Assignment 1 - Identify three or more of the secondary sources of information available to REI. Develop a short analysis of the value of the secondary sources of information available to REI. How valuable are these studies to the company? Submit your analysis in the assignment area.

rei.com

Assignment 2 - For your course project, submit the company you have chosen, along with the product or service for which you will conduct your marketing analysis. In your submission, provide a detailed description of the organization and its product or service. Provide a rationale for your selection. Also, submit a list of four to five resources you will use to assist in your analysis.

Company: Apple

Product: iPhone 6S

Assignment

Now that you have declared the functional area you want to focus on, it is time to identify and develop goals for that area and for the human resources area. Follow these steps to complete this project component (all of the required documents are given in the Resources):

You will continue to complete the other sections in the SAWs throughout the remainder of the course. Keep in mind that your completed SAWs for the human resources area and your declared functional area will be incorporated into your final course project, Atha Executive Plan.

Prior to submitting your assignment, review the course project description and the Project Goals and Activities Scoring Guide to ensure you have met overall project requirements and all of the criteria for this assignment.

Submit these three items as attachments to the assignment area:

- SAW (for the human resources area)
- SAW (for the functional area you chose-sales and marketing, accounting and finance, or operations and production).
- Reflection write up.

ATHA CORPORATION: PLANNING

Mary Atha, CEO

One role of corporate leadership is to articulate a vision, define the mission, and establish goals for the organization. This is accomplished through effective communication, among other things. At some point, management must convert these goals into getting things done.

Management encompasses four principle elements; to plan, organize, lead, and control the limited resources of an organization, to achieve the stated goals.

The first of those elements is to plan. That is the focus of this week's lecture.

Think of the management cycle of plan, organize, lead, and control, as a circle.

At the top of the circle is plan, the activity of developing a strategy for accomplishing the goals assigned to management.

This is like tasking a military unit with taking a hill. Soldiers in the unit do not ask why, they just figure out how to get it done! The corporate leadership staff doesn't have to care how the task is achieved, as long as it is accomplished within the established boundaries or rules of engagement. Management must quickly and accurately complete an assessment of current capabilities, including available resources, and an analysis of the barriers to success. They allocate assets, identify critical activities, and define the tasks required to support those activities.

The following four questions must be answered during the conversion of goals into objectives and activities:

What must be done?

How and why must it be done?

What does success look like?

And, how will we know if we are on the right track?

You are managing the human resources department, and another functional area of your choice.

Your predecessor has been fired. As a recent college graduate, you have been brought in to turn the department around and lead it to the established goals. You must first begin to apply the planning process to your assigned goals.

Assess your capabilities, allocate your resources wisely, anticipate where the barriers to success may lay, and apply the four questions to your strategy.

Currently, you have a serious employee problem. Turnover was very high under the previous department manager. The employees are skeptical, having seen any number of "strategies-of-the-month" rolled out, only to see them quickly abandoned, and replaced by still other meaningless initiatives.

You have to make something positive happen, quickly, in order to gain their trust.

Begin to analyze what activities must be accomplished, in order for the department to reach its assigned goals.

You will also need to determine how you will achieve the initiatives, and in what time frame.

CREDITS

Title:
Atha Corporation: Planning
Subject Matter Expert:
Sam Palmeri
Instructional Designer:
Mo Yang
Interactive Design:
Patrick Lapinski, Joe Birr
Project Management:
SueAnn AdamsBottolfson, Julie Greunke, MAEd
On-Camera Talent:
Patty Matthews