Research Paper Assignment
Purpose:
This assignment will provide you an opportunity to examine the impact of effective management on the overall success of an organization. You will need to utilize resources available through the library and other sources (including the intemet) to obtain information. You will be required to examine an organization from a variety of points of view with a focus on its leadership, management style, ethics commitment, strategies and strategy execution. In your paper you should discuss and identify as many Principles of Management concepts as possible. Conclusions should be drawn regarding the effectiveness of the use of the broad range of management tools and their impact on the success of the company. In class you will present the summation of your paper as well as your specific, critically thought out conclusions.
Introduction:
It has been a belief for many years that the long-term success of an organization is based largely on the quality of its management. Much has been written about the "Search for Excellence," "The Quest for Quality. -The Sustainable Competitive Advantage." All this research and all the studies of the "100 Best Companies,- have eventually focused on the importance of the quality of management. Nothing seems to have a greater impact on the financial returns, shareholder value or employee satisfaction than the quality of the organization's management.
Your challenge is to select a company you can examine from the variety of perspectives covered in this course. Most specifically, these include POLC, Planning, Organizing, Leading, and Controlling. You will examine the company you select utilizing a variety of research sources: business publications, the company's own external and internal communications, the mass media, etc.
Directions:
Select a publicly traded US company. Companies in the Fortune 500 are strongly suggested. Ideally select a company that has had new management since 2000. Research the top management of the organization and detail the strategies that they advocated to help grow the company. As many companies had problems starting around 2008 - 2010 which led to lay-offs and retrenchment, that may be a good period to focus on how management helped move the company through those difficult economic years. Examine the critical issues that the organization faced, and detail the strategies employed to mitigate them. All top managers are not successful. If the company you choose employed strategies that failed, detail the failure and add analysis as to why it failed and what may have been done to foster success.
Items that should be discussed with your selected company include:
o Mission and Vision
o Values and Ethics
o Organization structure and culture
o Leadership style and motivational style
o Overall measurements of success for this company
The following questions should be addressed:
A. Who is/are the Top Leader(s) of the company, and under what circumstances did they become leader?
B. What issues did they face?
C. What are the major strengths of the company?
D. In what ways did Planning, Organizing, Leading & Controlling contribute to the company's success (or failure)?
E. What was the most important thing leading to that success (or failure)?
F. What do you see as major challenges facing this company in the next five years?
G. What are your conclusions about the management based on your research?
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.