Final Project

Background: Many organizations are facing the painful reality that they are not keeping up with the demands of the national, let alone global marketplace. The most blatant examples of forced transformations have come from technology companies – many of whom have been finding it difficult to keep up with continuous changes in their industry. Other companies, however, that deal with more traditional products, like clothing, cosmetics, and various health care products, have also been challenged by the changing times. Today, companies like Macy’s, K-Mart, Sears, Hewlett Packard, Zales, and Barnes & Noble are just a few that either need or face transformation.

Project Objectives: To integrate the topics of the entire course by putting yourself in the shoes of a practicing leader from a real-life organization, reveal her/his dilemma, define goals for change & transformation, and prepare a working plan for change. The recommended length of the paper is10 pages in APA format, but no more than 15 (not including references, abstract, and cover page). You are encouraged and expected to use new and primary sources for your research. This will make sure your projects include up-to-date information.

Project Requirements – Organizational Case Study Analysis:

This project will be a team effort. Each student will propose an organization to analyze; preferably a company that would benefit from transformation – one that you are either professionally familiar with or that you have heard about in the news. At the end of the first week of class you will post your information about this company on the Discussion Board (a template for your submission is provided below). Here, you will share ideas about how the organization you have identified is adapting to external influences (such as competitive forces, global economics, etc.) and internal influences (such as communication dynamics, power struggles, or cultural misalignment). During the first couple days of the second week, the professor will select several organizations from the submitted proposals. These selections will then determine the project teams.

Students will select an organization to study, from those identified by the professor, thereby aligning themselves with a specific team. This will happen on a first-come, first served basis, after the selected companies have been identified on Blackboard – and the teams will include no more than six, and preferably five students. Note: Instructors reserve the right to make any changes to the teams’ composition to ensure that every student is properly assigned to a team. The respective team members will then share responsibility for conducting the analysis, examining the organization’s activities through various frames — structural, human resources, political and symbolic. They will prepare a report of their findings, outlining relevant claims and conclusions, demonstrating their understanding of organizational frameworks, and supporting their work with evidence and examples.

Each team will have a site within Blackboard for collaboration, with tools for a Group Discussion Board, File Exchange, email, and any other needed functions. You are welcome to use whatever other means of communication your team desires. The professor will have access to your Learning Group site and will examine it on occasion. Unless the team is experiencing problems, the professor will not participate directly.

The following structure will be used to help organize your thoughts and findings:

Group Charter and Case Description

Your team will create a charter that will support your project tasks and intergroup relations and reflect that you are members of a team that will be successful. A template for the charter is provided on Blackboard.

PART 1: Case description (Investigation stage):

• Organize and conduct the discovery stage – identify the significant issue(s) that requires the organizational leader’s attention. This is where you answer questions that relate to who, what, where, when, and why.
• Research and explain the context for the case, focusing on the organizational frames and necessary background information.

• The background information about the organization or event puts the reader into the middle of the situation and helps them see the complexity of the situation and available options.
• Background information on the company, industry, region, or country (if relevant), may be necessary to provide the context for understanding the case situation, and its political, economic and/or cultural constraints.

PART 2: Analysis and Solution (Consulting stage):

• This is the “consulting” part of your project. Here you are expected to share with the reader: (a) the main issue(s) and underlying elements of the case; (b) the procedure(s) used for obtaining adequate and appropriate information for the case; (c) a detailed analysis of the situation described in the case through the prism of material from relevant coursework or discipline based literature; and (d) recommendations for how the case can be resolved. The following structure would help you present your ideas:

• • Case Synopsis/ Key Issues:

• A brief synopsis of the case from the “consulting” point of view. Refocuses the reader’s attention on the key issues of the case and clearly specifies the objectives of the case. This is basically an “executive summary” of your findings done in a professional language.Interviews, secondary sources, observations, company website, etc., including questions for the interviews and respondents
  • Methods used to obtain information

• Analysis of the Situation – Use the available frames, and any information from previous courses, to analyze the situation:

• The structural & human resource frames (which structure would best support the transformation effort and what should its human resource efforts focus on?)
• The symbolic frame (how should the organization position itself for a change in culture? How will the current culture respond to transformational efforts?)
• The political frame (who are the various stakeholders and how do they relate to each other? How will the organization navigate the dynamics associated with interpersonal relationships, power, conflict, competition, coalitions, formal/informal communication systems, and the multitude issues associated with the human experience?).
  • Recommendations & Solutions
  • Identify possible solutions, possible outcomes, and forces that promote and resist change, to include supporting rationale.
  • A set of alternative courses of action (if you see several of them) that would resolve the problem.
  • Plan of action: a clear recommendation supported by theory, the frames identified in this course, and logic that can reasonably be implemented.
  • Recommendations must be reasonable, interesting and specific. Don’t forget to strengthen your recommendations with appropriate articles/books/websites relevant to the topics of the course.
  • Conclusion:
  • Conclude the paper with your final thoughts and implication of the potential usefulness of the results to the “client” and to you as future organizational leaders.
  • Appendices and References:
    • The analysis must include a bibliography (in APA format) of at least six sources (publications and documents that you used to compile your information and to analyze and prepare the case).

Each team member will complete a learning team member assessment at the end of Week 5. This will help the professor determine everyone’s level of contribution to the final product, to include time, effort quality and general leadership competency.

Template for Discussion Board Posting of your recommended organization

(Due by midnight Sunday of Week 1)

Organization: name, what does it do?

Access: what relationship do you have with the organization; how will you obtain information? What people and information can probably be used to research the organization, its issues, and its potential strategies for successful outcomes?

Where: where is the organization located? (it can be located anywhere in the world)

What: what is the current understanding about the nature of the problem, or issue, or decisions to be made? Why is some kind of transformation (probably) called for?

Who: who are key decision maker(s) or the strategic leadership team involved here?

When: what are the timing parameters – is this situation current, or sometime in the past or future?

Why: why is this issue important (or why should it be important) for the organization and its leaders?

Suggested length about 500 words.

Final Project

Background: Many organizations are facing the painful reality that they are not keeping up with the demands of the national, let alone global marketplace. The most blatant examples of forced transformations have come from technology companies – many of whom have been finding it difficult to keep up with continuous changes in their industry. Other companies, however, that deal with more traditional products, like clothing, cosmetics, and various health care products, have also been challenged by the changing times. Today, companies like Macy’s, K-Mart, Sears, Hewlett Packard, Zales, and Barnes & Noble are just a few that either need or face transformation.

Project Objectives: To integrate the topics of the entire course by putting yourself in the shoes of a practicing leader from a real-life organization, reveal her/his dilemma, define goals for change & transformation, and prepare a working plan for change. The recommended length of the paper is10 pages in APA format, but no more than 15 (not including references, abstract, and cover page). You are encouraged and expected to use new and primary sources for your research. This will make sure your projects include up-to-date information.

Project Requirements – Organizational Case Study Analysis:

This project will be a team effort. Each student will propose an organization to analyze; preferably a company that would benefit from transformation – one that you are either professionally familiar with or that you have heard about in the news. At the end of the first week of class you will post your information about this company on the Discussion Board (a template for your submission is provided below). Here, you will share ideas about how the organization you have identified is adapting to external influences (such as competitive forces, global economics, etc.) and internal influences (such as communication dynamics, power struggles, or cultural misalignment). During the first couple days of the second week, the professor will select several organizations from the submitted proposals. These selections will then determine the project teams.

Students will select an organization to study, from those identified by the professor, thereby aligning themselves with a specific team. This will happen on a first-come, first served basis, after the selected companies have been identified on Blackboard – and the teams will include no more than six, and preferably five students. Note: Instructors reserve the right to make any changes to the teams’ composition to ensure that every student is properly assigned to a team. The respective team members will then share responsibility for conducting the analysis, examining the organization’s activities through various frames — structural, human resources, political and symbolic. They will prepare a report of their findings, outlining relevant claims and conclusions, demonstrating their understanding of organizational frameworks, and supporting their work with evidence and examples.

Each team will have a site within Blackboard for collaboration, with tools for a Group Discussion Board, File Exchange, email, and any other needed functions. You are welcome to use whatever other means of communication your team desires. The professor will have access to your Learning Group site and will examine it on occasion. Unless the team is experiencing problems, the professor will not participate directly.

The following structure will be used to help organize your thoughts and findings:

Group Charter and Case Description

Your team will create a charter that will support your project tasks and intergroup relations and reflect that you are members of a team that will be successful. A template for the charter is provided on Blackboard.

PART 1: Case description (Investigation stage):

• Organize and conduct the discovery stage – identify the significant issue(s) that requires the organizational leader’s attention. This is where you answer questions that relate to who, what, where, when, and why.
• Research and explain the context for the case, focusing on the organizational frames and necessary background information.

• The background information about the organization or event puts the reader into the middle of the situation and helps them see the complexity of the situation and available options.
• Background information on the company, industry, region, or country (if relevant), may be necessary to provide the context for understanding the case situation, and its political, economic and/or cultural constraints.

PART 2: Analysis and Solution (Consulting stage):

• This is the “consulting” part of your project. Here you are expected to share with the reader: (a) the main issue(s) and underlying elements of the case; (b) the procedure(s) used for obtaining adequate and appropriate information for the case; (c) a detailed analysis of the situation described in the case through the prism of material from relevant coursework or discipline based literature; and (d) recommendations for how the case can be resolved. The following structure would help you present your ideas:

• • Case Synopsis/ Key Issues:

• A brief synopsis of the case from the “consulting” point of view. Refocuses the reader’s attention on the key issues of the case and clearly specifies the objectives of the case. This is basically an “executive summary” of your findings done in a professional language.Interviews, secondary sources, observations, company website, etc., including questions for the interviews and respondents
  • Methods used to obtain information

• Analysis of the Situation – Use the available frames, and any information from previous courses, to analyze the situation:

• The structural & human resource frames (which structure would best support the transformation effort and what should its human resource efforts focus on?)
• The symbolic frame (how should the organization position itself for a change in culture? How will the current culture respond to transformational efforts?)
• The political frame (who are the various stakeholders and how do they relate to each other? How will the organization navigate the dynamics associated with interpersonal relationships, power, conflict, competition, coalitions, formal/informal communication systems, and the multitude issues associated with the human experience?).
  • Recommendations & Solutions
  • Identify possible solutions, possible outcomes, and forces that promote and resist change, to include supporting rationale.
  • A set of alternative courses of action (if you see several of them) that would resolve the problem.
  • Plan of action: a clear recommendation supported by theory, the frames identified in this course, and logic that can reasonably be implemented.
  • Recommendations must be reasonable, interesting and specific. Don’t forget to strengthen your recommendations with appropriate articles/books/websites relevant to the topics of the course.
  • Conclusion:
  • Conclude the paper with your final thoughts and implication of the potential usefulness of the results to the “client” and to you as future organizational leaders.
  • Appendices and References:
    • The analysis must include a bibliography (in APA format) of at least six sources (publications and documents that you used to compile your information and to analyze and prepare the case).

Each team member will complete a learning team member assessment at the end of Week 5. This will help the professor determine everyone’s level of contribution to the final product, to include time, effort quality and general leadership competency.

Template for Discussion Board Posting of your recommended organization

(Due by midnight Sunday of Week 1)

Organization: name, what does it do?

Access: what relationship do you have with the organization; how will you obtain information? What people and information can probably be used to research the organization, its issues, and its potential strategies for successful outcomes?

Where: where is the organization located? (it can be located anywhere in the world)

What: what is the current understanding about the nature of the problem, or issue, or decisions to be made? Why is some kind of transformation (probably) called for?

Who: who are key decision maker(s) or the strategic leadership team involved here?

When: what are the timing parameters – is this situation current, or sometime in the past or future?

Why: why is this issue important (or why should it be important) for the organization and its leaders?

Suggested length about 500 words.