Reference no: EM133654665

Assignment: Accessing Skills

Overview

For this Performance Task Assessment, you will act as a business consultant and apply critical and creative thinking skills in order to assist an organization in bringing about either internal or external positive social change.

Professional Skills: Written Communication, Information Literacy, and Inquiry & Analysis are assessed in this Competency.

Business Solutions for Positive Social Change

You have been hired as a consultant to help a business address a problem by creating solutions that will bring about positive social change-either within the organization or in the surrounding community. You will select one of the businesses to focus on and will develop a design document in which you will analyze the situation, engage in critical and creative thinking activities about the information presented, and develop ideas for how the business can address its problems and bring about positive outcomes. First, you will select one of the following businesses and review the related scenario:

Soapy Simpson's Car Wash
CallMe Call Center
Plain Print Press

Then, using the provided Business Solutions for Positive Social Change design document, complete the following activities. Your completed Assessment must contain at least four references from the Walden Library or other scholarly academic sources.

Part I: Thinking Critically and Creatively

Empathizing: In this section, you will focus on the company and people, trying to gain an understanding of their needs and wants.

Analyze the company in your selected scenario and explain at least three initial observations you have about the company and/or the people involved in the scenario. (75-150 words, or 1-2 paragraphs)

Identify at least three people (or groups of people) whom you would interview to gain additional information about the situation and the needs of your client. Provide a rationale for each of your selections. (75-150 words, or 1-2 paragraphs)

Identify at least three biases someone could have and/or assumptions someone could make about the scenario. For example, are there any pre-drawn conclusions that someone might have about the industry, groups of people, or business practices that are discussed in the scenario? (Note: It is important to identify these so that you can construct interview questions that are unbiased.) (75-150 words, or 1-2 paragraphs)

Based on the above, develop at least five interview questions that you would ask of the people involved in the scenario, and explain what insights you would hope to gain from each question. Additionally, if there are any other questions that you would only ask specific individuals, identify what those questions would be and to whom you would ask them. (225-375 words, or 3-5 paragraphs)

Filling in the Gaps: In this section, you will aim to fill in some information that you may not have. You will want to do some research relevant to your scenario (possibly about the industry, the location, or other relevant aspects). (Note: Although you do not have access to the individuals mentioned in the scenarios, put yourself in their position, and consider how they might answer the questions you have constructed. You will be assessed on your critical and creative thinking and ability to piece together information, not on having the "right" answers.)

Analyze the industry in which the scenario is based and explain some common challenges or considerations that apply to that industry. Explain how some of those insights might impact the situation in the scenario you selected. (150-225 words, or 2-3 paragraphs)

Return to the interview questions you developed and do one of the following: (approximately 225-300 words, or 3-4 paragraphs, per interview)

Create a "transcript" of each subject's interview, including the exact response you imagine each interviewee giving if you had actually conducted the interview.

Create a comprehensive notes section that includes major points you would have documented from your interviews. This could be a bulleted list of points or a narrative summary about each interview.

Define the Problem: In this section, you will narrow down the information you have so far and define the problem in simple terms so that you will be able to move on to the step of addressing it.

Create a list of all the known and potential issues from the scenario. For each item you list, explain how critical it is to address it, if at all. Then, narrow down the list and choose which issues are the main ones. (approximately 150 to 225 words, or 2-3 paragraphs)

Analyze what potential consequences and/or benefits could result from either addressing or failing to address the issues that are faced in the scenario. (150-225 words, or 2-3 paragraphs)

Compose a 1 to 2 sentence statement that defines the business problem presented in the scenario. In other words, how would you phrase the problem in a relatable way?

Part II: Solving the Problem

Ideate: In this section, you will use multiple ideation techniques to develop and narrow down ideas for addressing the problem. As you use these techniques, focus on ideas that involve promoting positive social change for your selected business.

Using the brainstorming technique, assemble at least 10 ideas to solve the problem you defined.

Note: Keep in mind that you would not need to implement every idea you suggest. The purpose is to generate new and creative ideas, not to develop 10 perfect ideas. Your brainstorm ideas should be realistic in the sense that they are humanly possible, but at this point you should not censor your ideas nor evaluate them to determine their feasibility in terms of costs, resources, time constraints, et cetera.

Using an additional ideation technique (e.g., worst possible idea, S.C.A.M.P.E.R., zero draft, etc.), develop at least one additional idea. Describe the process you went through to develop your idea(s), including: (150-225 words, or 2-3 paragraphs)

The name of your selected ideation technique
The steps you took to perform the technique, including the results of each step
The final result of the technique (i.e., the idea[s] you developed)
Your thoughts on the process for the technique

After developing your ideas, classify them into two categories: ones you will develop and ones you will discard. Explain why you decided to develop the ones in the first category and explain why you discarded the ones in the second category. (150-225 words, or 2-3 paragraphs)

Prototype: In this section, you will develop your prototype plan to deliver to the stakeholders in your scenario. They will take this information in and base their decisions off of it.

Develop a plan to address the business problem in your scenario that incorporates your ideas from the ideate phase. In your plan, address the following:

Describe your proposed solution, including how it incorporates positive social change. (75-150 words, or 1-2 paragraphs)

In order to feasibly implement the solution, analyze what would need to be considered. For instance, what resources (people, financial, etc.) would be involved? Or, what internal and/or external organizational changes or efforts would need to be undertaken (restructuring, hiring, etc.)? (150-225 words, or 2-3 paragraphs)

Analyze what those within the organization can do to increase the odds of the plan being implemented successfully. For example, what could they put in place to ensure success? (75-150 words, or 1-2 paragraphs)