Q Term Paper Assignment Information This course covers a wide range of Operations Management topics facing contemporary organizations. The purpose of the Term Paper assignment is to synthesize learning from the entire course and to apply academic theory to real-world practice. Your assignment must reference textbook and at least three scholarly / peer-reviewed articles. You may also use a company's website, printed literature, and personal interviews with employees as source material. If you interview any company employees you will need to receive the approval of the Institutional Review BoardLinks to an external site. (IRB) prior to the interview taking place. The IRB can walk you through the approval process and answer your questions to help ensure that the interview will be conducted appropriately. Assignment Description You may pick any ONE case from the list found below that deals with Operations Management issues OR you can use the Webster Library'sLinks to an external site. article databases, internet search engines, or other resources to identify alternative cases. If you choose to NOT use one of the cases found below and use an external sourced case, you MUST submit a summary to the instructor for approval no later than the end of Week Three. Your paper MUST follow the APA Style® (Links to an external site.) format and be approximately 10 pages in length; excluding cover page, diagrams, tables, references, and appendices. See layout requirements below. You MUST use Microsoft® Word for your paper's file format and use this naming convention lastname_casename.doc ( - 5 points for improper file naming). If there are questions in the case, answer them. View the case as if you are the Operations Manager, or CEO of the company. Look up the company on the internet and research them. What kind of analysis tools can you use from your textbook to help you support your conclusions with the case? If the company is foreign-based, then how does it operate differently than a U.S. based company? Make sure you review the Web Links found on the Homepage for additional resources in preparing your assignment. The assignment is due no later than the last Friday of the term at 11:59 pm CT. ( - 20 points for papers submitted after the due date but before the following Tuesday; no papers will be accepted after 11:59 pm CT on Tuesday....a Zero will be entered for the grade.) Assignment Learning Expectations Communications: The written component offers substantive and concise description and clarity in content, language use, grammar, organization, sentence structure, and supported by APA formatted references. Critical Thinking: Provides reflection and applications of business concepts, analyzes, synthesizes and expresses the complexities in a given business problem, and gives consideration to alternative systems of thought and solutions where applicable. Problem Solving: Analyses the underlying causes of the situation by collecting and assessing relevant information, evaluates possible courses of actions, and concludes and defends appropriate solutions and recommendations. Ethics: Considers concepts of ethical dimensions to the examination of the business problem and analyzes and evaluates ethical issues in defending solutions and recommendations. Diversity: Considers the impact of cultural and economic issues as they relate to the business problem and explains the potential consequences of diversity in defending solutions and recommendations. Integration: Integrates interrelationships of the business problem issues, ethics, diversity, and global aspects with analysis of the possible courses of actions and recommendations. How will the assignment be assessed? Each component of the Assignment content requirements - Title, Abstract, Introduction; Methodology; Results/Discussion; and References described in the APA Style guidelines will be assessed based on the Assignment Learning Expectations above. The grading scheme and assessment criteria are shown in the term paper rubric . Students who are discovered cheating or committing plagiarism will be awarded a failing grade for the course, and may be subject to discipline or dismissal. • If you have any doubt about the definition plagiarism, or need examples of plagiarism/academic dishonesty, please contact the Writing CenterLinks to an external site.. Ignorance of the definition of plagiarism/academic dishonesty, university policies, or course policies will not excuse students who commit plagiarism or academic dishonesty. • Webster University uses a tool called TurnItIn to help faculty identify plagiarism. • DO NOT submit your paper direct to the TurnItIn site, you MUST submit your paper via the button below. • You can submit your paper as many times as you like up until the due date then the last submission will be the graded submission. Submitting to TurnItIn TurnItIn creates an "originality report" that matches text from your submission to text from academic databases, the internet, and other student papers thus assisting the instructor to identifying if text is a direct excerpt from another source. This originality report is available to you, so that you can ensure all non-original content in your paper has been properly cited and quoted before final submission of your the paper for grading. You can resubmit your draft paper as many times as necessary to reduce the similarity percentage up until the due date. Assignments submitted for final grading with similarity percentage higher than 24% are subject to a grade reduction as determined by the instructor. Please click here for a step-by-step guide on submitting your term paper to TurnItIn. You are highly encouraged to submit you paper to TurnItIn well before the deadline as the closer we get to the last day of class, more and more students are submitting papers for review so the longer the originality report takes to be generated and returned to you. Writing Guidelines Each page of your paper MUST include the title of the paper and the page number. Use the header/footer function in Microsoft Word to insert the required information at the top right corner, starting with the title page as page 1. ( - 1 point for each page in error) Your paper MUST follow the APA guidelines and layout below, including types of headings, flow of information, and what content to include: • Title Page (5 points) • Abstract (5 points) • Introduction (30 points) Begin with an introduction, including your thesis statement. The Introduction answers the following questions: o Provides background information o What is the thesis or main idea of the case study? o What are the relevant key points about the organization? o What are the relevant key points about the situation? o What are the ethical and diversity issues related to this case? • Method (60 points) At a minimum, this is to be a main section and heading in your paper. You may use additional major headings if you wish, and you will probably also want to use subheadings. The Method section answers the following questions: o What is the situational analysis of the problem or issue? (A SWOT analysis is suggested here.) o What are the causes/effects of the situation or problem? o How did the problem or issue evolve (overnight or overtime)? o How can course concepts be applied to provide greater understanding of the situation? o How will ethical and diversity issues be addressed? • Results/Discussion (60 points) At a minimum, this is to be a main section and heading in your paper. You may use additional major headings if you wish, and you will probably also want to use subheadings. The Results/Discussion section answers the following questions: o How can the problem or issue be solved? o What specific recommendations can be made for improving the situation? o Using course learning's, explain your rationale for these suggestions . o How will these recommendations, if implemented, enhance organizational effectiveness? o How will ethical and diversity issues impact your recommendations? • References (20 points) Per APA, start the "References" section on a new page after the last page of your last section of the paper. This heading is centered. List your reference materials in alphabetical order by author's last name using a hanging indent (first line of each reference is flush with left margin, and additional lines of that reference are indented as a group a few spaces to the right). In preparing References, consider the following: o Have you used proper APA Style in your References section? o Be sure you have given credit to the source of ALL borrowed information, whether quoted directly or paraphrased in your own words. o See the following resources for additional information: ? OWL Purdue (Links to an external site.) ? OWL Purdue paper example (Links to an external site.) ? View an annotated version of an actual BUSN 6110 term paper • Appendix (if needed) o If the case was not on the approved list, provide evidence that approval was granted by week three. o If outside interviews were conducted, provide evidence of IRB approval. • APA Style Format (20 points) In general, pay close attention to proper writing mechanics including language use, grammar, spelling and sentence structure. ( - 1 point for each error) Before turning in your final paper, make sure: • Your key points are clear and the information is well-organized as described in the term paper rubric. • Have someone proofread the entire document. • Eliminate grammar errors, run spell check, review page formatting requirements, file naming requirement, etc.