Leadership and Organizational Behavior in Action
Objective
Research shows that people learn effectively when working on real problems grounded in their work experience. To this end, the Individual Course Project is designed to incorporate students’ work experience into the learning process in this course.
The project is an opportunity to explore, in-depth, a topic related to the course objectives (COs) that are of significance to your organization (current or former).
You will be required to prepare an 8 to 12 page applied research paper excluding cover page, table of contents, and appendices, on a specific issue related to leadership or organizational behavior. This research paper is to be individually completed.
Guidelines
TOPIC SELECTION (DUE IN WEEK 2)
- Select a specific organization of interest to you and identify a problem at the firm related to organizational behavior (OB). This maybe an organization where you currently serve or one where you have served.
- Think of yourself as an organizational consultant. Assume that a key manager has requested a thorough analysis and recommended course of action to resolve an actual organizational problem. Your goal is to develop recommendations that will make a positive difference to the performance of the organization.
- Your research paper should address the following three course objectives, at a minimum:
- Course Objective A – Evaluate how organizational theories and practices can improve organizational operations.
- Course Objective B – Analyze how values, attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and personality influence decision making in the workplace.
- Course Objective D – Analyze the impact of different structures and lines of authority on organizational strategy and culture.
Requirements
PAPER FORMAT
- All papers should be double spaced, using an 11- or 12-point font. Refer to the APA Style Sheet for additional information.
- The length of the paper is to be between 8 to 12 pages, not counting the cover page, table of contents, nor appendices.
- The first page should include the title of the work, student name, course number and title, date, and professor name.
- The second page should be a table of contents. It should, at a minimum, reflect the seven items listed in the Grading Rubric.
- Follow APA style for general format and citations (see the APA Guidelines Tutorial in the Syllabus).
- The paper sections must adhere to the guidelines below, and each section must be labeled in the text.
- The language should be clear, concise, and precise.
- The tone should be professional, consistent, and not filled with jargon.
- Grammar and syntax (sentence structure) must be correct.
- The report must be free of misspellings and typos.
TABLE AND FIGURES
- All figures and tables must be referred to in your text before they appear on the page.
- Figures and tables should appear on the same page as, or the page after, the text that refers to them.
- All figures and tables need captions. Captions go below figures and above tables
- Quotations and Citations
- Quotations and citations are crucial components of a research paper and must be present.
- Failure to properly cite research sources and borrowed ideas is plagiarism.
- Refer to the APA style guide for assistance with properly citing quoted or borrowed materials and ideas.
- Turnitin (see Turnitin.com) is used on all reports and projects. A report can be obtained for your review prior to submitting your final work. Make sure that you are in compliance with the University’s 20/80 rule.
do you know what to do for this assignment
- Framework papers are research papers that are typically used as a basis for additional exploration of specific topics in a larger study. A framework paper introduces and further explains a specific aspect of the study while also furthering an explanation of the main research question. During week’s 4, 5 and 6, you will be assigned specific topics to continue your research and to further explore. Your individual weekly papers should demonstrate an understanding of the background theories and concepts from within our course that is relevant to your topic.
- How to get started? Research your topic – Research it a great deal using the DeVry Library and/or any other academic library. Further, review all of the course material as well as the relevant research (typically journal articles) that help explore and study the organizational research problem you are studying.
- What is the overall purpose of a framework paper? Essentially, the purpose of a framework paper should be to explain the meaning and the challenges of the organizational problem as well as continue building on the body of knowledge as the beginning of plausible (and possible) solutions to ultimately help benefit the organization being studied.
- Steps to consider when drafting your Framework Paper:
- Review your (preliminary) research paper title and your research question.
- Review all research articles and information that you have found, so far.
- Review the course information paying particular attention to the relevant theories that address the week’s topic/question.
- Discuss and present the assumptions that relate to the theory or theories.
- Include the relevance to your research and topic. Be sure to explain why and how this is important to consider and discuss.
- For each weekly Framework Paper, include the following sections.
- Introduction
- Preliminary statement of the problem
- Detailed explanation of how this helps answer the stated research question
- Discuss and present the assumptions that relate to the theory or theories.
- Include the relevance to your research and topic. Be sure to explain why and how this is important to consider and discuss.
- What additional research is suggested by this information? Which solutions are suggested? Why? Do they appear valid? Relevant? How can you tell?
- Conclusions
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