01 Oct Today’s Problems Come From Yesterday’s Thinking
WMBA-6040B/MMSL-6645/WMBA-6040/MGMT-6645
WMBA6040 Improving Business Performance
Week 1 Assignment
Today’s Problems Come From Yesterday’s Thinking
Albert Einstein is credited with saying, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” This is as true in business as it is in science. Peter Senge (2006) describes this systemic phenomenon as “today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions” (p. 58). Solutions that attempt to solve the symptomatic cause tend to simply shift the problem from one part of the system to another. For example, imagine a company that finds that its product quality and delivery times are slipping, which results in a loss of sales. To counteract this loss, the company increases customer rebates. However, that countermeasure causes a spike in business that overwhelms its production team, which results in even lower product quality and more delayed deliveries.
As you develop your evaluation, be sure to include specific examples from Senge’s book as well as relevant citations from the Learning Resources, the Walden Library, and/or other appropriate academic sources to support your evaluation.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Review Chapter 1 and Chapter 4 of Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization and consider his premise that “today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions” (2006, p. 57).
Think back through your own work history to identify a situation that illustrates poor systems thinking at a current or former organization. Consider whether managers were applying yesterday’s solutions to a current problem.
Download the Week 1 Assignment Template.
By Day 7
Submit a 3- to 4-page evaluation (excluding title page and references) that addresses the following:
Briefly describe an organization with which you are familiar (this can be a current or former employer) and the example of poor systems thinking you observed at this organization.
Assess the core issues that you think led to this systems failure, including whether managers were using “yesterday’s thinking” to solve today’s problem.
Explain whether there might have been a different or better outcome if managers had understood the principle and the value that systems thinking can bring to an organization’s operations. Justify your explanation.
Refer to the Week 1 Assignment Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.
WMBA-6040B/MMSL-6645/WMBA-6040/MGMT-6645
WMBA6040 Improving Business Performance
Week 2 Assignment
An Evaluation of the Dilemma at Benevento Foods: Thinking in Systems
For this Assignment, you will evaluate a real-world business scenario using a systems thinking approach to evaluate the workings of an organization. You will identify areas within the case where systems thinking is applied and where it is not. You will also evaluate the dilemma in terms of the concepts of a learning organization and moral imagination.
Marco Benevento, the owner of Benevento Foods, a manufacturer and distributor of food products to hotels and restaurants, has received a complaint from one of his customers that several pieces of rubber have been found in one of the baking mixes. The customer is placing all incoming orders on hold until the issue is resolved. Adding to the situation, the annual BRC Food Safety audit is scheduled for the end of the month. Mr. Benevento knows that you are working toward completing your MBA and wonders if there are any techniques you have learned that may help to identify the causes of the quality issue. As you begin to tell him about systems thinking and root cause analysis, he is impressed and asks you to take charge of finding the root cause(s) of the quality issue and to provide him with recommendations for improvements. After reviewing the case, you will compile a business report using the template provided, including specific examples from the case as well as relevant citations from the Learning Resources, the Walden Library, and/or other appropriate academic sources to support your evaluation.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Read and review the case study Benevento Foods: When the Rubber Hits the Dough.
Wood, D., Vachon, S., & Singh, M. (2015). Benevento foods: When the rubber hits the dough. Ivey Publishing. http://hbr.org
Review, as needed, the following resource: How to Analyze a Business Case Study (PDF)
Download the Week 2 Assignment Template.
By Day 7
Submit your 3- to 4-page business report, to include the following:
Thinking in Systems
Positive Social Change IconYou are to evaluate the workings of Benevento Foods—including production, quality control, and maintenance processes—through the lens of systems thinking. Through your evaluation, be sure to address the following:
Identify two to three areas where Benevento Foods applied key principles of systems thinking and where this thinking appears to be lacking. Explain why.
By applying the concept of a learning organization, evaluate the core issues that you think led to the dilemma. Note: Be sure to consider the 11 laws of systems thinking as you perform your evaluation.
Apply the concept of moral imagination to the scenario and explain how it could help bring positive social change within the organization. Be sure to consider who the stakeholders are and explain how the framework would impact them.
Refer to the Week 2 Assignment Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.
WMBA-6040B/MMSL-6645/WMBA-6040/MGMT-6645
WMBA6040 Improving Business Performance
Week 3 Assignment
An Evaluation of the Dilemma at Benevento Foods: Understanding Cause and Effect and Recommendations for Improvement
For this Assignment, you will continue to evaluate the same scenario from the previous week (Benevento Foods). For this evaluation, you will use systems thinking tools to perform a root cause analysis and examine the results as well as identify complexities. You will also summarize the dilemma that the business owner is facing (including the root causes) and provide recommendations for improving quality and making long-term improvements.
Continuing from last week’s scenario, you will create an additional business report for Marco Benevento, the owner of Benevento Foods, a manufacturer and distributor of food products to hotels and restaurants. As a reminder, Mr. Benevento has received a complaint from one of his customers that several pieces of rubber have been found in one of the baking mixes. The customer is placing all incoming orders on hold until the issue is resolved. Adding to the situation, the annual BRC Food Safety audit is scheduled for the end of the month. Mr. Benevento knows that you are working toward completing your MBA and wonders if there are any techniques you have learned that may help to identify the causes of the quality issue. As you begin to tell him about systems thinking and root cause analysis, he is impressed and asks you to take charge of finding the root cause(s) of the quality issue and to provide him with recommendations for improvements. After reviewing the case, you will compile an additional business report using the template provided, including specific examples from the case as well as relevant citations from the Learning Resources, the Walden Library, and/or other appropriate academic sources to support your evaluation.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Review the case study Benevento Foods: When the Rubber Hits the Dough.
Wood, D., Vachon, S., & Singh, M. (2015). Benevento foods: When the rubber hits the dough. Ivey Publishing. http://hbr.org
Review, as needed, the following resource: How to Analyze a Business Case Study (PDF)
Download the Week 3 Assignment Template.
By Day 7
Submit your 5- to 6-page business report, to include the following:
Understanding Cause and Effect
Using a systems approach to evaluate the dilemma at Benevento Foods, address the following in 3–4 pages:
Develop a robust effect-cause-effect logic tree diagram using the 5-Whys tool to identify the root cause(s) of the quality issue. The diagram itself can be drawn by hand or with software. (Note: Tables are not appropriate; it must be in the form of a diagram.)
In addition to the diagram, explain the effect-cause-effect flow leading to the root cause(s). (Reminder: The concept of systems thinking and its associated tools are new to the owner.)
Create an appropriate causal loop diagram to capture the fundamental system behaviors, outcomes, and causes of the quality issue at Benevento Foods. The diagram itself can be drawn by hand or with software. (Note: Tables are not appropriate; it must be in the form of a diagram).
In addition to the diagram, explain the causal loop flow of the diagram. (Reminder: The concept of systems thinking and its associated tools are new to the owner.)
There are both detail complexity and dynamic complexities at work at Benevento Foods. Through a systems thinking viewpoint, evaluate the complexities that have led to the identified dilemma.
Recommendations for Improvement
You are to provide the owner with a summary of your findings and your recommendations to include the following in approximately 2 pages:
Based on your evaluation, summarize the dilemma at Benevento Foods, including the identified root cause(s) of the quality issue and systemic issues that you discovered.
Develop a set of at least three immediate recommendations, based on your evaluation, to improve the quality of the product.
Develop a set of at least three recommendations for longer term improvements based on systems thinking.
Refer to the Week 3 Assignment Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.
WMBA-6040B/MMSL-6645/WMBA-6040/MGMT-6645
WMBA6040 Improving Business Performance
Week 4 Assignment
An Analysis of the Customer Service Issues at Starbucks, Part 1
In this Assignment, you will integrate your systems thinking and management skills and you will prepare an organizational improvement plan based on your analysis of a case study. With this case in mind, this week you will put yourself in the shoes of a paid consultant and perform a thoughtful systems analysis. Then, based on that analysis, you will write an effective and concise plan that you believe would help improve the performance of the organization.
After reviewing the latest marketing data, Christine Day, senior vice president of administration at Starbucks, is concerned with the company’s performance in meeting customer expectations in the area of customer satisfaction. She is contemplating an annual investment of $40 million to increase the weekly labor hours in the North American stores, but before she makes this recommendation, she wants to better understand the cause of the decrease in customer satisfaction. She calls on your consulting service to investigate the cause of this issue and to recommend improvements. You are selected for this consulting job based on your knowledge of systems thinking. After reviewing the case, you will compile an improvement plan, using the template provided.
The final plan will include two parts plus an executive summary. This week, you will submit Part 1, and next week you will submit Part 2 and your executive summary. As you develop your plan, be sure to include specific examples from the case as well as relevant citations from the Learning Resources, the Walden Library, and/or other appropriate academic sources to support your analysis.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Read and review the following case study:
Moon, Y., & Quelch, J. (2018). Starbucks: Delivering customer service. HBS Case 9-504-016. Harvard Business School Publishing. http://hbr.org
Refer to the following article:
Braun, W. (2002). The system archetypes. In The systems modeling workbook [Unpublished manuscript]. http://www.albany.edu/faculty/gpr/PAD724/724WebArticles/sys_archetypes.pdf
Download the Module 2 Assignment Template. Note: Be sure to keep a copy of your completed Assignment this week, as you will be adding to the same file for your Week 5 Assignment.
By Day 7
Submit Part 1 of your improvement plan, to include the following:
Part 1: Tools for Improvement: Causal Loop Analysis
In Part 1 of your improvement plan (pp. 2–4), you are to analyze the customer service issue identified at Starbucks using causal loop analysis. You should address the following:
Create a robust causal loop diagram to capture the fundamental system behaviors, outcomes, and causes of the customer service issue at Starbucks. The causal loop diagram should identify with one of the common system archetype patterns, as defined in the Braun article. The diagram should describe fundamental system behaviors and outcomes. The diagram itself can be drawn by hand or with software. Tables are not appropriate; it must be in the form of a diagram.
In addition to the diagram, explain why you chose this particular archetype as the best fit for the situation. (Reminder: The concept of systems thinking and its associated tools may not be understood by your audience.)
Analyze the root cause(s) of the low customer satisfaction being experienced by Starbucks. Your analysis should be substantiated by the causal loop analysis, discussing the causal flow of the chosen archetype.
Refer to the Week 4 Assignment Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.
WMBA-6040B/MMSL-6645/WMBA-6040/MGMT-6645
WMBA6040 Improving Business Performance
Week 5 Assignment
An Analysis of the Customer Service Issues at Starbucks, Part 2 and Executive Summary
In this Assignment, you will integrate your systems thinking and management skills and you will continue to prepare an organizational improvement plan based on your analysis of a case study. Last week, you put yourself into the shoes of a paid consultant and performed a thoughtful systems analysis of the case study. This week, you will develop Part 2 and the executive summary of your plan to improve the performance of the organization.
As a reminder, here is the scenario: After reviewing the latest marketing data, Christine Day, senior vice president of administration at Starbucks, is concerned with the company’s performance in meeting customer expectations in the area of customer satisfaction. She is contemplating an annual investment of $40 million to increase the weekly labor hours in the North American stores, but before she makes this recommendation, she wants to better understand the cause of the decrease in customer satisfaction. She calls on your consulting service to investigate the cause of this issue and to recommend improvements. You are selected for this consulting job based on your knowledge of systems thinking.
As you complete your improvement plan, be sure to include specific examples from the case as well as relevant citations from the Learning Resources, the Walden Library, and/or other appropriate academic sources to support your analysis.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Review the following case study, as needed:
Moon, Y., & Quelch, J. (2018). Starbucks: Delivering customer service. HBS Case 9-504-016. Harvard Business School Publishing. http://hbr.org
Review the following article, as needed:
Braun, W. (2002). The system archetypes. In The systems modeling workbook [Unpublished manuscript]. http://www.albany.edu/faculty/gpr/PAD724/724WebArticles/sys_archetypes.pdf
Review, as needed, the following resources on executive summaries:
Walden Writing Center. (n.d.). Common assignments: Executive summaries. https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/assignments/executivesummaries
Asana. (n.d.). How to write an executive summary, with examples. https://asana.com/resources/executive-summary-examples
Return to the same improvement report template you utilized in Week 4. With the research and readings from Week 4 and Week 5 in mind, incorporate any feedback, as needed, into your report as you complete Part 2 and the executive summary.
By Day 7
Submit Part 2 and the executive summary for your improvement plan, which should include the following:
Part 2: Applying Systems Thinking Concepts
For Part 2 of your improvement plan (pp. 5–7), address the following:
Analyze how the concept of mental models is present at Starbucks and how this concept either negatively or positively affects the customer experience.
Analyze how the concepts of team learning and of building a shared vision could benefit Starbucks in terms of improving the customer experience, thereby improving customer satisfaction.
Propose a minimum of three recommendations, based on your analysis, that might improve the customer experience at Starbucks. Explain why.
Executive Summary
Provide Christine Day with an executive summary (p. 1) of your findings and recommendations for improvement. Address the following in your executive summary:
Clearly identify the purpose of the improvement plan.
Summarize the cause(s) of the low customer satisfaction (referencing the causal loop diagram in the main report).
Concisely synthesize the recommendations to improve customer satisfaction.
Refer to the Week 5 Assignment Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.
WMBA-6040B/MMSL-6645/WMBA-6040/MGMT-6645
WMBA6040 Improving Business Performance
Week 6 Assignment
Systems Thinking for Good, Part 1
In the Assignments for this module, you will assume the role of a consultant who has been asked by the upper management team to evaluate an organizational performance problem within an organization. You will present your findings in the form of a written report with an executive summary presented as a PowerPoint presentation. The organization for this evaluation will be one of your choosing, and it should be one with which you are familiar. This organization could be where you currently work or where you have worked in the past.
After selecting an organization with which you are personally familiar, you are to present your evaluation and recommendations in a detailed business report. Additionally, you will prepare an executive summary of your findings to be presented as a PowerPoint slide deck to the organization’s upper management team. Your report should contain three parts (Part 1 is due this week; Part 2 is due in Week 7; and Part 3 is due in Week 8) and must include specific examples from the organization, as well as relevant citations from the Learning Resources, the Walden Library, and/or other appropriate academic sources to support your evaluation.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Download the Module 3 Assignment Template. Note: Be sure to keep a copy of your completed Assignment this week, as you will be adding to the same file for your Assignments for Week 7 and Week 8.
By Day 7
Submit Part 1 of your business report, to include the following:
Part 1: Business Improvements (4–5 pages)
Analyze some of the basic details about the organization. At a minimum, the basic details should include: the industry and products/services the organization offers, the overall operational and financial health of the organization, and a qualitative or systems diagram summary of how the organization operates to fulfill its commitments to customers.
Analyze what you believe to be the fundamental physical, policy, or market constraints that are preventing your organization from moving to the next level of performance. Be sure to clearly identify each primary constraint and provide a detailed argument and evidence for why you think each is a primary constraint to organizational performance. Be sure to support your response with appropriate concepts from performance management and/or systems thinking.
For each of the fundamental physical, policy, or market constraints that you identified as preventing your organization from moving to the next level of performance, justify a specific recommendation for how to elevate, support, and potentially eliminate the constraint.
Using the concepts of throughput accounting and Theory of Constraints accounting measurements for each of your recommendations, evaluate how the primary metrics of T, I, and OE would be affected and why the recommendations would make sense from a performance measurement perspective.
Refer to the Week 6 Assignment Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.
WMBA-6040B/MMSL-6645/WMBA-6040/MGMT-6645
WMBA6040 Improving Business Performance
Week 7 Assignment
Systems Thinking for Good, Part 2
This week, you will return to the business report you began working on in Week 6. As a reminder, you have assumed the role of a consultant who has been asked by the upper management team to evaluate an organizational performance problem within an organization. You will present your findings in the form of a written report with an executive summary presented as a PowerPoint presentation. The organization for this evaluation is one that you selected and with which you are very familiar. You will continue your business report using that selected organization.
As you complete Part 2 of your business report, remember to include specific examples from the organization as well as relevant citations from the Learning Resources, the Walden Library, and/or other appropriate academic sources to support your evaluation.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Return to the same business report template you utilized in Week 6. With the research and readings from Week 6 and Week 7 in mind, incorporate any feedback, as needed, into your report as you complete Part 2.
By Day 7
Submit Part 2 of your business report, to include the following:
Part 2: Social Responsibility and Ethical Considerations (2–3 pages)
Positive Social Change IconYour second task is to evaluate the organization in terms of social responsibility and ethical considerations. You should address the following:
Identify the major stakeholders of the organization. Illustrate how the organization’s actions do or do not effect positive social change for these stakeholders (explain in detail).
Through a systems thinking lens, apply improvements to the organization to positively effect social change.
From a systems perspective, evaluate the organization’s performance in terms of diversity and inclusion.
Assess whether there is a relationship between ethics and inclusion (explain and substantiate your position). Recommend what improvements can be implemented to positively impact both.
Refer to the Week 7 Assignment Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.
WMBA-6040B/MMSL-6645/WMBA-6040/MGMT-6645
WMBA6040 Improving Business Performance
Week 8 Assignment
Systems Thinking for Good, Part 3
This week, you will complete the business report you have been developing during the last 2 weeks. As a reminder, you have assumed the role of a consultant who has been asked by the upper management team to evaluate an organizational performance problem within an organization. You will present your findings in the form of a written report with an executive summary included in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. The organization for this assessment will be one of your choosing, and it should be one with which you are very familiar. This organization could be where you currently work or where you have worked in the past.
Business Skills for Good IconImportant Note: This week’s Assignment features one of the Business Skills for Good that you will develop throughout your MBA program. The Business Skill for Good for this course is personal mastery. Peter Senge, in his book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (2006), offers the following definition of personal mastery at the individual level: “Personal mastery is the discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively” (p. 7). He goes on to describe the organization that supports personal mastery as being able to “provide that environment by continuingly encouraging personal vision, commitment to the truth, and a willingness to face honestly the gaps between the two” (p. 162).
As you complete the final parts of your business report, be sure to include specific examples from the organization as well as relevant citations from the Learning Resources, the Walden Library, and/or other appropriate academic sources to support your evaluation.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Return to the same business report template you utilized in Week 6 and Week 7. With the research and readings from Week 6–8 in mind, incorporate any feedback, as needed, into your report as you complete Part 3.
Download the Module 3 Presentation Template.
By Day 7
Submit Part 3 of your business report, to include the following:
Part 3: Personal Mastery (1–2 pages)
Based on Senge’s definition of personal mastery, the information shared in the Learning Resources, and your own research, address the following:
Defend recommendations you would make to the upper management team to support personal mastery at both the individual level and the organizational level, being sure to include your rationale. (Consider all major stakeholders: employees, customers, and the community.) Provide specific examples to support your position.
Compose your personal vision. (Note that this personal vision goes far beyond traditional goals and objectives and should focus on purpose). In what ways does your personal vision relate to your ability to lead positive social change within your organization, your community, or more broadly?
Executive Summary Presentation (1–2 slides)
Develop an executive summary of your overall evaluation to be presented to the upper management team. This should consist of a 1- to 2-slide PowerPoint deck.
Refer to the Week 8 Assignment Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.
