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Projects - Fall 2008 BA 335 Organizational Management |
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Projects - Fall 2008 BA 335 Organizational Management |
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Projects |
Project philosophy: Because Saint Martin's University's School of Business recognizes the importance today's organizations place on high-performing project teams, a primary focus of this class will be completing group projects. With classmates coming from different cultures who possess diverse educational backgrounds, working habits, personalities, and writing styles, a group project poses a challenge for every student. We want you to learn to appreciate differences, to solve disagreements among team members, to work together as a team, to bring out the strengths in everyone, and produce the best achievable outcome. Project 1: (5 points) Your task is cause all members of the class to better understand one of the commonly accepted approaches to analyzing the management task. Five are found in your textbook. Basic approaches include classical approach, behavioral approach, and management science approach. More recent approaches include the contingency approach and systems approach. Your team will be assigned to research one approach to understanding management. Conduct library research. Prepare a 10 - 25 minute presentation to be given to the class. All members of the team should be given an equal amount of presentation time. Each team member will create and maintain an individual project activity journal. The journal should account for time actually spent on the project. You should note the date and times you work on the project. For each work session, briefly describe work accomplished. Also record date and times of group meetings, list who attended, and summarize work you and your teammates complete. Project 2: (20 points) Through oral presentation and written report, your task is to cause all members of this class to understand and concur in the management function failure behind a significant problem faced by a company and to lay out a convincing plan to resolve the problem. The purpose of this project is to extend your understanding of concepts presented in class. Your team will choose a business firm or organization (get my permission) and identify a serious challenge the firm faces. (e.g. Ford's market share meltdown, Starbuck's overseas expansion failures, Toyota's inability to institutionalize its production system at foreign assembly plants). Using extensive company/industry/organization research, build a persuasive argument affixing blame to the management function at primary fault. Address all four. Narrow to one. Use your cause analysis as the framework for crafting a recommendation for the company to overcome the challenge it faces. Faithfully and fully cite your sources of fact (and supposition). Your research must validate 1) a problem exists; and 2) a management function failure is at fault. As you give your presentation, include source citations on your presentation slides. Your convincing plan to eliminate or resolve the problem should address actions you recommend management take in each of the four management function areas. Your paper may not exceed 2500 words. Your presentation must be constrained to 30 minutes. Each team member will create and maintain an individual project activity journal. The journal should account for time actually spent on the project. You should note the date and times you work on the project. For each work session, briefly describe work accomplished. Also record date and times of group meetings, list who attended, and summarize work you and your teammates complete. |
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Contact Information: Office: Phone: E-Mail: dstout@stmartin.edu |
