Fluent Essays

Competencies In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies: Recommend operations management methods and techniques to increase value for customers Evaluate how operations management generates value for an organization Explain local, national, and global sustainability in relation to functional areas of business Scenario You work as the chief supply-chain officer at the large international corporation, NationaliTeas. NationaliTeas manufactures and sells tea worldwide. Its motto is “Keeping people and their taste buds awake (when they want to be awake).” Its mission is “Make the world more awake through rejuvenating and refreshing beverages and sustainable practices that uplift workers, communities, and souls.” Its vision is “to be the most respected tea manufacturer across at least three continents for our tea and our actions, which will be driven by a commitment ethical sourcing, minimal waste, and empowerment of our employees.” You would like to establish an operational goal of having your corporation apply for a B Corp Certification within the next two years. You believe this would add value to the organization and help it to prioritize a stronger focus on sustainable operational practices. You have conducted a preassesment based on the recommendations for applying for B Corp Certification, and you’ve evaluated the corporation’s current strengths and areas for improvement. Now you need to develop a proposal for the board of directors that explains why prioritizing the triple bottom line (TBL) through working toward B Corp Certification has organizational value. You must also propose three high-impact initiatives to help strengthen the corporation’s commitment to people, planet, and profit based on your evaluations. Directions Part One: Justification of Benefits: Justify the value of working toward more intentionally incorporating the TBL framework into organizational decision making, specifically how ethical business practices regarding people, planet, and profit can benefit society, the environment, and the company’s profit. Specifically, address the following: Key Components: Explain the three key components of the TBL framework and how each component benefits businesses and society. Organizational Value: Provide a justification regarding the value and benefits of using the TBL framework to inform corporate decision making, and explain connections between the organizational mission and the organizational vision. B Corporation Benefits: Briefly describe the organizational benefits of attaining B Corp Certification. Part Two: Operational Recommendations: Read through the Preassessment Evaluation Summary (located in the Supporting Materials section) for each aspect of the TBL (people, profit, and planet). You will need to provide a detailed description of the initiatives that will create the needed improvement. You should note the organizational and societal value of the initiative along with the operational management techniques recommended to plan and complete each initiative. For each of your three initiatives, address the following: Organizational Impacts: Describe the organizational benefits of each initiative, specifically noting the expected positive impact of completing each. Examples of positive impacts include better alignment to the organization’s mission, vision, and culture statements; increased amounts of funds or resources saved; and improvements to the organization’s brand. Societal Impacts: Describe the societal benefits of each initiative, specifically noting the expected positive impact of completing each. Examples of positive impacts include increased community building and positive environmental impact. Customer Impacts: Describe the consumer benefits of each selected initiative, specifically noting the expected positive impact of completing each. Examples of positive impacts include increased alignment to target markets, improved product access and availability, and improved customer satisfaction. Business Risks: Explain the business risks associated with prioritizing, planning, and resourcing each initiative and how these risks will be considered and monitored. Operational Management Techniques: Recommend an operational management strategy or technique (e.g., project management, lean manufacturing, or Six Sigma) that is appropriate to implement for each selected initiative, and explain why. Defining Requirements and Scope: Define the requirements for the successful implantation of each selected initiative as well as the scope of each. Describe how changes to the requirements and scope would impact timelines, budget, and risk. Roles and Responsibilities: Explain the key internal and external stakeholders who would be involved in planning and implementing each selected initiative, as well as why each identified stakeholder is needed to successfully implement the initiatives. What to Submit To complete this project, you must submit the following: Submit your project using the format listed below. Please note that your submission should include both Part One and Part Two of your project. For either format, sources should be cited according to APA style. Slideshow Presentation: Submit a 10- to 12-slide presentation with speakers notes. Your slideshow should be submitted as a PowerPoint or PDF document. Example tools that could be used to create your slideshow include: PowerPoint Canva Prezi Supporting Materials The following resource support your work on the project: Reading: Project Preassessment Evaluation Summary PDF This document presents the results of NationaliTeas’ preassessment for attaining B Corp Certification. Project Rubric CriteriaExemplary (100\%)Proficient (85\%)Needs Improvement (55\%)Not Evident (0\%) ValueJustification of Benefits: Key ComponentsExceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerExplains the three key components of the TBL framework and how each component benefits businesses and societyShows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include adding further details and examples to fully explain one or more key components of the TBLDoes not attempt criterion Justification of Benefits: Organizational ValueExceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerProvides a justification regarding the value and benefits of using the TBL framework to inform corporate decision making and explains connections between the organizational mission and the organizational visionShows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include adding more or more relevant reasons to incorporate the TBL in decision making or further explaining how the TBL helps an organization’s mission and visionDoes not attempt criterion Justification of Benefits: B Corporation BenefitsExceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerBriefly describes organizational benefits of attaining B Corp CertificationShows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing further organizational benefits of attaining B Corp CertificationDoes not attempt criterion Operational Recommendations: Organizational ImpactsExceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerDescribes the organizational benefits of each initiative, specifically noting the expected positive impact of completing eachShows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include clarifying how each initiative benefits the organization, for example, through alignment to the organization’s mission, vision, and culture statements; increased amounts of funds or resources saved; and improvements to the organization’s brandDoes not attempt criterion Operational Recommendations: Societal ImpactsExceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerDescribes the societal benefits of each initiative, specifically noting the expected positive impact of completing each (e.g., increased community building or positive environmental impact)Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include clarifying how completing each initiative benefits society and the positive impact of completing each (e.g., increased community building or positive environmental impact)Does not attempt criterion Operational Recommendations: Customer ImpactsExceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerDescribes the consumer benefits of each selected initiative, specifically noting the expected positive impact of completing each (e.g., increased alignment to target markets, improved product access and availability, or improved customer satisfaction)Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include clarifying how each initiative benefits customers, noting the expected positive impact of completing each (e.g., increased alignment to target markets, improved product access and availability, or improved customer satisfaction)Does not attempt criterion Operational Recommendations: Business RisksExceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerExplains the business risks associated with prioritizing, planning, and resourcing each initiative and how these risks will be considered and monitoredShows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include identifying more relevant business risks associated with each initiative or adding more detail to clarify the potential risksDoes not attempt criterion Operational Recommendations: Operational Management TechniquesExceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerRecommends an operational management strategy or technique (e.g., project management, lean manufacturing, or Six Sigma) that is appropriate to implement for each selected initiative, and explains whyShows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing a stronger rationale to support using the suggested operational management strategy based on the strategy, initiative, and company informationDoes not attempt criterion Operational Recommendations: Defining Requirements and ScopeExceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerDefines the requirements for the successful implantation of each selected initiative as well as the scope of each, and describes how changes to the requirements and scope would impact timelines, budget, and riskShows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include identifying more critical requirements or more relevant metrics to evaluate the success of the initiatives or the impact of changes to scope on initiative planning and resourcingDoes not attempt criterion Operational Recommendations: Roles and ResponsibilitiesExceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerExplains the key internal and external stakeholders who would be involved in planning and implementing each selected initiative, as well as why each identified stakeholder is needed to successfully implement the initiativesShows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include identifying more relevant stakeholders or further explaining the relevance of the identified internal and external stakeholders to the initiativesDoes not attempt criterion Articulation of ResponseExceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerClearly conveys meaning with correct grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, demonstrating an understanding of audience and purposeShows progress toward proficiency, but with errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, negatively impacting readabilitySubmission has critical errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, preventing understanding of ideas Citations and AttributionsUses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with few or no minor errorsUses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with consistent minor errorsUses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with major errorsDoes not use citations for ideas requiring attribution Total:100\%QSO 321 Project Preassessment Evaluation Summary Based on an evaluation of the organization’s current state and recent initiatives, the areas listed below have been identified as being in need of improvement based on the triple-bottom-line framework and B Corp Certification requirements. Governance  A more formal structure or stakeholder group is needed to review social and environmental performance regularly and accurately. Workers  Employee pay is low, both for hourly and salaried employees.  Attrition rates are high, resulting in a significant loss of company resources.  Employees lack the autonomy to shut down unsafe practices and processes.  Required trainings are frequent, but professional development for growth is very limited in both opportunities and funding. Community  The organization needs to regularly screen and evaluate suppliers for social and environmental impact, not just when an initial partnership is begun.  The majority of materials used to grow, manufacture, ship, and sell the tea are not locally sourced. Environment  Although some supplying farms do have some sustainable practices in place, not all facilities and practices are designed to restore or preserve the environment.  Most energy sources, especially energy sources for domestic locations, are not renewable.  The organization has not conducted any kind of environmental assessment since 2010, and that assessment was only conducted to identify areas of opportunity, not for certification.  Cost and time are prioritized in shipping, resulting in the inefficient use of transportation and a high carbon footprint. Customers  Quality control is conducted randomly, but isn’t an ingrained part of the workflow process.  There are no product guarantees available to customers.  Customer feedback is primarily collected through online reviews of purchased products or sales locations, rather than customer surveys. The following areas have been identified as being strengths of the organization based on the TBL framework and B Corp Certification requirements: Governance  The organization’s mission, vision, code of ethics, and culture statement strongly support sustainable, ethical practices.  The organization has identified key goals and metrics to monitor and evaluate sustainable business practices. Workers  Employees are very content with benefits.  Job-related training is thorough and frequent.  There are established employee feedback programs with high rates of engagement. Community  The organization is very diverse in its workforce, and employees report feeling safe and respected at work.  There are clear, measurable goals to continue growing diversity and inclusion throughout the organization.  The organization has set key requirements for its outsourced workforce, although regular evaluations are lacking.  The organization provides incentive