RESEARCH PROJECT GUIDELINE
Choose a public or not-for-profit organization with which you are familiar. It is best if you choose an organization that you work for, participate in, or volunteer with either currently or in the recent past. A private sector organization can be selected, but it is very difficult to answer many parts of the assignment.
Your paper should be approximately 8 to10 pages using 11 or 12-point font, 1.5 line-spaced, and double-spaced between paragraphs. Use the section headings provided below. All sources are to be cited and referenced in APA style. Please refer to your APA Manual.
Submit your paper via Canvas through the SafeAssign drop box. Check the SafeAssign report for possible citation errors and plagiarism. If you have concerns about your SafeAssign report, submit a revised version of your term paper before the submission deadline.
Your term paper should be organized as follows:
Course Submission Form and Grading Rubric:
1. SECTION 1: Introduction
Introduce the reader to your organization and the position you held, presently hold, or would like to hold in the organization.
2. SECTION 2: Goals Assessment
Examine the organization’s vision, mission, goals, and values. This section of your report should address most of the following questions:
a. What is the organization’s vision and mission? What are the formal organizational goals? What are the organization’s values?b. Who establishes the organization’s goals?c. How is effectiveness measured?d. How is performance reported to the public?e. Do the vision, mission, goals, and values align? Explain.f. Which of the organization’s goals do you think conflict? Explain.g. How do the values impact organizational decision-making? Explain.h. How does politics impact the organization’s vision, mission, values, and goals?
Please do not provide a list of answers, but incorporate theanswers to these questions into an insightful narrative.
3. SECTION 3: Environmental Analysis
In this section you will conduct an environmental analysis. Using Exhibit 4.1 (p. 88) as a guide, describe the environment in which the organization operates with respect to the following conditions:
a. Political conditionsb. Economic conditionsc. Demographic (social) conditionsd. Technological conditions
Be sure to examine the historical trends for each of these conditions. For additional information on environmental analysis, you might visit http://pestleanalysis.com/what-is-environmental-analysis/
4. SECTION 4: Organizational Structure Analysis
Evaluate the organization’s structure by addressing the following questions:
a. How is the organization structured?b. Are the organization’s services provided through a network?c. Based on what you have learned in this course, is your organization’s structure appropriate for its environment? Explain.d. How does politics impact the organization’s structure?
Incorporate your answers to these questions into a narrative; do not provide a list of answers.
5. SECTION 5: Critical Problem (and presentation)
Identify what you think is the most significant problem facing the organization. When identifying a problem, think broadly about the topics that you studied in this course.“My organization has not found a cure for Ebola” is a serious problem, but it is not related to this course. “My organization is not structured effectively to facilitate research on finding a cure for Ebola” would make the problem course related. Consider how your organization might benefit from the application of organization theoryconcepts by improving performance, leadership, decision-making, motivation, service provision, client/citizenrelations, or other concepts to understand and resolve this problem. Recommend what you think would be an effective approach to resolving the problem confronting the organization.
