Assignment 1

Please prepare a 3- to 5-page paper on the following topic:

What is a business process? Why is adopting a process view of organizations essential to becoming a successful manager?

In answering the above, you may want to consider following:

Describing one or more key business process in an organization to include why they are important. You might use examples from your current or past organizations that you worked in or had to deal with.

The background material talks about kinds of processes - or levels of processes. What kind of processes or what levels of processes are the ones that you described.

Identify the main integration points between and among processes. I.e. You can provide an example of how the process described above integrate(d) with others. You may want to consider using the terminology in some of the background material.

Assignment Expectations

Your paper should be between three and five pages. Take a definite stand on the issues, and develop your supporting argument carefully.

Using material from the background information and any other sources you can find to support specific points in your argument is highly recommended; try to avoid making assertions for which you can find no support other than your own opinion.

Assignment 2

The purpose of the Session Long Project in Trident University classes is to give you the opportunity to explore the applicability of the Module to your own life, work, and place in space and time, and to experiment with the Module to see how the otherwise academically rigorous presentation of a topic may, with more or less work and/or trauma, become "up close and personal."

This is done in a number of different ways-sometimes cumulative papers, sometimes practical hands-on experimentation with a tool of some sort, sometimes reflections on a place of work or life. The common thread is personal application, aimed at demonstrating a cumulative knowledge and understanding of the course's material.

The main purpose of the written parts of the assignments is to show that you've had some experiences doing the project that you've thought carefully about what they mean for your own education and that you can make some personal applications of this meaning to your own professional and/or personal understanding. Demonstrating this understanding is actually considerably more important than carrying out any specific step in the project instructions.

Specific assignment for Module 1

Please read the following paper before you start working on the SLP paper.

Practical Management (2009, September 20) Functional versus divisional structure.

In this SLP paper, please describe the organizational structure of your organization; most individuals work in Functional Organizations but this may not be the case. Please state if you work in a functional, divisional or other type of organization (e.g., matrixed). Then you can discuss the following questions specifically:

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS PROCESSES

1. Why do you think this structure is used in your organization?

2. If you work in a functional or divisional organization, do you see any evidence that effects and problems described in the article associated with your organization type?

3. If you work in a functional organization or divisional organization, how would you recommend reducing or eliminating the affects you just
described?

4. If you don't work in a function or divisional organization (for example a matrixed organization), describe your structure then some of the strengths or weakness of your organization. You can use the structure of the article above as a guide.

SLP Assignment Expectations

Your paper should be two to three pages in length, and reflect your personal experiences with this issue. The important part of all these project assignments is to carefully assess your own experiences with the topic, and then reflect critically on what you might have learned about yourself and about situations through this assessment process.

The more that you can use the exercise to develop personal implications for your growth as a potential business person as well as a knowledge user, the more value you'll get out of the exercise.

If there are reasons why the entire exercise is impractical for you to undertake at all, please explain them to your instructor as early in the Module as possible, so that an alternative assignment can be arranged.