Your assignment is to create an annotated bibliography for the following topics:
- What is a Strategic Plan?
- Foundations of Strategic Planning, and supporting Systems Thinking research (Ansoff Matrix, Porter’s Five Forces model, ‘topdown’ vs. ‘bottomup’ strategic approach, etc.)
- Relevant Components (e.g., inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, tools approaches, etc.)
- When are Strategic Plans used, Who uses them, and How are they used?
- Organizational Management Tools and Applications (e.g., Envisio, Office 365, Trello, jTask, etc.)
- Relevant Areas and Professions (e.g., government, public sector organizations, healthcare, education, military, etc.)
- Evolving Role of IT Strategic Planning (shifting areas of focus for Strategic planning – e.g., technical-level management costs, executive-level management processes, mid-level management production strategies, etc.)
An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation of research sources, and contains descriptive or evaluative comments on the sources you are listing with in your research.
Your annotated bibliography should provide at least four sentences of description for at least 5 sources. You will receive feedback on the appropriateness of your sources, the validity of your sources, and an assessment of how on track your research focus seems to be.
For your annotated bibliography, use standard APA format for the citations, then add an brief entry that includes:
- 2 to 4 sentences to summarize the main idea(s) of the source.
- o What are the main arguments?
- o What is the point of this book/article?
- o What topics are covered?
- 1 or 2 sentences to assess and evaluate the source.
- o How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography?
- o Is this information reliable?
- o Is the source objective or biased?
- 1 or 2 sentences to reflect on the source.
- o Was this source helpful to you?
- o How can you use this source for your research project?
- o Has it changed how you think about your topic?
Example – Evaluative Annotation:
Maak, T. (2007). Responsible leadership, stakeholder engagement, and the emergence of social capital. Journal of Business Ethics, 74, 329-343. doi:10.1007/s10551-007-9510-5
This article focuses on the role of social capital in responsible leadership. It looks at both the social networks that a leader builds within an organisation, and the links that a leader creates with external stakeholders. Maak’s main aim with this article seems to be to persuade people of the importance of continued research into the abilities that a leader requires and how they can be acquired. The focus on the world of multinational business means that for readers outside this world many of the conclusions seem rather obvious (be part of the solution not part of the problem).In spite of this, the article provides useful background information on the topic of responsible leadership and definitions of social capital which are relevant to an analysis of a public servant.
