Section of Paper

Examples, Job Aids, and Resources

I. Introduction on

the Company You

Selected and Why

• Describe what business or reason your organization exists.  
• Explain what major impacts that your organization has accomplished or achieved.
• Identify the organization’s mission and vision – why do they exist.

II. Overview of the Company and Management Philosophy

• Discuss the history and the early days of the organization.
• Profile the senior leadership team and managers of the organization. As applicable, discuss what management philosophy you have identified for the organization.
• Include examples of the impacts that the management philosophy has had both on the internal culture of the organization as well as impacts on the customers, suppliers and partners of the organization.

III. Organizational Culture & SWOT/ Internal & External Environments

• Ensure you complete a SWOT assessment on your organization using this job aid template. You should include the completed SWOT either in the body of your paper or as an Appendix. Make sure to include at least 4-5 examples in each of the four quadrants or your SWOT.
• Discuss examples of the organization’s culture and use specific examples, based on Edgar Schein’s work on organizational culture: artifacts, espoused values, and assumptions and values of the members of the organizational culture.

IV. Managerial Decision making/ Ethics

Key points to include your Decision Making and Ethics segment of your paper as it relates to the management of your organization:

1.Characteristics of management decisions

a. Lack of structure

b. Uncertainty and risk

c. Conflict

2. Stages of Decision Making (is it your sense from reading about your organization that they use the best practices for managerial decision-making?)

3.Barriers to Effective Decisions

a. Psychological Barriers

b. Time Pressures

c. Social Realities

4. Do They Have Teams Making Decisions? If so, share examples.

5. Ethical Issues in Decision Making

a. Does Your Organization have an Ethics Statement?

b. Courage

c. Ethics Environment Examples

V. Planning & Strategy

Research and try to identify the following about your organization:

1. How would you define your organization’s tactical versus strategic planning steps does your organization use to innovate and remain competitive today?

2. How would you describe their corporate strategy – is it vertical integration, concentrated, or unrelated diversification? Give an example.

Explain ways in which your organization creates plans and strategies aligned to

Include a completed SWOT Assessment of your organization including at least 4-5 elements listed in

Each of the 4 quadrants (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats

VI. Organizational Structures

• Discuss the type of organizational structure that they have employed and span of control of their work.
• Give examples of how they use possible team based structures and team leadership.
• Discuss the role of centralized or decentralized control.

VII. Entrepreneurship

Discuss the beginnings of your organization – was it founded by an entrepreneur originally or an intrapreneur? Discuss any history or challenges you discover Specifically share the role that the founder has played in developing the organization.

VIII. Organization

al Agility

Discuss the role of agility in the organization and specifically how it is developed in their leaders as well as their use of technology and their structure to create more agility.

IX. Human Resource Management

Address the major aspects of the organization’s Human Resource Management

functions, including their organizational use of:

Job analysis or competency models, Benefits, Employee Relations, Compensation,

• Global HR, Labor Relations, Organizational & Employee Development, Risk Management, Talent Acquisition, and use of Technology

X. International

Management/Global

Issues/

Diversity in

Their

Workforce

Information to research on include as appropriate on your organization you are currently studying

I. Describe how changes in the US Workforce have made diversity an important managerial issue

Old way of thinking “diversity management is just another nonessential initiative driven by HR – to top managers today believe “attract, develop, and retain more diverse employees to achieve competitive advantage.”

Diversity is growing in our workforce and will continue to become even more diverse.

Advantages include:

1. You can attract and retain more diverse workforce when you provide more

opportunities for advancement

2. Better perspective on a differentiated market

3. Ability to leverage innovation and creativity in problem solving

4. Enhancement of flexibility.

It is more challenging to manage a more diverse workforce

Increased consideration of multicultural organizations as more companies go global.

II. Discuss strategies that your organization uses to focus on and use diversity as a competitive advantage.

1. Secure top management support

2. Conduct an organizational assessment

3. Attract diverse workforce

4. Train employees to understand and appreciate working in a diverse culture.

5. Retain talented employees

III. Identify some of the challenges that your organization has faced in managing a diverse workforce.

Challenges include legal challenges, mistrust and tensions, lower cohesiveness, communication problems, and stereotyping – to name just a few.

IV. List steps or actions that managers in your organization are using to cultivate a diversity and a culture of inclusion. Examples might include education or training programs on the value of diversity, helping people learn how to handle different types of personalities or beliefs or backgrounds.

V. Discuss changes in the global workforce and skills that managers will need to develop to compete successfully globally.

VI. Managers and employees need cross cultural skills such as sensitivity to cultural differences, business knowledge, courage to take a stand, integrity, insightfulness, commitment to success, risk taking, use of feedback, cultural adventurousness, desire for opportunities to learn, openness to criticism, desire for feedback, and flexibility.

XI. Leadership

• Discuss the major leadership styles demonstrated by your organizational leaders, using specific examples.
• Give examples of the power bases used in the organization.
• Share specific profiles of the senior leadership team.

XII. Motivation

• Identify specific motivational theories used by leaders in the organization – give specific examples of how the motivational theories are used to positively impact organizational performance.
• Explore internal or external environmental factors that impact or challenge how leaders can motivate their organizational employees
• Discuss the type of organization you have selected to complete your paper on and why or how that particular industry may use certain motives more appropriately than others.

XIII. Teams

Teams and Work groups play a major role in many organizations in terms of performance, cultivation of organizational culture, and how jobs and work are structured. Use examples of teams or work groups in your organization to discuss how they enhance and meet or exceed customer needs and organizational performance. If the organization uses High Performing Teams or Workgroups – discuss those as well.

XIV. Managerial Control

Two of the major types of control mechanisms that managers use in organizations today are clan or culture control and budgetary or financial controls. Share specific examples of each that are used in the organization.

XV. Learning and Change Management

• Address what aspects of John Kotter’s 8 step change model are practiced in your organization.
• Describe examples of the learning strategies that the organizational leaders apply.

XVI. Lessons Learned about Organization

Identify 3-5 major learnings that have taken place with the organization in past 3-5 years.

XVII. Summary/ Wrap Up

Write your concluding thoughts and summary thoughts.