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APPLICATIONS PAPER
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (MGT 332)
FALL 2013
PROFESSOR L. LITTLE

Description

The Applications Paper is designed to provide you with an opportunity to apply the material from the course to real situations in your life. It is in question-and-answer format, and is not meant to be approached as a term paper; no research is required. Whenever possible your answers should be related to the workplace or other organizational setting. In effect, the paper is a substitute for a comprehensive final exam.

Deadline

The deadline for the paper is December 11, during class time, the last day of classes. This is a firm deadline; late papers will not be accepted. Hard copy is required – it cannot be emailed, so be sure to allow enough time to print your paper

How Papers Will Be Graded

I will be grading you on your mastery of the subject matter and how appropriately you apply the material to your own situations. This paper cannot be adequately written without consulting your class notes, Powerpoints and/or the text.

Grade The paper is worth 50 points (25% of your final grade).

Format and Length

Each question should be numbered and stated before you write your answer. Hint: The easiest way to handle this is to copy and paste all questions onto a new word document and then simply write your answers under each question.
Provide specific examples in your answers.
Do not include definition of concepts.
Each answer, on average, should be one to two pages, double- spaced, in 12 point type and standard margins (300 – 600 words per question and answer). As there 12 questions in total, your paper should be between 12 and 24 pages (3600 – 7,200 words) Some questions may require longer answers and some answers may be slightly shorter.
Do not start a new page for each question.
Hard copy is required; electronic papers will not be accepted.
Your cover page should include the following information:
Your name
Section number or class time
Total word count
Feedback

I am happy to provide feedback on what you have written. Although the most effective way to request feedback is to show me what you’ve written throughout the semester, you may submit your work as late as November 22. It must be in hard copy format.

Helpful Hints and Other Information

It is to your advantage to write this paper as we go through the material in class. Doing so will be helpful to you because the material will be fresh in your mind and you will not be trying to complete the paper at the last minute. Although it does not require research, it does require a great amount of thought -- doing a good job in too short a time is virtually impossible. Waiting until the last minute also precludes you from asking me questions on anything you don’t understand. Working on the paper question-by-question as we go along will also help you with studying for tests throughout the semester.

Every time we are about to start material related to an Applications Paper question, you will see APPLICATIONS PAPER ALERT! at the top of the PowerPoint slide. At that point I will go over the question for you.

To be sure that you don’t ever lose your work, I recommend that you every time you add to your paper you email the entire paper to yourself.

When the term "your organization” or “your group” appears in a question, use any organization or group that you have been part of or that you know very well, but it must be a work, school, or structured organization. Your answers cannot be based on your personal or social life. Likewise, when you write about an individual, that person should be someone from your work, school, or structured organization life.

You can use different individuals, groups, and organizations for different questions.

Within each question, stay with the same individual, group, or organization.

Never use real names of individuals you are describing. You have the option of using real or fictional names for any organization you are describing.

Although the content of your answers is the most important feature, formatting counts too. Any format violation results in the loss of one half point per question/answer. For example, I will deduct one-half point per question for not including the question itself. One half point will also be deducted for each typo, inappropriate word, such as slang incorrect use of word (such as using the word “their” when “there” is called for). I recommend using both spell check and grammar check.

Each answer is worth 4.17 points, which is computed by dividing 50 points by 12 questions.

Questions

Please remember that people you write about must be from your work, school, or organized activities (i.e., sports,). 1. Competing Values Framework (pp. 37-40)
Which type (Competing Values Framework) of culture best describes your organization? Note: The culture of your organization may be more than one type, but it cannot be all four types.

2. Self-Efficacy Beliefs (p. 127)
Choose someone you know who has low self-efficacy beliefs and describe his or her behavior patterns. What can she or he do to raise self-efficacy?

3. Locus of Control (pp. 128-129)
Choose someone you know well and decide if he/she is more of an internal or more of an external.
A. What specific behaviors of that person leads you to your conclusion?
B. How is his/her locus of control impacting his/her life?

4. Job Characteristics Model (pp. 153-154)
Redesign any job you have ever had using the Job Characteristics Model. Be sure to include each of the five characteristics and label them A through E. You must discuss yourself in this question.

5. Bottom-Up Approaches to Job Design (pp. 154-155)
Describe how you could use job crafting in any job you have ever had. Be sure to address all aspects of job crafting and be as specific as possible. You must discuss yourself in this question.

6. Expectancy Theory (pp. 179-184)
Assume you are a manager in your organization. How would you use Expectancy Theory to motivate a particular employee? Be sure to include (A) Expectancy, (B) Instrumentality, and (C) Outcome(s) and Valence(s). The employee you discuss must be a real person.

7. Team Cohesion (Chapter 9 PowerPoint slide)
Choose a team that you have been part of.
A. Assess the team on each of the characteristics of cohesive teams. (Be sure to address each of the six characteristics, and label them A through F.)
B. Was the team cohesive?

8. Decision Making Heuristics and Biases (pp. 257-269)
Describe a decision you, or someone you know well, made in the past that was influenced by one or more decision making heuristic or bias. If you describe more than one heuristic or bias, please label each one separately.

9. Alternative Styles for Handling Dysfunctional Conflict (pp. 298-300)
(A) Describe any dysfunctional conflict you have been involved in or that you have observed. (B) Which of the five conflict handling styles was used?
(C) Was it an effective way to handle the conflict? If not, what would have been a better way of handling it?

10. Communications Barriers (pp. 312-316)
Describe a situation in which you experienced or observed a personal, physical, or semantic communications barrier. What was the impact of the barrier?

11. Sources of Power (pp. 344-345)
Describe the source(s) of power of someone you know well.
Please note: The person you choose does not need to possess all five sources of power, just write about the sources of power that he or she does possess.

12. Servant Leadership ((pp. 386-388)
Analyze any leader you have ever worked for in terms of each of the ten characteristics of servant leadership. (Please label them A through J.) In summary, is (was) he or she a servant leader? The person you describe does not need to be a good example of a servant leader, but you do need to assess how much of each of the characteristics he or she displayed.