1.0 Purpose of this Assignment

to apply many of the key course concepts to a business case study

to provide a chance to develop and improve group work skills,

to practice formal report-writing; and

The group project is worth 20% of your course grade.

2.0 Project Scope

1. Your Group will be the learning group formed at the start of the class. It is also recommended you discuss schedules and possible meeting times before deciding which group to join.

2. Create a team charter. Describe the rules of conduct for your group and set out your goals for the project. You should specifically note any behaviour that would cause a member to be expelled from the group. All members must sign this charter to indicate acceptance of terms.

3. The Project is based on the Nuevo Project case, available on the Moodle site.

4. Submit a project outline for review (see "Key Dates"). This must contain

your group member names, schedule of activities/milestones and a copy of your group charter.

5. Prepare a report which demonstrates your ability to apply course concepts as a tool for analysis of a real-life situation. Reports must analyze the case study following the Report Outline in section 7.0

3.0 Project Guidelines

Divide the research, analysis, and preparation of the report evenly among group members. Not all sections require the same amount of work; refer to the Report Outline in section 7.0 for guidance.

Before handing in your project, check to make sure that you have covered all points that are required in the report outline.

Reports should have correct spelling and grammar and a level of detail and professionalism appropriate for a business report.

Business 1215 - CASE PROJECT ASSIGNMENT

Guidelines for Group Project & Presentation

4.0 General Requirements for the Case Report

The main body of the report should be between 10 and 12. (The title pages, table of contents, and, references do not count toward the body of the report).

Please use double spaced, 12 point type.

Your report should include the following information:

1. Title Page - include names of the authors, instructor's name and date of submission.

2. Table of Contents - label each significant section and provide page numbers

3. Main Body (see Report Outline below section 7.0)

4. Credits - provide a page that describes the individual contributions of each member to the report (research, editing, formatting, writing, and for which section(s))

5. Sources - cite all reference materials used in your report, including meetings or interviews with members of the organization in your report.

6. Appendices (optional) - If you need to include lengthy reference material in your report (data tables, statistics, interview transcripts, etc.) you may add them at the end as an Appendix.

5.0Report Outline

Use the following outline for the main body of your report:

I. Organizational overview (5 marks) - A brief description of the organization, such as number of employees or members, number of locations, when established, key individuals, products or services provided. This should take up no more than one half page of your report.

II. Identification of Interpersonal Issues (10 marks) - Identify all the OB issues ("people issues") that appear in the case study, and decide as a group which are the most critical and therefore should have top priority for managers to deal with.

Conflict - is there conflict or the potential for conflict between individuals or teams?

Motivation -Are the methods used to motivate employees appropriate and effective?

Leadership - is leadership style effective? Is it appropriate for the situation?

Culture - what role does company culture play in success of the organization? Are there threats to the existing company culture? Is there a need to adapt to a new culture?

Communication - is adequate and does it use appropriate channels?

Change management - is the organization facing significant change? What challenges or opportunities does change present?

Other issues - other OB issues that you wish to discuss related to concepts covered in class.

Choose two or three of the following as the basis for your analysis and recommendation:

NOTE: DO NOT DISCUSS THE CAUSE OF THE ISSUES OR

RECOMMEND SOLUTIONS IN THIS SECTION. Simply introduce / describe the issues you will discuss in your report. (hint: don't use the word "should" in this section)

III. Problem Analysis (20 marks) - Use OB theories and concepts to explain the causes of the issues identified in Section II. This section must demonstrate your ability to apply OB theory and ideas to the situation in the case to explain the root cause(s).

REQUIREMENT FOR EXTERNAL RESEARCH

You must use a minimum of two external sources in addition to the case study and the textbook. Use external research to support your analysis of the OB issues in your report or to present theories or concepts not brought up in the textbook. Refer to

business publications, journals, company profiles or other reputable sources. Management consulting websites are often excellent sources of these types of 'before and after' case studies. (If you don`t know where to begin, ask a librarian).

IV. Options and Evaluation (20 marks) - for each issue, propose at least two possible options. Present an evaluation of each option, pointing out advantages/disadvantages, anticipated effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness, etc.

V. Recommendations and Implementation (15 marks) - Make recommendations and provide rationale for your decisions (refer back to your evaluation). The recommendations you make should be specific. Explain which things should be done first (in what order) and why.

AVOID general suggestions such as "improve your reward programs" or "increase communications between teams". These suggestions raise the question "How?" Good recommendations do not create new problems to solve, but offer specific solutions.

VI. Closing argument (5 marks) - Briefly summarize the reasons for making your proposed changes. Describe what may happen if no changes are made, and what you believe the result will be if the organization adopts your action plan. Where appropriate, describe how improvements could be measured to see if your changes are working.

6.0Tips for Business Report Writing

Good business reports are clear and concise. They accurately describe the issues and make detailed recommendations.

- Avoid repetitive statements or circular arguments.

- Quantify your analysis and provide numbers and data wherever possible.

- Avoid generalizations or personal opinions that are not supported by facts.

- Give specific recommendations that deal with all of the issues you identify

don`t talk about issues that are not relevant to the report

don`t recommend changes that are unrelated to issues

- Provide details on how to implement changes (timing, priorities, etc.)

7.0 EVALUATION

Reports are evaluated as follows:

Main Body: (75 marks) - see Section 5.0 for a breakdown of the grading.

I will assess the report on its analysis of the situation, conclusions, and rationale.

I will pay particular attention to the following:

do you recognize legitimate OB issues or opportunities in the case study?

do you apply OB concepts from class to explain the issues?

do you use credible, relevant external research?

do your recommendations address the issues raised in your analysis?

is there a good level of detail? does your analysis demonstrate understanding of the issues and do your recommendations give specific solutions?

are predicted outcomes realistic? do they demonstrate cause and effect?

Writing Style (20 marks)

Remember this is a business report. I'm looking for clear explanation of ideas, proper grammar and spelling.

Format (5 marks)

I will assess the format and layout of the report, as well as the overall professionalism and clarity.