Term paper Leadership
Term Paper (Due 09/23/17 at 12pm PST)
Please select a leadership topic and let me know what you decided and the reason why you choosen by 09/10/17 before 12pm (PST). (Must obtain approval 1st prior to proceeding beyond this point).
Student will submit a paper on the chosen company. The term paper should be in APA format and should be between 1,500 – 2,000 words. (The word count is just a guide). As long as you thoroughly address the points listed in the assignment, you may use as many words as it takes). Please remember to include a Cover page, Abstract, Table of Contents and Reference page. (These will not be counted in the word count).
Your paper should: (1) examine how the company uses leadership to enhance the integration of functions into the overall mission and vision of the organization; (2) perform an in-depth analysis of the internal operations of the company; (3) include your suggestions as to what the company could do to be more successful; (4) discuss management theories that could be utilized to increase the organization’s efficiency and effectiveness. Please remember to include the section headings listed below.
Your paper should include at least seven sources consisting of articles, newspapers, magazines, & on-line sources.
This paper is a business communication. Write it as if the person receiving it is the CEO or other key decision-makers of the organization. This means you do not want to include information that would be unnecessary for this person, such as the history of the organization. Build a compelling argument that the problem is serious enough to require organizational resources to solve. Follow this up with a set of recommendations that will solve the problem. The argument for these recommendations must be supported logically by what you discover in your analysis.
This paper is written in seven sections:
1. Problem Statement
A brief statement of a specific management related problem in a particular organization. Identify the cost, financial and others, of the organization not solving this problem. This is the most important and most difficult section of the paper and provides a foundation for the balance of the paper. Create a compelling argument on behalf of your view of the problem. Conclude this section with a clear question that you wish to answer through this paper. Write this question in the form of an open-ended question rather than one that can be answered with a yes or no. How well you answer this question becomes a key criterion for evaluating each of the next three sections.
2. Concept
Description of a concept chosen from the required readings (course text book) and how you expect this concept to help you successfully complete this analysis. Include a statement about why you believe this concept will help you answer your question. Present your concept in a form that will be useful in framing the analysis. (Do not present all you know about the concept. Demonstrate your knowledge of the concept and its elements by the effective way you present how you will use the concept to answer your question). Reflect in this section as to how this concept will provide a more useful view of the problem by pondering: What questions do you want to ask using the concepts which will help you answer your question? This is the section where journal articles can help you better understand your chosen concept and/or how to use them for analysis. Consider this section as your plan of action – what steps will you take to complete your analysis? This is not the section to provide descriptive information about your organization.
3. Analysis
Systematically ask the concept-framed question developed in the previous section to learn what is being done well and what could be improved. Answer your questions and draw conclusions from your answers. Do not introduce additional concepts in this section. If an additional concept is valuable, integrate it in a revised concept section. End this section with a list of conclusions you have drawn from your analysis. Collectively, these conclusions should directly answer your open-ended question and provide a foundation for your specific, actionable recommendations. In summary, this analysis section should be an execution of your plan developed in your concept section.
4. Recommendations
From what you have learned in your analysis, make recommendations for specific action that would improve the handling of the situation. These should address the problem presented in the first section. A definite thread should be seen from the question to the concept to the analysis to your recommendations. They should be readily identifiable, not buried in the midst of paragraphs. Remember, as a manager, you are expected to be able to understand situations and determine specific action to take. This is where you demonstrate you can identify specific, actionable recommendations. The work in the paper, to this point, should have created a compelling argument on behalf of your recommendations.
5. Evaluation
The fifth section of this paper is the opportunity for you to review your problem-solving process. In what ways did you find your definition of the problem useful in solving it? What were the strength and weaknesses of your choice of concepts? How well were you able to use an integration of the two chosen concepts to frame your analysis? How might you have integrated them differently? Is there another concept or two that might have been equally or more useful? Which ones and why? In what ways were you able to draw new conclusions about the problem through using this process?
6. Learning
The final section to this paper is not a typical conclusion. Do not summarize your paper. That is not necessary. Write a brief statement about what you learned about leadership from completing this assignment.
7. References
All articles, books, and other sources used to prepare your paper should be properly cited using APA guidelines. In the body of the paper, use in-line citations and summarize these sources in a reference list at the end of the paper. Your Team needs to use a minimum of seven references.
Create PowerPoint Presentation slides
8-10 slides
Keep PPT presentation around 8-12 mins long
Your presentation must be professionally laid out:
o Use one style slide throughout your presentation
o Use contrasting colors between your background color and font color
o Keep each slide to five lines and each line to seven words. By having too much text on a page, you risk losing your audience’s focus
o Use font size 10 or greater
o Capitalize all first letters of every word in headers except for articles such as “a”, “an”, or “the”
o Make sure your headers are bold font
o Leave a blank row between the header and your first bullet point
o Maintain consistent formatting across all slides
Below is access to textbook use for this course. Click on the link to access textbook: Practicing Leadership by Shriberg
Note: once the project is assigned to you. I will grant you access to the textbook.
https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/user/signin
