Posted: June 29th, 2015
Business publications.
6. REEARCHPROJECTANDTERMPAPERINSTRUCTIONS
Introduction
1. In order to facilitate learningof thecoursesubject,this course requires eachstudent to conduct a first-hand field research onan off-campus local business or non-profit organization with50 ormore employees.
2. Theresearchproject isexpectedtoturnoutacomprehensivetermpaperonthe company’smanagementpractices. Thetermpapershouldbe3,000– 3,500words (excludingreferences,tables,andotherattachments)anddueon Thursday,July2,11:59pm.
3. Thetermpapercomposes20pointsofthe finalgrade(standard100points).
TheTermPaper
1. Thetermpaperneedsyou toapplymajortheoriesinthecoursetoyourtarget organization’ssituation.It isexpectedtocomposesixmajorparts,whichthemes,topics, andlengthsaredescribedinthetableintheendofthisInstructions.
2. Thepapershouldbesolidlybasedonthoroughunderstandingoftextcontentsinthe first place.Inaddition, specificpresentationofthetargetorganization’spractices(suchas examples)onallthoseaspectsshouldbeemphasizedovergeneraldiscussionofthose topics.
3. Inordertoapplythetheoriesin thetext,theresearchalsoneedsinformationfrom the followingthreemajorsources:
Firsthand data.Youarerequiredtointerviewatleastonemanagerat thetop,middle, andfirst-linelevelsrespectively(totalinterviewees:3).Detailed notesneed tobetaken duringinterviews.Recordinginterviewconversationwiththeinterviewee’spermission ispreferable.Theinterviewee’sname,contactinformation,jobtitle,andtenureatthe companyaswellasinterviewtimeanddurationarealsoexpectedtobeprovidedinthe finalpaper.Youarealsoencouragedto useinformationfromyoursystematic observationoftheorganization’sbusiness on site.
Business publications.Eachpaperisexpectedtouseatleast10referencesofbusinesspublicationsrelatedtoitstargetorganizationfrompublicsources.YoumaysearchISU library’sonlinecatalogforbooksandonlinedatabase2(suchasEBSCO,ProQuest,and Lexis-Nexis) forarticles.ArticlesfrompopularbusinesspublicationssuchasWallStreet Journal,BloombergBusinessWeek,Fortune,Forbes,andTheEconomistaswellas
localnewspapersarepreferred.Thequalityofthearticlesusedasreferenceswillbe takenintoaccountfortheevaluationofthepaper.
Organizationalwebsiteanddocuments.Usinginformationonanorganization’sweb siteandcorporatedocumentsisoptional.Thistypeofinformationcanbeusedonlyif theyarerephrasedwithyourownlanguage(My language is Arabic)andappropriatehyperlinkand/orreferences
2Callthelibraryreferencedesk(237-2580)forhelponhowtousethosedatabasesifneeded.
areprovided.Besides,theinformation shouldbecautiouslyusedandtreatedinaway
similartothecompany’scommercials.
4. Forthetermpaper,logicalstructure,in-depthanalysis,creativeinsights,andgood integrationofcoursematerialsarehighlyemphasizedforgrading.Besides,thepaperis expectedtouse12-pointfont,doublespacing,andreferencestylesandother formatsfor undergraduatesrecommendedbyeitherAPAorMLA.Itshouldalsobesubmittedas MSWordfilesratherthanMSWorksfiles(i.e.,“.wps”filesareunacceptableandwill notbegraded).SeetheGradingCriteriaforWritingAssignmentsinthisDossier.
5. Thetermpaperisexpectedtobeyouroriginalproductof fieldresearch.Youare encouragedtousefirsthanddata,i.e.,informationcollectedthroughpersonalinterview, observation,survey,etc.Existinginformationfromonline/website,corporate documents,and/orpublicationsmaybeusedonlyiftheoriginalcontentshavebeen appropriatelyrephrasedwithyourownlanguageandappropriatereferencesandcredits areprovided.Otherwisethepaperwouldbetreatedaccordingtothe University Standards(3.01).
ContentGuidelinesfor theTermPaper
Part
Theme
RequiredTopics Expected
Length
(words)
1 Introduction ?Theorganization’scurrentsituation(e.g.,name,location,
website,ownership,industry,mainproducts/services, sales(orannualbudget),employeeand managersizeand composition,etc.)
? Theorganization’shistory(e.g.,yearofestablishment, majorownership/leadershipchange,etc.)
?Theorganization’sexternalenvironment(i.e.,general
environmentandtaskenvironment)
?Theorganization’sculture(e.g.,artifacts,values,
assumptionsandbelieves,etc.) 300-400
2 Planning ?Missionstatementoftheorganization
?Theimportanceofplanningtotheorganization
?Goalsandplansatdifferentlevelsintheorganization
?Theimportanceofcertainty,risk,uncertainty,and
ambiguitytotheorganization’sdecisionmaking.
? Utilizationofdifferentdecisionmodelsinthe organization. 600-700
3 Organizing ?Theorganizationalchartoftheorganization
?Theimportanceoforganizingtotheorganization
? Characteristicsoftheorganization’sverticalstructure (e.g.,chainofcommand,centralizationvs. decentralization,etc.)
?Theorganization’stypeofdepartmentationandits
advantagesanddisadvantages
? Therelationshipsbetweenthe organization’sstructure anditsstrategy,environment,technology,and workflow. 600-700
4 Leading ?Theimportanceofleadershiptotheorganization
? Theprimaryleadershipstyleintheorganizationandits advantagesanddisadvantages 600-700
?Theprimarymotivationapproachesforemployees
usedbytheorganizationandtheireffects
? Teamworkandemployeeempowermentinthe organization
5 Controlling ?Themeaningandimportanceofcontroltothe
organization
?Themanifestationoffeedbackcontrolintheorganization
?Budgetarycontrolintheorganization
? Financialcontrolapproachesusedbytheorganization andtheirprosandcons.
?ImplementationoftotalQualityManagement(TQM)
techniquesintheorganization. 600-700
6 Conclusion ?Yourgeneralcommentsandsuggestions onthe
organization’smanagementpractices. 300-400
MGT301.302DocumentDossier,21of23
7. LITERATURESEARCH GUIDE
Thefollowingisabrief,step-by-step guidethathelpsyousearchliteratureforyourgroup paper.Ifyouneedmoredetailedassistanceorhaveanyquestions,please contactmeora businesslibrarianat http://lib.indstate.edu/about/staff/subjects.asp.
1. Goto http://lib.indstate.edu/(ISU’sCunningham MemorialLibrary)
2. Inthesection“ForStudents,”click Electronic Resources (e-journals, e-books,databases)
3. ChooseEBSCOhostunder“RecommendedDatabases”
4. EnteryourSycamoreusernameandpasswordifprompted
5. Choose BusinessSearching Interface(thethirdoneonthelist)
6. ClickAdvancedSearch(themiddlebuttonundertheblankfield)
7. Enterthenameofthecompanyyouarestudyinginthe firstblankandchoose“TX All
Text”inthesecondblankonthesamerow.
8. Clickthe“Search”button.
9. Youmaywanttotryotherkeywords(thanthecompany’sname)andfields ofsearch, suchasusingkeywords“employeemotivation”in“SUSubjectTerms”orin“AB Abstract”.Ausefultipisthatyoumaywanttostartwitheitherthe fieldABorSUand thentrythefieldTXifthefirsttwofieldscannotproduceenough goodliterature.
10.Youmayalsosetconditions,e.g.,ANDWallStreetJournalin“SOSource”,sothat
youcanfindthosearticleswithyourkeywordsincertain publication only.
11.Onesearchmayproducehundredsofarticles.Youneedtoskimtheirpublicationtitles andabstractstoidentifythosereallyvaluableforyourtermpaper.Fortheminimum literaturerequirement,youprobablyneedtoskimoverahundredarticles-youcandoit prettyquicklyassoonasyouknowhowthesearchworks.
12.Themostvaluablearticlesarethosethata)focusonyourcompanyand/orthetopicof yourresearch;and2)arepublishedbypopularbusinessmagazinesandnewspapers, suchasHarvardBusinessReview,TheWallStreetJournal, BloombergBusinessweek, Fortune, andTheEconomist.Inadditiontotradearticlesin popularbusiness publications,academicarticlesinresearchjournals(especiallytheirliterature review part)mayhelpyoubetterunderstandtheconceptualbackgroundofyourresearchtopic.
8. GRADINGCRITERIAFORWRITINGASSIGNMENTS3
Integration
?Appliesideasfromthereadingstoissuesinthepaper.
?Theapplicationofconceptsclarifyissues/problemsinthesituation.
?Applicationofconceptsshowsanaccurateunderstandingofthereadings.
?Thesourceoftheideaisclearlydocumented(e.g.,Bennis(19xx)arguesthat…Or
NadlerandTushman’s(19xx)modeloforganizationisapplied).
LogicandContent
?Claims,argumentsandpropositionsarespecificandclearlystated.
?Claimsprovideaconsistentviewpointthroughoutthepaper.
?Claimsaresupported withevidence(facts, statistics,quotes).
? Objectiveevidence(facts,statistics)ratherthanauthorityorpersonalexperiencesisused often.
? Explanationisprovidedwheretherelationshipbetweenclaimandevidenceisnot obvious.
OrganizationandStructure
?Identifiesthecentral idea(thesis)intheintroduction.
? Headings,subheadingsandindentations/spacingareusedtohelp guidethereader throughthepaper.
? Eachparagraphhasatopicstatementidentifyingitscentralideasandtheothersentences alsodealwiththiscentraltheme.
? Theconclusion summarizesthearguments,iscongruentwithyourintroductionand providesnewinformation.
Writing
?Thelengthofthesentencesarevariedtoavoidmonotony.
?Unnecessarywordsareeliminatedandinterposesavoided.
?Definite,specificandconcretelanguageisused.
?Unnecessaryandmeanderingrepetitionsareeliminated.
?Thepaperisfreefromgrammaticalerrorsandmisspellings.
? Thepapershould use12-pointfont,doublespacing,andreferencestylesandother formatsforundergraduatesrecommendedbyeitherAPAorMLA4.
?Allwrittenassignmentsareexpectedto submitas MicrosoftWorddocument(*.doc)
throughBlackboard’sAssignmentfunction. Otherdocumentformatorsubmissionas
emailattachmentisunacceptable.
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