Management Concepts Final Research Paper

Guidelines for the Final Paper

You must follow the format below for your final project paper:

Title: The title is a concise statement of the subject of the paper.

Abstract: The abstract is an "executive overview" of your paper. It should be a 150–250 word summary that would be appropriate to give your manager so that he/she would know the essence of your project paper without reading the paper in its entirety.

Table of Contents: In this section, list each section of your paper, with the page number. The list should include:

· Tables and figures, if you included more than two

· Appendices, if included

· Reference section listing sources used

Section I. General description of the enterprise and its environment: Discuss the organization's legal name, its form of ownership, its management and reporting structures, its workforce size and demographics, its products and services, its location(s) and layout of facilities, its important resources and technologies, its competitors, its customers and clients, and any other information necessary to make the operating environment clear to your reader.

Section II. Description of managerial functions: For each of the four management functions below, give a detailed description of the issues this organization faces and the procedures its managers use to deal with those issues.

A. Planning: This function includes defining the organization's goals, establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals, and developing plans to coordinate the activities. In this organization, what must managers plan for? (Consider products, personnel, inventories, financing, facilities, advertising, seasonal demand, etc.) What information and procedures do they utilize to do this planning? Who is involved?

B. Organizing: This function includes determining what tasks must be done to meet the goals, how the tasks are to be grouped into jobs, who is to do them, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made. It also includes the location and layout of facilities and equipment. In this organization, what issues must managers consider when they design their structures of people and facilities? How have they chosen to delegate authority? In this section be sure to demonstrate your understanding of the six basic elements of organization structure.

C. Leading: This function includes the tasks of communication, motivation, and conflict resolution. In this organization, how are leaders identified, recruited, selected, trained, developed, and supported? How is the workforce motivated? How are performance appraisals used? How do leaders communicate? How are conflicts resolved? What disciplinary structures do they use?

D. Controlling: This function includes monitoring activities to ensure that they are being accomplished as planned and correcting any significant deviations from the plans. In this organization, what parameters must be monitored (sales levels, inventory, productivity, employee satisfaction, morale, turnover, expenses, etc.) to ensure the firm's success? What control tools and procedures do they utilize?

Section III. Analysis and Recommendations:

Using information from the course materials, class discussions, other business courses, and additional research, analyze the management practices employed by this organization as you have described them in Section II. Comment specifically on their fulfillment of the three goals of effectiveness, efficiency, and stakeholder satisfaction. Make at least three recommendations for improving this organization's operations and/or work environment. For each recommendation you make, discuss the potential benefits that could be expected from making the changes you suggest. Support your recommendations with research that is cited and referenced in the work.

Conclusion: Recap the main highlights of your paper and reiterate the benefits of acting upon your three recommendations.

References: Be sure that you support the information presented with appropriate references. It is important that all references and quotes are cited correctly. All sources, including websites, need to be cited and referenced in APA style. 

Appendices: If you will be including tables, charts, figures, etc., include a separate sheet and title for each appendix.

More Key Points:

Keep in mind that all accepted rules of English composition apply. Papers must be typed or word-processed, be double-spaced, and have standard margins (1 inch on each side). The length of the paper is not the primary measure of the quality of the paper. A paper of 40–50 pages is probably too long for the purposes of this course. On the other hand, the purpose of this assignment cannot be properly satisfied in a paper of only 5 pages! As a guideline, you will probably need 8-10 pages to present your research adequately.

Be sure that you cite all references and quotes correctly; all sources used must be referenced in the Reference section.