MNGT 215 – Fall 2007-2008
Fieldwork Exercise (By groups of three)
INTERVIEW WITH A MANAGER
Due Date: Wednesday November 7
The Assignment consists of interviewing a manager. The manager can be a first-line
manager, a middle manager or a top manager in any kind of organization. Make sure you are
actually interviewing a manager. It is recommend to ask the manager you interviewed for a
letter certifying that he has been interviewed by you (include in the letter students’ names and
date of the interview). If it is not possible to get that letter, a business card of the interviewed
manager, or even a picture of you with the manager are recommended.
This assignment is designed to help you understand what managers in Lebanon do, what
factors affect their activities, and what approach they adopt to manage people in their
organization.
The following questions are general guidelines to help you develop your questionnaire.
It is your responsibility to elaborate those questions and to add other questions you
judge relevant.
1. How is your department / organization structured and what are the major activities
performed?
2. How do you spend your day? What are the tasks you perform and how much time do
you spend on each?
3. What are the major problems you encounter?
4. What are the major decisions you take? How do you take them?
5. What are the factors related to the external environment that affect the way you do
your job?
6. What are the factors related to the internal environment that affect the way you do
your job?
7. How would you describe your employees’ behaviors and attitudes? How do you
encourage communication and teamwork?
8. How do you lead and motivate your employees?
9. What are some ethical dilemmas you deal with?
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Paper Format
The assignment should be presented in three parts and one appendix
The first part is an overview of the company (its history, its business, its size, its mission and
vision, its main competitors) and an introduction of the manager (title, position, history in the
company). Browse the company’s website and look for this information before conducting
the interview. In this way, you would avoid asking questions whose answers can be found on
the company’s web page. This part should not be longer than 1-2 pages.
The second part should be the transcription of the interview. It should be presented in
question and answer format, without editing and without modifications.
The third part (and this is the most important part) is YOUR OWN ANALYSIS of the
manager’s answers. You should analyze his answers and try to link them with the course
material. (e.g. identify roles played, skills used, functions performed, type of structure,
culture, etc…).
A comprehensive conclusion should be written that reflects your opinions and your thoughts
regarding the interview: major problems encountered, how you solved them, what you
learned or experienced while preparing the assignment, your opinion whether management in
practice is different from what’s in the textbook, etc,
In the appendix, you should include the letter certifying that you have conducted the
interview or any other documents proving that.
For any clarification regarding the project or if you need me to validate your work as you
move on, don’t hesitate to pass by my office.
The assignment should include a cover page stating the name of all three group members, the
class and section (i.e. MNGT 215 section 3 or 4) as well as the date of the interview, the
position of the manager interviewed and the name of the company.
You should also include on a separate page the outline of your report with the corresponding
page number of each heading.
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The assignment should be 10-15 typed pages. Your paper should have the following format:
Line spacing 1.5
Justified paragraphs
Numbered pages
Font: Times New Roman
Size: 12 (except for titles16, sub titles 14)
The assignment should be posted on Turnitin by one group member only no later than
Wednesday November 7. Please review the syllabus for class policy regarding late
assignments. A hard copy should be presented to me in class on Wednesday November 7 at
the beginning of the class.
To submit your assignment to Turnitin, please follow the instructions
o Go to www.turnitin.com
o On the top right of the page click on “create a user profile”
o You will be asked: “are you a student or an instructor?” Choose Student
o They will ask about class Id and class enrollment password. The class ID is
2044154 and the password is mngt215
o Click next and fill your personal information. When providing your mail.
Provide your full aub mail i.e. abc12@aub.edu.lb. You can choose the
password you want.
o Once you finish you can log on and submit the project to turnitin by clicking
on submit next to “fieldwork exercise”. You can submit the project only once
before the due time.
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For more practical information concerning citations and plagiarism, please check the
following link: http://staff.aub.edu.lb/~eplagio/Turnitin/turnitin_students.htm
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If you need assistance, you can pass by my office or ask for the librarian assistance.
Good luck!
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