Week 1
Project
Course Project: Organizational Behavior Perspectives
The course project has major assignments that will be due in
Weeks 3 and 5. It will take more than a week’s effort to adequately complete
them. Plan time to start the research and other work for those assignments
earlier than the week in which they are due.
Course Project Scenario
Your course project is to identify potential organizational
behavior problems and recommend solutions for an organization with which you
are familiar. All your weekly, written papers will be course project tasks.
Early in Week 1, identify an organization you would be
interested in studying. You will investigate the organizational behavior in
this organization and research best practice solutions for any problems you
observe. You may select your own organization, the organization of a family
member, or an organization that interests you. Be sure to review each week’s
assignments before selecting the organization to make sure you can locate
necessary information. Contact your instructor early in the week if you need
advice on your organizational selection. As much as possible, you should
utilize actual research and real data for your project. Occasionally, you may
fill in some details with hypothetical information. However, you are expected
to provide documentation (e.g., citations) throughout your work.
Each week, you will write on the topics identified in that
week’s reading, so note any information you find related to any of the
following topics:
Systems theory
Individual behavior
Communication
Change
Conflict
Motivation
Groups and teams
Making decisions
Organizational culture
Leadership
Week 1
Assume that the human resources department of your selected
organization has received disappointing results on a job motivation survey
administered to all employees at all levels. The results indicate that
employees reported lower-than-industry-average job motivation, and management
is concerned. Employee comments on the survey included the following:
My job is so boring!
My boss micromanages me but never tells me how I’m doing.
I’ve been in my position for fifteen years, but I am never
allowed to provide any input about making the work better.
You have been tasked with writing a paper that reviews the
theoretical perspectives relevant to the situation in your organization. In
particular, you are interested in systems theory and job motivation for this
week’s analysis.
Tasks:
Write a paper addressing the following:
Summary: Identify the organization you select and provide a
summary of it. What is it? What does it do? Cite research from a variety of
sources, including the company’s website, social media sites, company blogs,
industry and trade sources, and other sources. The summary should include the
organization’s products or services, customer or client base, areas of
operation or distribution, history, main competition, and current situation
(whether it is an industry leader, a start-up, or a well-established
corporation).
Analysis: Analyze the factors that affect job motivation and
the internal and external consequences of low job motivation. At this time, you
do not need to propose any solutions. Rather, you are using scholarly
literature and data (e.g., observations, discussions, events, outcomes,
reports, etc.) from your organization to analyze factors and consequences
related to job motivation.
Week 2
Project
Course Project: Change Management
The course project has major assignments that will be due in
Weeks 3 and 5. It will take more than a week’s effort to adequately complete
them. Plan time to start the research and other work for those assignments
earlier than the week in which they are due.
Change Management
Using the same organization that you selected in Week 1,
propose a change that your organization could implement that would aid it
strategically. The proposed change might relate to some area of need,
performance deficiency, or other opportunity that you observe in the
organization. Note: You will be proposing a change initiative related to
motivation in next week’s assignment. Accordingly, focus your change project
for this week’s paper in a direction other than motivation.
Write a paper addressing the following:
Describe the change that you propose and defend its benefits
to the organization.
Evaluate how the proposed change may affect various groups
of employees.
Assess the conflicts that might occur before, during, and
after the change, including why you anticipate these conflicts.
Defend at least three best practices to prevent or resolve
those conflicts.
Justify the channels of communication the organization
should use in implementing this change.
Week 3
Project
Course Project: Change for Motivation
The course project has major assignments that will be due in
Weeks 3 and 5. It will take more than a week’s effort to adequately complete
them. Plan time to start the research and other work for those assignments
earlier than the week in which they are due.
Use the same organization that you selected in Week 1.
Scenario:
Management has reviewed your work from two weeks ago about
how the employees’ low job motivation may affect the company internally and
externally and determined that there is sufficient evidence to support an
organizational change. It has asked you to recommend changes that will help to
boost employee job motivation.
Recall that a survey showed job motivation among employees
was lower than average, with complaints such as:
My job is so boring!
My boss micromanages me but never tells me how I’m doing.
I’ve been in my position for seven to fifteen years, but I
am never allowed to provide any input about making the work better.
Write a paper in which you:
Defend at least two organizational changes and explain how
these changes will improve job motivation in the workforce. Support your
recommendations by citing the theories covered in the readings or your own
research.
Assess potential conflicts that may arise due to the
changes, including why you anticipate these conflicts.
Justify a change implementation plan for leading the change
initiatives and helping the organization overcome any resistance to the
changes.
Justify an appropriate communication plan that announces the
changes and continues through the change management process.
Week 4
Project
Course Project: Team Building
The course project has major assignments that will be due in
Weeks 3 and 5. It will take more than a week’s effort to adequately complete
them. Plan time to start the research and other work for those assignments
earlier than the week in which they are due.
Continue to use the organization you selected for your final
project in Week 1. This week, you are being placed on a ten-person virtual
team. You decide that prior to the team getting started on the project, you
want to do some research that will help you identify ways to make your virtual
team most effective. You may need to create hypothetical details about the team
and its purpose on the basis of what you know of the organization you selected
for the final project.
On the basis of your research, write a paper addressing the
following:
Assess the purpose of the team (i.e., what is the project it
has been assigned?) and the contribution of key members to team purpose.
Analyze four to six potential problems that virtual teams
typically face. Is the hypothetical team you described susceptible to these
problems? What specific problems might it develop?
Justify four to six viable solutions to make your team
effective, including why these solutions will work.
Week 5
Project
Course Project: Leadership Training
It will take more than a week’s effort to adequately
complete this major assignment. Plan time to start the research and other work
for this assignment earlier than the week in which it is due.
The organization you selected in Week 1 is designing
training for all the managers at all levels. It wants to base the training on
one leadership theory.
Tasks:
Write a paper recommending a leadership theory. Address the
following:
Summarize key details about the organization and two or
three of the most important insights you have developed so far about the
organization during your course project. This one paragraph summary should
provide just enough information that someone who has not ready any of your
papers so far would have a brief background for understanding your project
organization.
Why do you believe your chosen leadership theory is the best
for your organization? What is your rationale? What research can you cite to
support your choice? What are the factors in your organization that make your
selected leadership theory the best choice?
How will using this theory positively impact the following
variables?
Managers’ behavior toward subordinates and its effect on
subordinates
Communication
Motivation of subordinates
Group and team behavior
Decision making
Culture
Be sure that you conduct the research necessary to support
your conclusions and cite your sources appropriately.
