Why is this issue more critical than any other of the many issues facing management? What are those other issues? The title of your essay will be the issue you pick.
This is a 500-word “opinion piece;” you need to justify why you chose that issue to the exclusion of all others. You’re not required to support your arguments with outside research. However, if you do use sources other than your own thoughts on the subject, be certain to cite those sources and include them in a reference list. Both citations and references must be in APA format. An abstract is not required for this assignment, but a cover sheet is.
Assignment 2 (2 pages, 4 academic references)
This assignment is, in essence, laying the ground work for the Research Assignment. As a consequence, both assignments involve:
A topic in management
A case study of an actual organization in which that topic is at issue.
NOTE: Students in the three introductory courses (MGMT610, MGMT615 and MGMT630) have a special library resource dedicated specifically to those three courses. This can be accessed at http://libguides.umuc.edu/MGMT
For this assignment, you are to prepare an annotated reference list (see “Creating Annotated Bibliographies” below) encompassing:
1. A management issue that is of interest to you.
2. A case study in the UMUC virtual library that involves that management issue. A published case study is any article that discusses in sufficient detail the issue facing an actual organization and how that organization addressed that issue. Some of the databases in the virtual library allow you to search using “case study” as a criteria. However, just because the term case study exists in the title of the article may not mean that the article actually gives you enough information to work with; it may not even be a case — you have to make that judgment. Two of the best sources of articles – ABI/Inform Global and Business Source Complete – don’t allow for searches using case study as a criteria, so you may have to do some digging. Generally speaking, a published case study should be between 10 and 15 pages in length to give you enough information to work with. The case must be from a scholarly journal; see below for details as to what constitutes a scholarly journal. If you encounter problems locating articles, don’t hesitate to contact the UMUC library staff; they’re very helpful.
3. Find and read at least four articles in scholarly journals in the UMUC library databases that discuss that management issue. Develop an annotated reference list including the UMUC library database where the article can be found and the date you retrieved it. As with the case, your information on the management issue also has to come from articles in scholarly journals found in the virtual library, not from the Internet, Newspapers, popular magazines (e.g. Time, Newsweek, Business Week), etc. are not academic journals. Academic journals are those usually published by universities or by professional societies (e.g. The Harvard Business Review (HBR), The Journal of the AMA). Just having the word “journal” in the title of the publication doesn’t actually make it a journal; after all, The Wall Street Journal is still just a daily newspaper.
4. On the other hand, additional information about the organization you’re studying can come from non-academic sources. For any other sources on the Internet, include the site where you found it and the date your retrieved it. You do not need to include the actual URL unless required by APA style. While there are many organizations that have been the subject of published case studies and even some that are more frequent subjects of case studies, you may need to go outside the journals in the UMUC library for additional information specific to that topic as it relates to that organization. That is acceptable provided the primary source of your information about the case is the study in a scholarly journal in the UMUC library. For additional information on how the organization is addressing the management issue, you can use non-library resources (e.g., the organization’s web site, articles in newspapers and general interest magazines, etc.).
Note: Do not rely on Wikipedia and other encyclopedia-type sources. These are considered “open sources” and are not subjected to the same form of editorial scrutiny as are newspapers and magazines. In a similar vein, be appropriately skeptical of what organizations post to their web sites; they can sometimes be nothing more than puffery. A statement such as “we have increased sales by 4.5% annually for each of the past five years” is one thing, especially if it is backed up by statistics; a statement of “we are the leading provider of quality widgets” is another matter, especially if there are no statistics provided to support that.
Assignment 3 (8 pages, 5 References)
Research Paper
Instructions
1. Pick a management topic that is of interest to you.
2. Find a case study in the UMUC virtual library that involves that management issue.
3. Find and read five articles in academic journals in the UMUC library databases that discuss that management issue.
4. Synthesize and apply what you learned from those articles to the case you have chosen.
5. Analyze what the organization did in relation to the management issue and what recommendations you would make to that organization.
Assignment 4 (10 pages, 8 References)
The Challenges of Global Management
Organizations face a plethora of management challenges that can be detrimental to their operations. Some challenges are exclusive to a specific industry and type of organization while others are across-the-board. Prepare a paper that describes a management challenge that is unique to organizations with a global outreach. The paper should include the following: a thesis statement, a description of the management challenge from a global perspective, and five recommendations to address the challenge.
Set your paper up as follows:
The thesis statement and a description of the management challenge (2 pages)
An overview of the management challenge across various types of organizations and industries (3 pages)
Discuss five potential setbacks that leaders and managers should consider in anticipation of the challenge, and a recommendation to address each setback (5 pages).
Cite concepts from the course readings, scholarly sources from the UMUC online library, and/or the weekly modules to support your analysis – your paper should contain at ten sources, of which five should be scholarly, published within the last five years. Follow APA style guidelines for the cover page, citations, and references page. The paper should be double-spaced with 1-inch margins with 12 pt. Times New Roman or 10 pt. Arial font.
