Disgrunteled employees, communication and creating positive work environments
Strategic Issue Analysis
Length: Paper: 20 – 25 double-spaced pages (excluding title and references pages)
Value: 600 Points for 60% of the grade
Post: Turnitin in Week 7 Assignments
This is the Signature Assignment that measures the MAOL program learning objective of leadership
Strategic Issue Analysis Paper Guidelines
Prepare and submit a 20 – 25 page paper in which you apply core concepts from the MAOL program to a strategic organizational issue with significant leadership challenges; the issue may be a problem or opportunity that your organization is currently facing or has faced in the past.
Examples of strategic organizational issues with major leadership implications that could be the basis of an effective analysis include:
Merger or acquisition
Reorganization or restructuring
Large lay-off (10% or more of staff)
Entry into a new market and/or country
New technology or system
New product development and/or implementation
In analyzing the issue and proposing recommendations, you must position yourself as the leader either as a mid to senior-level manager or an external consultant working with the senior management team. After briefly describing the issue, analyze the problem or opportunity from different perspectives to draw conclusions and recommend action.
There are no new textbooks for OLCU 681. However the final paper must cite and reference 20 or more sources using the textbooks from the six core MAOL courses: OLCU 600, 601, 602, 613, 614, and 615, and/or other relevant academic sources such as peer-reviewer journal articles.
Strategic Issue Analysis Paper Content
Issue Description
In 1 – 2 pages, concisely describe the strategic organizational issue and its potential impact on organizational effectiveness. Positioning yourself as the leader, the narrative should discuss the need addressing the issue, impact on the organization’s short and long-range goals, key players (names optional), and the leadership challenges faced.
Analysis
Examine the strategic issue from multiple leadership perspectives demonstrating your knowledge of the importance and value of each to organizational and leadership effectiveness. For each core MAOL course listed below, apply relevant course theories and concepts to analyze the issue, and assess the implications on the organization’s short and long-term strategy and objectives:
Ethics (OLCU 601):
Analyze the issue from an ethics perspective identifying one ethical issue created by the situation. Propose an ethical decision-making framework discussing how you as the leader would address the ethical issues.
Systems (OLCU 602):
Analyze the issue from a systems thinking perspective. Identify if systems archetypes and/or learning disabilities exist and how you as a leader would apply the 5 disciplines of systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, and/or team learning address the strategic issue.
Organizational Dynamics (OLCU 613):
Analyze the issue using the four-frame model considering potential structural, human resource, political and cultural causes and implications in addressing the issue.
Teams (OLCU 614):
Analyze the issue from a team perspective identifying the impact of team effectiveness on the issue, and how you as the leader could enhance needed collaboration.
Change (OLCU 615):
Analyze the issue from a change management perspective. Describe a change management model you as the leader would use to facilitate the change effort.
Integrated Leadership Analysis
Integrate and synthesize your analyses of the issue from the multiple perspectives of ethics, systems, organizational dynamics, teams and change identifying critical factors causing the issue. Discuss two classic or contemporary leader approaches from OLCU 600 that would enhance leadership effectiveness in addressing the issue.
Recommendations
Recommend an action plan to address the strategic organizational issue supported by evidence and data derived from your leadership analyses; the plan should be specific. Discuss why and how the recommended action plan is aligned with and enables achievement of the organization’s short and long-range goals.
