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Google figures out what makes a great boss

Google figures out what makes a great boss

In this Assignment, through the Google performance measurement case study, you will engage in developing the following professional competencies:
Obtain and process information
Managing Talent: How Google Searches for Performance Measures
If there’s one thing Google knows, it’s how to use software to wade through massive amounts of data and find what is most relevant. So it should come as no surprise that when the information technology powerhouse wanted to develop better managers, it started by looking at the data. As it turns out, Google found plenty to learn. Like most businesses, Google had files of data about managers— results of performance reviews, surveys measuring employee attitudes, and nominations for management awards. Unlike most businesses, Google figured out how to analyze all that data to come up with a profile of the kind of manager whose team is most successful.
The company’s people analytics group (which brings together psychologists, MBAs, and data-mining experts) analyzed 10,000 observations about managers in terms of more than 100 variables, looking for patterns. The initial finding was a surprise to some at a company that had once operated without managers: teams with good managers outperform teams with bad managers. But what makes a good manager? Under the leadership of Google’s HR vice president, Laszlo Bock, the company distilled its findings into a list of the behaviors that get results:
Be a good coach.
Empower your team. Do not micromanage.
Express interest in team members’ success and personal well-being.
Don’t be a sissy: Be productive and results-oriented.
Be a good communicator, and listen to your team.
Help your employees with career development.
Have a clear vision and strategy for the team.
Have key technical skills so you can help advise the team.
Allen, F. E. (2011, March 13). Google figures out what makes a great boss. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2011 /03/13/google-figures-out-what-makes-a-great-boss/
Perhaps those points sound obvious. But keep in mind that someone hired as a programming or analytic whiz and later promoted to a managerial role might not have given much thought to, say, cultivating the ability to express interest in team members’ success, which ranks far above technical skills. Seeing this on a list identifies the behavior as something statistically related to superior performance not just in general, but at Google specifically.
Furthermore, this is a behavior that can be measured (for example, by asking employees if their supervisor expresses interest in them), and it can be learned by managers who want to improve. By building performance measures in the eight key areas, Google was able to evaluate its managers’ performance and identify those who needed to improve in particular areas. It developed training programs in the eight types of desired behavior. Before and after providing performance appraisals, training, and coaching, Google conducted surveys to gauge managers’ performance. It measured a significant improvement in manager quality for 75 percent of its lowest-performing managers. But Bock isn’t resting on that success. Google intends to keep crunching the data, in case the criteria for a successful Google manager change at some point in the future. One thing is for sure: Google will continue to follow the data.
Answer the three questions below in a 2–3 page paper. Follow the project guidelines below.
Questions
Describe the five criteria for effectiveness of a performance management system and summarize how Google’s approach to performance management meets these criteria.
Identify errors that could arise in the way Google collects performance data on managers. Describe how it could minimize these errors.
Describe the steps or activities that might be involved in Google’s performance management process.
Requirements:
Use the Case Study Template here (also available in Course Documents) to format your paper.
Complete a 2–3 page paper (not including the title and reference pages).
Answer each question thoroughly.
Demonstrate your understanding of the information presented in the weekly reading assignments by defining terms, explaining concepts, and providing detailed examples to illustrate your points.
Include at least two references from your reading assignments, or other academic sources, to reinforce and support your own thoughts, ideas, and statements using APA citation style.

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Essay: Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Paper instructions
Write an essay (~1000 words) in which you provide a close reading and interpretation of a short passage (one paragraph or so) from Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl or Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. You should provide adequate contextualization (i.e. at what point in the narrative does your passage appear?) in order to set up your discussion, and your thesis should make an argument about the significance of the passage in terms of the book as a whole. You may quote other short passages from the book in order to back up your claims about your major passage. While you may select any passage from the text, keep in mind that a strong paper should do more than reiterate class discussion; therefore, I’d highly encourage you to choose a passage we have not discussed in class. Basically, the goal of this assignment is to demonstrate that you can do a careful, patient reading of a key section of a text; this task is the building block for any larger paper.
Your paper will be evaluated primarily according to the following criteria:
-Does the paper provide a thesis that sets up the work of the paper and explains the significance of the analysis?
-Is the thesis clear, arguable, specific, and original?
-Is the interpretation grounded in thorough close readings of individual passages?
-Does the paper move beyond summary and description to analysis and interpretation?
-Does the paper provide sufficient textual evidence to support its position?
-Does the paper integrate quoted and paraphrased material smoothly and effectively?
-Is the paper logically organized, with strong topic sentences and transitions between ideas?
-Is the paper stylistically smooth and easy to read, generally free of grammatical or mechanical errors?
-Does the paper provide a title that sets up the argument?
Papers should be typed, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins on all sides. Use a standard serif 12-pt font (such as Times New Roman). Consult the MLA Style Guide, available online or in the library, for any questions about grammar and style. Papers should be stapled, with your name and page number on each page. No plastic cover sheets, please.
Stick to the text; do not consult or cite any outside sources for this paper. Evidence of doing so will be considered a violation of academic integrity and will result in a failing grade. If you work with a peer or writing tutor, please ensure that both the phrasing and ideas are legitimately yours.

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Reflective Assignment

A. Reflective Assignment – competed in class:
Read “The Red Coat” by Weatherston (2002), and respond to the following reflective questions. 
1.    What did you find yourself thinking about as you read this case?
2.    What feelings were evoked as you read the case and what was it about the case that brought those feelings to light?
3.    As you read this case and imagine yourself doing this work with infants and families, where do you think you would struggle and what do you think you might need to learn?
4.    If you were the therapist on this case what strengths would you bring to the work – try to be specific about the strengths and how they might help the family?
5.    What do you think brought about the most change in the case? Explain your answer.

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Annotated Bibliography: technology

Assignment 1: Annotated Bibliography
CCT 320, Professor Alex Hanna
As we discussed in lecture, technology is very much tied up with the development
of nation-states, politics, and cultural identity.
Your goal in this assignment is to write an annotated bibliography of several
popular and scholarly articles which describe how a particular kind of technology
has had political and/or social change. You will have to pick and read four
academic articles and four popular (e.g. newspaper, magazine, blog) articles on
the topic.
By technology, I mean some kind of physical or cultural artifact which is the
practical application of knowledge. This is an intentionally broad definition which
allows you to have some latitude. As examples, we will discuss the technologies
of railways, newspapers, and the printing press in class.
For the purposes of this exercise, you need to select a technology. Examples of
technologies which you can use include the following:
• Television (or some subset thereof, e.g. broadcast news)
• Radio (or some subset thereof, e.g. top 40 radio)
• Movies (or the movie theater)
• The scientific method
• The heliocentric system
• The telescope
• The cotton gin
• The steam engine
• The microprocessor
• The FORTRAN programming language
• Antibiotics
• Hand washing
I advise you to avoid picking a technology which is somewhat recent (e.g. social
media, gene editing) because it can be years or even decades before societal-level
changes manifest a result of these technologies.
You will be looking for both scholarly and popular articles. Andrew Nicholson
from the UTM Libraries will be in class next week to present on how best to
find scholarly sources related to your topic. For popular articles, please look
for sources which are well-regarded publications. The Globe and Mail is a
reputable source. Breitbart, OccupyDemocrats, and other clickbait-y sites are
not. Also be careful when sourcing from a site like Medium, which publishes
both professionally-produced content as well as user-generated content.
Each annotation should be about 150-200 words long. Each should contain the
following: – A clear explanation of the technology under discussion – The political
1
or social change which occurred or is occurring as a result of the technology – A
clear reconstruction of the argument the author is making about the connection
between the technology and the change – An assessment on whether the article’s
argument is convincing
The annotated bibliography should follow proper APA style. You should write
out the citation to the article, followed by the annotation on the next line. An
example:
Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the
Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso Books.
This book is about the development of nationalism in the West.
There are multiple technologies under discussion. They include. . .

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Advanced Business Systems (ABS)

Assignment 1: Business Process and Functional Modeling
Advanced Business Systems (ABS) is a consulting and staffing company providing specialized staffing and consulting services to clients in a variety of different industries. It has offices in major U.S. metro areas and has ongoing relationships with Fortune 500 companies. Its areas of services range from software development and network engineering to geo-information systems. It has 50 plus regional offices in U.S. and five (5) offices in Canada. It plans to expand to other countries in the future.
When an ABS client company determines that it will need a contractor or temporary professional, it issues a staffing request against the contract it had previously negotiated with ABS. The contract manager in ABS reviews the staff request and ensures that the request is valid with its current contract with its client from the database.
If the request is not valid, the contract manager sends the staffing request back to the client and explains the reasons and asks for the need for starting a new contract.
If the request is valid, the contract manager will start recruiting requests by putting the request into its staffing database. The staffing request is then sent to ABS placement department.
In the placement department, the placement specialists will check the job requirements and candidate’s qualifications.
If there is a qualified candidate, the specialist will notify the candidate and put a note in the database.
If a qualified candidate cannot be found or not immediately available, the specialist notifies contract managers and the recruiting department; the recruiting department starts searching outside immediately.
The recruiting department normally has 30 days to find an outside candidate and send the qualified candidates to the placement department to review. If an internal qualified candidate is confirmed with  his / her availability, the confirmation will be sent to the arrangement department. In the arrangement department, the candidate works with the specialists to further confirm the placement details, such as starting date, location, compensation (e.g., per diem), and travel arrangement. The final confirmation will be sent to the client along with a billing schedule. If the client agrees with the arrangement, he/she acknowledges the arrangement with contract managers in the contract department. The contract manager then puts a memo into its database and closes the request.
Create a use-case diagram to include at least three (3) actors for the system described in this case through the use of graphical tools in Microsoft Word or Visio, or an open source alternative such as Dia. Note: The graphically depicted solution is not included in the required page length.
Create an activity diagram for the business process described in this case through the use of graphical tools in Microsoft Word or Visio, or an open source alternative such as Dia. Note: The graphically depicted solution is not included in the required page length.
Develop a use-case description for each major use case.
Verify and validate the functional models for this case.
Create a high-level requirements document which captures the major functions of the system.
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.
Include charts or diagrams created in Visio or Dia. The completed diagrams / charts must be imported into the Word document before the paper is submitted.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Procure, document, and scope IT project requirements with use cases.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in procuring and designing project requirements.
Write clearly and concisely about project requirements and design topics using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.
Click here to view the grading rubric.
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