PSY 614 Final Project Guidelines and Grading Guide O.docx

PSY 614: Final Project Guidelines and Grading Guide
Overview
The final project for this course is a leadership case study
analysis. You will be given a specific case study that centers on
leadership strategies to form the
foundation of your analysis. Using this case study, you must
apply the theories and concepts from the course to interpret and
formulate answers to certain
guiding questions. Finally, you must create a professional
presentation that presents your entire case study analysis
effectively. In the presentation, you will
present your findings and recommendations, including answers
to all guiding questions, as a consultant would present his or her
analysis to a company. The
project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted
at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and
ensure quality final
submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules
Four, Six, and Eight. The final product will be submitted in
Module Ten.
This assessment will assess your mastery with respect to the
following course outcomes:
reflect flexibility, promote sustainability, foster effective
change management, and further
organizational goals for a given context

solving authentic problem scenarios
leadership techniques based on employee research and
performance metrics data
Prompt
Use the case study Fortuga Artisans, Inc. for the following
prompt.
For your leadership case study analysis, you must create a
professional presentation and apply the theories and concepts
from the course to interpret and
formulate answers to the following guiding questions:
Illustrate each with specific examples and connect them back to
course principles.
ship
strategies that reflect flexibility, promote sustainability, foster
effective change management,
and further organizational goals? Defend your evaluation and
choices.
the leadership strategies that have been employed as well as any
additional strategies you
recommend to be employed. Include a plan for assessment that
incorporates employee feedback and performance metrics data.
What should be

measured? How should it be measured to ensure validity and
reliability? How should that data be interpreted and acted upon?
http://snhu-
media.snhu.edu/files/course_repository/graduate/psy/psy614/For
tuga_Artisans_Inc.pdf
http://snhu-
media.snhu.edu/files/course_repository/graduate/psy/psy614/For
tuga_Artisans_Inc.pdf
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
1. Leadership Strategies: Evaluation – Using the case study,
describe the overall leadership strategies employed. Specifically
address the following:
a. Flexibility – To what extent does the leadership strategy of
the company within the case study reflect flexibility? What
evidence is given for the
basis of your reasoning?
b. Sustainability – Does the leadership strategy promote
sustainability? Why?
c. Change management – Does the leadership strategy foster
effective change management? Why or why not?
d. Organizational goals – Does the leadership strategy further
organizational goals? Give examples.
2. Leadership Strategies: Selection – Within the case, what are
the leadership problems? Select appropriate leadership styles,
approaches, and strategies
for solving the problem(s) based on the following:

a. Appropriateness – Which leadership strategies are
appropriate for use in solving the problems identified within the
case study? Discuss their
appropriateness in terms of style, approach, and strategy.
b. Innovation – Are the leadership strategies innovative? Why
or why not?
3. Assessment Plan – Develop an assessment plan based on
leadership strategies that have previously been employed and
any recommended changes to be
employed. This assessment plan should include the following:
a. Effectiveness – Assess the effectiveness of the current
leadership strategies based on the following:
i. Employee research
ii. Performance metric data
b. Recommendations – Propose an assessment plan that
incorporates employee feedback and performance metrics data,
addresses the data to be
collected, discusses how to ensure validity and reliability, and
incorporates interpretation and future actions.
Note: Principles of an effective presentation can be found at the
end of this document.
Milestones
Milestone One: Problems and Issues
In task 4-3, submit a 2–3-page paper. What are the problems
and issues discussed in the case study? Establish a context by
providing an overview of leadership
style, approach, and strategy. Then illustrate each problem in
the case with specific examples and connect them to leadership

style, approach, and strategy. The
format should be a Word document, written in APA style and
cited appropriately. This milestone will be graded using the
Milestone One Rubric. The feedback
provided by the instructor should be applied to your final
leadership case study analysis.
Milestone Two: Leadership Strategy
In task 6-2, submit a 3–4-page paper identifying the leadership
strategies that were employed by the organization described in
the case study, how they were
employed, and any additional strategies that could be employed
to reflect flexibility, promote sustainability, foster effective
change management, and further
organizational goals. Explain how your recommended strategies
should be employed. Defend your evaluation and choices. The
format should be a Word
document, written in APA style and cited appropriately. This
milestone will be graded using the Milestone Two Rubric. The
feedback provided by the instructor
should be applied to your final leadership case study analysis.
Milestone Three: Assessment Plan
In task 8-2, submit a 3–4-page paper that describes your
assessment plan based on the leadership strategies that have
been employed as well as any additional
strategies you have recommended be employed. Be sure to
include employee feedback and performance metrics data. What
should be measured? How should it
be measured to ensure validity and reliability? How should that
data be interpreted and acted upon? The format should be a
Word document, written in APA
style and cited appropriately. This milestone will be graded

using the Milestone Three Rubric. The feedback provided by the
instructor should be applied to your
final leadership case study analysis.
Final Product: Leadership Case Study Analysis: Final
Professional Presentation
In task 10-3, submit the final leadership case study analysis.
This is submitted as a professional presentation. It should be a
completed product that meets all of
the critical elements outlined above. This is graded with the
Final Product Rubric (below).
Deliverable Milestones
Milestone Deliverables Module Due Grading
1 Problems and Issues Four Graded separately; Milestone One
Rubric
2 Leadership Strategy Six Graded separately; Milestone Two
Rubric
3 Assessment Plan Eight Graded separately; Milestone Three
Rubric
Final Product: Leadership Case Study
Analysis: Final Professional Presentation
Ten Graded separately; Final Product Rubric

Final Product Rubric
Requirements of submission: The final presentation must
include a minimum of 14 slides but no more than 24 slides,
including opening and closing slides (one
slide should be included as an introduction and one slide should
be included as a closing slide). Any resources used to support
the presentation must be properly
cited in APA format. There is no requirement on the number of
resources.
This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students
can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more
information, review these instructions.
Critical Elements Exemplary Proficient Needs Improvement
Not Evident Value
Leadership Strategies:
Evaluation
(Flexibility)
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
evaluation is substantiated by
scholarly research
(7)
Adequately evaluates the
extent of flexibility of the
leadership strategy
(6.3)
Does not sufficiently evaluate

the extent of flexibility of the
leadership strategy
(4.9)
Does not include an evaluation
of the flexibility of the
leadership strategy
(0)
7
Evaluation
(Sustainability)
clear and specific examples
(7)
Adequately evaluates how the
leadership strategy promotes
sustainability
(6.3)
how the leadership strategy
promotes sustainability
(4.9)
of the sustainability of the
leadership strategy
(0)

7
Evaluation
(Change
Management)
scholarly research
(7)
leadership strategy fosters
change management
(6.3)
fosters change management
(4.9)
of how the leadership strategy
fosters change management
(0)
7

Evaluation
(Organizational Goals)
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
scholarly research
(7)
leadership strategy furthers
organizational goals
(6.3)
furthers organizational goals
(4.9)
of how the leadership strategy
furthers organizational goals
(0)
7
Selection
(Appropriateness)
the appropriateness is well
defined through the use of

specific concrete examples
(14)
Includes the appropriate
leadership strategy and
qualifies the appropriateness in
terms of style, approach, and
strategy
(12.6)
Includes a leadership strategy
but does not sufficiently show
its appropriateness
(9.8)
Does not include an
appropriate leadership strategy
(0)
14
Selection
(Innovation)

(14)
Adequately evaluates the
extent of innovation of the
leadership strategy
(12.6)
the extent of innovation of the
leadership strategy
(9.8)
Does not include the extent of
innovation of the leadership
strategy
(0)
14
http://snhu-
media.snhu.edu/files/production_documentation/formatting/rubr
ic_feedback_instructions_student.pdf
Assessment Plan
(Effectiveness)
(14)

Provides an assessment plan
that evaluates effectiveness
based on both employee data
and performance metric data
(12.6)
Assessment plan does not
sufficiently evaluate
effectiveness based on both
employee data and
performance metric data
(9.8)
Does not include an assessment
plan that evaluates
effectiveness based on both
employee data and
performance metric data
(0)
14
Assessment Plan
(Recommendation)
scholarly research
(14)
Incudes a well-developed
discussion on how to interpret

the data and apply the results
to future actions
(12.6)
Does not sufficiently discuss
how to interpret the data and
apply the results
(9.8)
Does not include a discussion
on how to interpret the data
and apply the results to future
actions
(0)
14
Organization
Slides are organized in a way
that is logical and that
complements the central
theme(s); transitions are well-
paced to create a natural and
engaging flow
(8)
that is logical, and transitions
are paced so that the material
is easily accessible
(7.2)

that is mostly logical, and
transitions are paced so that
the material can be understood
with focus and effort
(5.6)
that is illogical OR transitions
are paced so that the material
cannot be understood
(0)
8
Written Narration Submission is free of errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, and
organization and is presented in
a professional and easy-to-read
format
(8)
Submission has no major errors
spelling, syntax, or organization
(7.2)
Submission has major errors

that negatively impact
readability and articulation of
main ideas
(5.6)
Submission has critical errors
that prevent understanding of
ideas
(0)
8
Earned Total
Comments:
100%
Principles of an Effective Presentation:
owerPoint,
Adobe Captivate, Prezi, or Google Presentation to create your
presentation.
web for your presentation. However, first consider your
presentation from the perspective of
your audience prior to selecting a specific style. Distracting
backgrounds, large blocks of text, all-uppercase fonts, elaborate

font styles, grammatical
errors, and misspellings are distracting. Be consistent with the
style of text, bullets, and sub-points in order to support a
powerful presentation that
allows your content to be the focus.
http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate.html
http://prezi.com/
http://www.google.com/google-d-s/presentations/
large blocks of text on the visual. Your presentation is not a
means of presenting a short paper. In
an actual presentation you would not “read” from your slides
but rather use them as prompts.
presentation to a group should be listed in the “notes” section of
the slide.
slightly smaller text.
diagrams to enhance but not overwhelm your content.
presentation’s effectiveness by gauging audience
comprehension (when possible)
Types of Presentation Media: Text, charts/graphs, photos,
clipart, video, audio, links, word clouds, infographics,
flowcharts, interactive components, animation,
maps, transitions, graphic organizer, screenshots, storyboards,

illustrations
Below are some links that offer helpful tips and examples for
developing your presentations:
Making PowerPoint Slides
Beyond Bullet Points: The Better Way to Use PowerPoint
Really Bad PowerPoint and How to Avoid it
A 14-Step Process to Creating a Prezi
10 Tips to Help Master Prezi
Yale: Presentation Basics
Harvard Business: Create an Effective Presentation
Below are some links that offer helpful tips and information
that support self-publishing activity:
UNC-Chapel Hill: Publishing Microsoft PowerPoint
Publishing Narrated PowerPoint Presentations
TR Dojo: Video: Create a Self-Running PowerPoint
Presentation
Google Presentation 5 Presenting & Publishing
Recording and Publishing Adobe Captivate Software
Simulations
Publish Your Prezi
http://www.iasted.org/conferences/formatting/Presentations-
Tips.ppt
http://beyondbulletpoints.com/resources/
http://www.sethgodin.com/freeprize/reallybad-1.pdf
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/148423130/A-14-Step-Process-to-
Creating-a-Prezi
http://tippingpointlabs.com/2010/11/22/10-tips-to-help-master-
prezi/

http://doc.med.yale.edu/education/yaletips.pdf
http://blogs.hbr.org/video/2011/03/create-an-effective-
presentati.html
http://help.unc.edu/help/publishing-microsoft-powerpoint/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snWzqtUce18
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/itdojo/video-create-a-self-
running-powerpoint-presentation/1556
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o1vFa55kJM
http://www.kennesaw.edu/captivate/resources/pdfs/adobe_capt_
4_tutorials/record_pub_captivate.pdf
http://grok.lsu.edu/Article.aspx?articleId=14530
http://grok.lsu.edu/Article.aspx?articleId=14530
Final Project Case Study: Fortuga Artisans, Inc.
Fortuga Artisans, Inc. has been a successful home decor
manufacturing company for more than 30 years.
Founded as a small operation in 1981 by Peter Fortuga in
Charleston, South Carolina, the company has
expanded to include international operations, and now employs
more than 600 people in three factories (two
in the United States and one in Madrid, Spain). Its corporate
office remains in the original location in
Charleston and employs another 47 full- and part-time
employees. In 2011, Peter Fortuga announced his
retirement, and the Board of Directors began a search for his
replacement. With Peter’s support, along with
strong encouragement from the local community, they hired a
prominent interior designer, Doug Jeffers, as
CEO. His charismatic personality, work ethic, and attention to
detail had earned him tremendous acclaim in

the Charleston area; as a result, he was very well-connected in
the industry. At only 36 years old, Doug
served on the boards of several local non-profit organizations
dedicated to the arts and was known for his
innovative ideas as well as his philanthropic prowess. Single,
ambitious, and driven, Doug Jeffers was
considered the complete package – poised to take Fortuga
Artisans, Inc. to the next level of success.
However, within two years, Doug’s executive assistant resigned,
citing her dissatisfaction with his leadership
of the company. When Doug received Maryann Bishop’s
resignation, he was shocked – he’d thought she was a
permanent fixture at Fortuga. She had been with the company
for more than five years and he depended on
her. Everyone knew and liked Maryann, and Maryann knew
everything about the company. When he called
her in to discuss her resignation, he asked why she had not
discussed her dissatisfaction with him before.
Maryann reminded him of all the times she’d tried to do that,
and he had simply brushed her off. She said
that he took her for granted. For that matter, she felt he took
many people for granted. Maryann noted the
increase in employee turnover that their Vice President of
Finance, Sarah Harris, had mentioned in last
month’s staff meeting. She also noted the recent concern voiced
by Mike Andrews, VP of Artist Relations, over
the decline in new artists being signed to the company. She
informed Doug that Fortuga’s artists did not like

him – several were not planning to renew their contracts at their
next renewal date. Also, she noted that
employees did not trust him or his ability to lead the company.
His treatment of both contracted artisans and
staff employees was degrading. He talked down to them, did not
welcome or consider their opinions or ideas,
made decisions in a vacuum, ignored company policies, and did
not respect anyone’s personal time. He was
chauvinistic, too - Peter Fortuga had left the company with five
vice presidents (Domestic Operations,
International Operations, Artist Relations, Marketing, and
Finance), three of whom were female; now, only one
female remained. The other two had simply said they were
resigning for personal reasons. Doug had not
asked questions or paused to consider their reasons, because
given his extensive network, he’d already had
replacements in mind – both positions were quickly filled with
male executives who Doug had worked with
successfully in the past. Maryann suspected that the one
remaining female VP – the one over finance – was
looking for employment elsewhere, but she was not sure.
Most everyone who worked with and for Fortuga was becoming
increasingly unmotivated, and many had been
talking with a competitor, AmerArt, about other employment
opportunities. In fact, Maryann had recently
been offered a job with that company - at nearly double her pay
and with opportunities for training and

advancement. She had decided to take the job, despite her years
of service and loyalty to Fortuga, and she
was looking forward to not receiving Doug’s 24/7 phone calls
about things she felt could have easily waited
until the next business day.
Doug was speechless; his confidence in his ability was severely
shaken. He asked Maryann if he could talk
her into staying, but she told him it was too late for that. She
had already accepted AmerArt’s offer, and
would not break that contract. Over the next two weeks, Doug
met with each of his VP’s individually, as well
as several other employees and artists in informal venues, and
while he knew many were not being completely
honest with him, he could tell that Maryann’s feelings were
representative of his staff and others who worked
with Fortuga. While the community-at-large loved him, those
who worked for him did not, and if he did not
make some changes to his leadership style, approach, and
strategy soon, Fortuga would not continue to
thrive. He needed help.
Running head: FORTUGA ARTISANS, INC
1
11
FORTUGA ARTISANS, INC

Fortuga Artisans, Inc
Fortuga Artisans, Inc
The term leadership refers to managing a group of people
or an organization. Leadership is an important factor in a
company and what influence the productivity of the company at
large are the leadership style, approach, and strategy. A leader
should put all these factors to ensure the growth and
sustainability of the company at large so that it may compete
effectively in the market (Obiwuru et al., 2011).
Fortuga Artisans is a company which has been dealing
home décor for 30 years and with time has experienced
dissatisfaction with its leaders. The problems and issues
discussed include the manager's, Doug Jeffers inability to
appreciate employees, a decrease in the number of new hires,
lack of good relationships between the manager and the
employees. Another problem is a high number of resignations
by members of staff, poor handling of staff by the manager and
a lack of trust in the manager's abilities by the employees
(Obiwuru et al., 2011). There are also other issues and problems
highlighted in the case study, and they include the problem of
the manager not respecting his employees, the manager being
chauvinistic and lack of motivation among employees. These
are issues and challenges highlighted in the case study, which
must be solved to ensure the growth of the corporation.
A leadership style is a method used by a leader to provide
direction, executing plans, and motivating people within a
group or an organization (Sengupata, 2015). The leadership
style being portrayed in the case study is the autocratic
leadership style, also known as the authoritarian leadership
style. Here the leader gives commands to employees to what
they should carry out and the manner as to which they should
handle it, without seeking their advice or opinions on the matter

(Wang et al., 2011). The leadership approach in the case study
is the trait approach. This method focuses on personality traits,
mental and physical traits that are possessed by leaders that
make them stand out (Nanjundeswaraswamy et al., 2014).
The problem highlighted in the case study is where the
manager does not appreciate employees. In the case study,
Maryann says that she tried to talk to Doug Jeffers about her
dissatisfaction about with him. She says that she tried talking to
him but he simply brushed her off, and she goes to further to
say that, he took her for granted. An example of the problem of
a decline in the number of new employees in the case study is
the concern raised by the vice president of Artist Relations over
the decline in the number of newly signed in artists into the
company. The other problem is a high number of resignations in
the enterprise where members of staff for example Maryann
resigned to join rival businesses in the market. Another issue is
that the manager does not respect the members of staff where he
talked them down and did not even respect their opinions
regarding the handling of the company.
The other problem is the lack of trust in the manager's
ability to lead the company by employees; it is also evident that
the employees did not also believe him as a person. The other
problem is where the manager mishandled employees where
Maryann says that Doug Jeffers handled both contracted artisans
and the members of staff were degrading.
All these problems were brought about by the manager's
autocratic leadership where he did not give his employees a
chance to raise their concerns and give opinions on matters
affecting both them and the company at large. To solve these
problems, the manager would have to develop new leadership
styles.
Leadership Strategies
Appropriate leadership qualities are needed so that the firm can
overturn and be more efficient, promote business sustainability,
foster effective change management, and further organizational
goals. For the above processes to be achieved a certain

procedure has to be followed so as to produce the expected
results. The following criteria should be developed to achieve
the set goals and objectives (Sadler, 2003). First, Fortuga
Artisans management should ensure that they carefully analyze
the existing leadership strategies.
One of the direction strategies which Fortuga Artisans have
been using is making the organization’s culture a priority. This
criterion is crucial as it enables the institutions employees and
the whole management team synchronizes their personal goals
with that of the Fortuga Artisans Company (Sadler, 2003).
These measures need to be improved by relevance where many
employees have with time failed to realize the importance of the
strategy and how it affects the performance o the company.
Some of the issues that lead to the wrong effect of the criteria
are negativity which the leads have to come in and regroup the
employees, create unity and ensure there is a winning culture
within the organization.
Another criterion which the Fortuga Artisans leaders used is
motivation which over time had been low. Most of the
employees were unmotivated which led to the low performance
and the even resignation of some of the leaders and staff.
Motivation is necessary, and leaders need to motivate their
employees so that they can be more efficient in their work.
Some of the methods that the leaders can use to motivate their
workers are providing fringe benefits, promotion, and retreats
and awarding the most hardworking employees. The above is a
criterion which if used correctly can foster positive change to
the company.
The following is a recommendation for some of the additional
leadership strategies that Fortuga Artisans can employ to ensure
that they create a good working condition for all the involved
parties. One of the strategies that the leaders need to engage is
sharing a positive vision. The company’s vision should be
bright, bold and straight forward so that all the employees may
understand it. The vision should also be in line with the
challenges that the company is facing so as to know which

direction the organization should take to achieve their set goals
and objectives.
Another criterion is to instill positive energy among the
employees so as to ensure that minor setbacks do not affect
them (Covey, 2001). The leaders have a significant
responsibility to ensure that all the staff remains confident.
Generating new ideas to possible problems is important as
employees gain confidence on the leaders when they provide
realistic remedies to problems. While in the recession many
companies have been able to work and turn around their
misfortunes and bring forth fruitful paths which reinstate the
whole business. The recommendation is to ensure that the
employees face challenges with a positive mind.
Another leadership criterion to be used is to educate the
employees on the importance of networking. Networking
involves meeting new people who have different information
and ideas which may be helpful to the growth of the
organization. Learning to connect with others and asking
relevant questions is important as it helps the employees create
a network in their line of duty. The leaders should, therefore,
ensure that some of the employees tag along every time they are
going to high profile meetings and seminars so that they can be
a platform which they can be able to network (Covey, 2001).
Another key strategy to be used is ensuring that the employees
of Fortuga Artisans have the right kind of experience (Covey,
2001). The above will be achieved by delegating the some of the
duties of the top management to the subordinates. Delegating
some of the duties which are not complex to the employees will
give them the kind of experience which will help them handle
daily activities appropriately incase some of the leaders are not
present. Also, the leaders should ensure that the new employees
should have a good explanation of the activities that are done in
the organization so as to be with a clue of what is expected from
them.
The pattern of organization that is used by Fortuga Artisans is
not clear as it does not clearly show a pattern of communication

flow. A good organizational should have well-designed
communication platforms which make it easy for workers and
the leaders to work properly. Information flow is important as it
will ensure that the activities are being conducted well as per
the specifications. The organization objectives will be easily
achieved when the organization has a good flow of information,
resources, and funds. New ideas and strategies should be
employed to ensure that the company remains relevant and also
gain a competitive edge against other competitors.
Fortuga Artisans need to evaluate the leadership strategies that
they were previously using and revise them. Leadership is one
of the critical parts of an organization and determines whether
an organization will be able to perform or not. Fortuga Artisans
leaders new to acquire desired leadership qualities and ensure
that they have the right knowledge and skills to use the above
criteria so as to ensure the company can be more effective,
promote sustainability, foster effective change management, and
further organizational goals.
Assessment Plan
Fortuga Artisans Inc. has been facing various problems
with its leadership, and several leadership strategies have been
made to improve. The purpose of developing this business
assessment plan is to provide the picture of what the company
has accomplished and what needs to be done within the
enterprise. Another goal of developing this assessment plan is
to improve the effectiveness of programs prepared by the
company. An evaluation plan also helps in guiding decision
making within the company and helps the corporation to
identify areas within the enterprise where support is needed to
improve the operations of the organization (Kerby & Weber,
2000).
When Will Assessment Be Carried Out?
Assessment within the corporation will be performed
annually. This will help the organization determine its
performance within the particular year and help it determine
the effectiveness of the programs it developed and implemented

in the given year which would help in decision making on
whether to keep those programs or do away with them all
together, therefore, helping the business improve its operations
(Kerby & Weber, 2000).
What will Be Assessed?
One factor to be evaluated will be the firm's core
activities (Kerby & Weber, 2000). Here, it will be determined
whether the corporation's core operations successful for
instance the company's products and services and how these
activities could be improved or how new products and services
could be developed to boost the firm's profits. Another factor to
be assessed is the efficiency of the business. Here, various
aspects of the company will be evaluated for instance the people
and skills. In this aspect of the firm, the corporation will assess
whether it has the right people to achieve its goals and
objectives, what they are supposed to handle the company, their
motivation, and the rate of staff turnover, which is high within
Fortuga Artisans Inc. (Kerby & Weber, 2000).
Another thing to be assessed will be the company's
financial position and position. Here Fortuga Artisans Inc. will
rely on its financial performance metrics. The firm will analyze
its gross profit margin, which assesses the amount of money
that is made after direct costs of sales have been put into
account, its operating margin, its net profit margin, and the
return on capital employed. To assess the firm's financial
position, the organization will analyze cash flow within the
company, the working capital, the cost base, the company's
borrowing, and the company's growth (Stassen, Doherty & Poe,
2001).
Another factor to be analyzed will be the company's
competitors. Here the firm will determine who they are, what
they offer to consumers, the price range of their products,
number of their customers compared to Fortuga Artisans Inc.,
and their competitive advantage (Stassen, Doherty & Poe,
2001).
How Will The Assessment Be Carried Out?

Assessment will be performed using customer feedback,
and this will be a useful tool, as the firm will be able to see the
business through the eyes of the customers (Stassen, Doherty &
Poe, 2001). This will be primarily through the use of sales data.
Customers always choose what to buy and what no to, and this
would help the firm determine the preference of their clients.
Another tool would be using questionnaires and comment cards.
This would be a useful tool, as customers will help the firm
determine its strengths and weaknesses thus enabling the
corporation to identify areas that need improvement (Stassen,
Doherty & Poe, 2001). Another way of evaluating the firm with
the use of customers would be the utilization of a mystery
shopper. Here, the firm would have someone pose as a client for
assessment purposes, and the individual would evaluate various
aspects of the organization for instance customer service thus
enabling the business to determine how it is performing.
Another method in which the assessment will be carried
out would be through the use of employee feedback (Kerby &
Weber, 2000). This would be carried out using surveys within
the firm, and these surveys could be out by phone, by mail, and
face to face by involving employees in conversations about the
various programs within the company and how effective they
are in achieving the goals of the firm. Another method would be
engaging the workforce in interviews. They could be asked what
leads to the high staff turnover being witnessed within the
company and what could be done to prevent this in the future
(Kerby & Weber, 2000).
Ensuring Validity and Reliability
To ensure validity and reliability of the outcomes of the
assessment plan, various methods will be used for instance the
use of interviews, questionnaires, comment cards, analyzing
sales data, and observation. All these methods are comparable,
and they also show consistency thus leading to the approval of
reliability of the data collected (Kerby & Weber, 2000).
Interpreting and Acting on Data.
The data collected during assessment should be

interpreted using data mining (Kennerly & Neely, 2003). The
data mining technique concentrates on displaying knowledge for
predictive purposes rather than descriptive purposes. This
method will be used interpret the data collected in terms that are
understood by both the management and employees. The data
gathered would highlight how programmes within the firm are
effective, the financial position of the company, and the image
of the company in the eyes of the business' customers and this
would help the firm determine its strengths and weaknesses and
the firm may also use the data to gain a competitive advantage
(Kennerly & Neely, 2003).
References
Covey, S. R. (2001). Principle-centered leadership. New York:
Summit Books.
Kennerly, M. & Neely, A. (2003) Measuring Performance in a
Changing Business Environment. International Journal of
Operations and Production Management, 23(2), 213-229.
Kerby, D. & Weber, S. (2000) Linking Mission Objectives To
An Assessment Plan. Journal of Education for Business.
Nanjundeswaraswamy, T S; Swamy, D R (2014, Feb).
Leadership styles. Advances in Management7.2: 57-62.
Obiwuru, T. C., Okwu, A. T., Akpa, V. O., & Nwankwere, I. A.
(2011). Effects of leadership style on organizational
performance: A survey of selected small scale enterprises in
Ikosi-Ketu council development area of Lagos State, Nigeria.
Australian Journal of Business and Management Research, 1(7),
100.
Sadler, P. (2003). Leadership. London: Kogan Page Ltd.
Sengupta, Mousumi (2015, July). Leadership and
Organizational Performance: A Conceptual Review Sengupta,
Nilanjan; Sengupta, Mousumi (2015, July). Asian Journal of

Research in Social Sciences and Humanities 5.7: 155-166.
Stassen, M. L., Doherty, K. & Poe, M. (2001) Program-Based
Review and Assessment. Tools and techniques for program
improvement. University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Wang, Fu-Jin; Chich-Jen, Shieh; Mei-Ling, Tang(2011,
December 18th). Effect of Leadership Style on Organizational
Performance As Viewed From Human Resource Management
Strategy. African Journal of Business Management 4.18: 3924-
3936

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