[pic] School of Business

Term Project

Students will complete a final project that assesses understanding of course material and encompasses the major leadership skills developed throughout the semester. As part of a team, students will assess and properly frame a series of problems, and offer solutions in the form of a final report and presentation. As part of this effort, you will build a team, find ways to manage conflict, and cultivate influence.

To begin, choose a (maximum) 5-person team, and everyone should read the scenario on page 3. Next, each team member must choose one section to complete. Individual team members must then reread the chapter material associated with their section.

Your paper should specifically refer to and incorporate relevant material from the class textbook, and add additional relevant critical thinking about the topic area. Seek out and make proper use of additional information as needed. Do not answer the questions by simply quoting text material. Rather, summarize the material and offer additional insights.

Report Requirements

▪ Cover Page: Name, Date, Course/Section, Title. Staple your paper in the upper left-hand corner.

▪ The body of the report will contain a minimum of 7 full typed pages[1] and a maximum of 10 pages answering the topic areas of your choosing (the “Cover” and “Works Cited” pages are not counted toward the page minimum).

o Reports must begin with a one to two paragraph introduction that includes an opening thesis, and must end with a Conclusion.

o Your paper must include the subtitles and authors of the topic areas covered in the report. Reports without subtitles will lose 5 points.

o Include APA in-text citations[2] (do not use footnotes), and transitions between paragraphs (especially as you answer other questions).

o Use double spacing, Arial 10 pt. font with 1.25” left / right margins, and 1” top / bottom margins.

o Do not restate the questions.

▪ “Works Cited” page with APA-compliant references[3].

▪ Use double spacing, Arial 10 pt. font with 1.25” left / right margins, and 1” top / bottom margins.

▪ Do not restate the questions.

Note: Professionalism counts. In addition to content-related errors, I deduct points for spelling and grammar mistakes, papers that simply rephrase the material and do not add additional value, as well as for papers that do not meet the minimum required length.

Report Grading will be based on the following:

• Understanding of the Material - Your paper should specifically refer to and incorporate relevant material from the text, and add additional relevant critical thinking about the topic area. Do not answer questions based on a “layperson’s understanding” of the material.

• Expansive / Insightful Comments - Do not respond to issues by simply quoting material from the article; add additional value. Summarize the material and offer additional insights. Offer detailed justification for all of your decisions

• “Professionalism” – May include, but not limited to: formatting errors (see requirements), unstapled papers, and spelling and grammar mistakes. Write your responses using full sentences. I expect one unified report, not a compilation of individual contributions.

• Comparison to Peers – As in the workplace, your deliverable will be judged in comparison to those of your peers.

Presentation Requirements

Students will come prepared to present their final projects to the class during a 20 to 30-minute (max) Powerpoint presentation, including time for questions. In other words, your presentations should take no more than 20 minutes – we’ll allow for up to an additional 10 minutes for questions.
You will decide the organization of your presentation. However, you will not have time to present everything. Therefore, decide what critical information you will offer.
Students must demonstrate good organizational and verbal communication skills, and should deliver presentations in a well-organized, rehearsed manner - anticipating relevant audience questions. Students may use index cards as “prompts” while delivering presentations, but must not read their talks. Each group member must “own” part of the presentation.

Presentation Grading will primarily be based on the following criteria:

• Organization - information is presented in a logical, interesting sequence that the audience can follow

• Subject Knowledge – presenter demonstrates full knowledge (more than required) by answering all class questions with explanations and elaboration

• Graphics - include appropriate graphics to help explain and reinforce the screen text and presentation

• Mechanics – presentation is free of misspellings or grammatical errors

• Eye Contact - presenter maintains eye contact with audience

• Elocution - presenter uses a clear voice and correct, precise pronunciation of terms so that all audience members can hear and understand presentation

In addition, team members must present in appropriate professional dress and keep to time limits.

Note that some of these criteria are applied to individual presenters (e.g. “eye contact”), while some are applied to the entire team (e.g. “mechanics”). Therefore, it is in each team members’ interest to ensure that the entire presentation is flawless. “I wasn’t responsible for that slide” is not an acceptable response.

Notes

The presentation is an opportunity to gain feedback regarding problems faced by real organizations. Once you have completed writing your report, I expect you to spend at least an additional 1 - 2 hours preparing and rehearsing your presentation. Students viewed as “winging it” or that are otherwise unprepared for their presentations will be graded accordingly. There is no make-up date for missed presentations (i.e. make sure you attend class on presentation days).

Scenario[4]

Re: The Winds of Change

Dear Colleague:

The online landscape has shifted once again. While Facebook has successfully acquired Instagram and WhatsApp, Google continues to dominate the search space, Apple and Samsung reign supreme over all things electronic, and unconventional competitors such as Amazon continue to innovate, Yahoo has fallen on difficult times. We’ve attempted to mimic competitors’ moves in the past, but these efforts have been largely unsuccessful (e.g. our own social networking efforts - Y! 360 and Mash were disasters, and we quietly shut them down).

To succeed in making Yahoo a "growth company" again, we'll need to secure the company's position as a leader in mobile apps and offerings. Yahoo is well positioned for this move and has a strong set of assets that include all the things people want to do on their mobile phone (e.g. mail, weather, check stock quotes and news). As a result, we are considering a whole host of options. Some of the strategies we are considering to reverse course are controversial and we your team to ensure that these initiatives are successful.

Below I describe some of the problems we are having with a new initiative. I need your help in analyzing the implications of these issues. To do that, I need for you to identify and analyze our problems (both those that I’ve described and those that may emerge), the opportunities that are available to us, and to generate well thought-out alternatives, and offer appropriate solutions.

We‘ve developed a new mobile, electronic gaming platform, called YahooGo! However, we’ve had some problems when users try to download new games onto their system. Our technical folks have had trouble getting to the bottom of this issue. Perhaps a bigger problem is with YahooGames, the organization that is charged with game development for the new platform. YahooGames is populated with solid website developers, but these people and the system in which they work may not be of the type we need to develop mobile games.

Right now, YahooGames emphasizes stability and control, yet I feel that it needs a culture with a high degree of flexibility, where people have the discretion to make decisions. Employee motivation, satisfaction, and subsequent performance are also issues that must be addressed. The culture at YahooGames is one where people are given unclear tasks, few resources, and impossible timelines. There are even whispers that we’re setting people up to fail. We have to fix this. Perhaps part of the answer lies in hiring people with not only the correct technical skills, but also with “more fire in the belly.” I wonder if doing so would help with the morale issue we are having. As part of this same problem, another issue is that individuals seem to lack a clear set of goals. Right now, only vague and easy-to-achieve goals are in place. What’s needed is a solid goal-setting process. As part of this goal-setting process, I’d also like to see a rethinking of how we reward and penalize employees. We currently have no established system in place.

I feel that managers are not using power and influence effectively. As it stands, developers only act if their direct bosses order (and sometimes threaten) them. There has to be a better way to influence employees. One thing we must do is to do a better job of recruiting and training those that will be in leadership roles. Here, it will be critical to screen for proper personality, and to analyze the candidate’s intelligence. One thing is for sure, what’s required is a big organizational change initiative that provides a roadmap for us to follow. That’s what I hope that you and your colleagues can deliver.

Please give these issues careful thought. The future of Yahoo, the multi-billion dollar online industry, and thousands of jobs rests on your shoulders. I look forward to reading your report.

Sincerely,

Marissa Mayer

President, Yahoo

Each team member must complete one topic area from below.

Each topic area corresponds to a textbook chapter. Therefore, your report must refer to the textbook, as well as to the scenario. Do not restate the questions.

Include the subtitle and author[5] of each of the topic areas covered in the report.

The Situation

• Describe the adaptive and technical problems that are present, as well as ways in which they may be overcome • Using the Competing Values framework, discern the type of culture that is currently present in the organization. Why do you believe this is a correct assessment? • Detail the four key organizational culture factors (myths, etc.) that you will establish within the organization. Make sure to refer to Schein’s work.

Motivation, Satisfaction, and Performance

• Define achievement orientation, and explain if there is anything that we can do to help ensure that individuals are motivated in this way. • Describe how we can use Locke and Latham’s work on goal setting to help motivate employees. Explain how Pygmalion and Golem effects might come into play. • Explain how we may implement the operant approach. Specifically make clear how we might administer contingent and non-contingent rewards and punishments.

Leadership and Change

• Using Beer’s model, explain in detail, why the organizational change effort described in the scenario might fail. • Describe, using the SARA model, what we can do to facilitate change.

Power and Influence

• Explain, using specific examples from the scenario, how the taxonomy of social power might work within the new organization. • How might we use a variety influence tactics to achieve our aims?

Leadership Attributes

• How might the OCEAN model come into play in this organizational transformation? • How might we use Myers and Myers work on the four dimensions on which people can differ to our benefit during this effort? • Explain how we can we use the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence during this effort.

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[1] Reports that do not meet the minimum page count do not qualify for a grade higher than a “C-“

Do not use footnotes or endnotes in your paper. Below are examples of: an APA in-text citation and a full journal article reference as it would appear in your “Works Cited” page.
[2] e.g. (Nuñez & Hungary, 2015)
[3] e.g. Nuñez, E. & Hungary, I. M. (2015). The new theory of everything: an examination of an integrative approach, Harvard Business Review, March, 1(1): 109.

[4] This is a scenario which establishes a fictional situation for students to consider. Students are expected to identify and analyze problems and opportunities presented, generate reasonable alternatives, and recognize and present appropriate solutions.
[5] e.g. Power and Influence (Nuñez)
Reports without subtitles and authors will lose 5 points.