In responding to your classmates’ posts, offer an assessment of their recommendations and make an argument for at least one different recommendation. Be sure to offer an explanation for your alternative recommendation.

Post #1

Nathalie Bravo Batista posted Apr 23, 2021 2:36 PMSubscribe

Hello all! 

The organization I decided to do my analysis report on was Bridge to recovery. The organization Bridge to Recovery is a clinical addiction center with a Christian emphasis. The organization offers a comfortable environment, while combining clinical treatment and spiritual renewal. Bridge to Recovery claims that for complete recovery there must be a blend of healing process of the mind, the body and the spirit. The organization in proud of their evidence-based interventions and widely used clinical approached utilized for the safe recovery of their patients. Also, the Bridge to Recovery facilities count with licensed/certified counselors, and ordained Pastors who lead clients through powerful and life changing transformations by relying on the Bible for Spiritual guidance, clinical intervention, and community-based support. The standard treatment for individuals admitted in the facilities is a 30-day residential alcohol and drug program, complimented by personal and spiritual interventions for adult men and women. (Bridge to recovery, n.d.) 

Recent trends in economy, technology, and communications can affect the decisions nonprofits make and their effective sustainable status. Nonprofit organizations must keep up with trends in order to be able to make decisions and plan for future changes. There are three important trends nonprofit organizations must keep an eye on constantly and they will continue to be: “limited resources, increase demands on nonprofits according to their services, and constant growing awareness that these organizations must be active, vocal advocate for her/his nonprofit’s mission to affect policies in the community, and at a national level” (National Council of Nonprofits, 2020). Additionally, another trend in economic and legislative changes nonprofit organizations are being affected by is the Johnson Amendment which is the provision of federal tax law that protects charitable nonprofits, houses of worship, and foundations from demands from politicians and others for endorsements and other support (National Council of Nonprofits, 2020). If anti-Johnson Amendment are enacted in the future, then provisions would politicize charitable nonprofits, houses of worship, and foundations (National Council of Nonprofits, 2020). If these proposals are approved, there will be a movement of new sham organizations, divert contributions, and discreditation to these organizations (National Council of Nonprofits, 2020). Organizations that abide by these new changes can be affected positively and negatively, as they can decide whether to be endorsed or not by political or other organizations which will result in the gain or loss of donations for their services. These organizations can prepare for future legislative changes by researching and staying on the loop with all new changes and prepare beforehand for their benefit. 

Bridge to recovery: About us. (n.d.). The Bridge to Recovery. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.thebridgetorecovery.org/contact 

National Council of Nonprofits. (2020, October 1). Nonprofit Sector Trends. https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/nonprofit-sector-trends 

Post #2

Farrah Garno posted Apr 24, 2021 11:25 AMSubscribe

Hello,

The enactment of the Affordable Care Act and the increase of Medicaid participants should decrease charitable care and bad debt.  However, there still may be payment balances due.  Medical debt is a significant cause of financial strain for many people and can cause patients and their families to file bankruptcy or use up their retirement savings. Medical bills that appear on a credit report will stay there for up to seven years (Credit Karma, n.d.)

To aid in the recouping of these balances, Covenant Healthcare could re-evaluate its financial assistance policy.  This policy is offered to a patient who qualifies based on their inability to pay following U.S. Federal Poverty Guidelines (Covenant HealthCare, n.d.).  Adjusting the financial assistant policy to help accommodate patients and will help bring in revenue that otherwise would turn into bad debt.  The adjustment of this policy will not only include those patients who are not uninsured or underinsured but those who may have been laid off or having financial difficulty.  Illnesses do not pause until you can pay.  This revised policy can reduce the number of accounts sent to collections and enable patients to maintain good credit. 

Maintaining an excellent financial relationship with patients will improve their overall satisfaction with the organization.   Having the compassion and ability to support patients through their financial situation will help in revenue return. It will also help aid the patient in their recovery process by not dealing with financial stress.  They would be able to focus on treatment and recovery.

References

Credit Karma. Free Credit Score & Free Credit Reports With Monitoring | Credit Karma. (n.d.). https://www.creditkarma.com/.

Covenant HealthCare. https://www.covenanthealthcare.com/.

 Week 2 ProjectAssignment Due May 11 at 12:59 AM

Use the same organization selected in week 1. This week’s assignment involves two steps.

First, analyze your organization’s operations by conducting a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. Pay particular attention to your company’s strengths and opportunities because you will try to identify a social cause that meshes well with them. Think back to the Google example. One of Google’s social causes is improving computer science education. Since Google is at the forefront of advances in information technology, it makes sense that one of its social concerns is improving computer science education. In supporting this cause, Google is not only being socially responsible but is potentially working to educate its future customers and workforce. Thus, focusing on areas where your company excels and then finding a social cause that can benefit from your company’s strengths can also ultimately help your company!

Second, consider how shareholder and stakeholder theories of ethics will impact your selection of a target social cause for your corporation to pursue. What responsibility does your company owe to its stockholders and stakeholders? Will pursuing a social responsibility program detract from your responsibilities to these two groups? Any program that you implement will redirect resources toward the social cause and away from your stockholders and stakeholders. Is this ethical?

Tasks:

• Create your organization’s SWOT analysis. Justify each item in your analysis.
• Evaluate the ethical implications of pursuing a social responsibility program in terms of your stockholders and stakeholders. What is the personal framework you are using to make these ethical decisions for your company?

Submission Details:

• Submit your paper in a 3- to 4-page Microsoft Word document, using APA style.

 

In this assignment, you will begin to create your own formal website   plan by defining the website’s goals and objectives, writing a formal purpose   statement, and creating a target audience profile and needs assessment. You   will also plan its general content and structure.

a.       Determine your   website’s goals and objectives and draft the website’s purpose statement.

b.       Identify your   website’s target audience(s) and determine the wants, needs, and likely   expectations that your website’s design and content should satisfy for that   audience.

c.       Identify the pages you   initially plan to include at your website.

d.       Add to your website   plan a list of value-added content that will help achieve your website’s   purpose and satisfy target audience needs. Identify possible sources for the   content, keeping in mind the copyright issues discussed in Chapter 2.

e.       Determine which of the   three website structures—linear/tutorial, webbed, or hierarchical (or a   combination of structures)—will best meet your website’s purpose. Use a text   outline, manually draw the structure, or use software to illustrate your   website’s structure as part of your design plan.

The paper must following the formatting guidelines in The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010), (6th ed., 7th printing), and contain a title page, five scholarly references, three pages of content.

 Instructions

Case Analysis Report Assignment
In study of the case method, you learned about the six sections of a case analysis report:
I. Background
II. Problem Definition
III. SWOT Analysis
IV. Identification of Alternatives
V. Analysis of Alternatives
VI. Recommendation

You will follow the six steps of the case method in analyzing Build-A-Bear Workshop, a company that enables consumers to design an assemble a toy bear.  Options in designing your bear include personalized bears, gift bears with the option to record a personalized message, and themed bears.  Build-A- Bear also offers options for a variety of other stuffed toys including unicorns, cats, and licensed Disney and Star Wars stuffed toys.  Build-A-Bear has been seriously impacted by the Covid-19 shutdowns and is in the process of reopening stores in malls, offering design online, and currently running a series of promotions to entice consumers t return. The aim of the case analysis assignment is to recommend a marketing strategy that Build-A-Bear Workshop should pursue to support an organization objective of business growth. 

The six sections of the case analysis report are summarized in terms of content and recommended approach to take.

Background
In this section, you will introduce background facts about the company, Build-A-Bear Workshop. The section establishes the context of the case. The key to writing this section is to strike a balance between identifying relevant facts and events in company history without going into an exhaustive historical account of the company. A misstep observed in many case reports is an author’s Background section is so long they “run out of gas” by the time they get to crucial sections of Analysis of Alternatives and Recommendation.

Your approach to this section should be to demonstrate you have an understanding of the company’s business and awareness of key
characteristics or events that shaped the company’s direction. In short, you understand how the company got to its current position as of the writing of your report.

Problem Definition
In this section, you should briefly identify the marketing problem facing Build-A-Bear Workshop. Notice the emphasis on marketing; given this course is about marketing strategy the problem should not focus on finance, human resources, or other functional area. Could problems in other 2 functional areas affect marketing? Yes, but if that is the case be sure to emphasize the impact on marketing.

This section should be concise, not more than one paragraph. The problem can be a negative or positive situation faced by the company that has implications for marketing strategy. Note that the section title is singular; identify one problem and one problem only.

Situation Analysis
Before identifying possible solutions to the problem, you must first conduct a situation analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Your SWOT Analysis should have four subheadings (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).
Use bullet-point format to present the SWOT characteristics. For each characteristic you list, it should be followed with a brief explanation (1-2 sentences) to justify inclusion in the analysis and its classification (i.e., why it is relevant).

Identification of Alternatives
In this section, you should list possible alternatives for resolving the problem identified in the previous section. You should list three alternatives; maintaining current strategy (status quo) can be an option if you believe it is a viable choice. Be specific in the alternatives identified. For example, “change pricing approach” is too broad; “use penetration pricing to gain market share” is a more actionable alternative.

Note: Set up a separate section heading rather than combining Identification of Alternatives and Analysis of Alternatives.

Evaluation of Alternatives
This section will be where you thoroughly evaluate the three strategic options you have identified. It should contain subheadings that correspond with your three alternatives. Discuss both the pros and cons for each alternative. Incorporate facts from your research to provide support for your evaluation of pros and cons of each alternative.

The purpose of this section is lay out relevant facts for and against an alternative. Ideally, thoroughly weighing facts in this section should lead you to a clear recommendation.

Recommendation
This section of the report should identify the alternative you recommend. It should also have a rationale for why it is the best alternative. Also,  3 communicate why your recommendation is superior to the other two alternatives. You must choose one and only one alternative!

Notes

• In addition to the point values for each report section, writing quality is worth 5 points of the 100-point total for the case analysis report (spelling, grammar, organization and following guidelines).
• Your own research on Build-A-Bear Workshop is essential for understanding its background as well as internal and external factors relevant to the company. Cite sources in a Bibliography section at the end of the document using APA style. To streamline the research process, you are encouraged to contribute to a class bibliography of information sources. You may use any sources from the shared bibliography as long as you cite them in the bibliography for your report.
• The report is due by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, October 9. Upload to the dropbox folder for this assignment.
• Utilize the discussion topic set up for your case. You and 5-6 other students are in a discussion group. Use the discussion topic to ask each other questions, float ideas, or discuss the case in general. Keep in mind that you will submit your own work; the discussions are to help you during preliminary work on the case.
• This assignment is worth 20% of overall course grade.

Document Preparation

• Report should have cover page with case name and your name, course info, & date
• Entire document should have 1” margin on all sides
• Use 12-point font, double-spaced
• Insert page numbers
• The six sections are the major headings (e.g., Background, Problem Definition)
• In Evaluation of Alternatives section, each alternative should be discussed under its own subheading
• Any sources used should be cited where appropriate in the report and listed in a bibliography at the end of the report.

APA Style – Purdue University Online Writing Center is an excellent resource for examples on how to cite and format different types of information. You can also visit the MTSU Writing Center for assistance.

 More details about the case report is provided under “Case Analysis Report” module.

 

Imagine you work as an HR professional for the company you selected in the first assignment in Week 3. The company has been having issues with their current performance evaluation process. Some of the issues include the data collection process, proper documentation, and making appropriate decisions on employee performance. Your manager has asked you to evaluate and update their current performance evaluation process and present it as a training module to a group of new supervisors in your organization. Apply the revised or improved evaluation process to the specific job you created in the Week 3 assignment. Note that your manager has asked you to present the new process in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. 

Instructions

Based on what you know about performance evaluations, use the Strayer Library or the Internet to research and select a performance evaluation tool that you believe is best suited for your company. Create a PowerPoint presentation with speaker’s notes to present this new tool to new supervisors. In your presentation: 

1. Explain the benefits of using performance evaluations.
2. Assess the existing performance evaluation used in the organization.
3. Create a sample of the performance evaluation tool you selected for your company.
4. Justify the selection of the performance evaluation tool.
5. Develop a detailed, step-by-step description of the evaluation process.

The PowerPoint presentation should be a minimum of 10 slides and their corresponding speaker’s notes, in addition to a title slide and references slide. Include graphics as needed to improve, enhance, or clarify the content.