CONTINUING OF WEEK 2 PROJECT PRPOSAL THAT YOU STARTED ON FOR YOUR FACEBOOK TOPIC

 

WEEK 4 Submit written Expanded Research Proposal containing the following:

 

1. Documentation of at least three initial scholarly sources from the library
2. Expanded introduction to the organization
3. Expanded description of your chosen problem
4. Preliminary solution options (bulleted)
5. Preliminary analysis of leadership and organizational behavior concepts addressed in the paper

 

 

 

 

 

HERE IS THE SITE TO FIND SCHOLARY SOURCES

 

1.    WEBSITE FOR SOURCES  WILL SEND YOU LOGIN INFO WHEN YOU REQUEST IT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 4 Sample Course Project Proposal Expansion

 

 

 

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE PROFESSOR SHOWED US

 

 

 

 

 

MGMT 591: Leadership and Organizational Behavior

 

Project Proposal

 

 

 

Overview of Organization

 

 

 

The organization that will be the topic of discussion in my final project paper is ADC Telecommunications.  ADC is a publicly traded, global, manufacturing telecommunications company whose headquarters are in the Twin Cities.  We primarily sell copper and fiber products to customers like Verizon and AT&T/Cingular.  Like many other telecommunication companies, ADC went thru a significant down-turn around 2000.  Not only did locations get shut-down and hundreds of people got laid off, the morale and culture of ADC changed.  ADC went from having a top benefits package to having a decent benefits package.  They used to have all types of employee incentives and appreciation activities.  Now the employees are lucky if they get a caramel apple in the fall and an appreciation meal at the holidays.  Rewards for employees doing well are not there anymore. 

 

 

 

With the down-turn, ADC lost a lot of their highly skilled, highly valuable employees.  They’ve consciously tried to higher “the best of the best” but ADC, at the current time, is not willing to provide the salaries and benefits to get “the best of the best.”  ADC has really been focusing on cost-cutting measures the last couple of years.  Thus, about everything that differentiated ADC from other companies has gone out the window. 

 

 

 

I am an accountant for ADC in the business unit setting.  I started with ADC in January of 2006.  I was not around for the major down-turn, the benefits package reduction, etc.  However, I work everyday with people who were there for that and who have had a negative attitude towards ADC ever since.  They constantly discuss how it used to be, so it brings everyone down because well all think of how much better it’d be with all of those benefits. 

 

 

 

Cost-cutting activities are alive and well at ADC today too.  I have been there for less than two years and have seen three locations within the US close down and at least four outside of the US close.  I’ve seen employees at headquarters get walked out just because they want to reduce the workforce and have less employee expenses.  It can make it a difficult place to work at when you never really know if you’ll be the next person walked out the door. 

 

 

 

Beyond lay-offs, ADC is attempting to cut costs in a lot of other areas, such as not purchasing new computers and other new equipment that would improve efficiency, so that money can be saved right now.  Even though ADC was profitable in 2006, they decided not to give out any bonuses to employees.  Yearly employee events have turned into every two or three year events.  Gyms were supposed to be built at the facilities but that is no longer going to occur so money can be saved.  Needless to say, overall morale around the place is quite low and ADC is having a hard time in keeping people around.  Even those who have worked there for 10-20+ years have been leaving recently.

 

 

 

ADC has a lot of great people with great ideas.  That’s why I stay.  I feel that ADC has the opportunity to be a great company where employees are recognized and appreciated, where turnover decreases and productivity increases.  I feel ADC has a lot of the right people to change the company around.  The difficult part is that the top-level managers have decided to go to the route of cost-cutting rather than employee-saving. 

 

 

 

Preliminary Problem Statement

 

 

 

ADC has set their top company priority as cost savings.  They will offshore operations, lay-off people, reduce benefit plans, expect more output from each employee, and, overall, not value their employees as their asset.  Further details about the atmosphere at ADC have been previously described.  I feel that ADC has the creativity and personnel to turn the company around.  I see that ambition in various employees, but that desire needs to be put into place for the company to change.  Otherwise I am afraid the company’s morale will continue to decrease and employee turnover will continue to increase.  Therefore, I would like to make my paper be about what you, Professor Stone, suggested in one of the threaded discussions – how to turn ADC into an HPO? I will research what is needed to turn a company into an HPO and look at examples of other companies who have made the transformations.  Thru my research and writing, my plan is create the preliminary steps and outline for ADC to become one of the companies admired by others and to work on a long-term goal of making ADC into a Fortune 500 Company.

 

References