Consider the two individuals in the following scenario:

Roger works for a business software firm and is passionate about his work. He is committed to delivering high-quality software solutions on schedule. He maintains a precise and accurate project schedule with meticulously detailed documentation of product design specifications and processes. Roger’s subordinates never have to guess about expectations. When the rigorous quality assurance process uncovers a problem, Roger can proceed largely unfazed. He knows the capabilities of the developers on his team so well that he knows exactly who to assign to fix the issue. He is quick to offer encouragement and guidance when needed. Roger’s team is productive and happy.
Linda works at the same company as Roger. She closely monitors industry trends. She is watching the rapid rise of mobile computing and sees competitors introducing new mobile applications with rapid speed. The company has yet to attempt to design software for a mobile platform, but she knows that the company can be competitive in the industry if it makes changes quickly. She is working hard to gain support from members of the executive board and is planning a kickoff meeting for the employees to announce the company’s entry into the new market. She wants to make certain the employees see the change as a great opportunity and know that training will be available. She already has the company’s first mobile project and an ideal timetable in mind. She is anxious to hit the ground running.

What are the roles of the individuals in the above scenarios? Are they managers, leaders, or both? What distinguishes management from leadership and managers from leaders? The nature of the relationship between leadership and management remains a topic of debate among scholars. The debate provides insight into the definition of leadership and offers a suitable avenue for beginning an in-depth exploration of the topic of leadership.

To prepare for this Assignment, consider the similarities and differences between leadership and management.

By Day 7

Submit a 3- to 4-page analysis of the differences between leadership and management. In your analysis, do the following:

• Evaluate the two scenarios by answering the following questions:
  • What are the roles of the individuals in the scenarios?
  • Are they managers, leaders, or both?
  • What distinguishes management from leadership and managers from leaders?
• Analyze the similarities and differences between leadership and management.
• Support your work with a minimum of two specific citations per page from this week’s Learning Resources and/or additional scholarly sources. These may include specific media examples of leadership behavior and other relevant organizational information.

Latham, J. R. (2013). A framework for leading the transformation to performance excellence part I: CEO perspectives on forces, facilitators, and strategic leadership systems. Quality Management Journal, 20(2), 12–33.

Saxena, S. (2014). Are transformational leaders creative and creative leaders transformational? An attempted synthesis through the Big Five Factor Model of personality lens. Aweshkar Research Journal, 18(2), 30–51.

Assignment 1: Description of Research Methodology

In this assignment, you will write an essay about the research methods and ethical implications of a social psychology study. You will get information about the study from one of the entries in the SPARQ “Solutions Catalog”, which is a web site maintained by Stanford University at https://sparq.stanford.edu/solutions?&&. SPARQ is an acronym for “Social Psychological Answers to Real-world Questions.” Each entry in the Solutions Catalog names a problem, and then offers a solution to that problem, based on a research study in social psychology.

To keep this assignment short and manageable, your only sources for this assignment should be from the SPARQ site and your course materials, such as your textbook. There is no need for you to cite any of the course materials. Therefore, no additional citations or references are needed, beyond those from the SPARQ site.

In this exercise, you will choose one of the entries in the SPARC site, and then write a two to three (2-3) page paper that meets the following requirements.

1. Begin your paper with a short introductory statement that clearly identifies the article from the SPARQ site that you are using, as well as the corresponding research article. Model your statement after the following example:

The article I selected from the SPARQ website is entitled “Boost Grades by Reframing Failures” (Wilson, n.d.), which summarizes a research article (Wilson & Linville, 1982) on the topic.

• • • Please note that there are two APA “in-text citations” in this example. The first citation “(Wilson, n.d.)” is an in-text citation for the SPARQ article. The SPARQ articles are undated, which means that there is no date of publication reported. The “n.d.” designation is an abbreviation for “no date”.

• • • The second citation “(Wilson & Linville, 1982)”, is an in-text citation to the original research article. We are asking you to cite this paper for practice in using APA, but are not requiring you to read the original paper. Normally, you should cite only those articles that you actually read and used, but we’re making an exception here for the purposes of practice.

1. Briefly summarize the main details of your chosen social psychology research study. Identify the main research method(s) used in the study (e.g., case study, experiment, observation, etc.).
2. Explain whether or not you believe the research methodology that the researchers used in the study was the most appropriate for the study. Provide a rationale for your response.
3. Discuss whether or not you believe the research methodology used in the study is the one (1) method that provides researchers with the most information in general. Explain the main reasons why or why not.
4. Explain the major ethical implications of the selected study (e.g., informed consent, debriefing, etc.). Describe the main reasons why you believe the study was or was not ethical. Provide a rationale for your response.
5. The final section of your paper will be a reference section that contains a corresponding reference for both of the in-text citations in your introductory statement (see point #1, above). In APA-style citations, in-text citations must match up with a reference in the reference section. You can model your reference section after the following:

Wilson, T. D. (n.d.). Boost grades by reframing failures. Retrieved from https://sparq.stanford.edu/solutions/boost-grades-… Wilson, T. D. & Linville, P.W. (1982). Improving the academic performance of college freshmen: attribution therapy revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42 (2), 367-376.

• • • These examples follow the APA conventions for an Internet article, and a professional journal article, respectively.

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. 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.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Describe research methods that are used for studying social psychology.
• Develop an increased understanding of the dynamic between society and individuals.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in social psychology.
• Write clearly and concisely about social psychology using proper grammar and mechanics.

Click here to view the grading rubric.

For this part of the course project, you will demonstrate your ability to illustrate the functions and impact of banking and monetary institutions and to provide a recommendation guided by them.
In your role as a financial advisor at Eagle Consulting, you are performing a complete financial analysis for Melinda Jacobsen, a successful business executive who is retiring in 10 years. A portion of this analysis covers the question of whether Ms. Jacobsen should refinance her home in order to provide additional funding for a long-term retirement investment.
Because “above and beyond” customer service is critical to the success of Eagle Consulting, in addition to providing a recommendation on possible refinancing options, you want to provide Ms. Jacobsen with some background information on the Federal Reserve and how it affects interest rates.
Using the information about Melinda Jacobsen’s goals and the information you uncover during your research, you will write a recommendation document that explains the Federal Reserve, how the Federal Reserve affects interest rates, possible loan options, and a final recommendation for what loan she should choose.
To complete this assignment, do the following:
Download and read the Eagle Consulting Info Sheet.
Write a 3 page recommendation structured in three parts:
Explanation of how the Federal Reserve impacts interest rates (1.5 pages)
Explanation of loan options (1 page + Excel chart)
Recommendation for a loan (.5 page)
See below for details on each of the three parts.
Part 1: Federal Reserve’s Impact on Interest Rates
Discuss how the Federal Reserve uses the following tools to impact interest rates and the economy:
Open market operations
Discount rate
Reserve requirements
Part 2: Loan Options
Research the current mortgage interest rates for a 10-year, 15-year, 20-year, and 30-year loan.
In Excel, graph the interest rates using years as the X-axis and interest rates as the Y-axis.
Using the graph, describe the following:
Type of yield curve presented in the graph
Relationship between interest rates and number of years to maturity
Impact that risk and inflation has on the interest rates as the maturity date is lengthened
Part 3: Recommendation
Make a recommendation to Ms. Jacobsen on what mortgage loan to take (10-year, 15-year, 20-year, or 30-year).
Justify your recommendation.
If you need assistance with using Microsoft Word or Excel, please visit the Video Tutorials page in the Course Materials folder.
Submit these files as a single zipped “.zip” file to the drop box below. For more information about zipped files, please see the Technical Requirements page located on the Resources tab. Please check the Course Calendar for specific due dates.
The name of the file should be your first initial and last name, followed by an underscore and the name of the assignment, and an underscore and the date. (Mac users, please remember to append the “.zip” extension to the filename.) An example is shown below: