BUS 520 Assignment 1 Leadership & Organizational Behavior  
ASSIGNMENT 1                                               
TASK FORCE COMMITTEE REPORT: ISSUE AND SOLUTIONS
Due Week 4, worth 150 points
Leaders address issues and propose solutions. As a leader, you’ll need to stay on top of events that may facilitate or hinder productivity. You must create and implement solutions to address these issues.
 
This assignment exposes you to complex modern organizational challenges. The solutions you devise should reflect your learning and research of organiza- tional and individual influences in the workplace.
 
PREPARATION
1.  Select an organization
Select an organization in which current events have adversely affected productivity, requiring management to resolve an issue related to: corporate culture, managing diversity, leading teamwork, and developing motivational strategies. The organization should be one with which you are familiar — where you work now or have worked previously (business, nonprofit, government, or military). You may also consider other organizations in the news, such as Macy’s for the retail industry, United for the airline industry, Wells Fargo for the banking industry, etc. The focus is on finding solutions, but you should be somewhat familiar with the organization or industry.
 
2.  Plan your research
Use research from the course textbook, company website, business websites (CNBC, Bloomberg, etc.), resources from the Strayer Library, or outside resources to develop solutions to the following questions as they relate to corporate culture, managing diversity, leading teamwork, and developing motivational strategies to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives. Your recommendations must be fully articulated and supported with appropriate detail and sources. Note: Wikipedia and web-based blogs do not qualify as credible resources.
 
INSTRUCTIONS
Imagine yourself as the task force committee leader at this organization. You have been tasked with analyzing hindrances to organizational efficiency. You must propose strategic solutions.
 
Create a full report in which you do the following:
 
1.  Describe the Organization and the Issue to Resolve
Provide a brief description of the organization you selected. Present the organizational issue that adversely affected productivity and that you, the task force leader, will review and resolve.
2.  Analyze Current Corporate Culture
How has the current corporate culture facilitated the development of the current issue? Research the organization, dig into the culture, and analyze how it contributed to this issue. Hint: Review the mission and vision statements as well as the corporate website.
3.  Identify Areas of Weakness
What are the organization’s areas of weakness? Using your research on organizational behavior approaches to corporate culture, diversity, teamwork, and motivational strategies, identify areas of weakness.
4.  Propose Solutions
What organizational practices would you modify? What solutions should your task force recommend to management? As the leader of the task force, identify the suggestions you would present to the organization’s leadership with regard to modifying current organizational practices to resolve the issue.
 
5.  Prepare an Executive Summary
Summarize your recommendations and research findings in a
one-page executive summary that you will present to the CEO in an upcoming executive meeting. Note: An executive summary is a condensed version of your full report. It should summarize briefly all the main points in concise paragraphs. It should be written clearly and should use language appropriate for the audience.
 
PROFESSIONAL AND APA FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS
Your assignment must follow these general APA formatting requirements:
 
Be typed (five to seven pages recommended, excluding cover and reference pages), double-spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12) with one-inch margins on all sides
Include a References List
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date Include in-text citations following APA style, using attributive tags and signal verbs
Cite at least two credible sources
 
POINTS: 150
ASSIGNMENT 1: TASK FORCE COMMITTEE REPORT: ISSUE AND SOLUTIONS
 
Criteria
 
Unacceptable Below 70% F
 
Fair
70-79% C
 
Proficient 80-89% B
 
Exemplary 90-100% A
1. Describe the Organization and the Issue to Resolve
 
Weight: 20%
Does not
describe the
organization or provide details about the
company. The issue and its
impact on the company are not provided.
Partially
describes the organization and provides some details about the
company, but additional
details would improve the description.
The issue and its impact on the company are not clearly articulated.
Sufficiently
describes the organization and provides details about the company.
The issue is
identified and the author
sufficiently
describes what he/she knows about it and its impact on the company.
Fully describes the organization by providing a relevant and
robust but con- cise overview of the company
(e.g. when they were estab-
lished, what service(s) or
products they provide, and other relevant information).
Additionally, the author fully
describes the
issue he/she has identified; what he/she knows
about it and how it has impacted the company.
 
2. Analyze Current
Corporate Culture
 
Weight: 20%
The culture is not described or the compa- ny is not
differentiated completely
from others. Poses unsup- ported con-
nections or connections are not
included.
Partially
describes the company’s
culture. Lacks details and/or multiple sourc- es are not
utilized to provide a
well-rounded perspective. Makes loose connections that were not supported by
sources or that were not fully articulated
Satisfactorily describes the company
culture by
drawing on and synthesizing
corporate
information about the
company.
Makes logical and realistic connections
that are
supported by
source material.
Completely
describes the company’s
culture by
detailing how the company
positions itself from internal
and external perspectives. Draws strong,
logical connec- tions about how the culture did or could have
supported/facil- itated the chal-
lenge. Makes direct connec- tions and sup- ports points with source
material.
3. Identify Areas of Weakness
 
 
Weight: 20%
Does not
identify areas of weakness or does not
provide sup-
porting source material
Partially identi- fies areas of
weakness and makes loose connections
between the weaknesses
and supporting material.
Satisfactorily
identifies areas of weakness
and provides valid details supported by
source material.
Completely
identifies areas of weakness
and provides strong details with logical
connections
and supporting source
material.
 
4. Propose Solutions
 
Weight: 20%
Does not
describe modifi- cations to
organizational practices, or
does not identi- fy solutions that would resolve
the issue. No
source material is provided.
Partially describes
modifications to organization- al practices
and solutions to resolve the issues. Lacks supporting
details and
source material
Satisfactorily
describes modi- fications to
organizational practices. Pro- vides solutions
that make some connections
with supporting source material to indicate how the solutions
will resolve the issue
Completely
describes modi- fications to
organizational practices and provides solu- tions with
strong connec- tions and sup- porting source material. Logi- cally details
how the solu- tions will
resolve issue.
5. Prepare an Executive Summary
 
 
Weight: 10%
Did not
prepare a one-page executive summary.
Prepares a
partial execu- tive summary. The issue and problem are
not clearly
stated and the main points are not summa-
rized.
Paragraphs are not short or
concise. Lan-
guage could be more appropri- ate for the
audience.
Satisfactorily prepares an
executive sum- mary. The issue and problem are stated and most of the main
points are
summarized.
Paragraphs
could be more concise.
Language is
appropriate for the audience.
Prepares an exemplary
executive sum- mary. The issue and problem
are clearly
stated. All of
the main points are summa-
rized.
Paragraphs are short and con- cise, providing the right
amount of detail.
Language is ideal for the audience.
 
6. Write
Professionally Using Quality Resources
 
Weight: 10%
Writing does
not meet mini- mum standards.
Tone is not
professional.
Communication is wholly lack-
ing in logic,
clarity, and/or consistent
formatting.
Contains many spelling,
mechanical, formatting,
citation, and/or grammatical
errors.
 
References are not provided.
Writing is
satisfactory. Professional tone is devel- oping. Shows
moderate logic, clarity, and/or consistent
formatting. May contain more than a few spelling, grammar,
mechanical,
formatting, or citation errors.
 
Does not meet the required
number of references; some or all
references are of poor quality.
Writing could be improved, but
meets accept- able standards. Tone is profes- sional. Shows
logic, clarity,
and consistent formatting. May contain few or no spelling,
mechanical, and/or gram-
matical errors. There may be minor format- ting or citation errors.
 
Meets the number of
required refer- ences; all refer- ences are
high-quality choices
Writing is excel- lent. Tone is
professional
and sophisticat- ed. Shows
logic, clarity,
and consistent formatting.
Contains no spelling,
mechanical, or grammatical
errors. Is free of formatting and citation errors.
 
Exceeds
number of
required refer- ences; all refer- ences are
high-quality choices