This assignment will assess your skills and knowledge on defining a problem and understanding the problem statement.
The first step in your paper will be to select a real-world business problem from an organization you currently work for, have worked for in the past or would like to work for in the future.
For this assignment, you will describe the selected company and its background to provide a context for the problem and why you choose this problem as part of the introduction. Next you will write a problem statement incorporating the elements below (as per the final paper guidelines). All problem statements chosen will need your instructor’s approval, and feedback from this assignment as provided by your instructor should be applied and demonstrated for future assignments. The problem statement is a critical piece that will provide the focus and help organize the paper for the following weeks. The problem statement should include in-text citations and a reference page to support your statements. This assignment will analyze your ability to define a problem statement and follow the problem-solving process.
For this assignment, include:
- Introduction: The background of the company and why this was chosen should be provided as part of the introduction, which should be 1-3 paragraphs.
- Ensure that the problem is based on a real problem you have faced in an organization either currently or from the past.
- The problem statement and analysis should incorporate at least 3 of the following:
- improving productivity,
- responsiveness (the ability to act quickly and in a timely manner to something)
- quality,
- customer/client satisfaction,
- employee engagement
- change management
- adaptability
The problem statement and subsequent analysis should also incorporate at least 2 of the following areas of focus from the MBA program:
- Organizational Theory
- Human Resources
- Project/Program Management
- Finance/Accounting
- Operations Management,
- Globalization
Note that leadership/management role, as well as ethical impacts will be required sections for the paper and will be required in addition to choosing 2 from the list above.
Finally, the problem should use what, where, when, how, why, who method (as described in Chapter 3 of Root cause analysis, second edition: The core of problem solving and corrective action). For example, the problem statement and introduction section should address the following questions:
- What is your main issue? Is it employee engagement? Is it high turnover? Is it losing customers due to poor quality? Start with what your main issue is. Think about how your main identified issue relates to either productivity, quality, customer/client issues, engagement, change management, adaptability and identify three of these areas that are impacted by your main business issue.
- Where is this issue- is it in your entire organization, is it in one part of the organization? This can be a geographical location, part of a process, defective production, gap in leadership, or aspect of the organization that needs to change?
- When was the issue identified? Has this issue been the result of a recent change, or has it been an issue for a long time? Was the issue a degradation of something over time (leadership, processes, etc.)
- How much– This is the frequency or scale of the problem; including data or values to describe the impact (cost) to the organization will be helpful. Is the impact in cost, or time lost? Production hours? Loss of clients?
- Why – This is an additional requirement, not described in the text. Include explanation as to why this issue is important? Describe why it is important and what the impact is on the organization, which should tie into at least two of the aspects of the MBA program. Include here the two aspects from the MBA program and how they will apply to this issue. You should have a sentence included here that states “The problem (state problem here) will also be analyzed through the lens of (organizational theory, human resources, etc.)
- Who is impacted by the issue and who is responsible for influencing or improving the issue (hint, leadership should be included as one of the stakeholders here for most cases).
Example of a good problem statement:
The “whatâ€: CVS Caremark is a large health care organization that recently has lost several client contracts. One recent major contract worth $40 billion was lost to its major competitor, and now another contract worth $500 million was lost (Piefer, 2023). The reasons behind these losses are related to the overall quality of their services, their ability to adapt and find ways to offer less expensive options, and the lack of satisfying client needs. This is evidenced by previous investigations by the Federal Trade Commission, complaints from labor unions that CVS stocks expired products and violated privacy laws, lawsuits against CVS for mishandling of Medicare, and statements from employees regarding the quality of prescription handling (Schladen, 2023; Office of Public Affairs, US Department of Justice, 2013).
Where and When This is an issue that is occurring from the very top of the organization with leadership, impacting all aspects of the organization and has been an issue that has been occurring for many years, with increasing reports of investigations and complaints against CVS. How much The loss of clients has resulted in billions of dollars in lost revenue, as well as the stock of CVS continuing to be negatively impacted (Pifer, 2023). Why This issue, in addition to being an issue in which the leadership of the organization has a role, is also driven by poor operations management. This problem will be analyzed through the lens of operations management and human resources, to address the lack of proper quality controls and training that must be in place to ensure that privacy breaches and incorrect claim adjustments do not occur (Pifer, 2023). The training and development of front-line leaders throughout the organization should also be discussed, which is a role involving human resources, to ensure prevention in the future. Quality controls and proper training are essential in building trust with consumers, ensuring reliable products, and reducing costs (Simplilearn, 2023). Who In some cases these clients have decided to take their services elsewhere as a result of these issues (Pifer, 2023). In addition, the employees are also impacted and may also help improve and identify the issues and solutions if involved sooner, and finally the shareholders are also impacted by declining profit influence on shareholder value.
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