Group Project
BASD 261 - OB - FALL 2011
Group Project
This exercise is designed to help you a) learn about OB theories and concepts; b) learn about an organization through drawing on multiple research techniques; c) begin to learn how to conduct empirical research; d) learn to apply the theories and concepts from OB to theorize an organization. Working in groups, you will select an organization that is of interest to the group members. You will then carry out various types of research on the chosen organization by using theories and concepts from TWO OB chapters from your textbook. Chapters to select from are listed below.
Group Project Instructions
1.
STEP 1 - Decide the organization on which you will conduct research: For this assignment, your group must select one organization which some of you may be interested in learning more about. The organization you select: a.
Must be situated physically in your/our geographical area; b.
Must have its own website where information about the organization can be found. Such information may include but is not restricted to: hiring practices, mission or vision statements, its goals, and other information that will give you insights concerning the nature of the employees who work there; c.
Must be an organization for which you will be able to find many types of information; d.
May be an organization in which one member of your group has previously or currently works e.
The same organization can be studied by different groups in the class
2.
STEP 2 - Conduct empirical research on the organization: a.
Over the course of the term, your group will be engaged in various types of empirical research, this may include: i.
observation research ii.
reading notice boards at the organizations physical location iii.
listening to conversations that employees at the site are having around you iv.
observing the nature of the relationships between employees and between employees and employers / managers v.
conducting online searches through the organization’s website vi.
a Google search on the organization vii.
searching for discussion groups set up on Facebook that focus on employee attitudes, beliefs and behaviors in your chosen organization viii.
newspaper advertisements for employment at your chosen organization ix.
newspaper articles about the chosen organization x.
any other observational / experiential data that you have identified xi.
IMPORTANT NOTICE – you cannot “interview” individuals for this exercise. Any form of research that involves talking to humans for the purpose of studying them or using their responses for the purpose of

research involves an application to the REB. This is beyond the bounds of our class. b.
You will draw on this empirical research (data) to help inform and write down your observations, hypotheses, thoughts, reflections and conclusions about the nature of your chosen organization. c.
The specific topics that you will select from the OB topic list below will largely depend on the types of ‘data’ or OB topics for which you have been successful in gathering ‘data’. What this means, for example, is that if you are able to gather much information and ‘data’ specifically on topics such as ‘personality & identity’ and ‘culture’ from your chosen organization, then you may want to select these two OB topics from the list below so that your group can focus on these topics to theorize the ‘data’.
3.
STEP 3 Select specific topics from the OB list to inform your ‘data’: Since this group exercise depends on your ability to apply OB theories and concepts to a given organization to provide an informed explanation of it, it is imperative that your group decide on specific topics from OB that will be used. a.
From the list of topics below (each corresponds to a chapter in your textbook), select two chapters that you are 1) interested in; 2) can use to inform the data gathered from your empirical research. i.
Various approaches to the study of organizational behavior (CH1) ii.
Culture (CH14) iii.
Power (CH13) iv.
Structure & Design (CH15) v.
Leadership (CH16) vi.
Personality and Identity (CH3) vii.
Perception, Stereotyping and Attribution (CH4) viii.
Learning in Organizations (CH6) ix.
Motivation (CH7) x.
Sex at Work (CH11) b.
Once you have selected two chapters/topics that you will use to inform the organization, make a list of RELEVANT theories and concepts that will help you in your analysis. Please do not use theories and concepts that detract from the main story line of your paper. What this means is that you should not “chuck everything in” but be selective of your choice of theories used. c.
Once you have selected two chapters with associated theories that will be used to inform your empirical data gathered you must conduct an academic search to identify other academic references on the topics. These will help you to explain the meaning of your observations. Good places to start include the library for books and peer-reviewed articles. Perhaps you may want to conduct a search on a library search engine using the outlined topic as a key word. For example, you may want to do a search on ‘motivation’ or ‘intrinsic motivation’ to find articles on the subject. d.
Keep in mind that academic references are those which have been peer reviewed.
4.
STEP 4 – Use OB theories and concepts to explain your chosen organization a.
Once you have gathered all your empirical (on the organization) and academic
(on OB theories & concepts) references, you will be ready to begin your analysis. b.
For the purposes of this assignment, your task is to use specific OB theories and concepts to explain the nature of the organization. For example, you may draw

on the culture chapter and outlined theories and concepts in this chapter to explain the culture at your chosen organization c.
Here are some steps that you can follow that will help you write your final report: i.
Your group should begin by reading through all your academic references and all your empirical references gathered to date. ii.
Continue by making a list of all the theories and concepts from the academic references that you think are RELEVANT to the data on your chosen organization. iii.
Define all the theories and concepts that you have listed as relevant. iv.
Next, make a note of specific examples that you have found through your empirical research on the organization that illustrate the specific theories or concepts that you have listed. v.
Look over the empirical references or ‘chunks of data’ that you have left.
Are they illustrative of other theories and concepts in the OB topics that you have selected? vi.
Can you list other theories and concepts that apply? If so, make a note of them and illustrate them through examples from the empirical data. d.
You will now be ready to begin writing the final written group assignment. What you must do is organize all of the theories and concepts (supported by the academic references) as well as their examples (supported by the empirical references) into a coherent narrative. A good way to begin doing this is to tell a friend, parent or colleague about your research as this will force you to tell it in a
“story form” that is not “boring”. e.
Your final written group assignment should NOT read like a list of terms and then examples. f.
Your final written group assignment should have a ‘plot’. At the end of the paper, you should be able to answer a few questions such as (but you don’t have to include these in your paper): i.
What was this story of organization x about? ii.
What is the point of this paper? iii.
What did I learn from reading it? iv.
So what? v.
Why should anyone be interested in this story? vi.
Should anyone care? Why? g.
If you can answer the above in a convincing manner, i.e.: this paper tells a story about this organization and the type of personalities employed there; the point of this paper is xyz; I learned that at xyz organization most employees are motivated because of xyz; etc. then you will be on your way to crafting a great assignment. h.
Good luck and email me if you get stuck.