Be sure your cover page includes the course number and name, your name, date, and your professor’s name. The 7-10 pages does not include your cover page, abstract, references and appendices (if used).
Abstract is on its own page – this is a one paragraph summary of your report.
(Note: Please use headings for the sections below.)
Background
Provide a background of the company to include all relevant information. Also, include the background of your leader as it applies to this case study. Watch that you do not get too far “in the weeds”; your reader will get lost and have difficulty remembering the pertinent information.
The situation
This is the situation that you are exploring; the situation that your case study focuses on. Give us enough detail to understand what happened, yet not too much to overwhelm us. Don’t make us think about what is important – that is providing too much detail. You want us to be able to remember the situation as we read the remainder of your paper.
Leadership successes and failures
This is the section where you identify the successes of the leader on their way to becoming the leader or the head of the company, department, etc. in your situation, along with the successes the leader attained while at the helm. This section also includes the missteps, assumptions, and other errors they made that caused their demise, or their actions that showed their character strength and other positive leader attributes. Think of the leaders in “How the Might Fall” and use those steps in either the positive or the negative manner.
Ethics and community
What ethical boundaries did your leader come close to or cross – or which ones did they hold fast to? How did these actions affect the community in which they live and work? Be sure to explain the results of their ethical or unethical actions. Conjecture about “had they done this ….” or other such thoughts should be in the Results and lessons learned section.
Organizational Culture
What about their organization permitted / inhibited / promoted or otherwise had an effect or an influence on the situation and the leader’s actions? Was there no check-and-balance? Was the culture more authoritarian and less participative? Were employees (including upper level management) concerned about retaliations if they spoke up?
Industry and environmental factors
We know companies and leaders do not act in a vacuum; what about their industry and/or the environment played a role in their decisions and their actions? Did the economy, rules and regulations, or ‘accepted standards of practice’ influence their actions?
Results and lessons learned
What were the results and/or outcomes of your leader’s actions? What lessons did they learn, did the company learn, and most importantly did you learn because of this? How do your lessons learned relate to your ORGL classes and your own leadership experiences?
References
All references you used should be listed here in APA format. They should be listed alphabetically by author. Use the Purdue Owl or www.worldcat.org for format.
Appendix if necessary
If you would like to include charts, graphs or transcripts of interviews, etc. – this is where they are inserted. Be certain to state the relevance between each item and your paper.
**Be sure to cite all your sources**
