You are a manager in a large company, and you are assigned to a mentor. Your mentor is very excited that you are taking this particular course and has therefore asked you to develop and share your own personal theory of leadership. Your mentor wants to make sure that your personal development is grounded in theory and practice and so has asked you to first demonstrate the foundation of your leadership approach. To do this, you will choose three theories—a combination of classic and contemporary—that you have studied in this course, in addition to selecting three leaders who exemplify your chosen theories. You will analyze each theory for its strengths and weaknesses and evaluate the leaders you have identified in relation to those theories. You will also identify and discuss three leaders who are anti-exemplary, as they will be used in the analysis portion of your project (shown in section II. C. below).

You will use the concepts and lessons from this part of the final project to inform the second part, in which you apply the theories to an organization and articulate your personal leadership philosophy.

Elements addressed:

I. Introduction Introduce your three chosen theories and three chosen leaders that you identified, which align with those chosen theories. Be sure to provide a brief explanation of why you have selected these in particular. How do they apply to your personal leadership style or the development of one?

II. Analysis of Established Theories

A. Theories Review

1. Summarize the major principles of the chosen theories and the potential impact on empowerment and emotional intelligence.

Explain how these major principles look through the lenses of those in the roles of power and influence in an organization.

B. Theories Critique

1. Analyze the strengths of the three theories and their potential impacts on the individuals, groups, and organizational levels.

2. Analyze the weaknesses of the three theories and their potential impacts on the individuals, groups, and organizational levels.

C. Theories Application

1. Evaluate the effectiveness of the leadership styles of the leaders who exemplify your selected theories. For instance, what aspects of their leadership styles align with your identified leadership theories?

2. Evaluate the effectiveness of the leadership styles of the leaders who are the anti-exemplary of your selected theories. For instance, what aspects of their leadership style(s) do not support your identified leadership theories?

3. Apply the selected leadership theories to your past or present organizational context. This is where you think about the interplay of the selected leadership theories and the individual, group, and organizational levels of your past or present organizational context.

III. Conclusion Summarize how the theories can alter organizational decision making in relation to roles of power and influence, especially in relationship to your own personal leadership style.

Submission: APA, 4 pages, Sources APA style 

Washington Park Youth Program for Vulnerable Chicago Youth

Introduction: Established by volunteers in 1995, the Washington Park Youth Program (WPYP; https://chicagoyouthprograms.org/programs/washington-park/) is Chicago Youth Programs’ (CYP) largest community program which serves high-need neighborhoods adjacent to Washington Park. 

WPYP operates in donated space at the Chicago Park District’s Washington Park Fieldhouse and Park. This Community Center and park houses a tutoring room, library, pre-school area, gym, computer lab, garden, and outdoor playground. 

The programs offered by the WPYP include literacy, tutoring, mentoring, and recreation. Youth who regularly participate in WPYP programs enjoy a wide array of recreational activities such as basketball, golf, camps, bowling, skating, movies, and museum trips, and more. 

Mission and Goals of WPYP: 

The overall aim of the WPYP is to offer experiences that facilitate positive youth development for youth who live in several Chicago neighborhoods. 

Specifically, WPYP claims they achieve the following outcomes, 1) high participant retention rates from when they first enroll through high school (program goal), 2) improved academic success (participant goal), and 3) prevention of risky behaviors such as substance use, sexual activity, violence, and delinquency (participant goal).

Overall Instructions: 

Please choose at least 2 areas of evaluation (from 4 of the 5 Ps-we’ll address Administration/Policies in a separate class activity) that we learned in class and write an evaluation plan outline. When writing a detailed evaluation plan outline for your two chosen areas (listed below), make sure to also explain criteria and evidence (i.e., under what criteria will you judge the performance of the desired outcomes and how will you gather evidence?), the timing (e.g., assessment, formative, summative) and model(s) of evaluation you intend to use. Please carefully read the instructions and guidelines provided below for each area of evaluation and feel free to ask questions as needed

Personnel 

I. “Youth Recreation Leader” is a mid-level position for WPYP. Please plan an evaluation of a WPYP youth recreation leader.  

II. Job description: A youth recreation leader is in charge of planning, organizing, and conducting recreational activities/programs. Youth Recreation Leaders have the authority to develop new activities and make changes to the current programs. Recreation leaders will also be in charge of hiring and training the volunteers and part-timers who will assist the recreation leader to run activities/programs.   

Place 

I. Please choose at least 2 criteria (e.g., legal mandates, risk management, equipment, daily usage) and discuss in detail why those criteria are important and how you will gather evidence. Also, explain how you can incorporate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in your evaluation

II. Select a specific place (e.g., sports field, outdoor pool, park fieldhouse, natural area) within the Washington Park when conducting an evaluation. 

III. https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/washington-george-park#Map Click to view detailed information about different areas and facilities used by WPYP.

Program Quality 

I. Please select 2 programs from the existing programs offered by WPYP (i.e., literacy, tutoring, mentoring, and recreation) and explain how you would assess program quality for each of the two programs you choose. Please click the following link to view more information about each program. https://chicagoyouthprograms.org/programs/washington-park/

II. Also, please explain how the 4 different benefits (i.e., individual, communal, economic, and environmental) we learned in class are relevant to the 2 selected programs and the criteria you chose.  

Participant 

I. Your focus for this exercise is boys and girls (7th – 9th grade) who are participating in the mentoring program. In this program, teens meet with their mentors once each week to discuss topics of interest and develop a positive role model relationship with a pre-professional or professional adult. 

II. Keeping in mind the overall goals of WPYP, please choose at least 2 criteria that you would like to use to assess how well the mentoring program is achieving the stated participant goals on page 1. Please explain why those outcomes are important, and how you will gather evidence. 

 To complete the Article Research Paper due in Week 6, please select a topic from the list provided below.

1. Evolution of Management Accounting
2. The Role of Ethics in Managerial Accounting
3. Decision Management
4. Balanced Scorecard
5. Historical Cost in Accounting
6. Lean Accounting Systems
7. Responsibility Accounting
8. Opportunity Costs
9. Job-Order Costing Systems
10. Process Costing Systems
11. Activity-Based Costing
12. Activity-Based Management
13. Cost Behavior Pattern Analysis
14. Cost Estimation and Analysis Methods
15. Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis
16. Managing and Measuring Quality Costs
17. Budgeting and the Budgeting Process in Organizations
18. Flexible Budgeting
19. Responsibility Accounting
20. The Balanced Scorecard
21. Other managerial accounting-related topics (by approval of the professor) 

Article Research Paper Instructions:

Article Research Papers and Posting: This is a graduate course and students will be expected to research and write papers summarizing in their own words what they have found on current topics from the weekly readings. Research is a theoretical review of relevant literature and application of findings in the literature to a topic related to a specific industry, field, or business problem.

The research must be conducted using peer-reviewed trade or academic journals. While Blogs, Wikipedia, encyclopedias, course textbooks, popular magazines, newspaper articles, online websites, etc. are helpful for providing background information, these resources are NOT suitable resources for this research assignment.

Please Note: The UC Library staff are very helpful with assisting students in using the UC Online Library journal database. Please contact them if you have issues. In addition, the instructor has provided additional resources, including a research tutorial, in the “Course Resources” folder in the “Content” area of the course.

Assignment Requirements:

1. Choose a research topic from the chapter readings or from the list provided by your professor.
2. Research/find a minimum at least four (4), preferably five (5) or more, different peer-reviewed articles on your topic from the University of the Cumberlands Library online business database. The article(s) must be relevant and from a peer-reviewed source. While you may use relevant articles from any time frame, current/published within the last five (5) years are preferred. Using literature that is irrelevant or unrelated to the chosen topic will result in a point reduction.
3. Write a four (4) to five (5) page double spaced paper in APA format discussing the findings on your specific topic in your own words. Note – paper length does not include cover page, abstract, or references page(s).
4. Structure your paper as follows:
   1. Cover page
   2. Overview describing the importance of the research topic to current business and professional practice in your own words
   3. Review of the Literature summarized in your own words. Note that this should not be a “copy and paste” of literature content, nor should this section be substantially filled with direct quotes from the article. A literature review is a summary of the major points and findings of each of the selected articles (with appropriate citations). Direct quotations should be used sparingly. Normally, this will be the largest section of your paper (this is not a requirement; just a general observation).
   4. Practical Application of the literature. Describe how your findings from the relevant research literature can shape, inform, and improve current business and professional practice related to your chosen topic.
   5. Conclusion in your own words
   6. References formatted according to APA style requirements

This assignment is a team-based assignment conducted in small groups that students may choose.
Groups of 4 to 6 would be ideal. Please find your groups and the company your team will study
in the attached list below based on the group member survey results in your preference.
Go to SEC company filing website Edgar
https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch and search for the company. You will
need to obtain 3 years of (2020, 2021 and 2022) detailed (BS, IS, CFS, SOE) financial
statements, build an analysis model in Excel to calculate metrics and ratios and write a brief
memo describing the team’s analysis. Students will have an opportunity to present their analysis
in class for extra credit sometime during the semester.
The report should be about 3-4 pages in length and contain data, charts, graphs as well as your
analysis about the financial performance of the company you are analyzing and its trends in that
performance. In class we will discuss what a good report and analysis should contain.
I look forward to reading your reports.

The assignment must be completed in the provided PowerPoint template.

• Download and save the Week 6_Assignment_Template [PPTX] 
•  Download Week 6_Assignment_Template [PPTX].
• Follow the guidelines provided in the Strayer Library: SWS Guidelines for Slideshow Presentations 
• Review the rubric carefully before you begin working on the assignment.
• Using the template, create an eight-slide presentation that will be  part of a pitch deck for the company that hired you as a business  consultant.
• Each slide should include 1-2 paragraphs of speaker notes  that will be utilized to explain the content to the company leadership  during your presentation. (Note: A video tutorial has been provided  under the resources section below)

For Slide 1. Title slide – add the name of the company as a subtitle and your name and the date.

For Slide 2. Identify one challenge or opportunity  that you will address as a consultant. In your speaker notes, explain  the basis or rationale behind this selection. Remember, you are creating  a pitch to the company leadership. Convince them why they should  address this challenge or opportunity.

For slides 3-4 research close competitors of the company to determine their approach to a similar challenge or opportunity.

• Slides 3-4. Analyze similar solutions for the challenge or  opportunity from two competitors. Be sure to provide specific, relevant  details to connect the competitors' approach to your recommendation.  (Detailed explanation should be placed in the speaker notes.)
• Sides 5-7. Recommend an approach to solve the challenge or  capitalize on the opportunity identified for the company. Include  specific details explaining which areas in the company would be the  focus of your recommendation. (e.g. human resources, management,  accounting/finance, marketing, etc.) (Detailed explanation should be  placed in the speaker notes.)
• Slide 8. Sources slide. Use three or more quality sources to support  your writing. Choose sources that are credible, relevant, and  appropriate. Cite each source listed on your source slide at least one  time within your assignment. 
  • For help with research, writing, and citation, access the library.

Produce writing that is clear and well organized and applies appropriate Strayer Writing Standards (SWS) style. Writing contains accurate grammar, mechanics, and spelling.

This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The  library is your home for SWS assistance, including citations and  formatting. Please refer to the Library site for all support. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.