The Changing Corporate Culture Project is a multistep assignment beginning in Week 4 and continuing through Week 8. The major components of the project are as follows.
Week 4: Topic Selection
Week 5: Annotated Bibliography
Week 6: Recommendations Report Draft
Week 7: Recommendations Report Final Submission
Week 8: Persuasive Presentation
Change is often difficult but also necessary for the long-term success of any organization. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses had to quickly pivot away from business as usual to adapt to a new reality. Formal sit-down restaurants started offering takeout, hotels changed their check-in and cleaning processes, sports venues operated without spectators, and schools switched to a distance-learning model. Even more challenging than these operational changes, however, is a change in culture. Our textbook defines culture as “the shared values, norms, rules, and behaviors of an identifiable group of people who share a common history and communication system” (p. 109). Because values, norms, rules, and behaviors normally evolve over a considerable period of time, changing the culture represents a significant challenge. Your task is to persuade an audience of decision makers at an organization of your choosing to commit to a cultural change. Your task is to convince your organization to make one of the following changes. For this project, it is important to choose a topic that is personally meaningful to you. See below title topic selection:
TOPIC SELECTION
TITLE TOPIC
This side of the column is for the overall topics to choose from
This side of the column is the title topic itself (please do not make up your own title topic)
Take an active stance on issues of social justice in your community.
“An Active Stance on Issues of Social Justice in my Communityâ€
Commit to environmental sustainability.
“Commitment to Environmental Sustainabilityâ€
Focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in hiring and promotion practices.
“Focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Hiring and Promotion Practicesâ€
Make your organization welcoming to people with disabilities.
“Welcoming People with Disabilities to our Organizationâ€
Provide a living wage and retirement benefits to all colleagues.
“A Living Wage and Retirement Benefits to Allâ€
Allow colleagues paid time off to engage in volunteer work.
“Paid Time Off for Volunteering Workâ€
Include nonmanagement colleagues on the organization’s Board of Directors or leadership team.
“Liaison for the Organization’s Board of Directors Teamâ€
These are the topics to choose from. Please do not stray away from the assignment instruction. If you have doubts, ask your instructor.
Important Note: You must use an original idea and original research for this assignment. You may not resubmit an assignment from another class. Your course project will require a Turnitin result below 20%. If your course project Turnitin result is more than 20%, redo your assignment and submit before the due date and time. Originality is highly commendable.
In choosing an organization, you have a few options.
Your current employer
A previous employer
An organization you have never worked for that is aligned with your career goals
A fictional organization that may be similar to your current or previous employer or to an existing organization you might wish to work for in the future
Similarly, as you approach this assignment, you have some leeway in imagining your role in your chosen organization. You may choose to inhabit your current job title, or you may imagine yourself in a different role, or even create a brand-new job title. Take some time to think about your topic, organization, and role, because you will be creating the entire assignment based on these choices.
Although your assignment consists of several parts, the centerpiece is the formal report that will be submitted in Week 7. Formal reports are internal documents intended to be read by other members of the organization. Reports that seek to persuade members of an organization to take action are known as recommendation reports, and that is what you will be writing. The required length of this assignment is a minimum of 1,500 words and a minimum of five (5) scholarly sources.
Required Elements of the Recommendation Report
Title Page: Title of the report, author’s name, date
Table of Contents: List of all major components of the report and what page each component begins on.
Executive Summary: Brief overview of the report’s main ideas and recommendations.
Current Situation: Analyze the current state of the organization and make the case for why the organization needs to change.
Objectives: Explain how implementing this change will benefit the organization, its colleagues, and the community.
Deliverables: Provide a timeline showing how and when each stage in the culture change plan will be implemented.
Costs/ROI: Provide cost estimates for implementing these changes. Costs might include hiring additional staff, bringing in outside consultants, purchasing equipment, or renting out an offsite location for training. The return on investment, or ROI, can be thought of more broadly than in revenue terms, but there must be a way to measure the success of this cultural change. Examples might include improved colleague retention, higher client satisfaction scores, or a more positive public image.
References: List all sources cited in the text in APA 7th Edition References Format.
Template: Use the template provided for this assignment. It is accessible via Files.
Chapters 12 and 13 provide guidelines and examples to help you write and format your report. Use the template provided for this assignment. Templates are accessible via Files.
Milestones for Report
Week 4: Topic Selection Assignment (50 points)
Week 5: Annotated Bibliography (100 points)
Week 6: Draft (80 points)
Week 7: Final Draft (140 points)
Week 8: Presentation (100 points)
For more details on each of these steps, see the corresponding assignment descriiption in the appropriate module.
Tips for Success
Choose a topic you are passionate about; after all, you’ll be working on this assignment for many weeks.
Set aside blocks of time to work on this; ultimately, you’ll be more efficient this way.
Stay on track with the milestones; it is easier to keep up than to catch up.
Ask your professor if you need help or contact DeVry Librarian for assistance.
