Original Assignment: Primary Task Response: Your first task is to post your own Key Assignment Outline to the discussion area so that other students are able to review your plan. Attach your document to the main discussion post, and include any notes that you feel are appropriate. The purpose of this assignment is to help improve the quality of the Key Assignment Draft that you will complete next week. Current Assignment: Respond to Another Student: Review at least 1 other student's Key Assignment Outline, and provide meaningful feedback. Refrain from general feedback, such as simply stating "good job." Your feedback to other students is most helpful if you not only point out weak areas but also offer suggestions for improvement. The best feedback takes a three-stage approach to identify what was done well, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. 125 words min Student assignment below Table of Contents I. The Organization 3 II. Problem Statement 4 III. Research Strategy 5 Examples of Memo & Questionnaires 6 IV. Ethical Considerations 9 V. Sample Population 10 VI. Data Analysis Summary& Management Strategy 11 VII. Research Results 12 VIII.References 13 The Organization Environmental Management Alternatives, EMA, was founded by two brothers and a friend to provide an alternative to the disposal of hazardous waste. Starting out with the three owners, a sales rep., and two laborers they built a profitable business. They began to look into new markets within the environmental industry and hired project managers that had a client list they could bring with them and so began the growth and expansion of the company. They ended up with five project managers and three sales reps which were bringing in more work than they could handle so a hiring spree ensued and along with this the troubles began. They ended up with a workforce of twenty personnel consisting of operators and laborers. As with any company growing pains can be difficult to deal with but in the case of EMA they had the additional problems of having no true, defined management structure in place and they were winging it. With the lack of a clear plan or clear leadership the work force quickly became disgruntle in the disorganization that followed. It became apparent to the owners that a restructuring was in order that included defined roles, chain of command, and accountability. Problem Statement The lack of structure was the problem for EMA, if one were to best describe the leadership at the time a functional or weak matrix would best describe this situation. When looking at these two styles we can see that there are five characteristics that are considered and the role of the manager in each. The project manager’s (PM) authority, resource availability, management of the project budget, PM’s role, and project management administrative staff are the five characteristics to be considered. Under these two styles the manager has little to no control over these characteristics with no r.

1. Original Assignment:
Primary Task Response: Your first task is to post your own Key
Assignment Outline to the discussion area so that other students
are able to review your plan. Attach your document to the main
discussion post, and include any notes that you feel are
appropriate. The purpose of this assignment is to help improve
the quality of the Key Assignment Draft that you will complete
next week.
Current Assignment:
Respond to Another Student: Review at least 1 other student's
Key Assignment Outline, and provide meaningful feedback.
Refrain from general feedback, such as simply stating "good
job." Your feedback to other students is most helpful if you not
only point out weak areas but also offer suggestions for
improvement. The best feedback takes a three-stage approach to
identify what was done well, weaknesses, and areas for
improvement.
125 words min
Student assignment below
Table of Contents
I. The Organization 3
II. Problem Statement 4
III. Research Strategy 5
Examples of Memo & Questionnaires 6
IV. Ethical Considerations 9
V. Sample Population 10
VI. Data Analysis Summary& Management Strategy 11
VII. Research Results 12

2. VIII.References 13
The Organization
Environmental Management Alternatives, EMA, was founded by
two brothers and a friend to provide an alternative to the
disposal of hazardous waste. Starting out with the three owners,
a sales rep., and two laborers they built a profitable business.
They began to look into new markets within the environmental
industry and hired project managers that had a client list they
could bring with them and so began the growth and expansion
of the company. They ended up with five project managers and
three sales reps which were bringing in more work than they
could handle so a hiring spree ensued and along with this the
troubles began. They ended up with a workforce of twenty
personnel consisting of operators and laborers. As with any
company growing pains can be difficult to deal with but in the
case of EMA they had the additional problems of having no
true, defined management structure in place and they were
winging it. With the lack of a clear plan or clear leadership the
work force quickly became disgruntle in the disorganization
that followed. It became apparent to the owners that a
restructuring was in order that included defined roles, chain of
command, and accountability.
Problem Statement
The lack of structure was the problem for EMA, if one were to
best describe the leadership at the time a functional or weak
matrix would best describe this situation. When looking at these
two styles we can see that there are five characteristics that are
considered and the role of the manager in each. The project
manager’s (PM) authority, resource availability, management of
the project budget, PM’s role, and project management
administrative staff are the five characteristics to be considered.
Under these two styles the manager has little to no control over
these characteristics with no real control over the project (PMI,
2009). The management staff lacked leadership within in itself
with trickled down to the workforce who was unclear of the
chain of command and who to report to since the management

3. was fighting all the time for the assignment of personnel and no
one manager handled the assignments. Project managers lacked
authority to make any real decisions in regards to their projects
without first getting the approval of the owners which created
an atmosphere of incompetence and a feeling of distrust towards
the management staff by the workforce. Following is a
breakdown of what the structure at EMA looked like prior to
this project of restructuring.
Research Strategy
In order to develop a research proposal we must first have an
understanding of what this means and entails. At the very
beginning we must have the basic knowledge that the meaning
of research is a process that uses systematic, reproducible steps
to obtain new or gain additional facts about a topic of interest
(N.A., n.d.). The research approach gives us the broad picture
of what we expect the results to show us along with the plans
and procedures for getting there. We next need to know that the
issue or reason for the research is referred to as the research
problem. And finally we have two terms that are dependent
upon each other; research methods and research designs.
Research designs are the procedures outlined within the
research methods that give us direction for the research to
proceed and the methods are the broad steps needed to achieve
the end result. Another way to look at this would be to consider
the research methods milestones in a project and the research
designs are the steps needed to complete each milestone.
For this research project the action approach shall be used,
which allows the researcher to make adjustments to the designs
and methods along with continuous input from the people
affected. The methods will be; to have an understanding of the
problem, adjust for the problem, and then relook at the problem
to see what additional adjustments are needed. The designs to
accomplish these methods will be to first conduct a survey
based in the form of a questionnaire from a set number of
subjects to get a clear understanding of the problem. We will
then put a plan together and implement the plan for one month

4. and then do a follow-up questionnaire survey to the same
subjects to see if the changes helped and if there is additional
input on how to better the plan. We can then revise the plan as
needed, implement it, and re-survey again as many times as
needed.
Considering that the problem we are looking at is a change in
management this approach would work best since we can survey
those directly affected by these changes to see if the problems
we are currently having are being addressed and receive input
on how best to address the problem.Examples of Memo &
Questionnaires
Memorandum
To: All Employees
CC: Tim Hylla
From: Mike Hylla
Date: 9/10/2014
Re: Management Changes
To all employees,
During the next couple of weeks we will be implementing
changes in the management structure of the company. We will
be handing out questionnaires to all employees to complete in
an anonymous manner. Please complete these and place in to the
provided sealed box. These questionnaires will be used to assist
in the restructuring process and everyone’s input would be
appreciated. As these changes are put into place we will be
asking for input as to how the changes are working in the form
of additional questionnaires. We will be going over the changes
at the next near miss meeting in two weeks from this date.
Sincerely;
Tim Hylla
Confidential
Memorandum

5. To: All Employees
CC: Tim Hylla
From: Mike Hylla
Date: 9/10/2014
Re: Initial Questionnaire
1) Do you feel that changes to the current management structure
are needed?
YES NO
2) Do you feel that the current structure is hindering the growth
of the company & why.
3) What changes do you feel are most needed & why.
4) How do you feel these changes will benefit the company?
5) Would you support changes even if they are not what you
feel is most needed?
YES NO
Confidential
Memorandum
To: All Employees
CC: Tim Hylla
From: Mike Hylla
Date: 9/10/2014
Re: Follow Up Questionnaire
1) Do you feel that the changes made to the management
structure have corrected the problems?
YES NO
2) Do you feel that additional changes are needed & why.
3) Do you feel that the changes made have been good for the

6. company & why?
4) Are there still problems that the changes have not addressed,
if so what are they?
5) Do you support the changes that have been made?
YES NO
Confidential
Ethical Considerations
To be determined.
Sample Population
To be determined.
Data Analysis Summary& Management Strategy
To be determined.
Research Results
To be determined.
References
PMI. (2009). Practice standard for project risk management.
Chapter 1. Page 22 & 287. Project Management Institute, Inc.
Newton Square, Pennsylvania.
N.A. (n.d.). Research. BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved from:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/research.html
Owners
PM's
Workforce