750 words First draft. Due within 8 hrs from now.

SPEA-V 236 Managing and Leading Organizations Fall 2018

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Paper Proposal Assignment (20% of Final Grade) This assignment asks you to apply one topic from the course to attempt to solve a specific problem that exists in an organization with which you are familiar. The assignment consists of a paper proposal, first draft, and final draft, which are due at different dates during the course of semester.

• The organizational problem should center on a job performance issue or an organizational commitment issue, or another issue that is an integral part of OB. In other words, ask yourself whether the organization has any employee or behavioral problems, or whether the problems it faces have any impact on employees. What is important to understand is that OB cannot help create a better marketing strategy, develop a product or service more efficiently, or create a more financially viable organization (in the short-term at least). So, your problem should focus on something that affects employees, their performance, commitment, motivation, or something related that OB can help with. Or, in more pictorial terms, think about where your organizational problem fits in the integrative roadmap:

SPEA-V 236 Managing and Leading Organizations Fall 2018

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• Your final paper can focus on either a current or past employer of yours, or some other company with which you have significant familiarity. What’s needed is some knowledge of the inner workings of the company--its struggles, its strengths, its climate, and so forth. In other words, your experience with the organization should not be as a recipient of their goods or services, but rather as an employee. If you do not personal experience with an organization, reach out to friends, family, and significant others that have employment experience.

• The final paper should be 1000 words in length (all inclusive). • Choose from among the following topics as the focus on your paper:

o Value-percept theory: a theory that argues that job satisfaction depends on whether the employee perceives that his or her job supplies those things that he or she values (p. 94-103, Chapter 4).

o Job characteristics theory: a theory that argues that five core characteristics (variety, identity, significance, autonomy, and feedback) combine to result in high levels of satisfaction with the work itself (p. 100-103, Chapter 4).

o Challenge stressors: stressors that tend to be appraised as opportunities for growth and achievement (p. 128, Chapter 5), or hindrance stressors: stressors that tend to be appraised as thwarting progress toward growth and achievement (p.128, Chapter 5).

o Expectancy theory: a motivational theory that describes the cognitive process employees go through to make choices among different voluntary responses (p. 164-170, Chapter 6).

o Goal setting theory: a motivational theory that views goals as the primary drivers of the intensity and persistence of effort (p. 170-173, Chapter 6).

o Equity theory: a motivational theory that suggests that employees create a mental ledger of the outcomes they receive for their job inputs, relative to some comparison other (p. 174, Chapter 6).

o Psychological empowerment: an energy rooted in the belief that tasks are contributing to some larger purpose (p. 177-180, Chapter 7).

o Cognition-based trust: trust hat is rooted in a rational assessment of the authority’s trustworthiness (p. 197, 198, 199-201, 215-216).

o Justice: the perceived fairness of an authority’s decision-making (p. 197, 203-208, Chapter 7).

o Organizational Ethics: the degree to which the behaviors of an authority are in accordance with generally accepted moral norms (p. 208-215, Chapter 8).

o Cognitive ability: capabilities related to the use of knowledge to make decisions and solve problems (p. 306-313, Chapter 10).

o Emotional intelligence: a set of abilities related to the understanding and use of emotions that affect social functioning (p. 313, 315-317, Chapter 10).

SPEA-V 236 Managing and Leading Organizations Fall 2018

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o Team processes: the different types of activities and interactions that occur within a team as the team works towards its goals (p. 374-409, Chapter 11).

o Power: the ability to influence the behavior of others and resist unwanted influence in return (p. 410-440, Chapter 13).

o Transformational leadership: a pattern of behavior where the leader inspires followers to commit to a shared vision that provides meaning to their work while also serving as a role model who helps followers develop their own potential and view problems from new perspectives (p. 456-461, Chapter 14).

1. Problem Solving Paper Proposal (20 points, due October 7th at 11:59 PM)

The problem solving paper proposal include a preview of three of the four sections needed in the final draft of the paper. Thus, it should include an overview of the organization, a description of the specific problem it faces, and an argument for why your chosen topic would be suitable to help analyze the problem. The proposal should be no more than 250 words, without any references and/or title page. 80% of the proposal grade will revolve around content issues, with 20% revolving around writing style issues.

2. Problem Solving Paper First Draft (30 points, due October 28th at 11:59 PM) The first draft of the problem solving paper should expand on your paper proposal and incorporate instructor feedback on the proposal. Additionally, it should include the four sections needed in the final draft of the problem solving paper. The first draft should be no more than 750 words, without any references, figures, and/or title page. 80% of the paper grade will revolve around content issues, with 20% revolving around writing style issues.

3. Problem Solving Paper Final Draft (50 points, due December 9th at 11:59 PM) The final paper should include the following four sections: 1. Organization - Provide just enough details on the company for me to be able to understand

the problem that will be described. Resist the urge to provide irrelevant details and feel free to omit or disguise any details that might be sensitive in nature.

2. Problem - Describe, specifically, one problem that the company is struggling with that will serve as the focus of the paper. Resist the urge to discuss multiple problems--focus on one specific issue with which the organization is struggling. Be sure to focus on a problem that can be impacted by the relevant topic.

3. Topic - Choose one topic from the list of approved topics, and apply that topic to the problem. Describe very specifically how the concepts, principles, and findings represented in the topic matter to the problem, and how they can be leveraged to articulate a solution. Topics beyond these will be considered at the discretion of the instructor. I have indicated page numbers and chapter numbers for each of the topics above, so that you can consult the textbook to find out more about these topics.

SPEA-V 236 Managing and Leading Organizations Fall 2018

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4. Recommendations - Provide a list of very specific recommendations/action steps that flow out of the discussion of the topic and that can help solve the problem. In thinking about how to craft the topic into those recommendations, strike a balance between being practical and being bold. Every organization has key constraints that need to be taken into account when designing interventions. Although those should be considered, resist the urge to “play it safe”, as that tendency often leads to modest interventions that are ultimately ineffective.

Beyond the parameters above, please bring your own self-expression, initiative, and creativity to the content and style of the paper. 80% of the paper grade will revolve around content issues, with 20% revolving around writing style and formatting issues.