1

Familiarize yourself with course
content and select an organization and problem area to research.

3

Submit a written Brief Proposal of Research containing the
following:

1. A
brief overview of the chosen organization and your role in it

2. A
preliminary problem statement in the form of a researchable question

3. A
brief narrative description of the organizational problem that you would like
to research and resolve

4. Which
Terminal Course Objective(s) your problem is related to

3

Conduct library research on your topic.

1. Identifya minimum of six scholarly resources for your project.

2. All
resources for the paper must come from DeVry Library and must be of scholarly
quality.

3. Use
the librarians for assistance in accessing materials.

4. Review
the Using EBSCO tutorial.

Please Note: Articles found online
(many on consulting company websites, Internet magazines, or other blogs)will not be considered an acceptable scholarly
resource. Conduct your research through a library where you
can be assured that the sources are of scholarly quality.

5

Submit a written Expanded Research Proposal containing the
following:

1. Title
page and Table of Contents

2. Documentation
of at least three initial scholarly sources from the library

3. Expanded
introduction to the organization

4. Expanded
description of your chosen problem

5. Preliminary
solution options (can be bullet points)

6. Preliminary
analysis of leadership and organizational behavior concepts addressed in the
paper

6

Continue to work on the class project;
seek professor help as required.

7

Submit the completed project.

Title Page

5

Title of your applied research paper,
course number and title, professor, and date.

Introduction

10

Provide an overview of the organization
and your role in it. Give enough information about the firm to acquaint an
unfamiliar person (no matter how famous the company). Identify name,
location, size, market segment (business line), and a brief history. Identify
the essential issues, events, or actions to help frame the problem and
subsequent discussion points.

Problem Statement

15

Identify and clearly state the problem (the leadership or
organizational behavior issue that you have selected to research). The
problem statement should be phrased in terms of a researchable question. For
example, if a work group is not performing effectively, an effective problem
statement might be “How can group performance be improved?”

A well-formed problem statement has the following.

1. Focus:
The problem should be well-defined and specific enough for the reader to gain
a clear idea of the OB topic area and the direction of your study and
research.

2. 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.

Literature Review

40

You must address at least six
scholarly resources in this section.
Approach this section as a mini book report on each of the reference sources
that significantly informed your analysis and proposed solutions. Give the
reader an encapsulated review of what information you found most relevant to
your research. You may have found conflicting opinions or theories related to
your topic area. Identify and discuss any such contrasts or describe in
detail significant agreement among your sources. Your literature review
should be separate and distinct from your analysis section; it is a summation
of your research. The goal should be a paragraph containing a minimum of
three to five sentences per review.

Analysis

40

Explore the problem in depth and with scholarly rigor.

Provide an identification and description of the root causes
of the problem or issue. Be sure not to address only symptoms of your problem.
Diagnose the problem and its origins.

A critical element of this section is to apply leadership and
organization concepts and models from our text, from class discussions, and
from your literature review. Discuss the concepts, ideas, or insights that
are most valuable in helping you make sense of the causes of the problem.
Support your analysis with reference to appropriate research material.

Solutions

30

Identify at least three potential workable solutions to your
problem and identify the pros and cons of each alternative solution and its
high-level implementation steps.

Identify your preferred solution and describe exactly what
should be done and how it should be done, including by whom, with whom, and
in what sequence.Always explain your thinking
behind your final solution set.It’s important to be clear about why
a particular alternative (solution) was chosen, as opposed to others.

Reflection

10

Think about this assignment and write a
well-thought-out reflective statement about how this assignment influenced
your personal, academic, and professional leadership and managerial
development.

References

10

You must use no fewer than six library resources outside of
your textbook.

All references must be cited in two places—within the body of
your paper and on a separate reference list. Choose references judiciously
and cite them accurately. Cite all sources using APA format.

Please note that citing an author’s work within your text documents
your research, identifies the source for readers, and enables readers to
locate the source of information in the alphabetical reference list at the
end of the paper. To use the ideas or words of another person without
crediting the source is plagiarism. Plagiarism in its purest form involves
copying passages either verbatim or nearly verbatim, with no direct
acknowledgment of the source. The most common form of plagiarism is to
paraphrase information from your source material. Paraphrasing does not
relieve you of the obligation to provide proper identification of source
data. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to make sure all quotes, ideas, or
conclusions that not your own are given proper acknowledgment in your text.

Total

160

Part I: Group
Development

15

Identify and summarize the
stages of group development.Reflecting
on the case and textbook material, what stage is the group at now? How could
an understanding of the stages of group development have assisted the Woodson
Foundation in building a cohesive coalition? Support your conclusion with
evidence from the case and our text.

Part II: Problem
Identification

30

Identify key problems.Identify
primary and secondary problems the Woodson Foundation is facing. Identify
what the organization should have understood about individual membership in
teams in order to have built group processes that were supportive of her
groups’ goals. Do not necessarily limit yourself to only team theory here.
Plumb any concepts we have covered to date if you feel they are relevant.

Part III: Retrospective
Evaluation

40

Given that there is no one
perfect solution for this situation, identify, describe, and defend two
possible solutions to the primary problem(s).Clearly
identify and defend both courses of action. Identify and discuss specific
steps needed to implement your selections. Support your selections with
evidence from the case, the text, or weekly discussion. Remember that
deciding on a course of action entails envisioning and planning the steps to
success. Be sure to identify implementation steps for both possible
solutions. Almost every situation presented with relation to group dynamics
and behavior can have multiple avenues for remedy. It is important to develop
the ability to critically evaluate more than one alternative and rationally
identify pros and cons of each. Presenting pros and cons for the identified
alternative solutions in a table format within the paper is acceptable.

Part IV: Reflection

15

What would you advise as a strategy for
managing diversity issues for program leaders?