Staffing Plan & Staffing Budget 

• Discuss the benefits and disadvantages of a facility using supplemental and floating staff.
• Compare and contrast how a staffing plan would differ with different nursing units. How does that affect the staffing budget?

Submission Instructions:

• Your initial post should be at least 500 words, formatted and cited in current APA style with support from at least 2 academic sources. 

Throughout this course, you have been working on your research paper on a company you have chosen. For this assignment, you will consolidate the parts of the assignment you wrote in Units II, V, and VI. In addition, you will add a new section that comprises content you have learned in this unit.First, combine Parts I-III of your paper. Be sure to make any changes necessary based on feedback you have received. Make sure that you include an introduction and transitions so that these three parts read as one cohesive document.Then, you will need to examine your firm’s working capital management. Look at the firm’s annual report and answer the following questions:

• What is the firm’s cash position? Does the firm reflect positive cash balances for the last three years?
• What methods does the firm use to ensure and maintain positive cash flows?
• What methods of short-term financing does the firm use?

COMPLETE THE RESPONSE ONLY

Communication and group dynamics are important elements within the leading facet of the P-O-L-C framework. Read the following article from CNN describing Bernie Ebbers’ downfall as CEO of WorldCom: Ex-WorldCom CEO Ebbers guilty. (link: https://money.cnn.com/2005/03/15/news/newsmakers/ebbers/)

Based on what you read in the article, in your initial post, identify which two barriers to effective communication were most prominent within WorldCom and explain how these barriers led to the downfall of the company. Be specific and identify the communication barriers based on the information in Chapter 11 of your text.

In responding to your peers, comment on whether you believe the concept of groupthink may have played a part in the downfall of WorldCom, especially as it pertains to its board. How you would overcome the communication barriers and groupthink to ensure organizational success?

RESPOND TO THIS DISCUSSION POST BELOW:

Hi Class!

WorldCom is one of the most known accounting fraud cases in America. It’s been discussed in more than one business/leadership class that I’ve taken. While we can only know what we read, as none of us were actually there, I would say the most obvious communication barrier would be filtering. Filtering is when information is withheld to from someone to manage their reactions. Withholding 3.3 billion dollars over 3 years is insane, but I suppose it can be done when it’s being pulled from the reserves and the company generally isn’t loosing any money up front. It’s like a smoke and mirrors play, as long as the company is doing well and not loosing, it has no reason to look into the reserves because that should just be untouched money essentially sitting in a pot, or earning a slight interest.

If Ebbers’ really didn’t know I would say the second barrier to effective communication was selective perception. Selective perception is providing information to play into his own need without realizing he’s doing it. It very well could be that Ebbers’ didn’t know (although I HIGHLY doubt that), and was believing what he was told by Sullivan and his underlings without really doing any analysis, after all, these were funds that were only supposed to be touched if WorldCom had a substantial loss. The fact that Sullivan took a deal in order to testify against Ebbers, and he was the ONLY link between Ebbers and the money makes it all a bit skeptical to me. 

Managing a company is complicated. Managers must make decisions every day that impact the company and the people. A SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) allows managers to understand the company’s current state and extract the most useful information to make informed business decisions.

This week, we’ll focus on understanding internal and external factors impacting the company (either the snack food company scenario or the startup company of your choice). We’ll organize the findings into four categories of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Start your response with a brief description of your business (company name, what you do, and what you sell). This description should not be longer than 3 sentences. You will include this in your response each week to remind everyone of your business. 

1. Complete the SWOT Matrix [DOCX] Download SWOT Matrix [DOCX]to highlight the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the company (as approved by the instructor) you described in the Week 1 discussion.
   • Your selected company may be a startup company of your choosing, or it may be based on the snack food company scenario provided to you.
2. Include four items in each category.
3. As you complete each quadrant of the SWOT Matrix, consider these questions:
   • Strengths.
     • What are your selected company’s likely strengths?
     • Is your product or service in a growing industry and does it lack an entrenched competitor?
     • Are you in a niche market with great potential?
     • What strengths do you and other team members bring to the company?
   • Weaknesses.
     • What are your chosen company’s likely weaknesses?
     • How entrenched is the competition in your industry segment?
     • Is your management team inexperienced?
     • How challenging will it be to produce the product or offer the service and maintain quality?
   • Opportunities.
     • What are your company’s opportunities?
     • Does your segment have more demand than supply?
     • Have larger corporations stopped serving smaller or niche markets that you could enter?
     • Is a new market emerging because of demographics, immigration, changing tastes, et cetera?
   • Threats.
     • What are your company’s threats?
     • Does a clear market leader exist that will be hard and expensive to displace?
     • Are downward-pricing pressures in the segment making profit margins slim?
     • Are there few or no barriers to entry for new competitors?

Post at least one substantive comment to another student’s post.

Important Notes: 

• Textbook Chapter 9, “Strategic Position & Risk Assessment,” pages 143-162, provides additional detail about this topic.
• You will revise this week’s discussion post as part of your on the Week 3 assignment, Company Description and SWOT Matrix.
• Complete the SWOT matrix in Word and then copy from there and paste it into the discussion window.
• DO NOT attach the Word document to the discussion window. 
• Include your company name and a brief description of what business you are in, as well as the product(s) and service(s) you offer for sale. Provide this information in your response for this week to remind everyone about your business (no more than 3-4 sentences). Save this description to include in all your weekly discussion responses in this class. 
• A substantive comment is at least 4-6 substantive sentences in length, sharing examples, your perspective, resources, your experience, making connections, asking questions, etc.