Your team will examine an actual organization of your choice. You will identify issues within the corporate culture, or a problem/set of problems, diagnose the problem(s), and recommend a solution(s).
The main objectives of the project is to provide students with an opportunity to:
Develop an in-depth understanding of an organization through case research.
Develop consultancy skills in data gathering, analysis, and communication.
Two Issues: The first issue is to analyze the leadership in the organization you selected (because no solution you come up with is sustainable without addressing leadership issues!). In addition to leadership (issue 1), the focus of the paper can be any other organizational behavior issue (e.g., personality, motivation, group processes, power and politics, organizational culture). This will be issue 2. Teams should seek approval from of their choice of organization, and problems on which they will be focusing.
Sources: Where will you find information on your organization of choice? The possibilities include personal work experience, interviews with members of an organization, questionnaires, observations of workplace behavior, analysis of organizational documents, trade journals, academic journals, local newspapers, and the business press (e.g., Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, Wall Street Journal). Do not, however, use a pre-packaged case (e.g., from a textbook or casebook). If there is a concern about the confidentiality of the selected company, it is okay to use a fictitious name. Also, sources must be cited carefully, and plagiarism could result in a failing grade and possible disciplinary action (for all team members).
Paper structure: The paper should be written using APA format, 10-12 pages (not including title page, appendices, and references), and should consist of the following sections presented under headings:
Introduction (5%)
Identify and describe the organization under study.
Why was this particular organization selected?
What was the goal in doing so?
What were the anticipated findings in relation to how leadership relates to the OB issue? (What is your hypothesis?)
Methodology (20%)
How did you obtain the information necessary for this project?
Why was this method chosen?
Did you use interviews (with whom)? Surveys (with whom)?
Where did you get the survey or interview questions from (a scholarly journal article maybe)? Attach interview/surveys if used.
If you made observations, what did you look for? What days/times?
How many organizational sites did you visit?
How many and what type of employees were included (characteristics of your sample)?
Ethical considerations? (Was participation voluntary? Could people respond anonymously?)
Organization and Analysis (40%)
Based on your findings, describe the leadership (issue 1 for background).
Then, discuss the key OB issue(s) that were identified (issue 2 for examining the hypothesis)
Use course material apply theories/concepts – to describe issues/problems identified.
The more rigorous and insightful your analysis is, the better.
Try to use scholarly references to justify points.
How does the organization compare with others in the industry, in terms of culture and the OB issue identified?
Recommendations (30%)
In this section, alternative action steps that relate specifically to the problems/issues identified in the project should be discussed and weighted.
Relative advantages/disadvantages for each course of action should also be discussed (extra reading may help with this section – try to use references to justify points).
Finally, specific recommendations and/or implementation plan(s) with respect to how leadership can address the problem areas identified must be described (use course concepts and theories to justify choices).
Conclusion (5%)
Students should summarize what they learned about leadership and OB issues from the project (insights), and draw relevant conclusions. Was the hypothesis supported by the findings? Why/why not?
Cite Sources (including the text book, plus journal articles, etc.)
Please use APA style.
Please note, the prompts above are provided to get you thinking about how you will conduct your own research. Do not include my prompts in your finished paper.
OB Solutions Project Technical Requirements
Students will work in teams of 3-6 (instructors discretion), to investigate, develop/write and submit the research project. This OB Solutions Project will be developed in APA format, and will include: (1) a title page, (2) the items listed in A-D above, and (3) a list of references. An abstract is not required.
The OB Solutions Project grading checklist/rubric is provided below.
The OB Solutions Project should take the form of a 10-12 page paper, not including title page and references. Be sure to follow APA (6th ed.) format, including: appropriate title page header, title, author(s) and course information; page 2 header, title on first line, and content written in paragraph form. References cited will be presented in APA format on a separate page, following the conclusion.
To ensure proper content and quality, a minimum of 2 peer-reviewed journal articles and your textbook must be included in the references, and to the extent possible, the majority of your sources should be less than ten years old. In addition to content issues, points will be deducted for readability issues, punctuation, spelling, appearance and format. See rubric for additional guidance.
The paper must be typed, double-spaced, using 12 point Times New Roman font. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.) will be used as the reference regarding format issues.
