This document provides information and instructions for two project plans assignments. Students are required to submit an initial draft project plan in Module 2 and a final project plan in Module 3. The draft plan must include elements covered in Modules 1 and 2, while the final plan needs all elements from all three modules. Examples of possible individual or group projects are provided. The plans will be graded based on criteria such as content, organization, mechanics, and originality.

1. Project Plans
Each student will submit two project plans: a draft project plan
and a final project plan.
The first plan is due in Module 2 and the final project plan is
due in Module 3. The
purpose of the project plans are to demonstrate mastery of
project planning using an
applied context. The draft project plan includes all of the
project plan elements covered in
Module 1 and 2. The final project plan includes all of the
project plan elements covered
in all three modules.
Draft Project Plan 1
The initial project plan will include the following:
following:
o Project objectives or performance criteria
o Assumptions, constraints, and limitations
o Project work requirements: Summary of deliverables

2. level
nes and exit criteria
for each milestone)
Final Project Plan 2
The final project plan will include all the elements of the
project plan 1 updated, plus the
following elements:
-organization, equipment,
materials, and facilities)
-item specifications (such as reference documents,
engineering specifications,
regulatory codes, etc.)
ation plan (flow of project information to
stakeholders)
quality and project
processes)
path identified)
ange management plan or amendments procedure

3. Procedures and Criteria
1. Pick a potential project of interest.
2. The project must meet the following criteria:
itive in nature)
deadline)
3. Develop the draft project plan 1 with all of the required
elements in Module 2.
4. Update the project plan as you gain more information during
the course modules
5. Develop the final project plan during Module 3 and submit
via Blackboard
Examples of Possible Projects
Group project for another class
Home improvement project
Auto restoration project

4. Wedding
Graduation party
Senior project (with a group)
Business start-up
Theatre production
Product development project
Musical recital
Chamber mixer
Holiday parade
Charity fundraiser
Group Vacation
Project Plans Grading Criteria
Each plan will be graded using the following criteria:
Table 1.
Points Plan Content
Plan Organization,

5. Consistency, and Flow
Plan Mechanics,
Grammar, Spelling,
Punctuation, etc.
Excellent
9-10 points
Superior plan. Excellent
clarity, depth,
interpretation, and analysis.
All plan elements are
covered in detail. Work
demonstrates mastery of
project planning.
Excellent flow of
information, format, and
consistency of presentation.
Demonstrates exceptional

6. organization and
communication
performance.
Professional high quality
plan. Excellent use of
grammar, punctuation, and
mechanics. No spelling or
writing errors.
Above
Average
8 points
Good to excellent plan.
Good clarity, depth,
interpretation, and analysis.
All plan elements are
covered, but less detail.
Work demonstrates a clear

7. understanding of project
planning concepts.
Consistent organization,
with good flow of
information and
presentation. The work is
organized and communicated
effectively. The plan
identifies the most important
ideas.
Good quality. Few lapses in
writing mechanics. Minor
spelling errors, but does not
detract from the overall
plan.
Fair or
Average

8. 7 points
Adequate plan. Less clarity,
depth, interpretation, and
analysis. Displays
understanding of major
concepts, but has some
minor flaws. Majority of
plan elements are included.
Work is organized and is
communicated, but has
inconsistencies or problems
with flow of information.
The work is acceptable, but
nothing special.
Acceptable quality. Some
lapses in writing mechanics
or minor errors, but does not
detract from the plan

9. content.
Below
Expectations
6 points
Weak plan. Demonstrates
some analysis, but little
interpretation or depth. One
or more important elements
omitted. The plan is so
flawed that it obscures the
meaning.
Demonstrates some
organization, but is
inconsistent. Information is
hard to read or does not
flow.
Many mechanical errors.

10. Does not meet minimal
acceptable professional
standards.
Poor
5 points
Inadequate plan. No
interpretation, analysis, or
depth. Lack of clarity or
coherence. Work missed
major points. Work is
significantly incomplete
and/or deficient.
Communication
inconsistencies throughout
the plan. Disjointed. Lacks
focus. Important
communication points not
achieved.

11. Major errors and poor
document mechanics.
Sloppy. Errors throughout
the document.
Unacceptable
0-3 points
No work completed or
work submitted is not
original (plagiarized)
No organization evident Document is unreadable.
Assignment 10
Company for analysis: Seagate Technology
Topic: Assessing the Future – Scenario Analysis
You need to reference each company and each website.
Objectives
The aim of this assignment is make use of online information to
help predict future issues facing a company.
Instructor Comments
No corporation is an island unto itself. Even companies such as
Wal-Mart, IBM, or Toyota face stiff competition. A challenge
that companies such as these face is one of not becoming

12. complacent or over confident in their business dealings. Their
competitive environments are complex. These companies are
continually challenged by issues related to technology,
government regulation, society, politics, the economy, the
natural environment and human health. To say that they cannot
predict all future outcomes would be an understatement. Indeed
one important effect of globalization and the Internet has been a
dramatic increase in amount of information facing businesses as
well as the overall intensity of competition.
Despite their inability to predict the future, managers do need to
reduce the uncertainty that they face in order to plan and
conduct business affairs in a profitable and efficient manner.
One tool that is available to help managers reduce uncertainty is
a scenario analysis. Developed within the Shell Oil company to
address uncertainties related to the 1973 oil crisis, scenario
analysis and scenario planning are now among the most widely
used planning processes in the corporate sector and are
commonly taught in Business schools around the world.
Analysts practicing competitive intelligence can use Scenario
Analysis to think through environmental challenges in the same
manner as the executives in the companies that they are
studying.
Assignment
This assignment seeks to help you understand the answer to a
broader concern and that is, “How might managers perform a
simple scenario analysis for their company? You should base
your responses to the following questions on your analysis of
the company that you have chosen for this course.
Please answer the following questions:
· Identify 6 to 8 trends facing the industry within which your
company operates.
· Identify 4 to 6 uncertainties facing your company.
· For each of these uncertainties, offer a measurement scale
(high, low; hot cold; light heavy).
· From these uncertainties, pick the two with the highest

13. potential impact on your company. Please justify your choices.
· From these two uncertainties create three scenarios of the
future 24 months from now.
· Scenarios should be labeled, best case, worst case and
moderate case.
· Please suggest which scenario is most likely and why.
· In one half page, please summarize what you think is the
connection between the key insights of the Shoemaker (1995)
reading and this assignment.
Hint: Aside from company press releases, industry association
and regulator web sites, trends and issues can often be found
within the industry profiles found on theHigh Beam Business
(http://business.highbeam.com/industry-reports)or Plunkett
Research (http://www.plunkettresearch.com/) websites. You
may also want to consider using a Google keyword search.
Assignment 9
Company for analysis: Seagate Technology
Topic: Identifying Blind spots in Competitive Analysis
You need to reference each company and each website.
Objectives
The aim of this assignment is explore blind spots in a
company’s competitive environment.
Instructor Comments
This assignment is about building awareness among students
and analysts about potential blind spots in the competitive
environments of corporations. In the reading for this
assignment, Zahra and Chaples (1993) identify six blind spots.
These include misjudging industry boundaries, poor
identification of competitors, overemphasis on competitors
visible competence, overemphasis on where, not how,
companies compete, faulty assumptions about the competition
and paralysis by analysis. The aim of the assignment question is
to focus attention on aspects of these blind spots. The

14. assignment task regarding corporate culture refers to the blind
spot regarding visible competence. The assignment task dealing
with operational performance indicators deals with paralysis by
analysis. The assignment task that explores examples of not
meeting observer expectations addresses faulty assumptions.
The link between the other three assignment tasks and the blind
spots are self-evident.
Assignment
This assignment seeks to help you understand the answer to a
broader concern and that is, “How might corporate analysts
improve their understanding of their competitive environment?”
You should base your responses to the following questions on
your analysis of the company that you have chosen for this
course.
Please answer the following questions:
· Define the industry and the boundaries of the industry within
which your company competes.
· Identify the major competitors of your firm and use two
different sources of information to do so? Identify any
differences between the two information sources.
· Choose one of the competitors of your firm. Examine recent
news stories about its performance. Offer examples of how it
did not meet the expectations of observers and insight as to why
this did not occur.
· Provide insight regarding the corporate culture of this firm.
· Define how, not where your company competes.
· Identify the key operational performance indicators for firms
competing in this industry.
· In one half page, summarize what you think is the connection
between the key insights of the Zahra & Chaples (1993) reading
and this assignment.
Hint: Operational performance indicators may be found in the
Industry Handbook found on the Investopedia website
(www.investopedia.com). You will need to go into each

15. industry profile to find them. Industry competitors can be
identified using sources such as Biz.yahoo
(http://biz.yahoo.com), Reuters (www.reuters.com), and the 10K
Corporate Annual Report forms filed with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov). To address the
assignment task dealing with industries, you will need to do
some research and come up with a definition of an industry
boundary. In regards to corporate cultures, consider keyword
searches using Google and other search engines or news
aggregators. Look for news stories or magazine articles that
discuss its culture. Do also look for online job advertisements
posted by the company and do examine the human resource
section of the company’s web site. They often provide insight
into the company’s definition of its culture. As for how the
company competes, take a look at it's SEC 10K Annual Report
www.sec.gov (do not print this off as it can often be hundreds
of pages). It often discusses its business model or how it makes
money.
Assignment 8
Company for analysis: Seagate Technology
Topic: Assessing CEO Performance
You need to reference each company and each website.
Objectives
The aim of this assignment is make use of online information to
assess the financial performance of corporate CEOs.
Instructor Comments
How much is a CEO worth? How is he or she performing
relative to his or her peers in competing organizations? Be it in
boom times or in recession, answers to these questions are of
great interest to shareholders, stakeholders and observers alike.
However, the answers are not always simple. Should
compensation be tied to financial performance? If so, does
financial performance mean profits, or revenues, or share price,
or some other indicator? Or should performance be judged

16. relative to competitors or the market in general? If it should not
be tied to performance then what should be the level of
compensation. Should it be a negotiated amount or an absolute
figure or an industry average? This assignment directs your
thoughts to these queries. At its conclusion, you should have an
improved understanding of just how difficult it is to get the
formula right.
Assignment
This assignment seeks to help you understand the answer to a
broader concern and that is, “How senior managers perform
relative to the market and to their peers in competing
organizations”? In order to do so, please identify sources of
financial information about your company, its industry and its
competitors. You should base your responses to the following
questions on your analysis of the company that you have chosen
for this course along with its direct competitors.
Please answer the following questions:
· Identify the three most direct competitors of this firm and its
industry.
· For this firm and its competitors, identify the CEO and
provide a three sentence bio for each. How long has each of
these individuals been in the CEO position.
· Indicate how much each individual was paid in each of the last
three years. Include salary, bonuses, and stock options.
· Document the share price performance of this firm and its
three major competitors for the last three years. Also make note
of any relevant industry measures. Comment on its performance
relative to the industry and its competitors.
· Document the financial performance of this firm and its three
major competitors for the last three years. Choose three relevant
measures. Comment on its performance relative to the industry
and its competitors.
· Have any events occurred in the macro or competitive
environment that have had a major impact on all of the
competitors in this industry? If so, what is it or are they?

17. · Given what you know about the CEO, his or her compensation,
the macro and competitive environments, the share price and
financial performance of the company and its competitors, is the
CEO doing a good job when assessed according to these
measures?
· In one half page, please summarize what you think is the
connection between the key insights of the Simons, Mintzberg
& Basu (2002) reading and this assignment.
Hint: Information regarding CEO compensation is often found
in the SEC Def 14a or 10K filings of a company
(http://www.sec.gov). An even easier method is to glance at the
company’s profile on Reuters (http://www.reuters.com). It
explicitly ties executive performance and bios to company
performance. Financial performance, share price performance,
bios, and competitor information can also be found on the
company profiles available through Biz.Yahoo!
(http://biz.yahoo.com).
Assignment 7
Company for analysis: Seagate Technology
Topic: Managing People: Cross Cultural Management
You need to reference each company and each website.
Objectives
The aim of this assignment is to suggest the role played by
management scholars in developing new ideas useful to
individuals interested in cross cultural management.
Specifically this assignment addresses the ideas and frameworks
of Geert Hofstede.
Instructor Comments
Executives manage employees of different nationalities and
cultures. They often do business in different countries or with
representatives who live in different countries and cultures.
Geert Hofstede is a researcher who developed a set of national
culture dimensions. Hofstede’s original ideas regarding

18. differences in national culture resulted from a large scale
research project that captured insight from surveys completed
by over 100,000 employees of IBM working in their offices in
64 countries in the 1970’s. He then followed up this research
with more data collection from managers in 19 countries,
students and airline pilots in 23 countries, and consumers and
government managers in 14 countries.
From this enormous set of data, Hofstede and his research team
identified five independent dimensions of national culture
differences. These dimensions include:
· The distribution of roles between genders in a society;
· The tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity in a society;
· The extent to which a society has a long or short term
orientation;
· The extent to which the less powerful members of society
accept that power is distributed unequally; and,
· The degree to which individuals in a society are integrated
into groups.
A worthwhile reading for this assignment is Hofstede's
consequences: The impact of his work on consulting and
business practices by John Bing. It is referenced in the Syllabus
where the readings are noted for this course.
Assignment
This assignment seeks to help you understand the answer to a
broader concern and that is, “How are some national cultures
similar?” You should base your responses to the following
questions on your analysis of the ideas of Geert Hofstede.
In order to complete this assignment, you will need to access
the country profiles based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions
using the following website: http://www.geert-hofstede.com.
Please complete the following exercises:
· Identify five countries that are similar in terms of Power
Distance. Summarize in your own words why they are similar.
· Identify five countries that are similar in terms of
Individualism. Summarize in your own words why they are

19. similar.
· Identify five countries that are similar in terms of
Masculinity/Femininity. Summarize in your own words why
they are similar.
· Identify five countries that are similar in terms of Uncertainty
Avoidance. Summarize in your own words why they are similar.
· Identify five countries that are similar in terms of Temporal
Orientation. Summarize in your own words why they are
similar.
· In one half page, please summarize what you think is the
connection between the key insights of the Bing (2004) reading
and this assignment.
Hint: The country profiles described in terms of Hofstede’s
cultural dimensions (http://www.geert-hofstede.com) may be of
great value when completing this assignment.