Synthesize the sources you’ve chosen for YOUR individual section of the group paper and UPLOAD A complete draft of your section here. You will peer review each other’s sections in class and for HW. To be prepared for class: Bring two printed copies of this draft on Tuesday. What is a synthesis Although at its most basic level, a synthesis involves combining several texts together, synthesis writing takes this one step further because this combining must be done in a meaningful, strategic, and purposeful way. Instead of merely attending to themes across texts, or finding similarities and differences across texts, synthesizing sources is a matter of pulling them together into some kind of harmony. Synthesis SEARCHES for links between materials for the purpose of constructing a thesis, theory, argument, or analysis across texts. Synthesis shows how, when read together, a series of sources can OFFER something new, interesting, significant, or vital to the overall topic. Thus, a synthesis is a type of argument, because you are strategically choosing a set of sources and then strategically choosing how they fit together. A synthesis: accurately REPORTS information from the sources through academic summary accurately distinguishes between what information came from which source organizes the information strategically so that readers can understand the purpose of the synthesis makes sense of the sources and helps the reader understand them in greater depth Synthesis in the Literature Review For the literature review, your job as individual group members is to synthesize sources for your own individual task in the group project; then, the group as a whole synthesizes all the sections into one whole literature review. The purpose here is to answer the question: “what information must we know in ORDER to understand this topic in a meaningful way?” Hence, you make choices as a group about what information is most important to synthesize for your readers. Structure of a Synthesis: Individual Sections in the Literature Review Introduction: Sums up the focus of your synthesis Makes a claim for how you want your reader to understand this section of the literature review Organization: Your synthesis should be organized by theme, point, similarity, or aspect of the topic, however you choose to relay the information to your audience Your organization will be determined by the patterns you see in the material you are synthesizing and the overall focus of your synthesis The organization is the most important part of a synthesis Body Paragraphs: BEGIN each paragraph with a sentence or phrase that informs readers of the main topic of the paragraph: “topic sentence” Even though you aren’t making an argument about YOUR topic, your topic sentence still serves as a “WINDOW” into the rest of the paragraph Include information from more than one source and clearly indicate which material comes from which source using lead in phrases and in-text citations Do the synthesis work in the paragraph: show how the sources come together and what reading these sources together OFFERS Beware of plagiarism: accurately depict when you are summarizing or paraphrasing a source (by using parenthetical citations) and accurately depict when you are saying something about that source Represent the texts fairly and accurately without inserting personal opinion or moral/ethical claims—you are simply repeating what each source says, in your own words Follow guidelines for academic summary Follow guidelines for MLA style in-text citations and quotation integration Conclusion: Write a conclusion stating the most significant themes you have found and the ways they CONNECT TO the overall topic. You may also want to suggest further research or comment on things that it was not possible for you to discuss in the section. DO NOT merely repeat what you have already said in the body paragraphs – use the conclusion as the space to wrap-up your synthesis. Formatting Requirements A complete draft (ideally, each group member writes ~3 pages so that the final group paper comes out to 10-15pgs) Double-spaced 12 pt Times New Roman font 1-in margins MLA style in-text citations MLA style Works Cited Page Heading, upper-right hand corner (and single-spaced): Name, Group name, assignment title, date PLEASE see the syllabus for class policies on late work, missing work, or plagiarism

Step 1: Read both Angrist Ch. 20 “Trends and Prospects” and Lisa Anderson “Searching Where the Light Shines: Studying Democratization in the Middle East,” American Review of Political Science (2006): 189-214. • Step 2: Write an essay addressing both of the following question(s): o A) What is the future of politics in the Middle East, based on Angrist and Anderson’s essays? • i. Should we even bother discussing “democratization” or “reform” in the Middle East? o B) Using Syria, describe the changes you see ahead for the country and the chances for democratization or continuing authoritarianism.

Identify an Indigenous Peoples (global) community outside the US and conduct research through various sources such as Native News Media, books, research articles, web- sites, films, etc. Use “Indigenous World” PDF on Bb Learn to help you identify your topic. Your research paper should include the following: 1. Brief History, including demographics 2. Contemporary Challenges and or Triumphs to Indigenous Peoples (should be the focus of your paper) 3. Conclusion and or Recommendations for Indigenous Peoples Globally 4. References from a variety of sources

Write at least one paragraph for each of the questions written below
A. What is the purpose of health and human sciences? What is the purpose of health and human services?

B. Why have health & human sciences and services been important over time? Why is it important today?

C. What do believe is your purpose as an emerging or continuing health and human sciences professional?
D. What is health and human sciences? Services? Are health and human services intertwined or separate components? What is the relationship between science and service?

E. What contradictions in “helping” have existed over time? (e.g., help those most deserving vs. punish others). What contradictions still exist today?

E. To what degree does health & human sciences and services impact you, your family or community? In what ways? Do you have similar or different perspectives from those of your classmates? Why?

Introduction This week you examine the different driving forces behind the planning efforts of the Human Resources Department/Division, the importance of maintaining a long-term strategic vision and plan, and challenges created by short-term pressures. In addition, you analyze the role of Human Resources within an organization (Wal-Mart). Objectives • Evaluate importance of driving forces on planning efforts of the Human Resources Department/Division • Analyze conditions when strategic thinking and resolution should be followed in spite of short-term drivers • Analyze organizational responses to strategy-driven planning by the Human Resource Department/Division • Analyze impact of the Human Resource Department’s role on the larger organization • Analyze role of the Human Resources Department/Division in the organization’s success Strategic Decisions in Spite of Short-Term Driving Forces (1-page paper) Background: Imagine your organization (Wal-Mart, Inc.) has a plan in place to expand its services in its home country over the next five years. However, a competitor (Target) has announced intentions to expand into international markets. Things change; new trends emerge that attract our interest, especially when the competition is interested and even moving on the trend. In HR, after our HR Operating Plan written to support the direction of the organization is implemented, trends can arise that look attractive, but when looking at where the organization is headed, warrant no change in our plan. Often, plans do not need to be changed at a high level, i.e., a strategy, but rather, action steps planned to make those strategies happen can easily accommodate many trends and do some seamlessly, but when the CEO wants change, HR needs rationale and process. Think about the many short- and long-term drivers, e.g., new competitors, pending legislation, etc., which might impact an organization’s plan. Trends can easily attract the attention of the C-suite, who then pushes to forget plans and go for it. So, on what basis can HR leadership provide a logical rationale for holding firmly to a plan and ignoring the trendy new thing happening, despite the push from the CEO? Write a 1 page paper on the following: What are 3-5 specific criteria that could be used to assess potential opportunities that warrant change in the HR Operating Plan brought to HR by the CEO and provide rationale for your assessment criteria selection, e.g., alignment with the business direction of the organization, new legislation, etc. Helpful information: Competition does strange things to most people … we tend to want to win! However, jumping on the band wagon, running to get ahead of the competition when we hear what they’re doing, dropping all our solid thinking and planning to follow (assuming we can get in front), all tend to seem too good at the time, but may not be in the best interest of what is really at stake. Have you ever found yourself dropping your plans you made with a good friend in order to go somewhere else, just to be with a certain in-crowd, and then finding that you lost more than you gained by doing this – maybe even a good friend? If not, we’ve certainly seen scenarios like this, and business is no different. It’s so easy to get pulled into going a different direction than all your wisdom told you were right, all because the competition seems so confident, aggressive, and they’re doing it! So, off you go, redirecting all your resources to be a ‘me-too’ organization. These things often backfire – whether on a personal basis or in the business. Resources (Please use 2+ resources for your paper) Garey, R. W. (2011). Business literacy survival guide for HR professionals. Alexandria, VA: Society for Human Resource Management. o Chapter 1, “Human Resources as Strategic Partner Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012). Organizational and operating plans. Baltimore, MD: Author. Christensen, R. (2005). Roadmap to Strategic HR: Turning a great idea into a business reality. New York, NY: American Management Association. Roadmap to Strategic HR: Turning a Great Idea into a Business Reality by Ralph Christensen. Copyright 2006 by AMACOM BOOKS. Reprinted by permission of AMACOM BOOKS via the Copyright Clearance Center • Chapter 7, “Create a Human and Organizational Strategy.” o Adams, A. (2011). Mapping a strategic approach to HR leadership. Strategic HR Review, 11(1), 31–36. o Anonymous. (2010). HR wins a strategic role at QBE Insurance: Transformation takes place in partnership with business leaders. Human Resource Management International Digest, 18(5), 19–21. o Beinhocker, E. D., & Kaplan, S. (2003). The real value of strategic planning: The goal of a strategic planning process should not be to make strategy but to build prepared minds that are capable of making sound strategic decisions. MIT Sloan Management Review, 44(2), 71–76. o Ulrich, D. (1986). Human resource planning as a competitive edge. Human Resource Planning, 9(2), 41–50.

Eagle Crest Manufacturing is an auto body and chassis component manufacturer in rural

Tennessee 45 miles outside of Nashville. Eagle Crest has approximately 150 employees and is a

subsidiary company under the large international Magnum Corporation which is headquartered

in Toronto, Canada. Magnum Corp. has approximately 150,000 employees with 300

manufacturing operations in 30 countries.

Executives at Magnum Corp. headquarters sent Albert to be the Plant Manager at Eagle Crest

last year in order to broaden his understanding of how the manufacturing side of the business

operates, and he is being groomed for an executive position within Magnum Corp. Albert is

originally from Eastern Europe, but moved to Ontario to study management in college. After

college Albert worked for GM and then Ford and has deliberately sought job titles that would

fill out his resume to get him promoted as quickly as possible. Albert is in his mid-forties and

has a singular ambition to move up the corporate ladder. Albert has been plant manager for

approximately one year and has told employees at Eagle Crest that he hoped he would not be

there for more than one more year. Albert carries himself confidently and takes great care to

maintain a professional appearance (as the only person at Eagle Crest who wears a suit

everyday) but is considered by some to be arrogant and aloof. However, he has a very strong

track record for improving profits wherever he goes, which is why he was selected to take over

as plant manager at Eagle Crest.

Albert relies heavily on his two top level managers who answer directly to him at Eagle Crest,

Frank and George. The employees jokingly refer to Albert, Frank, and George as “the big three”

which also refers to GM, Ford, and Chrysler in the automotive industry. Frank is director of

manufacturing and is in charge of managing all the workers on the manufacturing floor,

maintenance, and basically the hands-on aspects associated with manufacturing. Frank has a

high school education and served in the military for eight years after high school. After

returning home, he began his career as a press operator at Eagle Crest almost thirty years ago.

He worked his way up to the management position by consistently working over sixty hours per

week. Frank is known for paying attention to detail which has served him well; however, this

personality trait also leads toward his micromanaging his employees. While Frank treats his

employees fairly, he is very demanding, and his high expectations leave no room for lenience

for sub-standard work, laziness, or excuses. If Frank decides an employee is not up to his

standard, he has Albert’s full support in letting that employee go. Frank is in his late-fifties, his

entire family lives in the area, and he is not willing to relocate and plans to stay at Eagle Crest

until he retires.

George is in charge of managing all the other aspects besides manufacturing that keep Eagle

Crest running including engineering, quality control, accounting, purchasing, shipping &

receiving, etc. George is a college educated mechanical engineer from Quebec in his late

thirties. However, because the primary role of engineering at Eagle Crest is to support

manufacturing, there is significant crossover in responsibilities between George and Frank.

 

 

 

 

George was a competent engineer at another subsidiary of Magnum Corp that provides the

design and engineering for the automotive parts that are produced by Magnum Corp. George

went back to school in the evenings to earn an M.B.A. while working full-time as an engineer.

After graduating with an M.B.A. George served as an engineering manager for several years

before he was offered the position at Eagle Crest as an opportunity for greater management

and leadership responsibilities. George has been at Eagle Crest for five years. George is

generally personable and down to earth; however, he quickly becomes impatient and does not

manage stress well and tends to take out his frustration on his employees with veiled threats of

being fired if they do not produce.

You have been hired as the new Engineering Manager to be in charge of engineering and

quality control, and you have only worked at Eagle Crest for three months. Technically, George

is your boss; however, because of the overlap between engineering and manufacturing Frank

sees you as working for him as well. Albert rarely if ever interacts with the department

managers including you. The engineering department consists of two industrial engineers, a

mechanical engineer, and two quality assurance technicians that do not have four-year college

degrees but have extensive working knowledge of the manufacturing processes from their roles

in working in maintenance as mechanics and machinists followed by several years working in

quality control.

Recently you have noticed “the big three” (Albert, Frank, and George) in the conference room

for meetings with department managers and various other employees from around the plant

which is highly unusual. First of all, Frank and George rarely meet together because Frank feels

like he does not need Georges’ help since he could and should be able to manage the plant as

he sees fit. George is keenly aware of this general disrespect from Frank and thus tries to avoid

him whenever possible. Moreover, Albert is rarely, if ever, in meetings with employees let

alone meetings with people from every aspect of Eagle Crest.

Finally, you are called into one of these meetings with “the big three”. It turns out that Albert

has been “ever so slightly” inflating the figures of the actual expenses which he assures you is

common practice and simply used as a buffer to manage fluctuating budgets. However, these

cost records are used for setting prices of products sold by Magnum Corp every quarter, and

not-so-coincidentally this “adjustment” resulted in Eagle Crest showing record profits in the

previous year. However, Eagle Crest has been notified that they are being audited, and the big

three need to “get everyone onboard with the cost adjustments for the good of the company”.

In the meeting, you are asked to make changes to documents created by the previous

engineering manager whose position you filled after she resigned three months ago.

You are in no risk of legal repercussions since you were not working at Eagle Crest during the

previous year. However, because of your personal financial and family situation, you really

need the pay check for the next six months. You also have a personal interest in doing your

best to see if you can resolve this ethical dilemma while also doing your best to solve the

technical problems associated with your position. Thus, you not only have technical problems

to solve, you also have interpersonal issues to address because you will not be able to please

 

 

two bosses at the same time. Moreover, you have an ethical issue to address as well regarding

the request from the big three to alter documents dated before you were hired.

George has asked you to have the engineering department look into a quality control problem

and Frank has asked you to research a production problem. Both bosses expect their respective

problem to be your top priority and to be solved as soon as possible. Each problem will take a

different amount of time to collect the data, and even if you only select one to give a technical

answer for, you still need to address how you will manage the projects given the timelines.

The two technical problems to solve as soon as possible are one for George and one for Frank.

You need to think through a plan to as to how you plan to manage these two projects as well as

communicate this to both extremely demanding bosses that each expect you to focus solely on

the problem he wants you to work on. You had a similar issue last month, and Frank

threatened to fire you on the spot if you did not get results on his timeline. You have also felt

similar pressure from George because Albert is pressuring him to increase profits from

production. Moreover, the director of Shipping & Receiving had a similar problem with Frank

and George both expecting results at the same time, and this director went directly to Albert to

discuss the problem of trying to serve two masters. Albert did not want to hear it, and Frank

fired her for insubordination for going over his head and involving Albert without permission.

Discussion items:

1. Address how you would manage all three projects’ timelines even though you are only

providing a technical answer for one in question 4 (either 4.1, 4.2 or 4.3).

2. How will you manage the interpersonal and ethical issues with “the big three”?
3. How you will communicate with your team and lead them to a successful resolution.

 

please address solving the

following problem:

George received a complaint from a customer that a critical part diameter may be out of

specification on the most profitable assembly in the plant. The diameter specification is 0.5 ±

0.010 inch. For this process, only five assemblies are produced per day, and you need twenty

samples. You task your quality team to collect diameter data for the five samples per day for

the next twenty days. The data is recorded as deviations from the nominal half inch

measurement and recorded in thousandths of an inch.

Upon completion of this discussion you will be able to: •Identify the importance of ethics in project management. Though the primary focus of project management is on delivering on time and earning profits, ethical behavior is equally important. Project managers must be ethical in their dealings with their teams and with internal and external stakeholders. Consider the ethics of project management and respond to the following: •Examine all aspects of a project manager’s relationship with the team and discuss how ethics apply to this relationship. Give at least two examples to substantiate your answer. •A project manager may face conflicting demands, for example, the need to minimize costs and the desire to improve quality. Discuss some principles that should guide the project manager’s decision in cases of conflict between two legitimate demands. Give at least two examples to illustrate these principles.

Stress Research Essay For your final essay, you will identify what causes stress in a college student’s life, the effects of this stress, and one technique for helping to relieve this stress. Your essay will use research. Each body paragraph will include at least one citation. The researched information can be in the form of quotes, summaries, or paraphrases. Your citations will come from at least two reliable resources. The last page of your essay will be a Works Cited page that lists the resources used in your essay. In class, we will discuss research and how to use it. This is a formal essay. The words “I” and “you” might show up in the hook but nowhere else. Also, since this is a formal essay, all contractions should be avoided: don’t should be written do not; can’t should be written cannot; shouldn’t should be written should not; won’t should be written will not. Introduction –Hook –Bridge –Example thesis Statement: Every day, college students face a lot of stress that can negatively impact their lives, but ___identify a stress-relief technique___ can help them relieve this stress. Body Paragraph 1—Identify and explain three things that cause students stress. Example topic sentence: College students constantly deal with the stress of _____support 1___, _______support 2_______, and ____support 3_______. Support 1—identify the first cause of stress Detail—explain the first cause of stress; provide facts or examples Support 2—identify the second cause of stress Detail—explain the second cause of stress; provide facts or examples Support 3—identify the third cause of stress Detail—explain the third cause of stress; provide facts or examples Concluding sentence Body Paragraph 2—Identify and explain three ways that stress negatively impacts a student. Example topic sentence: The stress that college students face can lead to _____support 1___, _______support 2_______, and ____support 3_______. Support 1—identify one effect of stress Detail—explain the first effect of stress; provide facts or examples Support 2—identify the second effect of stress Detail—explain the second effect of stress; provide facts or examples Support 3—identify the third effect of stress Detail—explain the third effect of stress; provide facts or examples Concluding sentence Body 3—Identify and explain three ways/reasons that a particular technique can relieve stress. Example topic sentence: One way college students can relieve their stress is by _____identify a stress relief technique___, which _____support 1____, _____support 2____, and ____support 3_______. Support 1—identify one effect of the technique Detail—explain the first effect of the technique; provide facts or examples Support 2—identify the second effect of the technique Detail—explain the second effect of the technique; provide facts or examples Support 3—identify the third effect of the technique Detail—explain the third effect of technique; provide facts or examples Concluding sentence Conclusion –Revisit the thesis –Summarize the main points –Close with a general statement that gives the reader something to think about or revisits the hook. Your researched information belongs in the details of your body paragraphs. Make sure that the researched information is Introduced, Cited, and Explained (ICE).

Option 2 is a work plan with a strategy for migrating a working prototype database from a source production OLTP environment, into a Data Mart star schema design. The plan will include steps to migrate non-volatile subject-oriented records into a read-only OLAP environment.  Objective is to Develop a action plan for migrating historical data from an operational source into a Business Intelligence (BI) data mart to become historical records for decision making.

Signature Writing Assignment (due in Week 4):

A 500+ word plan that demonstrates results from technical research conducted about implementing a working prototype design of a database into a production environment. Assume that a working prototype has been built as a vehicle for demonstrating the design.  After the work plan is accepted, scheduling the deployment will be a milestone for certifying a fully operational database (using an alternative to having any front end application) after clear test acceptance by both technical and business end users.  Yes, the design may be for the final outcome for ITM450 project.  The plan must contain at least 3 references composed in APA style, with cross reference to cited quotations or paraphrased content from source. Using Owl of Purdue for proper formatting of references is suggested. Citing a professional’s expert opinion is accepted.

After composing your plan, remove all instructions on this page.

Week Three Learning Outcomes

• Define Business Intelligence (BI)
• Explain the benefit of BI
• Describe the significance of Data Warehouses
• List the four main characteristics of Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)

Reading: Ch. 13 – Business Intelligence and Data Warehouses

The text book describes Business Intelligence (BI) outcomes for data mart.  A simplifying structure for this plan is suggested by these five topics for a Wk4 Prototype Migration Activity.  The bold words may be keywords for a plan sections.

1. Describe the tables in an operational environment, such as a functional application, assuming it to be running in an online transactions processing (OLTP) architecture.
2. Define your Business Intelligence (BI) Strategy for migrating history into a designed data mart to be compatible with potential OLAP usage by decision makers
3. Explain the future benefit of BI summary information to lead to improved business outcomes and profitability
4. Describe the significance of starting with a single Data Mart for building toward a repository of historical records
5. State some business rules for extracting relevant data from one or more sources, transformations for migrating historical facts into a BI environment and loading

An optional plan framework is included on the next page as a starting place.

 

 

 

Table of Contents

Title: <Name of Solution>. 2

[A] Operational environment: 2

[B] Data Mart: 3

[C] Future Benefits: 3

[D] First Data Mart: 3

[E] Business Rule Statements: 4

[F] BI Outcomes: 4

 

Figure 1. Operational Application Database Design. 2

Figure 2. Business Intelligence Star Schema. 3

Figure 3. Business Intelligence Star Schema. 3

Figure 4. Data Mart outcome report or dashboard images. 4

Title: <Name of Solution>

Submitted by <your name>  on Date: __/__/__

[A] Operational environment:

Describe the nature of your prototype database design (which started in Week 1 of this course, or coming forward from previous work.)

• Who are the users?
• What product or service is being processed?
• Who is(are) the customers?
• What tables exist to represent the daily transactional activity of the business?
• What tables are descriptive of the transactions?
• When does time relevance (dates) play are part?
• What database constraints exist (on which tables)?
• What value has achieved by placing Referential Integrity into the is prototype?

A prototype operational database design, an ERD (perhaps for the selected project scenario)

Figure 1. Operational Application Database Design

[B] Data Mart:

The starting place for a first data mart is the Star Schema, including a fact and some number of dimension tables, one being a Time dimension (perhaps called a Calendar).  The plan may involve adding some more test data into the operational tables, then creating queries that will extract those records, transform the records to fit the design of a fact and dimension tables.  Here is a list of possible statistics to report about your solution. Remove those that do not apply. After providing answers remove the questions.

• Describe the nature of your Star schema
• Star fact contains ___<kind of data> __   Is this table contain any rows?
• Does this data match up with the source table used for initializing it?
• Earliest date in the imported and refined time dimension table? __ / ___ / ___.  Latest?  ___ / ___ / ___
• Earliest date for a fact records joined to a date on the time? __ / ___ / ___.  Latest?  ___ / ___ / ___
• Dimension tables for: <name & row count for each dimension>
  • Who? (the people or the organizational units)
  • Where? (locations in which OLTP operations takes place)
  • What? (descriptions of content in terms of products/services created or sold)
  • When? (time frame for recording business dates)
• Does each dimension table have an integer Primary Key? ___
• Does fact table have a simple or compound primary key? ____

Insert a star schema design diagram here

Figure 2. Business Intelligence Star Schema

 

[C] Future Benefits:

Explain the future benefit of BI summary information to lead to improvements in business outcomes and profitability

 

[D] First Data Mart:

Describe the significance of starting with a single Data Mart for building toward a repository of historical records

 

An original star schema design… either here in [D] or above in [C]…. Keep one and discard the other, then regenerated the table of figures

Figure 3. Business Intelligence Star Schema

 

[E] Business Rule Statements:

State some business rules for extracting relevant data from sources, transformations for migrating historical facts into a BI environment.  Which dimension table may be stable after first load, and which may change?

 

[F] BI Outcomes:

Describe come BI outcomes for data mart. Define the future outcome for the prototype database after it will go into production.

Perhaps an artifact that represents the possible outcome of your scenario. This might be found by a google images search and an image or two of results that vendors show, or training scenario outcomes, or perhaps an example of a real outcome. Citation URL:

Figure 4. Data Mart outcome report or dashboard images

 

References:  (Include a minimum of 3 sources in APA format)

Coronel, C. & Morris, S. (2017). Database systems: Design, implementation, and management (12th ed.). [Instructor Manual for Ch13_Database_Warehouse_Ed12_Review]. Retrieved from ITM450 Blackboard course Week Three Learning Activity with permission by the instructor.

 

Paper must be 5-7 pages. √ Please make sure that margins on all 4 sides are no larger than 1 inch. √ Use a reasonable size text (good reference point is to not use larger than 12 point, also do not look for a huge font). √ Do not write 4 pages and one sentence to make it 5 pages… it should be at least five pages not including the title page. √ There should be at least five references. The references must be in APA format. Discuss the many issues related to death and dying. What is so important about studying this stage of life? What are the cross-cultural differences in how death and dying is approached.