’s actions are worse than yours, what is your level of values maturity?

​Third level of maturity

​Second level of maturity

​First level of maturity

​Theta level maturity

You understand the importance of two-way communication during the delegation process. What does this mean?

​That you, as the manager, remain available for consultation and idea exchange

​That you, as the manager, should answer every detailed question and provide continual advice

​That you, as the manager, provide information on a need to know time frame

​That you, as the manager, empathize totally with the process

Your boss prefers that you act on your own initiative and report to her when the final results have been accomplished. Which initiative does your boss practice?

​Wait to be told

​Recommend, then take action

​Act, then report

​Ask what to do

Standardization, formalization, and delegation are used to provide clarity to which of the following processes?

​implementation

​diversification

​integration

​Differentiation

Which information systems help organizations with their decision-making processes?

​ERP

​DSS

​MIS

​ESS

As manager, you have decided to enforce a new policy restricting dating in the office. You are comfortable with the policy and have decided that the policy will affect you also. Which ethical test did you most likely employ?

​Golden rule test

​Personal gain test

​Cost-benefit test

​Equal treatment test

According to the Management text, quality may be defined as:

​an inherent or distinguishing characteristic

​a measure of product or service excellence minus the amount of defects.

​peculiar and essential character

 ​the attribute of an elementary sensation that makes it fundamentally unlike any other sensation

If your boss encourages your team to ask questions and obtain and search for data, she is trying to overcome which conceptual block?

​Separating figure from ground

​Compression

​Bias against thinking

​Noninquisitiveness

Which of the following characteristics are important sources of personal power?

​Flexibility

​Knowledge

​Criticality

​Relevance

The processes and systems built to assist in the daily activities of production are known as:

​automation

​logistics.

​operations management.

​management science.

Relationships must be formed and trust established. Clarity of direction is needed from team leaders. Your team is at what stage?

 ​Storming

​Norming

​Performing

​Forming

Employees at Turner, Inc. are engaged in a debate over the merits of an individual vs. a team-based compensation program. Based on Trompenaars’ dimensions of national culture, which cultural dimension does this debate most closely relate to?​

​Universalism vs. particularism

​Achievement vs. ascription

​Individualism vs. collectivism

​Affective vs. neutral

_____________ help organizations run more efficiently by incorporating people, technology, and information systematically.

​DSS

​ESS

​MIS

IT

What guideline should a firm follow to attain the greatest motivational impact from a new awards programs?

​Give the awards privately

​Make sure the award is meaningful to the families of employees

​Only acknowledge current recipients

​Use awards infrequently

Which is the most accurate summary of the differentiation some writers have given between leadership and management?

​Management is about setting direction and leadership is about creating something new.

​Management is about controlling variance and leadership is about initiating change.

​Management is about equilibrium and leadership is about refining current performance.

​Management is about facilitating stability and leadership is about managing change.

Events, situations, objects, people, or other artifacts that provide greater meaning to the organization are the company’s ___________.

​symbols

​stories

​ceremonies

​Rituals

To become a better manager, what is one of the first things one should do?​

​Manage one’s time better

​Seek knowledge of oneself

​Improve one’s communication skills

​Empower one’s employees

Case Study 3: Stepping Forward in Stakeholder Satisfaction

Due Week 9 and worth 200 points

Read the “Zappos: Stepping Forward in Stakeholder Satisfaction” case, located on page 475 of the textbook. 

Write a four to six (4-6) page paper in which you:

1. Analyze the manner in which Zappos’ leadership has fostered a culture of ethicalness in the company. Suggest two (2) actions that other companies can take in order to mimic this culture.
2. Determine the major impacts that Zappos’ leadership and ethical practices philosophy have had on its stakeholders.
3. Examine three (3) of the ethical challenges that Zappos faces. Recommend three (3) actions that Zappos’ leadership should take in order to address these ethical challenges.
4. Evaluate the effectiveness of the core values in relation to developing a culture of ethicalness.  Determine the manner in which the core values support the stakeholder’s perspective.
5. Analyze the major ethical challenges that Zappos has faced. Determine whether or not you would have resolved these challenges differently than Zappos’ management. Provide a rationale for your response.
6. Go to https://research.strayer.edu to locate at least three (3) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other similar Websites do not qualify 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; 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:

• Examine ethical issues and dilemmas in business.
• Analyze scenarios to determine the ethical character of decisions made and the related impact on the organization.
• Examine the significant issues of an ethical controversy in business to moral philosophy and values.
• Write clearly and concisely about issues in ethics and advocacy for HR professionals using correct grammar and mechanics.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in business ethics and advocacy for HR professionals.

Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.