Workplace Culture and Interview

Introduction

Click here to enter text. Simply create a 4-5 sentence introduction for your paper. A good intro will introduce the topic at hand and set forth the structure of the paper as consisting of two parts – (1) the presentation of research into the culture of your intended field and (2) a discussion of the results of an interview with a professional in that field. Please consult the Bibliography for this assignment provided for you in DocSharing (in the templates folder by Thursday afternoon) as well as our course Twitter (twitter.com/ProfPresenceEG). If you need any help finding articles, please reach out to me! Remember, this is about “workplace culture” not diversity, religion, race, or, ethnicity. If you are at all confused by what is meant by “workplace culture” please consult the bibliography (or the unit 7 powerpoint or reach out to me) as there are several links on there to articles that define this level of culture.

Part 1: The Culture of _______ (please fill this in and then delete this instruction)

Click here to enter text. In this section of the paper, you simply need to describe the culture of your intended field as revealed by your research. Some things to consider: (1) what are the core values of your field? For example, nursing values are usually patient-centered; teaching, student-centered; accounting, ethics oriented; counseling, compassionate guidance; etc. These values are what defines the culture itself. (2) what are the expected behaviors in your field? For example, nurses are compassionate and caring; teachers, enthusiastic and trustworthy; accountants, detail-oriented and precise; counselors, non-judgmental and maintain confidentiality; etc. Also consider how professionals in your field are expected to act around clients/students/customers/patients/etc. Teachers are supposed to be organized and friendly; counselors, competent and knowledgeable about disorders and behavior modification methods; police officers should be fair and even-tempered; etc. (3) how are professionals in this field treated by those higher up in the hierarchy (such as, how are nurses treated by doctors) or by clients/students/patients/customers? How are teachers treated by principals? How are officers treated by the public? How do accountants manage to make it through the very stressful tax season and deal with very stressed out clients? How do counselors support each other so that their mental health stays strong in the face of helping others with their sometimes very serious problems? Etc. (4) what elements of this culture are wonderful? And (5) Which are problematic? For example, teaching is so rewarding – you get to guide children and help them grow up; however, there are tremendous problems with low-salaries/low-respect, helicopter parents, and the stress of common core compliance. With law enforcement, there is the satisfaction of keeping your community safe; however, there are big issues right now with police brutality and institutionalized racism. I do suggest tackling these issues in your discussion here as you will certainly be confronted with them as a professional in that field. One great way to approach this is to describe the issues, back it up with some citations, and then offer ideas for how you will deal with these cultural problems if/when they arise. If you address all 5 of those cultural elements, I’m sure you will have no problem getting to the 3 required pages for this section. Please do not feel like you need to do more than 3 pages nor answer all of the suggested 5 cultural elements above – use what works for you and what you can back up with research. But, if you are inspired to write a longer section, feel free! I will never penalize something that is longer than required! Rather than “concluding” this part, simply transition into your interview… for example, you could write something like “In order to better understand the complex culture of law enforcement, I spoke with so-and-so of such-and-such company in order to shed additional light upon the overall culture as well as upon the contemporary issues facing professionals in this field.” (Feel free to use that verbiage if you like it!) Be sure to clearly cite and reference the articles you have used in your research. Your own experiences can be included as well, however this is a research paper so the core of this section needs to be based on research with brief mentions of experience (not the other way around).

Part 2: Interview with _______ (please fill this blank in with the person’s name and title and then delete this instruction)

Click here to enter text. In this 2 page section, discuss what you learned from the interview about the everyday culture of your intended field. Do not include a question w/answer model transcript – this belongs in the required appendix. Instead, this section should be a prose discussion summarizing the most important things you learned from your interviewee about the culture of your intended field. A smart tactic is to tie in what you learned in the interview with the values, behaviors, and issues you already talked about in part 1. This creates a nice unity and flow throughout the paper that makes the task of writing less painful. Remember: This part needs to be at least 2 pages in length.

Conclusion

Click here to enter text. In the last paragraph of the paper, you should reiterate what was said in the introduction and summarize your work. This is not the place to introduce a new idea. By this point you should easily be at the end of PAGE 5/top of page 6… if you are not, please consider expanding your thoughts. Feel free to send me your draft if you are just stumped and I will be happy to suggest ways to lengthen the paper (and anything else you might want to improve)

Works Cited

At the very least, you are required to provide a proper APA reference (and in-text citation) to the articles consulted in your research as well as listing the full name, title, company, and email/phone number of the person you interviewed. Click here to enter your references. References should be single spaced, with a double space between different entries (see below). Please format them in APA style – if you need help with that, please watch this 5 minute video explaining APA - http://www.screencast.com/users/KUWC/playlists/Citation+Videos/media/3d5e3cc5-d71c-4359-8c85-ff862e313a9f. Remember, APA citing and referencing are part of your grade on all assignments. A sample reference list (book – article – website): Rhodes, K. (2003) Race and Identity in the Nile Valley. Addis Ababa, Africa World Press. Rhodes, K. (2013) Evidence for an Early Iron Age at Mubende Hill, Uganda. Journal of African Archaeology and Ethnohistory 12(2), pages 4-33. Rhodes, K. (2014) More evidence for an Early Iron Age at Mubende Hill: A Ceramic Analysis. Retrieved from: www.kharyssarhodes.com/onlinearticles/MubendeHill_2014.pdf. Three more things: 1. Be sure to “save as” your file and enter your last name in the file name where indicated. This will help me tremendously in identifying papers Ive downloaded, thanks! 2. If you lose any formatting while working with this template, just reset it to Times New Roman, 12 point font, and double-spaced. The margins and page numbering should not be affected. 3. Don’t forget to fill in the cover page! DON’T FORGET TO DELETE THESE INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE TEMPLATE BEFORE YOU SUBMIT THE FILE!

Appendix

In this part of the paper, simply list the questions you asked during the interview with a brief summary of the answer given. You are also welcome to embed an audio file or copy-and-paste emails, etc.

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