Leadership in Apple Inc. ( 8-10 pages, single-spaced) Research Project Final Paper

Research Project

Assignment Information

ORGANIZATION: A consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more

people, that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of

goals.

For this assignment, please choose an organization that interests you, and choose an Organizational Behavior topic to explore within that organization, for example, Motivation and Job Satisfaction at Google, Leadership in the Cosa Nostra, or Ethical Decision Making at Johnson & Johnson.

Sample Organizations:

American Red Cross

Anna Wintour/Vogue

Bloods/Crips

Church of Scientology

Congress

Democratic Party

Harlem Globetrotters

Italian Mafia/Cosa Nostra

Nation of Islam

Nazi Party

NYFD

Phil Jackson/Bulls

Republican Party

Taliban

US Army

Wal-Mart

Organizational Behavior Topics:

Ethical Decision Making

Motivation and Job Satisfaction

Managing Employee Performance

Teams

Communication

Leadership

Conflict Resolution

Organizational Culture

Change Management

Research Project

Proposal Guidelines

• The proposal should be single-spaced

• A cover page should be used with the title “Research Project Proposal, and have your name and the date

• There is no page limit or required number of pages. However, most proposals are 1-2 pages in length

• Your contract should be edited for errors

• The contract should be submitted via d2l!dropbox

Questions to answer in your contract:

1. Which organization have you selected and why does this organization interest you?

2. What sources* are you going to use for gathering information on your organization?

3. What is your Organizational Behavior topic and why does this topic interest you?

4. What sources* are you going to use for gathering information on your topic?

5. Based on your initial thoughts, why do you think this combination of your chosen organization and the OB topic will be of importance to you and others as managers and leaders in different organizations?

*NOTE:

• You need at least five sources outside of our course material. Wikipedia is not considered a source.
• Use google.com rather than google.com for research on your Organizational Behavior topic.
• In the DePaul Libraries, I recommend staring your search in Harvard Business Review, and databases such as Academic Search Complete (EBSCO).
• Often you will find articles on scholar.google.com that require you to register or pay for access to an article. In this case, note the title and author then search in EBSCO. DePaul holds many subscriptions to academic journals and you can usually find the articles through the library.
• In EBSCO, if you put in keywords such as “Leadership” and “McDonalds” you will come up with a list of articles. Click on a title, and in the next screen you will see a list of tools on the right side of the screen. One of these is “Cite” and it will show you how to cite this article using APA formatting.

Research Project

Final Paper Guidelines

• Feel free to incorporate material from the text and other assigned readings

• You will need to conduct additional research on your topic

• You will need to gather general information about the organization

• You will need to explore how your topic functions within your organization

• A cover page should be used with a title, your name, and the date

• You will want to write 8-10 pages, single-spaced, approximately organized as:

• 1-2 pages: Relevant and necessary background knowledge on the OB topic
• 1-2 pages: Relevant and necessary background knowledge on the organization
• 3-5 pages: Discussion of how topic functions within the organization
• 1-2pages: General takeaways and lessons this organization can provide managers and leaders

• Please use APA style to cite your sources. You can use either in-text citations or footnotes. You will need a references page. The Purdue Online Writing Lab has clear and detailed explanations of how to cite using APA.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Questions to answer in your essay:

1. The Topic: What is the general overview of this topic? What major OB theories on this topic are most relevant? What are these theories?

2. The Organization: What is the history of the organization? What is the current situation of the organization? (Focus, on background information about the firm that is

most relevant to your project and creating the foundation for discussing how your OB topic functions within the firm.

3. How does your main topic function in this organization? Why and how?

4. What general lessons can be learned from this organization that can help managers and leaders become more effective in any organization?