{"id":432730,"date":"2018-06-18T19:56:09","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T19:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essaypaper.org\/?p=26887"},"modified":"2018-10-24T08:53:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T08:53:51","slug":"what-is-your-mission-assignment-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/what-is-your-mission-assignment-help\/","title":{"rendered":"What is your mission? Assignment Help"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is your mission?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This is a 4 page assignment, although with tools and such the actual writing is actually closer to two pages.\u00a0 One good page of analysis and writing should suffice for each assignment (place each on a separate page, and include a cover sheet page).\u00a0 I encourage you to perform all of them, to benefit yourself.\u00a0 You are only required to do three of the six individual exercises, plus a concluding reflection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your assignment is to do either the odd number assignments (1-3-5), or the even number assignments (2-4-6), as well as the concluding reflection<\/u>. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I encourage you to put some time and thought into this assignment.\u00a0 For your own personal benefit, you may want to consider doing all six assignments (plus the reflection).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019ll find this rewarding and helpful\u2014that is its purpose. It\u2019s my favorite assignment I have ever created.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Assignment 1.\u00a0 What is your mission?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Organizations have mission statements.\u00a0 Mission statements ideally serve to provide a sense of priority to the many tasks individuals in an organization must face.\u00a0 Linking this back to Porter\u2019s work on coherence, a good mission statement tells you what not to do, as much as it tells you what to do, it identifies the trade-offs you are making.\u00a0 Most of you want to find a good job, but after that, what is your mission?\u00a0 What do you plan to do five years from now?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A good mission statement for you will be for the next resume you write, where you identify specific types of responsibilities you want to have in your career.\u00a0 If it helps, think where you want to be five years from now\u2014what has to happen for you to get there?\u00a0 Think of the \u201cobjectives\u201d line at the top of the resume page\u2014that is your mission statement.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Identify an industry, firm, and a job title you seek to attain.<\/li>\n
  2. Identify their mission statement. Critique it\u2014is it coherent in terms of Porter? Explain why you think so <\/u><\/strong>Here are some items to consider:\u00a0 does it give you an idea of what the firm does and does not do? \u00a0This last point is important\u2014many mission statements talk about excellence and values, and employees, but you wouldn\u2019t know what industry they are in from reading the mission statement.\u00a0 Similarly, do they leave a lot of wiggle room to do other things, or do they close off other quasi-related fields?<\/li>\n
  3. Next, identify what an entry level position at that company would be like, then what you could expect to do in five years there. This is more than a single sentence! How does this position contribute to the overall firm mission?\u00a0 How crucial are you to the firm\u2019s success (put differently, could your work be easily outsourced)?<\/li>\n
  4. How must your mission statement cohere to theirs (it shouldn’t be the same, but related).<\/li>\n
  5. Write the \u201cobjectives\u201d portion of your resume for a job targeted at this company, for a position you would want five years from now (please include the job title). What skills and strengths will you need to make achieve that objective?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Assignment 2\u00a0 SWOT\/TOWS Exercise<\/strong><\/p>\n

    If you are a product, then what is it that you are selling to the upcoming job market?\u00a0 How well are you positioned for finding a position?\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s not a bad idea to put an identity to that\u00a0 (e.g. in my case, in 2001 \u00a0I would be seeking a tenure track strategic management & entrepreneurship professor position). As you seek that position, \u00a0how strong do you appear to employers?\u00a0 A good starting position is to conduct a SWOT analysis on yourself, and see what picture emerges. \u00a0Once you complete the other assignments, go back and see how this changes (it should).\u00a0 So for this assignment<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Identify an industry, firm, and a job title you seek to attain.<\/li>\n
    2. Draw out a SWOT\u00a0 analysis, where you are the subject, and identify a minimum of four points to each element.\u00a0 Highlight those that are easily observable<\/u> to a prospective employer (every resume lists \u201cgood communication skills\u201d, so employers disregard that\u2014can you provide observable evidence of that skill?).\n
        \n
      1. Many firms are emphasizing \u201cstrengths finder\u201d: what observable strengths can you demonstrate to an employer?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      2. Draw a second slide that lists the 4\u00a0 types of TOWS combo-strategies (S-O, S-T, W-O, W-T), and identify specific tasks you should complete, that apply to each of the four combo-types, over the next 3-5 years.\n
          \n
        1. <\/li>\n
        2. As an example, an accountant might find getting auditing certification might help overcome a weakness in auditing experience.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
        3. Assess the difficulty in applying these strategies.<\/li>\n
        4. After you complete the other two assignments,\u00a0 submit a revised SWOT, and write a short paragraph explaining what changed, and why<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

           <\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          Assignment 3.\u00a0 Five forces model<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Assume that chapter two of your strategy textbook is correct, and that the environment influences firm profitability.\u00a0 Assume further that under such conditions, then the role of management is to select favorable industries to enter. How does this effect you?<\/p>\n

          If you think about it, more jobs will be made available in growing industries than in declining ones.\u00a0 More promotions will be available in growing industries than in declining ones. \u00a0Morale tends to be better under conditions of growth vs. decline.\u00a0 All in all, you are ore than likely to be better off looking for work in healthy industries than in sick ones.\u00a0 A good career search strategy then is to first identify the health of an industry.<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. In this assignment, select an industry where you might want to apply your degree.<\/li>\n
          2. Ignore industry profitability for a brief moment–why would you want to work in this industry? This is probably 3-4 sentences in length.<\/li>\n
          3. Now then, conduct a five forces model analysis on the industry (do the one page diagram). Make an assessment of the industry, and gauge its profitability.\u00a0 Remember, this is a paragraph that fleshes out the one page diagram.<\/li>\n
          4. Which of the five forces effects you most as someone seeking employment in this industry? Next, discuss how easy it will be to get into this industry, and to advance in this industry.<\/li>\n
          5. As an example, You may find that an industry that has no barriers to entry will be a poor industry for you to enter. Or it may have barriers that keep you out.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

             <\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            Assignment 4.\u00a0 RBV:<\/strong>\u00a0 What are your strengths and weaknesses?<\/p>\n

            Whereas chapter two of your textbook relies on the environment to assess firm performance, chapter 3 relies more heavily on the internal characteristics of the firm for firm performance.\u00a0 The two views are not in conflict, and actually complement each other (mostly differing in their respective units of analysis).\u00a0 Chapter three suggests that factors that make for a favorable environment can be traced down to the firm level (e.g. resource mobility barriers).\u00a0 In a rapidly growing environment, promotions and pay raises should be plentiful, yet some employees will advance more quickly than others.\u00a0 This may be due to resources they possess that others do not.\u00a0 It may be due to being able to protect those resources from imitation or competition, it may result from being able to apply them more effectively than do others.\u00a0 This assignment seeks to address those insights and apply to yourself.<\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Identify an industry, firm, and a job title you seek to attain.<\/li>\n
            2. What do you think are the necessary skills to advance that everyone must <\/u><\/strong>have?\u00a0 These are the \u201cnecessary but insufficient conditions for success\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019d encourage you think beyond the typical clich\u00e9 responses (hard work, good communication skills, etc.).\u00a0 A college degree may or may not be one of these, depending on your major.<\/li>\n
            3. What are the skills that create a separating equilibrium, e.g., that it separates workers into \u201chaves\u201d and \u201chave nots\u201d?\u00a0 I\u2019d encourage you think beyond the typical clich\u00e9 responses (hard work, good communication skills, etc.). As an example, what separates successful realtors from less successful ones?\u00a0 It can\u2019t all be hard work.<\/li>\n
            4. Next, what do you think are the verifiable, documentable, necessary<\/u><\/em> skills to advance relative to your peers<\/u><\/em>?\u00a0 That is, what additional<\/em><\/strong> skills must you be able to possess in order to set yourself apart from other employees?\u00a0 I’m not talking about hard work–I’m talking about skills, and skills that can be documented.\n
                \n
              1. How intangible are they\u00a0 (e.g. can others claim to have those same skills, even if they don\u2019t)? Note: few of your peers will claim to have poor communications skills. \u00a0Are there ways to document possession of these skills such that others do not?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
              2. Doing a self assessment based on your time at UD, how well do you personally rate on those skills?\u00a0 What (if any) unique, valuable, and hard to imitate\/substitute skills do you possess?\u00a0 Can you document their existence?\u00a0 If so, have you done so, and if not, why not?<\/li>\n
              3. Do a VRIO table of the skills you think give you a competitive advantage (if any), and ask why\/(why not), they are valuable, rare, hard to imitate, and hard to substitute and why they can provide an organizational fit.<\/li>\n
              4. Are there additional certifications and trainings that distinguish people in your discipline, in the industry you have chosen (i.e. an MIS major might want to acquire an additional certification from Microsoft or Cisco).\u00a0 What types of competitive advantages might these provide?\u00a0 Going back to VRIO, what makes them provide a competitive advantage?<\/li>\n
              5. When\/if do you plan to acquire them, and why?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                 <\/p>\n

                 <\/p>\n

                Assignment 5.\u00a0 Are you a cosmopolite or a local?<\/strong><\/p>\n

                Different firms possess different organizational cultures (well, Duh!).\u00a0 In the HBR article by Goffee and Jones (I summarized it for you in the readings), they have arrayed organizational cultures into a 2 x 2 matrix.\u00a0\u00a0 Without restating the article, firms may be arrayed along continuums (low to high) for Solidarity and Socialibility.\u00a0 They do a nice job of creating insights into how best to identify where firms fall within the matrix.<\/p>\n

                 <\/p>\n

                Although they do not identify it as such, they tap into the concept of \u201ccosmopolites and locals\u201d.\u00a0 Cosmopolites focus ore on their job specialty, relative to the firm employing them, while locals focus on the firm, and are willing to job hop within the firm.\u00a0 Quite simply, if a person is a cosmopolite, they are less likely to enjoy working in a \u201clocal\u201d environment, and visa versa.\u00a0 Promotions and advancements are more likely to occur for those who better fit the culture than those who do not.\u00a0 For you as a job-seeker, the implications are very clear\u2014it is wise for you to select not only a healthy industry, but for you to select one where you \u201c best fit\u201d the organizational culture.<\/em>\u00a0 Keep in mind that while a firm may be \u201clocal\u201d various functions and departments might be \u201ccosmopolites\u201d.\u00a0 Similarly, some professions are by nature much more \u201ccosmopolite\u201d than are others.<\/p>\n

                 <\/p>\n

                So how well do you fit?\u00a0 One step is to examine the coherence between your ethics and those of the firm.\u00a0 Another is to assess where you fit best on Goffee and Jones matrix, and see if the firm where you seek to work fits there as well.\u00a0 Finally, you can examine the levels of \u201ccosmopolite and local\u201d inherent in your field, and see how those effect you.<\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. Identify an industry, firm, and a job title you seek to attain.<\/li>\n
                2. Looking at various dimensions that Goffee and Jones lay out, discern which quadrant best describes the firm you selected.\u00a0 Being specific, what evidence supports your conclusions?<\/li>\n
                3. Next, using your experiences at UD, position yourself onto the matrix: where do you fit\u00a0 (you can use one matrix to identify both yourself and the firm).\u00a0 How might you communicate this to a prospective employer (ideally in a way that they can observe)?<\/li>\n
                4. Next, discern whether or not you are a local or a cosmopolite.\u00a0 How well does this fit the company you have selected?\u00a0 How well does it fit the field you seek to work in?\u00a0 Who heads the department where you want to work?\u00a0 Are they from \u201cthe field\u201d or are they from the \u201ccompany\u201d?<\/li>\n
                5. How is your field perceived in the industry where you want to work?\u00a0 Is it seen as a crucial piece, or a cost center?\u00a0 How many promotions come from your area?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                   <\/p>\n

                   <\/p>\n

                  Assignment 6.\u00a0 Which generic strategy guides your job search?<\/strong><\/p>\n

                  One way to develop strategic coherence is to overlay your intended career strategy against a generic strategy.\u00a0 Doing so provides you good insights on how best to avoid being \u201cstuck in the middle\u201d. \u00a0It also forces you to make the trade-offs essential in crafting a superior strategy.<\/p>\n

                   <\/p>\n

                  In your initial job search, it can be very daunting, as you\u2019re competing against so many different individuals.\u00a0 How best to compete?\u00a0 I believe it is possible to construct a generic strategy to guide your job search.\u00a0 It will force you to avoid \u201ctime-wasters\u201d, and to focus your attention to the best potential opportunities. Going back to your mission statement in assignment one, and going back to your strengths and weaknesses in assignments 2 and 5, \u00a0\u00a0where do the best opportunities for you lie? What are they and why?<\/p>\n

                    \n
                  1. Identify an industry, firm, and a job title you seek to attain.<\/li>\n
                  2. Please assess the generic strategy do they appear to employ.\u00a0 You\u2019ll need to provide some evidence as to why you think they employ that generic strategy.<\/li>\n
                  3. Identify which generic strategy best describes your current job search position.\u00a0 Provide information that supports why you think this is so.\u00a0 Critique its effectiveness.\u00a0 Should you do something different?<\/li>\n
                  4. What expectations for possession of skills will an employer have for each of the generic strategies?\u00a0 Stated differently, is an employer willing to pay more for specialized knowledge or experience, or are they looking for \u201clumps of clay\u201d that they can mold?<\/li>\n
                  5. How much training will you need in the beginning?\u00a0 Are you seeking to be trained by a firm, conduct your own development, or some combination Your first job or so should provide some development\u2014is it formal or informal development?\u00a0 Is that development strictly on the job, company specific training, a combination?<\/li>\n
                  6. Once you are hired, how long is the \u201choneymoon\u201d?\u00a0 How long before you are expected to make a valuable contribution?<\/li>\n
                  7. How are pay scales in the industry\u2014some pay you very little at first, but provide rapid pay raises if you stay.\u00a0 Others start higher, but with more gradual advancement.\u00a0 How great is the pay scale spread across various firms in the industry?<\/li>\n
                  8. How are most of your peers seeking to enter this industry?\u00a0 What generic strategy do they appear to use?\u00a0 How do you compare to them?<\/li>\n
                  9. As you answer these questions, you should have a better sense of whether or not you should pursue a broad or narrow market strategy, and whether or not that should be pursued as either low cost-vs. differentiated.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                     <\/p>\n

                     <\/p>\n

                    Concluding Reflection<\/p>\n

                     <\/p>\n

                    Overall the most important question is simple;\u00a0 What did you learn?\u00a0 However, that is too open-ended, so I\u2019ll try to make it more specific.\u00a0 To begin with,\u00a0 I\u2019d like you \u00a0to detail your initial reactions to doing the assignment, and compare them to where you are upon completing it.\u00a0 Some of you no doubt will feel only relief that it is over, some might feel this was of limited help in the job search, perhaps others will view it as a rewarding experience.<\/p>\n

                     <\/p>\n

                    Going on, what did you learn about yourself?\u00a0 Were you able to better clarify your job search strategy, or to identify tactics you can employ that should prove useful.\u00a0 What was the biggest surprise in doing the assignment?\u00a0 Do you look at your career differently now? Why\/why not?<\/p>\n

                     <\/p>\n

                    Compare and contrast what your job hunt strategy before and after doing this assignment.\u00a0 What are the major differences you observe?<\/p>\n

                     <\/p>\n

                    More specifically,<\/p>\n

                      \n
                    1. What was your career plan (over the next 5-8 years) prior to this course?\u00a0 What is it now, and how has it changed as a result of taking this course?\u00a0 How much of this do you think is a function of the down economy (I launched this assignment back in 2003, during a recession).<\/li>\n
                    2. How well positioned for the next 5-8 years do you think you are now? How much development will you need to engage in over the next five years to ensure you reach your career goals?\u00a0 Are there skills you wish you had learned prior to now that you plan to seek?<\/li>\n
                    3. Which tools provided the most insight for you, and which were more a reinforcement of what you already believed (please don\u2019t say \u201call of them, or none of them\u201d.<\/li>\n
                    4. What was the biggest surprise for you about the tools? What was the biggest surprise you learned about yourself?<\/li>\n
                    5. Is there a tool you wish you had learned earlier in your college studies? Is there a tool that we haven\u2019t discussed yet, but should?<\/li>\n
                    6. Other thoughts<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                       <\/p>\n

                      Grading expectations<\/p>\n

                       <\/p>\n

                      As someone with multiple learning challenges, I can be frustrated by my typos.\u00a0 They still slip through.\u00a0 But don\u2019t expect employers to excuse them.\u00a0 Write this as if an employer were reading it\u2014put forth your best effort.\u00a0 Overall, here is a basic rubric of how I grade these.<\/p>\n

                        \n
                      1. Evidence of following directions, completeness. (these should be gimme points, but sadly, often are not).<\/li>\n
                      2. Evidence of proofreading<\/li>\n
                      3. Thoroughness in description, without writing overly long. I\u2019ve chosen short lengths to force you to use your space wisely.\u00a0 The page lengths are not absolute limits, but if you exceed them the writing ought to be captivating.\u00a0 We often talk of a \u201clength to contribution\u201d ratio.\u00a0\u00a0 Your future execute eyes will glaze over if you write too long, or use too many buzzwords.<\/li>\n
                      4. Quality of writing: Don\u2019t use bullet points unless they are called out (section 2d).\u00a0 Write in a business professional, paragraph style.<\/li>\n
                      5. Demonstrated comprehension of the material. Here is where I assess if your analysis seems accurate.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ll look for insights, and accurate coherence. Where you can easily lose points is if your analysis doesn\u2019t appear to fit what you claim.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                        What is your mission? This is a 4 page assignment, although with tools and such the actual writing is actually closer to two pages.\u00a0 One good page of analysis and writing should suffice for each assignment (place each on a Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-432730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essay-paper-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432730\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}