Foundation Paper Guidelines:

The Foundation Paper is developed during the first course in the program; 

GM 510 Seminar in Leadership. The Foundation Paper uses an organizational strategic management process as a guideline to drafting the essential paper in the graduate portfolio. The Foundation Paper acts as the basic element of a plan for achieving mastery in a graduate leadership theme in business and/or the community.  The Foundation Paper can also be regarded as the “game plan.”  The student will also apply the leadership theme to career objectives throughout the portfolio.     

Foundation Paper Guidelines:

• Background:  When summarizing your life’s experiences, focus on the educational factors and the work related experiences that describe you best.  How did you get to where you are in the workplace?  What type of work have you done and what type of work are you doing now?
• Vision:  Vision relates to aspirations and what you want to be.  It defines one’s broadest and most important goals.  Vision requires a commitment giving one’s full attention to the ideal.  What do you aspire to be in five years? In one or two sentences.
• Mission Statement:  While vision statements capture purpose and ideals, the mission statement establishes the broad guidelines of approaching one’s goals and purpose.  Mission statements spell out in a general way, the direction one sees oneself moving over a period of time.  As an example, read your organization’s mission statement, etc.
• Career Objectives:  It is a well-known fact that graduate students who are able to articulate specific career objectives are more successful graduates. In this section of the Foundation Paper students are expected to list specific career objectives. These objectives must RUMBA. That means that they must be Realistic, Understandable, Measurable, Behavioral, and Achievable.
• SWOT:  The term SWOT is an acronym for:  strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  Students will list their strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities, and threats to achieving career objectives.
• Strategy:  In business, strategy refers to a managerial game plan.  Students will begin to develop their individual game plan for achieving career objectives and overall “success” in achieving their career and personal goals.
• Basic Contingency Plan:  The development of a process to deal with and/or engage in a changing environment.  The basic strategy should be flexible in order to deal with the fast-paced, technological global market place.  Throughout the program students will explore their portfolio using a SWOT analysis method:  How is the present strategy working?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of the plan?  What, if anything, needs to be modified?

Writing Hints

• Be clear ... use simple language.
• Please use headers for each section.
• Be concise ... say what you need to say without losing the essence of your thoughts.
• Edit each paper before turning in your final version
• Do not rely on spell checker for final editing.  We encourage you to read your work and share it with others for feedback before submitting.
• Papers are to be typed, double spaced and in 12 pt font with reasonable margins.
• Length of papers.      Generally, Foundation Papers are 6-8 pages in length