ETHICS AND CSR CHALLENGE; VOLKSWAGEN COMPANY

Final Paper

All students must obtain approval of the challenge and identify the organization prior to Wednesday of Week 5. This is a requirement. Please print off this announcement. Merely highlight and copy and paste to an MsWord document, save it, then print it. It is so important to think about this now so that in the event you cannot find the information needed for the paper you can email me with another challenge.

NOTE: for those who wish to write about challenges that the military faces, I hate to state it but those papers have rarely met the paper requirements as nearly all papers state the military is handling it well and/or the paper rarely has research and thus is all personal opinion. So just a heads up. Also, please avoid writing me that is the only thing you know, the military. You can always research an organization that has a leadership challenge.

First: You should send me an email that clearly identifies the challenge within the organization. You do not merely send an email stating “The challenge I want to write about is leadership”. That does not tell me anything. What is the organization and what exactly about leadership is the challenge? If you cannot write that in an email then you are unclear yourself about the challenge.

Second: This is not a story, it is not written in the first person. See the specifics below in the template which you must use to write this paper. Just because the assignment allows you to write about a challenge in your organization does not mean you write in the first person.

Third: This is not about the organization did a great job and no improvements. That will not satisfy the requirements for the paper. So if the organization did such a great job at handling it, then think about a challenge the organization did not handle well and write about that. Remember, per the scoring rubric you need to have sources in your paper that relate to theory to support your recommendations.

Just like in the last paper you need to clearly identify and address each of the elements of the assignment so that means you need APA headings. Notice that the instructions have an area that reads:

“The Final Paper should, at minimum, include:

1.      A description of the organization and its primary stakeholders. Include the vision and mission statement if they are available to the public, and the code of ethics if the company has one (if it is long, an excerpt or description is an acceptable alternative).

2.      A detailed description of one challenge facing the leadership of the organization.

3.      A strategy for overcoming the challenge based on outside research, the textbook, and concepts discussed during your degree studies.

So that is “at a minimum” and you should review what the minimum would be on the scoring rubric when assessing points. If you wish to earn the most possible points on this paper you would ensure that you are responding to:

How did the leadership of the organization address the challenge? Could it have been done more effectively? How would you recommend future leaders strategically plan to avoid encountering a similar challenge within their own organizations? Provide suggestions for overcoming the challenge based on your own research and concepts presented in your degree program and grounded in leadership theory.

The template that I am providing is for a paper that earns the highest possible points.

Paper:

First, give a title to the paper on the first content page (so not just on the cover sheet). Then you should have an introduction that identifies for the reader what the paper will be about as opposed to writing a lengthy discussion on leadership, i.e., defining it, what it means, what its impact is, etc. So focus in on what the paper will be about. It should be short and concise. ‘For example:

Reorganization within any company can be difficult to achieve if not clearly planned for in advance. Poor planning can result in job dissatisfaction, lack of employee motivation and resistance to change (xxxx, 2012). This paper will discuss the challenge by XYZ Company in reorganizing its operation in order to be more competitive during the economic downturn. It will examine how leadership dealt with the challenge, ways in which leadership could have more effectively dealt with the challenge and finally recommendations for future leaders on how to strategically plan to avoid a similar challenge within their organization.

Note how this first paragraph identifies for the reader what the paper will be about right from the start.  You don’t keep the purpose of the paper (i.e., the challenge) a secret from the reader. Also note how each element of the assignment is addressed in this introductory paragraph. You’ve presented a thesis statement and a roadmap to the paper for the reader.

ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION

This should include a description of the organization and its primary stakeholders. Include the vision and mission statement if they are available to the public (I will be checking to see if this is available so don’t omit to check for this) and the code of ethics if the company has one (if it is long, just describe it, do not use this as filler to completing the minimum page requirement). If the mission statement is long, summarize it, i.e., “The mission of the organization is to provide complete customer satisfaction”. In the mission statement it elaborates by stating that it will do this by having highly qualified and trained staff; having available inventory for the customer, etc. This area would look like:

XYZ Company is a Fortune 500 company that provides …..;

Mission Statement: The mission of the organization, identified on its website is “xxxxx” (XYZ Company, n.d.)

Vision Statement: The vision …….. (XYZ Company, n.d.)

Code of Ethics: If there is no code of ethics you will want to indicate this

Primary Stakeholders: The stakeholders include ……

That’s it; be thorough but be concise. It should not be more than 3/4s of a page. You do not write about what a mission statement is or what a vision statement is, etc. You merely identify the Company’s mission and vision statements.

Next move to the next element of the assignment.

ORGANIZATIONAL CHALLENGE

Here you identify the challenge it faces or faced. Be specific and complete so that any reader, not just your instructor, is clear on the challenge. This is only about one challenge. You should have sent me an email getting approval of your company as it is required.

For example: In 2008 when the economy took a downturn and continued on through 2009 and 2010, XYZ Company (then identify what happened to create the challenge). This resulted in the company determining that it needed to reorganize its entire operation in order to be more competitive and survive the downturn.

You continue to expand on this until you comprehensively describe the one challenge, ensuring that you address in detail why this challenge was significant.

WAYS IN WHICH LEADERSHIP DEALT WITH THE CHALLENGE

Now you have an opportunity to identify how leadership dealt with the challenge. This should include what leadership did, even if it was in an ineffective manner. Be sure to comprehensively discuss this.

For example: Leadership notified employees via email that one or more of its sites would be shut down and some employees may be laid off. The email provided no specifics just that leadership was still determining what it would do. This lack of information created a tremendous amount of stress among employees. No one really was very productive because they were too involved with trying to get information from the grapevine as to what operations would close. There was a decrease in morale, job satisfaction and employees were already identifying how they would resist the change. When the company eventually determined the closures and layoffs again employees were notified by mail, with some employees coming into work and finding their work area boxed and being escorted out of the building. 

As a subheading:

Ways Leadership Could More Effectively Handled the Challenge (Please do not write it did it perfectly as then you will have a problem responding to this element as well as the next few elements)

As stated by xxx (20xx), communication is critical to effective change management strategies. Further xxx states that employees need to feel engaged and part of the process and solutions (provide as much research to help you support your next statement). Instead of the company communicating via email that some operations would be shut down and employees laid off leadership should have planned company-wide meetings, either in focus groups, town halls, etc. This would have allowed leadership to identify, face to face with the employees, the challenge that the organization faced. As indicated by Kotter (xxxx) an important first step to change is to create a sense of urgency. Thus the company could have done xxx to create this sense of urgency. Additionally, most managers and supervisors were caught unaware and thus were unable to deal with their employee questions. As indicated by Jones & Martin (xxxx) ensuring that there is a top down communication to managers and supervisors of information and planned strategies are accomplished prior to communicating company-wide, not only to maintain morale among those individuals but also so they have the ability…..

You would continue to elaborate on ways that company could have more effectively handled the challenge supporting that with your research.

Note: this is not a single paragraph stating, “The company should have not sent out emails. It caused too much stress and everyone had questions. They should have met with everyone face to face.” This is not a complaint paragraph about your organization it is a thoughtful approach, based upon research, leadership theory, etc. to identify ways to more effectively handle the challenge.
 

PLANNING STRATEGICALLY

Here you would recommend how future leaders can strategically plan to avoid encountering a similar challenge within their own organizations. Provide your suggestions for overcoming the challenge based on your own research and concepts presented in your degree program and grounded in leadership theory.

CONCLUSION

 
Here you restate your thesis statement and other conclusions. Be brief, do not introduce new information here.

It is important that you avoid a lot of direct quotes. I would recommend that you complete the paper early enough to submit through TurnitIn so that you can identify if you are using too much of the work of a source to write the paper. Your suggestions should be clearly your own and only supported by research.

Do not use the First Person in your work. The first person, as well as the second person (we, us, etc.) are not used in APA style papers. The paper is to be eight pages of content, so it is exclusive of your cover sheet or anything preceding the body of the paper, as well as the reference list. Avoid starting your page numbering before the content begins. This helps you identify the correct number of pages to the body of the paper.

Review all of the instructions and requirements listed on the Final Paper link. Ensure that you are also reviewing the grading rubric for the paper when preparing the assignment.

This paper will be an application of the leadership practice concepts learned throughout your degree program to a real-world situation. In an eight- to ten-page paper, discuss one significant organizational challenge within your organization or an organization you have researched. How did the leadership of the organization address the challenge? Could it have been done more effectively? How would you recommend future leaders strategically plan to avoid encountering a similar challenge within their own organizations? Provide suggestions for overcoming the challenge based on your own research and concepts presented in your degree program and grounded in leadership theory. Some challenges to consider would be (but are not limited to): an ethical challenge, a challenge occurring because of changes in the economy, a globalization challenge, or a challenge of organizational culture. Please request instructor approval of the challenge you would like to use as your focus before beginning your paper.

The Final Paper should, at minimum, include:

• A description of the organization and its primary stakeholders. Include the vision and mission statement if they are available to the public, and the code of ethics if the company has one (if it is long, an excerpt or description is an acceptable alternative).
• A detailed analysis of one challenge facing the leadership of the organization.
• A strategy for overcoming the challenge based on outside research, the textbook, and concepts discussed during your degree studies.

Writing the Final Paper 
The Final Paper:

• Must be eight to ten double-spaced pages in length and formatted according to APA style, as outlined in your approved style guide.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of Paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Name of paper
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must include an introductory paragraph with a succinct thesis statement.
• Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
• Must conclude with a restatement of the thesis and a conclusion paragraph.
• Must use at least four scholarly sources to support your analysis and recommendations.
• Must use APA style as outlined in your approved style guide to document all sources.
• Must include, on the final page, a reference list that is completed according to APA style, as outlined in your approved style guide.