Using the Internet or Strayer University databases, research the leadership style and characteristics of Richard Branson, Virgin Group.

Write a six to seven (6-7) page paper in which you:

1. Assess the key elements of Richard Branson’s leadership style and the impact that those elements have had on his business success. Provide support for your rationale.
2. Given that The Virgin Group has been described as a fast-growing entrepreneurial company with many facets to the group, suggest how the unique aspects of Richard Branson’s leadership style mesh successfully with the particular attributes of a multifaceted organization like Virgin.
3. Determine two (2) key ways in which Richard Branson is likely to motivate employees in order to achieve his goals for the Virginia Group. Indicate whether or not his approach is likely to work in a different organizational setting. Provide support for your rationale.
4. Assess the effectiveness of Richard Branson’s ability to articulate and communicate his vision for his company to employees and other stakeholders. Provide support for your rationale.
5. Assume that you have received a job offer to be a manager within the Virgin Group. Determine the criteria you would use to evaluate whether Richard Branson’s leadership style is a good fit for you as a manager and what conclusion you may draw about working under this type of leader.
6. Take a position on whether or not you believe Richard Branson is a global leader. Justify your position and provide support for your justification.
7. Predict Richard Branson’s success as a leader over the next five (5) years. Support your prediction.
8. Use at least three (3) quality academic resources. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.  

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Analyze the activities and skills associated with the leadership function of management.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in modern management.

• Write clearly and concisely about modern management using proper writing mechanics.

For Unit 3, you will submit a project that includes a demonstrated prewriting technique, a topic sentence outline, and a draft essay that resulted from your prewriting and outline. Completing this assignment is part of a final capstone paper which will be submitted during Unit 5.

Specifically, you will complete the following:

• Select a topic question from the topic list. Click here for the topic list.
• Identify and use at least 1 invention or prewriting strategy (mind mapping, brainstorming, listing, freewriting, etc.).
• Develop a thesis statement and 3 strong supporting subtopics.
• Create a topic sentence outline (scheme strategy).
• Prepare a first-draft essay.

Note: Your submission should be double-spaced with 12 point font and 1″ margins and include your prewriting, outline, and 500-word-minimum first-draft essay.

Please see Figure 2.3 below from page 33 of your textbook for an outline example.

Figure 2.3 Outline Example

STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN

INTRODUCTION

This assignment entails development of a comprehensive strategic marketing plan for a new product or service that is ready to “go to market”. A Project Template is provided that allows you to organize your work in increments and see how the sections come together to produce a comprehensive plan.

PRODUCT/SERVICE

This assignment requires application of concepts learned to build a strategic marketing plan for a new product or service that is ready to “go to market”. You will not be allowed to mimic plans or ideas from larger or already “in-place” campaigns. You must develop the business concept in its entirety.

• Describe the new product or service.
• Discuss the qualities that make this product/service new to the marketplace and the rationale for your decision to pursue the concept. Be sure to pick a product or service that is ready to market. If you are developing a new product, assume that the development phase is over and you are ready to launch the product into the marketplace.

OBJECTIVES/MISSION STATEMENT

Create a Mission Statement. State your short-term MARKETING objectives (one year). Assume that the product/service is ready to launch at the beginning of the year (planning and testing have been completed).

• Marketing objectives include goals for sales, profits, market share (as examples)
• Objectives need to be quantifiable. Use the SMART acronym—simple, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-specific—in formulating your objectives. An objective with a 100% goal is not acceptable

TARGET MARKET

Identify your target market. Provide a specific demographic profile and rationale for this decision. Another source that may help you: The US Census Bureau’s American Fact Finder. Consider the size of the market and its purchasing power. Research is required to back-up your selection and to provide statistics to show that it is a viable market.

COMPETITION

Analyze your competition. Who are they? Who are the biggest players? How large is the market? What are the trends/forecasts in the industry? How does your product/service fit in? Hoover’s Pro in the Library is a good tool for this section; it may be accessed under Find Web Resources.

PRODUCT/SERVICE FEATURES

Provide a brief overview of the product or service.

• State the features of your product/service. Show how it’s innovative and different. It may be unique because of the area in which you plan to market it.
• Discuss legal and ethical implications that could affect the marketing process. This will require research.

CORE STRATEGY

Discuss your Core Strategy and make sure to connect it to your Mission & Objectives. Include a discussion on Product/Service Positioning.

MARKETING MIX: COMMUNICATIONS & PROMOTION

The Marketing Mix is the set of decisions about communications and promotion, price, channels of distribution, and customer relationship management. An integrated marketing communications (IMC) approach delivers a clear and consistent message to your consumers and is connected to your Core Strategy.

1. Discuss the aspects of the IMC. (The elements of the communication mix include: advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, publicity/public relations and personal selling.) Define each and discuss the pros and cons of the individual elements.
2. Provide a detailed description of your IMC approach. Explain your rationale for choosing or rejecting the specific elements (include applications to the earlier research section). What changes do you expect to make as the product/service matures?
3. Describe the message you wish to communicate based on your core strategy. Explain your rationale for the message. Formulate how you will communicate with your target market? Be specific. How will the internet be used in your IMC approach?
4. Select and explain the most suitable method for measuring advertising effectiveness. Your decision must include research to back up the selected method. Be sure to explain why this is the most effective method to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaign.

MARKETING MIX: PRICE

Discuss what pricing objectives you would consider for your product/service. The Objectives should be based on the various theories presented in marketing literature and take in to account competitor pricing. Including background on value proposition, positioning, and target market is necessary. All of these components provide rationale for the chosen pricing scheme.

MARKETING MIX: CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION

Channels of Distribution: Specify the type of distribution channel you will use and include rationale.

MARKETING MIX; CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Customer Relationship Management -Detail how you will incorporate CRM into your plan. Be sure to include a discussion on the role of technology that will be used to support your CRM.

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

The assignment requires the use of ARTICLES from the library’s full-text databases. Articles are found in periodicals. These are not to be confused with eBooks or Reference Books. The most popular databases in marketing are: ABI Inform Global, Academic Search Premier, and Business Source Premier.

Your report MUST include a reference list. All research should be cited in the body of the paper. In-text citations and corresponding references should be included in your paper. For more information on APA, please visit the APA Lab. The paper should be written in third person; this means words like “I”, “we” and “you” are not appropriate. The use of direct quotes is discouraged, but may be used sparingly in appropriate situations.

Grading will be based on content, application, research, mechanics (APA format, spelling grammar, and punctuation), and style (organization, readability, and using your own words).

Discussion 1: What Drives Health Care Costs?

Note: Before completing this Discussion, please familiarize yourself with the Week 6 Discussion 1 Rubric located in the Course Information area of the course navigation menu.

In this week’s Discussion, you will focus on practical solutions to reducing health care costs while improving quality and access. Because health care in the United States is a business, it is imperative that health care administrators understand that providing safe, quality health care services under budget is one of the single most important performance metrics that they can benchmark for success.

To prepare for this Discussion, choose a health care policy issue in your workplace or community related to cost, quality, or access. You may wish to explore the literature and health care policy websites to ascertain what is working and what might work in your workplace or community.

Note: Take a look at the CMS innovation website, linked in this week’s Optional Resources, if you are interested in looking at some innovative models currently being tested.

Post by Day 3 an analysis of the health care policy issue you chose, making sure to address these specific points: describe the health care policy issue you selected; provide and explain the statistics depicting the issue; and explain how this issue relates to health care costs, quality, and access.

When possible, provide examples from your professional experiences to demonstrate cost concerns in your particular field, or use personal anecdotes/stories to illustrate some of the problems that exist.

General Guidance on Discussion Posts: Your original post, due by Day 3, will typically be 3–4 paragraphs in length as a general expectation/estimate.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://innovation.cms.gov

Blavin, F., Shartzer, A., Long, S. K., & Holahan, J. (2015). An early look at changes in employer-sponsored insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Health Affairs, 34(1), 170–177.

An Early Look At Changes In Employer-Sponsored Insurance Under The Affordable Care Act by Blavin, F.; Shartzer, A.; Long, S. K.; Holahan, J., in Health Affairs, Vol. 34/Issue 1. Copyright 2015 by Project Hope/Health Affairs Journal. Reprinted by permission of Project Hope/Health Affairs Journal via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Gould, E. (2013). Employer-sponsored health insurance coverage continues to decline in a new decade. International Journal of Health Services, 43(4), 603–638.

Employer-sponsored Health Insurance Coverage Continues to Decline in a New Decade by Gould, E., in International Journal of Health and Human Services, Vol. 43/Issue 4. Copyright 2013 by Sage Publications, Inc. – Journals. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Inc. – Journals via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Kennedy, K. (2013, February 20). HHS releases rules on insurers’ essential health benefits. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/20/essentialhealthbenefitsfinalrule/1933015/

HHS Releases Rules on Insurers’ Essential Health Benefits by Kennedy, K., in USA Today, February 20, 2013. Copyright 2013 by Gannett Company, Inc. – VA. Reprinted by permission of Gannett Company, Inc. – VA via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Assignment 2: The Hiring Process and Managing a Diverse Workforce

Due Week 6 and worth 400 points

Imagine that you are the HR Director at your current organization or an organization with which you are familiar. As the HR Director, you must use different employment law requirements to create methods and policies that support the promotion of a diverse workforce. Select one (1) job opportunity that you have held or with which you are familiar within the same organization for this scenario.

(Note: You may create and / or make all necessary assumptions needed for the completion of these assignments. In your original work, you may use aspects of existing processes from either your current or a former place of employment. However, you must remove any and all identifying information that would enable someone to discern the organization[s] that you have used.)

Write a ten to twelve (10-12) page paper in which you:

1. Develop three (3) recruitment methods for the job opportunity in question, and suggest two (2) ways that each method helps one to avoid discriminatory practices. Justify your response.
2. Outline an application process that details the organization’s method of accepting all applications, as well as its method of validating applicants’ attainment of the required credentials (e.g., reviewing resumes, collecting transcripts, verifying certifications, etc.) for the job opportunity.
3. Develop a five- (5) step procedure for the HR Department to use in order to maintain all applicants’ records in case a discriminatory charge occurs.
4. Decide on three (3) background checks that the HR Department must utilize, and justify the relevance of each background check for the job opportunity.
5. Choose three (3) employment tests (e.g., drug tests, medical examinations, HIV tests, generic tests, polygraphs, honesty tests, psychological tests, intelligence and skills tests, and physical fitness, etc.) that the HR Department should use. Justify the relevance of each selected employment test to the job requirements.
6. Formulate a policy for making both the hiring and promotional decisions related to the job opportunity. Specify the major challenges and potential adverse impact of using subjective criteria for assessing soft skills. Next, suggest one (1) plan to mitigate the adverse impact. Justify your suggestion.
7. Recommend two (2) types of reasonable accommodations for both disabled applicants and applicants needing special religious considerations. Argue two (2) legal reasons for not being able to sufficiently provide such reasonable accommodation for each group.
8. Select one (1) case in which a court charged an organization with an affirmative action violation and one (1) case in which a court charged the organization with not managing harassment issues more expeditiously. Recommend an action plan geared toward preventing the issues addressed in both cases within your selected organization. Justify your recommendation.
9. Choose three (3) work-life conflicts that the HR Director should consider within the selected organization. Then, outline a policy geared toward resolving each conflict through the use of related employment laws. Justify your response.
10. Use at least four (4) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Determine employment laws that apply to the selection, development, and management of employees.
• Evaluate policies and processes that promote a diverse workforce.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in employment law.
• Write clearly and concisely about employment law using proper writing mechanic.