Leadership and Organizational Behavior

MGMT 591 – Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Course Project Proposal Guidelines

A Proposal:

• precisely defines your research topic and the need for studying it—what is the organizational issue and  OB topical area that requires attention and further study
• provides a research question to summarize the problem statement, however tentative it may be
• explains the sources critical to your proposed research, demonstrating that they are adequate for your project

Proposal Organization:

Your project proposal must include the following  labeled sections:

Organization.  Give the name of the organization and very briefly describe it.  If you are focusing on one department in the organization – tell which one and describe it briefly.  Be sure to include a description of your role in the organization. Set the context for the problem statement (why is this an issue worthy of study?). End this section by noting which course TCO or course topic your problem is related to.

Problem Statement.  Identify and clearly state the problem—the leadership / management issue[1] in which an element of the identified organization is not meeting expectations. The problem statement is usually phrased in terms of questions considerably more focused than the subject of the paper. End this section by stating the problem in the form of a question. For example, if a work group is not performing effectively, an effective problem statement might be, “How can group performance be improved in Department X?” rather than simply “Poor group performance.”

TCO. Which TCO or textbook topic is the central focus of your study.

A well-formed problem statement has four main characteristics:

1. Unity – the problem statement articulates a single controlling idea. The idea may be complex and have several parts, but it should be one idea nevertheless.

2. Focus – the problem should be restricted and specific enough for the reader to gain a clear idea of the OB topical area and the direction of your study and research.

3. Structure – if the problem statement is sufficiently focused, it will provide a basis for decisions about which information to include and which to exclude from the paper.

4. 4. Interest – the problem statement should sharpen the reader’s interest in the OB topical area of interest.

Note: No deviation from the project topic without instructor approval once the proposal is approved. Students who submit a final paper on a topic different from that which was approved in Week 2 will receive a zero for the assignment.

Proposal Deadline:

The proposal is due at the end of Week 2.

TOPIC IDEAS

These are only suggestions. The best project is one focused on improving conditions in one’s own organization.

• Focusing on an employee productivity problem.

• Investigating employee turnover in a department or division.

• Determining why employee job satisfaction is low.

• Applying job design theory to improving the motivating potential score in a functional or work process area.

• Evaluating reward systems and their impact on performance.

• Assess diversity in an organization and how it affects performance.

• Appraising a manager’s motivation methods and how they influence performance.

• Assess the decision-making process in organizations.

• Concentrate on the communication process and how it affects the organization to achieve its goals.

• Look at how power and politics is impacting an organizational unit in terms of achieving the firm’s goals.

• Evaluate a leader’s leadership style and implications for performance and satisfaction.

• Evaluate organizational group conflicts that inhibit achievement of important objectives.

• Analyze a change effort in the organization. What went well? What went wrong? What should they have done?

• Determine the best organizational culture-style (in the context of the OCI) to optimize corporate objectives.

• Creating High Performance Organizations

• Assessing an individual employee performance issue

• Evaluating an organization’s design and structure and how it supports or does not support the firm’s strategy

• Analyzing a team’s dynamics for the purpose of improving team performance

• How to create a high performing team