Walden WMBA6040 2022 January Week 1 Assignment Latest

WMBA-6040B/MMSL-6645/WMBA-6040/MGMT-6645

WMBA6040 Improving Business Performance

Week 1 Assignment

Today’s Problems Come From Yesterday’s Thinking

Albert Einstein is credited with saying, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” This is as true in business as it is in science. Peter Senge (2006) describes this systemic phenomenon as “today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions” (p. 58). Solutions that attempt to solve the symptomatic cause tend to simply shift the problem from one part of the system to another. For example, imagine a company that finds that its product quality and delivery times are slipping, which results in a loss of sales. To counteract this loss, the company increases customer rebates. However, that countermeasure causes a spike in business that overwhelms its production team, which results in even lower product quality and more delayed deliveries.

As you develop your evaluation, be sure to include specific examples from Senge’s book as well as relevant citations from the Learning Resources, the Walden Library, and/or other appropriate academic sources to support your evaluation.

To prepare for this Assignment:

Review Chapter 1 and Chapter 4 of Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization and consider his premise that “today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions” (2006, p. 57).

Think back through your own work history to identify a situation that illustrates poor systems thinking at a current or former organization. Consider whether managers were applying yesterday’s solutions to a current problem.

Download the Week 1 Assignment Template.

By Day 7

Submit a 3- to 4-page evaluation (excluding title page and references) that addresses the following:

Briefly describe an organization with which you are familiar (this can be a current or former employer) and the example of poor systems thinking you observed at this organization.

Assess the core issues that you think led to this systems failure, including whether managers were using “yesterday’s thinking” to solve today’s problem.

Explain whether there might have been a different or better outcome if managers had understood the principle and the value that systems thinking can bring to an organization’s operations. Justify your explanation.

Refer to the Week 1 Assignment Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK1Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.

Click the Week 1 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.

Click the Week 1 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.

Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK1Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.

If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.

Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.