Diversity in the workplace

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OBHR Project #2 (Team Level Project)

Turning Experience into Future Value:

OBHR Cases and Lessons from Team Members

175 TOTAL POINTS

For this project, you will be working in randomly assigned teams of six (in some cases, five)

members. The deliverables will include: two mini case proposals, an intermediate deliverable, a

written team case learning book, a team power point presentation featuring your “benchmark case”, and individual peer evaluations. Note that the team work aspect of this project is not

optional. Failing to work with your team members will result in a 25 point deduction for this project. In order to receive a grade, you will need to fulfill all project requirements on your

own.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES: 1) To acquire and practice virtual teamwork skills 2) To recognize and assess organizational behavior and human resource topics in “real

world” settings 3) To share OBHR-relevant learning from participants’ career experiences 4) To enhance discussion of OBHR topics between team members who already hold managerial

responsibilities and those members who will in the future 5) To further develop analytical, research, and professional writing and presentation skills ASSIGNMENT:

1) INDIVIDUAL PREPARATORY WORK

EACH INDIVIDUAL, will write two single-spaced ½ -page “mini-proposals” describing

personal case study situations worthy of “benchmark” learning in OBHR. Examples of mini-

proposals from former students will be posted under “Additional Module Materials” in

Blackboard. Both proposals will be submitted to the team for review and consideration for

further development. These can be written in an informal style and without formatting. Note:

The two proposals from each team member are not directly submitted to Blackboard for

grading. However, they will be included in the Appendix of the final team case learning book

at the end of the project and have an impact on the grade on that deliverable.

MINI PROPOSAL GUIDANCE: Based on your work experience either with your current

organization or a previous employer, write short descriptions of two incidents involving real

people, systems, and/or events that you believe are relevant to the course material and worthy

of sharing with others on your team and the instructor. Each incident should be sufficiently

compelling to deserve further analysis by the team from the perspective of OBHR models,

principles, and practices. At this point, you only need to provide a brief case synopsis of the

incident and a brief statement of what you believe to be its potential learning value – with

regard to OBHR topics. Be sure to list several OBHR topics that could be discussed in

conjunction with the case. It helps to take a brief look through your text and other relevant

resources for ideas.

Words of Advice: When choosing the OBHR topics to “match” your case scenarios, please

do not focus on the theoretical OBHR topics of EVP or organizational culture. By the time

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we complete this project in this course, both of these topics should be very familiar to you.

Also, some scenarios will clearly have both an OBHR and an ethical relevance. This is fine, but be sure to choose OBHR theories and concepts for your theoretical analysis, not ethics

theories. Your Ethics class is just around the corner in the program!

2) PHASE I TEAMWORK

1) As soon as teams are assigned, introduce yourself in your “Team Space”. Then, write your mini-proposals and submit them to the Team Space (via file exchange). These steps should be completed as soon as possible once your teams have been assigned.

2) Ideally, the team will meet (via their team AdobeConnect room) for the first time after

all members have submitted mini-proposals and then get to know each other. Members

will discuss the “merits” – OBHR relevance and potential learning value – for each case

proposal submitted by each team member.

3) Each team member should decide to develop only one of his/her own mini-proposals, and the team should assign case writing pairs for further development and analysis.

The way that these pairing decisions are made are entirely up to the team. Teams in

the past have often decided on pairs based on the similarity of topics or based on the

comments they left about their jobs and industries in the team space discussion board.

(Only) in teams in which there is an odd number of members, one triad (3 members)

must be formed. 3) CASE WRITING PAIRS COMPLETE INTERMEDIATE DELIVERABLE

(Point value = 50)

MEMBERS OF THE CASE WRITING PAIR (OR TRIAD) WORK TOGETHER TO

develop the original ½ page proposals into finished cases with corresponding analyses.

THIS MEANS EACH MEMBER OF THE CASE WRITING PAIR OR TRIAD will work

on his or her own paper that fulfills the objectives below. However, the same grade will be

assigned to both members of the Case Writing Pair (or Triad). The grade is not an average

of the scores. For this reason, it is important that partners work together and help develop

each other’s work to the highest level of excellence.

Each case developed by the Case Writing Pair should be 4 - 6 double-spaced pages and

include:

1) A formal introduction including the basic details of the case, the relevant organization,

and the role that the author played in the situation. It is appropriate to write in either the first

person or third person at this stage in the project. In the introduction, be sure to include

mention of the topics to be covered in the rest of the project paper (scope).

2) Objective 1- Case: Provide full description of the case/incident with sufficient detail so

that another reader will fully understand what took place and what is at issue from an

OBHR perspective. Be sure to separate your case description from your theoretical analysis.

3) Objective 2 - Analysis: Using both internal courses and other external sources as a

foundation, provide a summary of what the writers considered to be the “wrongs” and “rights”

with regard to OBHR theories and practices. Depending on the individual case, this usual means

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that the author describes how the case does not correspond to the theory (“wrongs”) and then

how the details of the case do correspond to the theory (“rights”). At this point in the project,

members will want to focus on about three to five relevant OBHR topics.

4) Objective 3 – Summary and learning potential: A clear and general summary of what can

be learned from the case that will be of value to others. This means you will need to step

outside of the situation and think about how the lessons of the case could apply to those in

similar situations.

 INTERMEDIATE DELIVERABLE: The two separate papers (each covering all of

the objectives above) submitted by a Case Writing Pair (three in the case of a triad)

constitute the intermediate deliverable for this team project. They should be submitted a)

to the team via the Team Space for further consideration AND b) together in one

document to the instructor for grading.

o The deliverable (including both papers) is worth 50 points.

o The intermediate deliverable should consist of one document that contains both/

all three of the papers from each member of the Case Writing Pair (or Triad).

o The same grade will be assigned to each member of the Case Writing Pair (or

Triad). The grade is not an average of the two scores. For this reason, it is

important that partners work together and help develop each other’s work to

the highest level of excellence.

o Intermediate deliverables (by pairs/triads) must be combined into one

file, but submitted individually by each individual of the pair or triad via

Blackboard.

o These should be turned in using the following format:

 Title page with names of both (all three) students working together and a common title for individual deliverable. You can include this common title in the running header.

 Title page of Student #1

 Student #1 case

 Student #1 references

 Title page of Student #2

 Student #2 case

 Student #2 references

PLEASE SEE the Project Intermediate Deliverable Grading Rubric under “Additional

Module Materials”.

4) PHASE II TEAMWORK (Point value = 50) – Preparation of the Team Case Learning Book.

EACH MEMBER reads all of the intermediate proposals that have been submitted.

MEMBERS OF THE FULL TEAM MEET AND WORK TOGETHER TO:

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Review and discuss all cases submitted by the Writing Pairs/Triads. Select a signal case from all

submissions which the team believes is the MOST SIGNIFICANT in terms of OBHR

CONTENT AND LEARNING VALUE. This selection will be called the team’s “Benchmark

Case” and it will be used as a basis for an in-depth OBHR analysis. Please note that changes only

need to be made to the case that will become the benchmark case. All other intermediate cases

can be left as originally submitted for grading. These will be submitted in the appendices of the

final document (see below).

Within a written case document:

1) Provide an introduction letting the reader know the focus of this document. In this

section, you should briefly introduce the organization, the actors as well as which

role the main observer (original author) plays, and OBHR topics that you will be

discussing. At this point, you should be writing in the third-person, as this is now the

team’s case. This should be no longer than 1 page in length.

2) As a team, discuss and debate the details of the Benchmark Case as originally

presented as an intermediate deliverable. Update, fill out, further specify, and edit the

case details in consultation with the Case Writing Team to put it into final form. The

case details should be explained in no more than 3 double-spaced pages in length.

Based on your team discussion, you need to develop the case here as it

aligns to your chosen theory – do not simply copy and paste from the

intermediate deliverable.

3) Analyze the team’s benchmark case to specifically identify how it illustrates the

importance of one or two key OBHR concepts or theories and their practical

applications. Keep in mind that the team’s decision regarding the theory may vary

from the theory focused on at the intermediate deliverable stage. The research should

provide more detailed discussion for the concepts or theories rather than a brief

discussion of “wrongs” and “rights” (which was the case for the intermediate

deliverable). Write up the highlights of the team analysis in no more than 3 double-

spaced pages in length.

4) Identify specific and valuable OBHR lessons that other members of the course

and the instructor can learn from the team’s benchmark case. Write up a summary of

these lessons in no more than 1 double-spaced page.

Compile your team’s final benchmark case as well as all original cases from your team’s case

writing pairs or triads (Appendix A) and your individual mini-proposals (Appendix B) into a

written Team Case Learning Book. Your “book” should contain the following components

presented in this order:

 Title page - including title and names of all contributing team members.

 Introduction to benchmark case document (You do not need an Abstract for this project)

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 Benchmark Case – including full details and description.

 OBHR Analysis of Benchmark Case – including citations for additional source materials.

 Conclusion: Summary of OBHR Lessons Learned from the Benchmark Case.

 Appendix A – ALL intermediate cases submitted by Case Writing Pairs/Triads. Please put the intermediate deliverable from which the benchmark case was developed FIRST.

 Appendix B – ALL mini-proposals originally submitted by each team member (2 each).

Format Note – Be sure to use APA formatting style and a professional writing style.

GRADING CRITERIA:

 OBHR relevant substance of case

 Analysis of case using OBHR models, concepts, and practices

 Learning value of case for students of OBHR  Professionalism – including writing style and

quality Impact – overall impact of case on reader

PLEASE SEE the Team Case Learning Book Grading Rubric under “Additional

Module Materials”.

5) PHASE III TEAMWORK (Point value = 50) – Preparation of the Benchmark Case PowerPoint Presentation.

PREPARE AND SUBMIT A POWER POINT PRESENTATION INCLUDING

NOTES PAGES THAT:

1) Summarizes the “major details” of your Benchmark Case

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2) Justifies your case selection

Please note that this is a unique requirement of the presentation.

3) Highlights key points in your OBHR analysis of the case

4) Identifies significant OBHR lessons learned from your case

Format Note – Maximum length of 10 slides, presented in “Notes” format with substantial

supplementary information, and covering all required elements identified above.

GRADING CRITERIA:

 OBHR substance of justification

 Analysis highlights

 Learning value (lessons learned)

 Professionalism in slide selection and visuals

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 Content presentation and correspondence with case book

 Use of notes pages

 Overall impact on viewer

PLEASE SEE the Benchmark Presentation Grading Rubric under “Additional

Module Materials”.

6) PEER EVALUATIONS OF TEAMWORK CONTRIBUTIONS (Point value = 25).

Peer evaluations are required of each student directly following submission of the final project deliverables. You will be asked to assess each team member on both his or her task maintenance – or what he or she contributed to the actual task – and also on team maintenance – or the extent to

which he or she helped the team to successfully function as a working unit. Your peer evaluation

score will be the added raw average of your team members’ ratings of you on a 10 point scale for

each of these. You will receive 5 points for completing the peer evaluations for your team members.

You will be informed of the process for completing peer evaluations before the completion

of Project 2 during the VOH.

FINAL PROJECT 2 GRADE BREAKDOWN:

50 Points - Intermediate Deliverable of cases from Case Writing Pairs

50 Points – Team Learning Case Book

50 Points – The Benchmark Case Presentation

25 Points – Peer Evaluations of individual teamwork contributions

FINAL REMINDERS: Please submit all deliverables by the indicated due dates in the course schedule. All of your

work and your team member’s work in this course must be original.

Do not copy anyone else’s material and represent it as your own. For purposes of all work in this course, “plagiarism” is defined as 13 consecutive words, a complete sentence, or a major idea taken from a source without citation. Anything cut and pasted without quotation marks and citation is plagiarism. Only one member must submit the final presentation and the final team case learning book for each team. Blackboard has links at the team level that will recognize the submission for each of you on the team.