Instructions

Course Project: Organizational Behavior Perspectives

The course project has major assignments that will be due in Weeks 3 and 5. It will take more than a week’s effort to adequately complete them. Plan time to start the research and other work for those assignments earlier than the week in which they are due.

Course Project Scenario

Your course project is to identify potential organizational behavior problems and recommend solutions for an organization with which you are familiar. All your weekly, written papers will be course project tasks.

Early in Week 1, identify an organization you would be interested in studying. You will investigate the organizational behavior in this organization and research best practice solutions for any problems you observe. You may select your own organization, the organization of a family member, or an organization that interests you. Be sure to review each week’s assignments before selecting the organization to make sure you can locate necessary information. Contact your instructor early in the week if you need advice on your organizational selection. As much as possible, you should utilize actual research and real data for your project. Occasionally, you may fill in some details with hypothetical information. However, you are expected to provide documentation (e.g., citations) throughout your work.

Each week, you will write on the topics identified in that week’s reading, so note any information you find related to any of the following topics:

• Systems theory
• Individual behavior
• Communication
• Change
• Conflict
• Motivation
• Groups and teams
• Making decisions
• Organizational culture
• Leadership

Week 1

Assume that the human resources department of your selected organization has received disappointing results on a job motivation survey administered to all employees at all levels. The results indicate that employees reported lower-than-industry-average job motivation, and management is concerned. Employee comments on the survey included the following:

• My job is so boring!
• My boss micromanages me but never tells me how I'm doing.
• I've been in my position for fifteen years, but I am never allowed to provide any input about making the work better.

You have been tasked with writing a paper that reviews the theoretical perspectives relevant to the situation in your organization. In particular, you are interested in systems theory and job motivation for this week’s analysis.

Tasks:

Write a paper addressing the following:

• Summary: Identify the organization you select and provide a summary of it. What is it? What does it do? Cite research from a variety of sources, including the company's website, social media sites, company blogs, industry and trade sources, and other sources. The summary should include the organization's products or services, customer or client base, areas of operation or distribution, history, main competition, and current situation (whether it is an industry leader, a start-up, or a well-established corporation).
• Analysis: Analyze the factors that affect job motivation and the internal and external consequences of low job motivation. At this time, you do not need to propose any solutions. Rather, you are using scholarly literature and data (e.g., observations, discussions, events, outcomes, reports, etc.) from your organization to analyze factors and consequences related to job motivation.