- Final Project-Case Study Paper
About this Assignment
Organizations change at a rapid pace, it is necessary to change in response to internal and external factors. Being prepared for change and navigating the environment to meet challenges is required to stay afloat. In this course you learned about leadership, organizational leadership, and organizational change. For the final project you will select an organization and analyze it in terms of organizational change. There will be a 10-15-page paper due, as well as an in-class presentation.
For this project you will select an organization and analyze it in terms of organizational change. Please check with me that the company/organization you select is suitable.
A company may go through organizational change at various stages in its life cycle for a variety of reasons. Reasons can include, a change in ownership, a change in the competitive framework, business expansion, or business contraction, among others. The business sections of papers every day discuss instances of organizational change.
Please select from the following topics:
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- A business where the company has been taken over by a larger organization in an unrelated field
- A business where the leadership has been changed because the CEO has been forced to resign
- A business where the company has decided to expand outside of the United States and open operations in another country
- A business where a major new competitor has entered the field and is taking away business and/or employees
- A business where the company has been sued by current/former employees for discrimination
Research the organization and analyze the organizational change. In your paper address all the following:
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- Describe the company/organization you have chosen.
- Explain the external and internal factors that are driving the need for change.
- Evaluate the organizational barriers and issues, including corporate culture, vision, and mission that currently exist.
- Recommend appropriate strategies for leading the change.
- Please tie the concepts of change from your text back to the company/organization that you have chosen. At minimum 3-4 concepts or theories must be included in the paper. Explain change through the specific organization you have chosen.
- You must bring in citations from your textbooks as well as a minimum of 2 more citations/references from a peer reviewed/refereed journal.
- The paper must adhere to APA formatting guidelines.
Structure:
Make sure that the paper has a well-developed structure and engages reading materials from this class. One of the biggest challenges for students is creating their own analytic structure with a clear purpose or goal. The structure or organization of the paper should include:
- Introduction that: a) establishes interest, b) establishes the topic of focus, c) provides a clear thesis statement (goal or purpose followed by a brief justification of its importance), and d) a preview of central points or organization of the body of the paper.
- In the body of the paper, students should think of each first sentence of a paragraph as a “mini-thesis” that establishes the goal or direction of the paragraph. This first sentence is often an argument, position, or strong “stand alone” statement. By stand-alone statement I mean an idea that makes sense on its own.
- Conclusion–summarized key ideas (sometimes this is a summary of key points learned or suggests directions for future analysis).
***Please do NOT use materials from John Kotter’s leadership books. I want students to write papers that integrate key ideas from our text. Google Scholar is an excellent resource for scholarly work.
