Research into Applied Leadership: START HERE

In this assignment you will take on the role of a team manager.  The team in multi-cultural and is facing a major management crisis.  You will use the details of the scenario found in the Guide file and then identify/research key course theories and principles to develop an action plan.

Applied Research Assignment: Manager Action Plan for a Team

The overall standard for Management requires you to have a specific assignment that incorporates research.  However, the best test of research is when it can be applied.  For this reason, this assignment uses a business scenario, and you are the manager.  Your task is to develop an action plan.  (For information about how to organize or format the plan, see a later section).

Approximate page length: Estimated length 5-7 pages, but there is no required page length.

Business Scenario:

You have recently been assigned to lead a 6-person team working on a new healthcare product that could revolutionize the treatment of diabetes. The product would allow glucose readings to be taken without any needles or skin pricks. Obviously, if the product is successful, the team and you stand to earn bonuses, promotions, and industry recognition. However, you are being asked to lead the team because under the former leader, the project team missed several critical deadlines and costs have spiraled out of control.

The team all works out of an office in MD. They are:

• John – 43 year old (African-American, born in Bowie, MD)
  Julie – 51 year old (Chinese-American, born in the District of Columbia)
  Jinsoo – 27 year old (Korean, emigrated from Seoul)
  Shahid – 32 year male  (Iranian, emigrated when he was six)
  Harpreet – 30 year old female (Indian, emigrated 10 years ago)
  Tom – 63 year old (Caucasian-American, born in Los Angles and recently moved to MD)
• You as the manager and your personal/professional background for leading the team

Shahid and Harpreet joined the team 3 months ago. The rest of the team has been together for 3 years.

The new product is due to be delivered for beta testing by six months from today. It is the end of your first day on the job. You have spent the entire day talking to each team member separately. Here is what you have discovered so far today:

Shahid and Tom have been in conflict for several weeks over how to approach the design of a critical piece of the product. John and Julie are so disillusioned that they are job hunting, but each has unique skills that you do not wish to lose. Jinsoo tends to isolate himself when there is conflict, which decreases his productivity. Tom believes that the rest of the team is cutting him out of the picture because of his age and lack of interest in using Google hangouts or docs, to create options for brainstorming. Tom would rather just talk about his ideas. You were also briefed by the general manager, who shared that the former team leader had been fired due to unethical practices such as taking bribes from vendors. However, the team members didn’t know that and really liked the former leader; they are angry that he is gone.

Using your new knowledge of multicultural teams, cultural values, which come from earlier, country-based experiences, leadership and ethics, write an action plan to get this team back on track. The plan should be supported by your readings and provide specific steps based on this knowledge.

Unlike most business project reports, go ahead and cite sources etc. Remember—whenever you write a paper in a course, your task is to show that you understand the material you are learning and that you can apply it to specific situations.  In-text citations “signal” that you are continuously reading and thinking about course material.

Course Materials Likely to be helpful

• Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension Research for each country, you believe is relevant to problem solving an action plan
• Collaborative leadership. See this link (also found in the e-readings for week 4 on ethics: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/leadership-ideas/collaborative-leadership/main
• Leadership (wk 6) e-reading sources for Behavior Score Card, to think about the bigger picture of this team’s work.
• You may select other materials from the course e-reading lists.
• You may also want to search the web, but if you choose a new, web-based source, aID an aIDendum to your assignment that explains the source of those ideas, and whether there is established research, offered by the website, that backs up the ideas presented.

Action Plan Format*

Introduction to provide an overview and the purpose of the plan

Sections on the following topics:

• The problem or situation (summarized)
• The cultural values* you believe are most important to aIDress (remember, the team is located in the US and it is assumed that the organization (company) has leadership grounded in US cultural values.
• The goals for managing the team so that it achieves success
• Specific actions, such as meeting and/or individual interviews and group feedback. Actions should have a schedule. Include technology software that can support actions.
• Your role* in leading the team

*These sections should have in-text citations that reflect the use of source material.

More format information–Include

• A cover page with your name, title of the assignment, course information and date.
• Section headings (short phrases that appear before each section)
• Correct grammar
• Correct spelling
• Correct punctuation
• Cohesive paragraphs within sections of the report Cohesion begins with the first sentence, which identifies the main idea of the paragraph.  There is one major idea in the paragraph.
• When useful, offer bullets or lists
• A reference list of all source materials used

You will not need to write a conclusion.

Evaluation Factors and GRADING Rubric

Content Factors

1. There is an introduction and it offers a purpose for the plan. YES           NO/can’t locate
2. Information summarizes important factors of the problem YES           NO/can’t locate
3. Key cultural factors are identified and their likely impact is explained YES NO/can’t locate
4. Three (3) or more goals for the plan are listed YES NO/can’t locate
5. Specific communication actions are described and explained. YES           NO/can’t locate
6. Action plan offers a schedule for communication activities YES NO/can’t locate
7. Three (3) or more responsibilities (roles) are identified and described for the manager, to reach success YES NO/can’t locate
8. OPTION: Offer a discussion section that traces your thinking about how you would approach the leadership of this problem.  What are your insights or take-aways?

Content contributes 60% to the assignment score

Written format factors

• A cover page with your name, title of the assignment, course information and date.
• Introduction
• Section headings (short phrases that appear before each section)
• Cohesive paragraphs within sections of the report Cohesion begins with the first sentence, which identifies the main idea of the paragraph.  There is one major idea in the paragraph.
• When useful, the report incorporates bullets or lists
• A reference list of all source materials used
• Correct grammar
• Correct spelling
• Correct punctuation

Written format contributes 40% to the assignment score.

GRADING POLICY:

• At UMUC Grad School, if you do what is expected/listed in the evaluation criteria, you can expect to earn a “B” or score between 80-89 points for this assignment.
• Earning 90 or more percentage points on this course assignment REQUIRES you to present a truly outstanding paper– go beyond what was expected/listed in the evaluation criteria.

This assignment supports the following course outcomes:

1. Critically assess the impacts of macro trends in technology, social changes and workforce changes on mangers and organizations, and develop an approach to aIDress these impacts.
2. Apply critical thinking concepts to organizational problems.
3. Develop a framework for analyzing the key attributes of an organization and apply the particulars to a specific situation.

4. Use cultural difference to create new synergies.