Each student will be evaluated on the basis of a research report that is developed based on an actual organizational problem that the student is familiar with.  The organization can be the entire organization, a group of units, a department or a group within a department.  This paper should focus on ONE topic that comes from Chapters 10 through 17 of the course textbook and articles that are assigned to accompany these chapters.

Chapters:

 Ivancevich:  Chapter 10 – Groups and Teams 

 Ivancevich:  Chapter 11 – Managing Conflict and Negotiations 

 Ivancevich:   Chapter 12 – Power and Politics 

 Ivancevich:  Chapter 13 – Communicating Effectively 

 Ivancevich:  Chapter 14 – Decision Making 

 Ivancevich:  Chapter 15 – Leadership 

 Ivancevich:  Chapter 16 –Organizational Structure and Design 

 Ivancevich:  Chapter 17 – Managing Organizational Change 

Students should provide real life examples from the organization.  Identify symptoms indicating that an organizational problem may exist, such as low morale, high turnover, excessive use of sick leave, poor productivity, and frequent conflict. Consider key factors such as decision-making making, communication, power and politics, organizational structure, and leadership.  Analyze how these key factors have an impact on the organization’s effectiveness and its performance.  You may consider conducting informal interviews, administering surveys, and/or making observations of those within the organization to gather information, to the extent to which you feel comfortable. 

All pages of the paper are to be double-spaced including the Reference page(s).  The purpose of this requirement is to provide actual experience in succinctly identifying and analyzing a significant work-related organizational behavior problem in a style acceptable to leading professional journals.  The analysis paper must be original, developed by the student for this Organizational Behavior class, and it should be coherently written.  A visual such as an organizational chart should be included in the paper.

The process of examining a work-related problem may be thought of as a CASE STUDY.  The case study approach is one commonly used as a framework for doing research on organizational issues.  In this respect, your case study must be written according to the rules of the American Psychological Association Publication Manual.  Please be sure to cite your references from outside sources, including the textbook.  The majority of your references should consist of journal articles that are related to organizational behavior. 

Each paper should include the following:

9 pages total

1. Abstract                                                              1 page
2. Table of Contents                                               1 page
3. Statement of the Problem                                   1 paragraph
4. Descriptive Overview of the Organization           1 page
5. Problem Background                                           1 page
6. Literature Review                                                 1 page
7. Problem Analysis                                                  1 page                                             
8.  Conclusions                                                       1/2 page
9. Recommendations                                              1/2 page
10. References (at least 4)                                         1 page