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1. BA302-Organizational Behavior
Problem-Solving Project Guidelines
Winter 2020
Overview: You will identify a current problem or challenge that
is personally relevant that Organizational Behaviors research
may help resolve or progress. You will then use OB concepts
and theory to create an action plan to resolve it, implement the
action plan, and summarize the results of your efforts, including
lessons learned.
Goals:
1. Gain a deeper understanding, expertise in your selected
organizational behavior topic
2. Practice building and executing a project plan
3. Learn how to measure and assess plan progress, including
identifying best practices and lessons learned
4. Improve an issue or challenge you are facing this semester
Part 1 – Problem Identification (25 points / %)
1) Select a problem or challenge you are encountering at work
or school this semester that organizational behavior topic may
be able to provide insight for solving (e.g., stress, motivation,
goal-setting, creativity – the syllabus schedule or textbook are
good references for ideas). You may also opt to address a
personal problem, but be sure to select something you’d be
comfortable sharing with the class. Relatedly, do not include
specific names of any individuals or companies.
The entire project will be much easier and more effective if you
are thoughtful with problem selection; I suggest you keep it
simple, select a challenge that you can work to improve over the
course of the semester, and make it relevant or interesting to
you.
2) Write a 1 page summary clearly stating (1) the challenge or
issue, (2) which one OB concept will help you make progress

2. toward overcoming the challenge, and (3) a brief description on
why you selected that topic, how it might relate. Format isn’t
important, but be sure you clearly include these three elements
for full credit. Example summaries are provided in the appendix
of this document.
Example challenges include:
Work or organization-related examples:
· working with an unreasonable supervisor (conflict
management, communication)
· absenteeism or turnover issues (motivation, job satisfaction,
reward)
· conflict with coworkers (communication, conflict, diversity
and inclusion)
· obtaining visibility and favorable work assignments
(communication, mentoring)
School-related examples:
· finding an internship (goal setting)
· working with a free-rider on a group project (teamwork)
· deciding on or changing one’s major (decision making)
· raising one’s grade point average (goal setting)
· time management (self-management)
Personal examples:
· increasing physical fitness (goal setting, motivation)
· stopping smoking (goal setting)
· reducing stress (stress)
Grading for Part 1 will be assessed based on the following
criteria:
· Did you clearly identify and describe the challenge or issue to
be improved?
· Did you clearly state the OB theory/theories that you will
apply to solve or progress the solution to the problem? [Please
select just one & make sure it’s clearly within the domain of
organizational behavior]

3. · Did you describe how you think the theory will help address
the challenge [don’t forget to address the link with at least 1-2
sentences!]
· NOTE: Any late submissions will lose 20% of the possible
points earned each day late. No credit will be given for
assignments submitted more than 5 days late.
Part 2 – Annotated Bibliography and Action Plan and
Measurement (50 points/ %)
Locate and use at least four credible, external sources (library,
internet) to find solutions to your problem (author or
publication should have relevant credentials). Submit an
annotated bibliography that summarizes relevant findings from
each source. An annotated bibliography is a word document
that lists the full citation of each source followed by a summary
in your own words of the relevant information found within that
document. Citation should include author, title, date, publisher
or publication. Include web address if a website.
Scholar.google.com provides this information if you search and
select “cite” link below it. Summaries can be in bullets or
paragraph form. No fewer than 2, no more than 4 pages (Times
New Roman, 12 pt font, double spaced).
1. Document a step-by-step action plan for addressing the
problem or challenge selected. Action plans should incorporate
and apply what you’ve learned from your personal research (as
documented in the annotated bibliography). Each action step
should include a target due date. The steps of the action plan (or
at least most of them) should conclude before the deadline for
Part 3 so that you have feedback to provide on how successful
or unsuccessful it was. No fewer than 4 steps. These should be
documented as a workplan (a table in word or excel; at a
minimum includes action step and target due date).
2. Document at least two key quantitative metrics you can use
to assess how successful (or not) your action plan proves to be

4. in resolving the challenge. This metric should be observable and
measurable (e.g. interviews scheduled if looking for internship,
% change in assignment grades if increasing GPA). If multiple
people were asked to observe and track the metric, they should
get the same score (you do not need to get multiple people to
measure – it’s just a good question to ask yourself to assess
whether your measure is quantifiable).
Grading for Part 2 will be assessed based on the following
criteria:
· Are all stated requirements met?
· Did the student identify and thoroughly review at least 4
unique and credible (avoid personal blogs or obscure websites –
look for author or journal / publisher credentials) resources that
accurately relate to the OB theory and topic at hand?
· Is the action plan clearly related to the OB theory used, and
does it apply new learnings to solving the problem?
· Is the action plan actionable? Are there clear steps and dates
identified that are doable during the semester?
· Is the measurement plan actionable, quantifiable and clearly
related to the action plan? Does it include target, desired
metrics?
· NOTE: Any late submissions will lose 20% of the possible
points earned each day late. No credit will be given for
assignments submitted more than 5 days late.
APPENDIX
1. Problem description examples:
A. SAMPLE PROBLEM #1 (WORK PROBLEM)
My mother and I own a business together. We manage a
concession stand that contracts for a number of festival,
convention, and special occasion events downtown and
elsewhere. Our concession stand has from 3 to 20 people
working at each event. Our employees are usually all still

5. enrolled in high school, and we have a lot of problems getting
them to show up for work, be on time, and stay employed
through the end of an event. There is a tremendous amount of
turnover. We continually have to hire new people. It is
frustrating to never know if enough people will show up for
work so that customers can be served effectively. When we do a
bad job of customer service the word of mouth can hurt our
business. It is also discouraging to continually have to hire new
people, spend time training them, and then watch them leave so
that we have to start over again. My mother and I often work
the soda machine when we could be developing strategies for
obtaining new business or finding new product lines. The
problems here include motivation, work values, and turnover
among others. I have chosen to focus on motivation in solving
this problem. I think finding ways to increase the motivation to
work in the employees will reduce turnover and increase
commitment.
B. SAMPLE PROBLEM #2 (SCHOOL PROBLEM)
I am taking a class in which I must work in a group to complete
the major project in the course. There are five people in my
group, and four of us appear to be committed to the project and
determined to get a good grade. Each of us four seems to be
working equally as hard on the project. The problem is that one
member of our group is not contributing as much as the rest of
us. This person does not come to class regularly, contributes
few ideas when present, never has assignments for the project
finished at the agreed-on time, and generates problems and
conflict during the few group meetings where she actually
shows up. This problem is important because it can have a
significant impact on the quality of the group project.
Consequently, it can have a major impact on my course grade,
and ultimately my overall grade point average. This is a
problem of social loafing, teamwork, and interpersonal conflict.
Therefore, I’ll look at the team processes and communication
topic area to identify research-supported approaches to

6. communicating within a team about conflicts and to reduce
individual team member’s desire to slack off in team w ork.