Organizational Behavior Analysis: Research, Interview, & Recommendations For this assignment, you may work alone or in a team of up to four members to conduct an OB audit of an organization. The purpose of the assignment is for you or your team to apply course concepts to a real-world organization and its practices. Step One: Find an Organization Alone, or as a group, identify an organization that you may use for this project. You may use your professional and personal networks to find an organization. This organization must allow you to gather pertinent information via two interviews with current and/or recent employees. Step Two: Select a Topic After finding an organization and gaining entry, select a topic from the list of class topics below. Please pick only one topic. It is critical that you pick a topic that aligns with the organization you identified. • Job Attitudes: investigate the level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment within the organization; examine the antecedents (predictors) of these attitudes • Work Motivation: use a motivation theory to assess work motivation at the organization • Job Design: apply the Job Characteristics Model and analyze jobs from this perspective • Feedback: analyze the performance appraisal system used by the organization to provide feedback to employees • Stress Management: analyze the organization’s programs aimed at managing employee stress • Diversity: identify and analyze a diversity program within the organization; investigate the level of diversity in the organization, the organization’s plan for managing diversity, and employees’ perceptions of and/or attitudes toward diversity management • Leadership Effectiveness: using leadership theories investigate the type of leadership within the organization and its outcomes • Organizational Culture: analyze the culture of the organization Step Three: Research Your Topic Prior to conducting the two interviews, it is imperative that you research your group’s topic to craft efficient/effective and well-informed interview questions. Using your background research, your group will identify what the organization is doing well and poorly with respect to the chosen topic. Further, using this background research, you will provide recommendations about how to address any deficiencies or problems with the organization. When beginning your background research on the topic, I recommend that you read the corresponding section/chapter of the textbook, as well as review any slides that may have been presented. Your group will find at least 8 peer-reviewed journal articles published 2001 or later for your chosen topic. I recommend that you use Google Scholar, EBSCO host, and/or PsycINFO (which may all be accessed via the PSU library website) to find and access peer-reviewed journal articles. Step Four: Develop a List of Interview Questions Based on your background research, develop a set of interview questions to ask your two interviewees. The pur.

1. Organizational Behavior Analysis: Research, Interview,&
Recommendations
For this assignment, you may work alone or in a
team of up to four members to conduct an
OB auditof an organization. The purpose of
the assignment is for you or your team to
apply course concepts to a real-world
organization and its practices.
Step One: Find an Organization Alone, or as a
group, identify an organization that you may
use for this project. You may use your professional
and personal networks to find an organization.
This organization must allow you to gather
pertinent information via two interviews with
current and/or recent employees. Step Two:
Select a Topic After finding an
organization and gaining entry, select a
topicfrom the list of class topics below. Please
pick only one topic. It is critical that you
pick a topicthat aligns with the organization
you identified. • Job Attitudes: investigate the
level of job satisfaction and organizational
commitment within the organization; examine the
antecedents (predictors) of theseattitudes • Work
Motivation: use a motivation theory to
assess work motivation at the organization • Job
Design: apply the Job Characteristics Model
and analyze jobs from this perspective • Feedback:
analyze the performance appraisal system used by
the organization to providefeedback to employees •
Stress Management: analyze the organization’s
programs aimed at managing employee stress •
Diversity: identify and analyze a diversity program

2. within the organization; investigate the level of
diversity in the organization, the organization’s
plan for managing diversity, and employees’
perceptions of and/or attitudes toward
diversity management • Leadership Effectiveness: using
leadershiptheories investigate the type of
leadership within the organization and its
outcomes • Organizational Culture: analyze the
culture of the organization Step Three:
Research Your Topic Priorto conducting the
two interviews, it is imperative that you
research your group’s topicto craft efficient/effective
and well-informed interview questions. Using your
background research, your group will identify
what the organization is doing well and poorly
with respect to the chosen topic. Further,
using this background research, you will provide
recommendations about how to address any
deficiencies or problems with the organization.
When beginning your background research on
the topic, I recommend that you read the
corresponding section/chapter of the textbook, as
well as review any slides that may have been
presented.
Yourgroup will find at least 8 peer-reviewed journal
articles published 2001 or later for your chosen
topic. I recommend that you use Google
Scholar, EBSCO host, and/or PsycINFO(which
may all be accessed via the PSU library website) to
find and access peer-reviewed journal articles.
Step Four: Develop a List of Interview
Questions Based on your background research,
develop a set of interview questions to ask
your two interviewees. The purpose of these

3. questions is to gather important general
background information about the organization
(i.e., what it does, how it is structured,
etc.) and more specific information about the
organization with respect to your chosen topic.
That is, you will want to determine whether the
organization is engaging in good (or bad)
practices as informed by your background
research. In addition, you will want to use the
questions to investigate areaswhere the
organization could be improved in relation to
the chosen topic. Finally, it is important
that your group refrains from asking sensitive
and/or confidential information; this will put
the interviewees more at ease and all you to
gather better information. Step Five:Conduct
Interviews and Collect Information about
the Organization Conduct your interviews with
two current or recent employees at the
organization. You may also gather additional
information from the organization’s website, the
media, or another source that may provide
useful information. Conduct the interviews
via telephone, Skype, or preferablyin-person.
DO NOT CONDUCT INTERVIEWS (OR GATHER
INFORMATION) VIA EMAIL OR SURVEYS.
Step Six: Write the Team Project Paper
For the final step, writethe 10-13 page (excluding
title page and references) team project paper as
a team. Follow the term project format
instructions below.
Term Paper Project Timeline

4. STEP TASK START FINISH 1 & 2 Find
organization and select topicWeek 3 Week
4 3 & 4 Research topic& develop
interview questions Week 4 Week 6 5
Conduct interviews & collect information
about the organization Week 6 Week 7
IF NEEDED Conduct any follow-up research based
on interview findings Week 7 Week 8 6
Write term paper Week 8 Week 10
Team Project Paper Format
General Formatting and Submission Guidelines
• Double-spaced; size 12 Times New Roman font •
10-13 pages in length • 1-inch margins on all
sidesof the paper • Turn in the paper in
Microsoft Word format (.doc, .docx) • Turn
in the completedpaper by the deadline via
D2L • Turn in only one copy of the paper,
only 1 person but make sure EVERYONE’S
name is listed on the title page
Title Page (1 page)

5. • Title of paper • Names of all group
members (without this, they will not get credit)
Introduction (1/2 page - 1 page)
• Provide an overview of the paper • Summarize
the structure/outline of the paper
Overview of the Organization (1/2 page - 1
page)
• Provide a brief overview of the organization (e.g.,
industry, product/service, etc.) • Describe how
your group collected information (e.g.,
interviews, website, etc.) • While maintaining
interviewee confidentiality,describe the interviewees
(e.g., job titles, tenure, position, etc.)
Findings (4-6 pages)
• Describe what your group found via the
interviewees and otherinformation-gathering
methods • Describe what the organization is
doing; describe whether the organization’s
practices/programs are working • Structure your
findings in a user-friendly and meaningful
manner (e.g., use headings/subheadings) • In
this section, only writeabout the organization
and what it is doing with respect to your
focaltopic; DO NOT summarize journal
articles—rather, use journal articles to help
support a pointor evaluation you are making
about the organization’s practices/programs

6. Recommendations (4-6 pages)
• Based on your findings, provide at least 3
recommendations for how the organization might
address its weaknesses/deficiencies with respect to
your topic• Describe what the organization is
doing well and poorly with respect to your
chosen topic—your background research and
theory will help you here • Make sure that your
recommendations are logical and feasible • Apply
key course terms and concepts where
appropriate • Cite the appropriate journal
article authors to give credit where credit
is due • Make sure your recommendations are
based on specific issues facing the
organizations (i.e., NOT generic best practices or
advice) and that you cite journal articles to
justify your recommendations • Stick to your
topic—please refrain from making recommendations
related to othertopics • Be sure to cite your
articles using APA style
Conclusion (1/4 – 1/2 page)
• Provide a summary of the organization • Summarize
your findings • Summarize your recommendations
References
• Provide a reference list for all sources you used •
Use APA style—a citation manager software (e.g.,
EndNote, Mendelay) can help • Seeme if you
have any questions about formatting