Develop a diversity initiative for your organization that targets your chosen group.  In your learning material for Week 2, you will find a discussion on creating a diversity initiative, as well as provide you some examples of initiatives.  Questions to answer:  1) history and treatment of chosen population 2) the value to organizations by increasing their DE&I efforts, and why this population and initiative is key to the success of the organization 3) detailed description of the initiative and 4) how you will be able to determine the success of the initiative. 

Please choose one topic to write for your discussion response.

Topic 1

We have now shifted into the period when chivalry plays an important role in a character’s heroism. Compare and contrast Gawain as a hero with another hero we have met this semester. Which one of your two heroes is your favorite? Be sure to thoroughly develop your ideas.

Topic 2

Discuss the difference between heroism and monstrosity in Gawain and the Green Knight. How do different episodes within the poem define these terms, and how do they designate certain characteristics as heroic or monstrous?

Topic 3

As we move through the literature of the Middle Ages, we begin to see an increasing amount of female characters. What do you think about the representation of women in Gawain and the Green Knight? Has their reputation changed? For the better or the worse? Use specifics from the text to support your answer.

Guidelines

• Your initial response should be at least 500 words in length
• Use MLA format for any quotations or citations that you use to support your answer
• Your initial response is due by Friday at 11:59 p.m. ET

You are required to produce a comprehensive Strategic Plan for your selected company or organization. There are 7 sections required for the “Strategic Plan” (due in week #8) as follows. 

1. Strategy (CO F)
2. Core Competencies (CO C)
3. Industry Dynamics (CO A)
4. Technology Sourcing and Internal Innovation (CO D)
5. Product Development Strategy (CO E)
6. Strategy to protect innovations (CO B)
7. A bibliography listing your references for the project

The expectation is that you will follow the APA format to produce your Course Project, and each section will be 2 – 3 pages long. Reference below detailed specifications and directions to complete each section. Note, each section is linked to specific course objectives as noted below. 

Section 1 – Strategy 

CO F – Identify and suggest a deployment strategy that will facilitate the success of a technologically driven organization.

This is the most important part of the project because it sets the direction for all other sections. In this section, you establish the strategy for an organization.

Often people refer to this component as the “Vision” or “Mission” of a company, but it is not. The Vision for a company could be that you want to be a market leader. However, the technology strategy tells everyone how you will achieve that market leadership. The technology strategy tells the various stakeholders – employees, customers, community, and stockholders – what you are going to do to achieve that market leadership. This strategy should be very clear and easy to understand so that everyone will be “on the same page” when it comes to working together toward that goal.

In this section, you should describe what “SHOULD” be the strategy of a technologically driven company. You should focus specifically on the technology strategy. You should think about all the things we learned in the class that will determine a strategy that will help the company succeed.

Remember that you would use an existing company. If you choose to use an existing company, you can visit their web site to see if their strategy is listed. Or you can do a web search on their technology strategy to see if anyone has written any stories about their strategy. For a fictitious company, you should make up a technology strategy that fits that type of company.

Examples of a Technology Strategy:

• Verizon Wireless – Have the best network of all wireless carriers
• Honda – Build the best engines
• Keller – Deploy the best Internet-based online and blended education technology, not build it, not own it, but use a 3rd party to provide it
• Intel – Have the fastest and most powerful CPUs

The key is to be able to describe the strategy in a 1 or 2 sentence summary and in detail as well. The description should start or end with the simple sentence statement of the technology strategy. However, there must be sufficient detail to explain why that is the right strategy.

Section 2 – Core Competencies

CO C – Identify the core technological competencies of the organization.

Like all subsequent sections of the project, this section is based on the Strategy Section.

Example:

• Verizon Wireless Strategy is the having the best Network. Thus, the core competencies will be built around the network. Things like RF Engineers and wireless security experts would be detailed
• Intel’s strategy is to build the fastest most powerful CPUs. Thus their core competencies will be built around CPU engineering
• Keller’s strategy is to deploy the best online education technology. Thus their core competencies would be things like educational technology evaluation and online education curriculum development

The best way to do this section is to apply the three tests of a core competency (reference textbook) to the strategy that you detailed in the Strategy Section.

Section 3 Industry Dynamics

CO A – Describe the industry dynamics of technological innovation.

Here you should take the strategy identified in Section 1 and describe in detail why that is the right strategy based on what is occurring in the industry. Provide as much detail as possible as to the industry trends and why you think those trends are important.

Section 4 – Technology Sourcing and Internal Innovation

CO D – Develop a plan to increase the innovative capabilities of an organization both through collaboration strategies and internal innovation.

Here you would offer ideas as to what is the best way to “Source” the technology that supports the strategy. A complete discussion about how best to manage the innovative capabilities of the company being described is required.

Section 5 – Product Development Strategy

CO E – Formulate a technological innovation strategy through an organization’s new product development strategy.

Product Development is very important to an organization. This section will describe how the company will structure its product development. Obviously, the kind of structure will be determined directly by the technology strategy stated in Section 1.

Section 6 Strategy to protect innovations

CO B – Determine whether and how to protect an organization’s technological innovations.

Using the things learned in the class, describe how you would use patents, trade secrets, copyrights, etc. to protect the Intellectual Property (IP) required to support the strategy. 

Section 7 Bibliography 

A bibliography listing your references for the project. The expectation is that you will use the APA to produce the Bibliography for format. 

Finally, submit your assignment.   

 Select any example visualization or infographic and imagine the contextual factors have changed:

1. If the selected project was a static work, what ideas do you have for potentially making it usefully interactive? How might you approach the design if it had to work on both mobile/tablet and desktop?
2. If the selected project was an interactive work, what ideas do you have for potentially deploying the same project as a static work? What compromises might you have to make in terms of the interactive features that wouldn’t now be viable?
3. What about the various annotations that could be used? Thoroughly explain all of the annotations, color, composition, and other various components to the visualization.
4. What other data considerations should be considered and why? 
5. Update the graphic using updated data, in the tool of your choice (that we’ve used in the course), and explain the differences.

Be sure to show the graphic (before and after updates) and then answer the questions fully above.  This assignment should take into consideration all the Analysis and Visualization data – Course concepts in the book.  Be very thorough in your response.  The paper should be at least three pages in length and contain at least two-peer reviewed sources.