BUS 333 - Organizational Behavior: Assignment - Huh

BUS 333 Team Research Project

The goal of this assignment is to analyze and apply OB concepts in a real organization. You will work in a team of four or five members. The project requires you to examine a problem or issue of concern in a real organization and propose solutions, based on theories and concepts covered in class.

Your team will focus on an issue or problem that the organization is facing and is relevant to the content of this course. It will likely take several conversations with your key contact person at the organization to identify a problem or issue that can be clearly defined, is manageable in scope, and is relevant to the course.

Process: Each team will be responsible for finding an organization to study. The organization can be any type of business. You may select an organization in which one or more of the team members has worked or been a member. You are welcome to use your friend and family networks, prior work experiences, and campus affiliations. I recommend you to be selective in choosing an issue or problem within an organization, as a lack of depth in the issue itself will not be an acceptable excuse for lack of depth in the analysis.  

Your team is to gather information from a person/people at the organization through direct contact. You may supplement this information with data from the media, the organization's archival data, and other secondary sources. You can also conduct a survey or direction observation. You should identify a relatively recent problem to analyze (i.e., this should not be an historical account of a problem and the company's solution). You should focus your analysis by applying the concepts from the course.

Research Paper Guidelines

Your final paper should answer the following questions, using data from your interviews, observations, research, and/or surveys to support each answer:

1. A brief overview of the organization
2. What is the nature of the problem facing the organization?
3. A description of your data sources and data collection methods
4. What are the causes of the problem? What course concepts/theories can be applied to understand why this problem is occurring?
5.  How can course concepts/theories be applied and extended to solve the problem?
6. What specific action steps should the organization take to solve the problem? What changes should be implemented, based on theories and concepts covered in class?
7. What are the potential barriers, obstacles, and challenges to following your recommendations?
8. What are the risks, costs, and possible unintended consequences of following your recommendations? 

The length of the paper should be 13-15 double spaced pages, not counting the title page, reference list, or any appendices. The formatting requirements are 1-inch margins, 12-point font, Times New Roman in APA format.