Organizational Analysis
Grade Required; A
The purpose of this assignment is to allow you an opportunity to be a researcher, studying your organization as an ethnographer would. You are now asked to observe an organization over the span of days and weeks.
If you are not currently working, you may choose CSUN, your internship, or another organization of which you are a member.
What this is:
This assignment is an examination of an organization utilizing your observation/analysis, outside research, and the theoretical perspectives we cover in class. You will combine all of these elements into a well-researched discussion of how an organization functions.
How to do this:
Write on the following themes :
Communication Theories: What communication principles and theories are you witnessing? How are principles of the organization communicated to those inside the organization? Outside of the organization??
Culture: Based on what we have learned, how is culture achieved? Is culture achieved from a pragmatic or purist angle? What rites, rituals, metaphors, etc. are present?
Structure: What organizational structures and approaches are present? In what ways do you see bureaucracy, systems, human resources, human relations, Taylor’s “Best Way” here? Make sure to elevate your paper using these theories.
Once you have worn your ‘investigative observer’ hat, you will type a 5-7 page essay using our text to connect and offering support for your examples. This is an “I” paper – so your observations and opinions are the point of the application. Support those ideas with evidence from the organization itself.
These papers are to be personal, combining your opinion, experience, or insight with what you’ve learned. What I want you to get out of these assignments is to demonstrate that you have read, that you have understood what you have read, and that you are able to relate to/identify with/challenge what you have read.
Requirements:
MINIMUM of 5 full pages
Includes a creative title
Utilizes a minimum of 2 outside sources from appropriate texts
Cites Using BOLD or italics for textual references.
Answers all bulleted areas
Nearly error free and written at a 400 level
12 pt. font, 1’’ margins, double spaced
Papers will have an introduction, an analysis section, and a conclusion.
An “A” paper will do all of the above, and go beyond, using clever and thoughtful analysis, strong voice, and thorough reference to course content. It will be well grounded in outside sources and research and will support its claims utilizing the work of others. It will be 5+ pages. It will expand on ideas in original ways and cover more ground than the minimum, including the number of readings.
