Author name: Rosemary Mosco

Signature Assignment: Crisis Management Plan

Signature Assignment: Crisis Management Plan

About Your Signature Assignment

Signature/Benchmark Assignments are designed to align with specific program student learning outcome(s) in your program. Program Student Learning Outcomes are broad statements that describe what students should know and be able to do upon completion of their degree. Signature/Benchmark Assignments are graded with a grading guide or an automated rubric that allows the University to collect data that can be aggregated across a location or college/school and used for course/program improvements.

Resource: Blossoms Up! Case Study

Most organizations face a disruption in their business continuity based on an “event” that creates a change in life cycle.

Coming into your new role, you recognize that a Crisis Management Plan has never been created for the company, Blossoms Up! In your last company, it experienced a business continuity disruption that had a severe impact on its financial standing, but an effective business continuity and crisis management plan significantly helped to respond quickly to the major issue and in an organized manner. This is one more area in which you can prove HR to be an important strategic partner.

For this assignment, you will focus on one of three main events that could happen to Blossoms Up!

  • Unexpected death of the CEO, Seth Smith
  • Negative media publicity–For example, a news story breaks out about a $500,000 sexual harassment claim filed against a high-ranking director
  • Strike–Upon possible unionization and a collective bargaining impasse, a strike occurs disrupting the company’s ability to harvest their products

You assess the three events that could cause Blossoms Up! to undergo business continuity disruption rising to a crisis state and decide to get to work on the one you think is most pressing and should be implemented now.

Research the Internet and University Library for information on crisis management plans and various templates.

Design a 1,050- to 1,400-word Crisis Management Plan to respond to the potential event determined to be the most pressing.

Include the following:

  • Evaluate which departments and people need to be a part of the crisis management team. Consider:
  • Prepare a policy statement that includes the legal and ethical standards for responding to the event. Avoid “no comment” or have your company appear uncooperative or secretive during a crisis situation.
  • Prepare clear, consistent, and tailored responses for all stakeholders and the media that includes the following:
    • State the scope of the crisis – local, regional, national or international.
    • Articulate policies and procedures affecting the crisis event.
    • Launch a cohesive and united response in support of the organization – one spokesperson, one person recognized and authorized to disseminate statements to the media, etc.
  • Evaluate human resource management solutions that will be implemented to address the organizational crisis.
  • Create answers to anticipated questions from the media.
  • Include a section for post-crisis review with an assessment tool to evaluate the crisis management plan response. List any follow-up communication or activities that may be needed to ensure that the current crisis has been appropriately addressed and that the potential for future crises in this area is reduced.

Write the plan in the third person voice.

Use headings to appropriately signal the topics and keep your document organized.

Include a minimum of two in-text citation sources and a Reference page based on APA formatting guidelines.

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Write and a 2 page paper evaluating your experience implementing mitigation and preparedness strategies

Write and a 2 page paper evaluating your experience implementing mitigation and preparedness strategies

Studies suggest that game-based learning can serve as a useful educational tool for teaching new concepts and ideas to various populations. For this assignment students will play the “Stop Disasters Game” and answer the questions asked below. The specific instructions for this assignment are as follows: Step 1: Go to the Stop Disaster Game website at: http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/en/playgame.html

Step 2: Play one of the 5 scenarios using the “Medium Difficulty” level.

Step 3: Write down what your mission is for the game. *You will need this for your evaluation of the game*

Step 4: Take a screen capture (CTRL + PrtScn, then paste into Word Doc) of your final score as proof you completed the game. Turn this in as the first page of your report. Step 5: Write and a 2 page paper (double-spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman, 1 inch margins) evaluating your experience implementing mitigation and preparedness strategies for the particular disaster scenario you played.

All detailed instructions are available on the attached file.This assignment is going through a plagiarism checker software (turnitin). So please make sure that it is a plagiarism free work. If any question come up, please let me know!

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Application: Case Study: Confidentiality, Privacy, and Privilege

Application: Case Study: Confidentiality, Privacy, and Privilege

(3- to 5-page paper)

In research, investigators must often collect data about very sensitive and private aspects of participants’ lives. In clinical work, psychology professionals are often privy to highly charged emotions and situations. In fact, due to the highly sensitive nature of their work, psychology professionals or those studying to be psychology professionals are often in morally ambiguous situations, or they may be working with individuals with conflicting demands, needs, or perceptions of what constitutes ethical behavior.

Concepts integral to the protection of information and individual rights include confidentiality, privacy, and privilege. These concepts often are used interchangeably, but they have distinct similarities and differences. It is imperative that psychology professionals fully understand their responsibilities related to each one. Failure to do so puts them at risk of violating trust-based relationships and may have significant ramifications.

For this Application, review the following Case Study:

You are conducting a study of resilience among families that have experienced domestic violence. You will meet with participants four times over a 1-year period, conducting numerous assessments of their psychological well-being and daily functioning in order to study patterns over time.

Maria is a 32-year-old Latina woman. She has volunteered herself and her daughter, Rosalinda (age 6) to participate in your study. Maria explains that she is separated from Rosalinda’s father, who has allegedly committed violent acts in the home. When Maria and Rosalinda came to the first data collection session, Maria read and signed an informed consent form while in the waiting room. The form was fairly standard, citing all the usual terms of and exceptions to confidentiality.

Over the course of the study, during the sessions, you begin to know both mother and daughter well. As you make your way through the daily functioning assessment interviews at the third session, Maria tells you that she has started to date again. Maria seems unusually anxious about finishing the interviews quickly. She watches the clock and interrupts you to confirm that she will be receiving the same $50 stipend that she received at the end of previous sessions. You also notice that Rosalinda’s distress symptoms appear to be getting worse. For example, she is extremely upset when Maria goes to the restroom and cannot be calmed for the rest of the session. However, you are not a clinician, so your impressions are based on your own personal experiences with children.

Shortly after Maria and Rosalinda leave, a man approaches your office and introduces himself as Maria’s husband. He appears to have followed them and wants to know what she and Rosalinda were doing in your office. He does not seem threatening in any way and seems quite civil and pleasant.

The Case Study allows you to apply ethics to real-life situations and demonstrate your understanding of the decision making needed to resolve such conflicts. It is rare for an ethical dilemma to involve only one issue, so you should take the time to reflect on the complications that present themselves in the situations described in the Case Study.

For this week’s Application, review the overview of the five ethical decision-making models that can be found in the Learning Resources section.

  • Koocher and Keith-Spiegel’s nine-step ethical decision-making model
  • Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists: The 10-step ethical decision-making process
  • Rest’s four-step ethical decision-making model
  • Jones’s four-step intensity-contingent ethical decision-making model
  • Fisher’s eight-step ethical decision-making model

For this week’s Application, submit by Day 7 a 3- to 5-page paper (including references) that includes the following:

  • An explanation of the ethical dilemmas you perceive to be involved in the Case Study.
  • A description of what you might do in response to the dilemma. Include the following in your explanation:
    • A step-by-step application of one of the decision-making models provided above.
    • An explanation of the possible outcomes for each individual in the Case Study.
    • An explanation of any benefits and limitations of the model you selected.

Week 4 Learning Resources

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This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all of this week’s assigned Learning Resources. To access select media resources, please use the media player below.

Required Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Readings

  • Fisher, C. B. (2017). Decoding the ethics code: A practical guide for psychologists (4th ed). California: Sage Publications, Inc.
    • Chapter 3, “The APA Ethics Code and Ethical Decision Making (pp. 31-53) (review for Case Study)
    • Chapter 7, “Standards on Privacy and Confidentiality” (pp. 172-202)
  • Bersoff, D. N. (2008). HIPAA: Federal regulation of healthcare records. In D. Bersoff, (Ed.), Ethical conflicts in psychology (4th ed.).(pp. 543–545). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
    Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
  • U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html
  • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (n. d.). Understanding health information privacy.Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/index.html

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Major Assignment 1

Major Assignment 1

Major Assignment 1: Overview: Developing a Research Topic for a Qualitative Study

Topic is barriers of special needs children face with being included in social activities

Developing an idea for a research study is a process, where a topic of interest or social problem gets translated into a research problem that can be explored using accepted systematic procedures for recruiting participants, collecting data, and analyzing and interpreting results.

In this week’s Discussion, you considered what you might want to study. In your first Major Assignment, you will have the first-hand experience of translating that idea into a viable research problem that is a good fit for a qualitative approach. But, before you begin this Assignment, please consider the following concepts:

  1. Ontology is defined as the assumptions one makes about the nature of reality. In qualitative studies, researchers assume that “reality” is constructed from personal experience and context.

    Example: If four people see a car accident from different points of view, they will see it differently depending on their position (context) and personal experience.

    So consider a topic where the experiences of participants will be one of your primary sources of data, and your “job” as a qualitative researcher is to do your best to understand your sources’ unique experiences.

  2. Epistemology is defined as the assumptions one makes about the relationship between the researcher and the object of study.

    Example: If the researcher collects survey data from an accident witness, it is different than if the researcher engages with the witness in person using an open-ended interview format.

    So, consider a topic where you will be able to be part of the data gathering experience, and that your “job” as a qualitative researcher is to distinguish your experience from your sources.

  3. A research problem emerges from an understanding of what prior research studies have found, and what, according to that body of literature, needs to be done next.

    Thus, before you commit to a topic for this Assignment, it is essential to review published research studies on your topic.

Overview

The purpose of this Major Assignment is for you to gain experience in taking a topic of your interest and considering it as a possibility for a qualitative research study.

Major Assignment 1 is composed of three parts, as described further in the Overview and Assignment Guidelines document. You will work on one part each week, so that you can submit your Assignment at the end of Week 4. Your Instructor will provide feedback by Week 6. By Week 8, you will revise your Assignment based on the feedback from your Instructor, and you will also submit the revised Assignment.

Part 1

  • Create a title page for your Major Assignment 1. Use the Major Assignment 1: Developing a Research Topic for a Qualitative Study Assignment Overview and Guidelines for proper formatting of your paper.
  • Write a problem statement based on your topic of study. Develop a 1- to 2-paragraph statement that is the result of a review of the articles you located on your topic.
    1. Briefly describe the phenomena you are interested in studying.
    2. Briefly summarize the key findings or what is understood about this phenomena based on the three articles you reviewed.
    3. Briefly identify the “gap”—what do you see as an important, relevant, next step in learning more about this topic that would be appropriate for a qualitative study.
  • Include your Annotated Bibliography section.

No Assignment submission for this week.

For this week’s Assignment:

  • Review the expectations of the Major Assignment 1: Developing a Research Topic for a Qualitative Study Overview and Guidelines. (Note: Make sure you review it in its entirety before you begin.)

Part 2

 

Submit your Major Assignment 1: Developing a Research Topic for a Qualitative Study by Day 7 of Week 4.

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Ravitch, S. M., & Carl, N. M. (2016). Qualitative research: Bridging the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

  • Chapter 4, “Design and Reflexivity in Data Collection” (pp. 111–144)
    • Table 4.3, “Purposeful Sampling Strategies” (pp. 129–137)

Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. S. (2012). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Patton, M. Q. (2015). Chapter 5, Module 30: Purposeful sampling and case selection: Overview of strategies and options. In Qualitative research and evaluation methods (4th ed., pp. 264–315). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods, 18(1), 59–82.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Mason, M. (2010). Sample size and saturation in PhD studies using qualitative interviews. Forum Qualitative Social Research Sozialforschung, 11(3).

Yob, I., & Brewer, P. (n.d.). Working toward the common good: An online university’s perspectives on social change, 1-25. (previously read in Week 1)

Document: Video Field Notes Guide (Word document)
Use this guide to help you as you take notes for your Scholar of Change video.

Required Media

Scholar of Change Video #4

Topper, C. (2014). Christin Topper, PhD student, bringing the natural world to Hong Kong [Video file].
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 2 minutes.
In this media program, Christin Topper discusses how she’s taking on “nature deficit disorder” in one of the world’s biggest cities. As you observe, take notes using the Video Field Notes Guide.

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