How to Write the Final Paper
Look at the Requirements
• 1) Make sure your paper incorporates all
the requirements discussed in the
syllabus. Such requirements are available
on-line: They include paper length,
number of concepts needed, how to apply
concepts, etc.
Don’t Plagiarize
• Plagiarism exists if you:
• A) Take a text word-for-word from your
notes, from the Morgan text or from
literature at your workplace (including the
history about your workplace).
Don’t Plagiazrize
Plagiarism exist if you:
B) Pay someone to write your paper, take a
paper someone wrote during another year
and/or only take passages from either of
the above two.
Don’t Plagiarize
• Plagiarism exists if you:
• C) Take a passage someone else wrote
and use a “thesaurus” to change a couple
of words within the passage.
• If you plagiarize, you will not only fail the
class, your name will be forwarded to the
Dean of Students.
How to Quote or Cite the author
• Look on-line. I have very clear directions
how to do both.
• How to quote Morgan
• How to quote resource book.
Use Headings and Subheadings
• Examples of Headings:
• History/Background
• Analysis
– Machine Metaphor
– Culture Metaphor
– Organismic Metaphor
• Recommendations for Change
– Brain Metaphor
History/Background
• 1) Don’t plagiarize
• 2) If you have a huge organization, like
Taco Bell, discuss the beginning of Taco
Bell for a paragraph. Then, give us
background about your particular
workplace. In this paragraph, tell us how
many people work there and give us an
idea of the different positions that exist.
• 3) Tell us what your job was
Analysis
• 1) Always, Always, Always REMEMBER:
• This paper is about the organization as a
whole, NOT JUST YOUR JOB!!!!!!!!!!!
• You cannot just apply metaphors to your
job!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Analysis
• 2) If you work at a huge organization, like
SIUE, you do not have to do analysis on
the entire organization. Simply do the
department where you work. For
example, if you work in food services,
you would analyze the food services dept.
• BUT YOU DO NOT SIMPLY ANALYZE
YOUR JOB!
Applying Metaphors
• You must apply at least four metaphors throughout your
paper:
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–
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Machine
Organism
Brain
Culture
Politics
Domination
Flux and Transformation
• Three metaphors can appear in your “analysis” section
and one can appear in the “recommendations” section.
Of course, four can appear in analysis and one of those
already mentioned can appear in recommendations for
change.
Applying Metaphors
• First paragraph for each section within the analysis
section will:
• provide a summary of the metaphor, using your own
words. This summary should embody the main ideas of
how this metaphor is useful for understanding the
workplace
• Briefly discuss the main concepts relevant to the
concept. For example, for the organism, you will
mention: open systems, subsystems and alignment
between subsystems.
Applying Metaphors
• Subsequent paragraphs will discuss, in
order, the main concepts you mentioned
in the first paragraph.
• Thus, if you include the organism, you will
have at least three additional paragraphs:
one on open systems, one on subsystems
and one on aligning subsystems.
Applying Metaphors
• In the paragraphs that discuss the main concepts, you
will then do the following:
• Define, in your own words, the main concept you are
presently discussion.
• Apply the concept to your workplace. Tell us how this
concept applies to your workplace.
• Provide EVIDENCE that your application is correct.
What is Evidence
• 1) Secondary Documents (flow charts,
emails, rule book, etc)
• 2) Observations (journal notes)
• 3) Interviews (discussing people relevant)
Applying Metaphors
•
Another metaphor that can be applied to Hardee’s is the Psychic Prison
Metaphor. This metaphor is based on the idea that people experience fear and
anxiety in the workplace. In order to manage this fear and anxiety, certain stories are
created to help them interpret reality in a way that they can handle. Psychic prisons
are very much closed systems. They are very poorly equipped to deal with change
because they do not acknowledge environmental factors that may be causing the
problems that psychic prisons attempt to manage.
One psychic prison that fits my workplace is the ‘organizations, dolls and
teddy bears’ psychic prison metaphor. The organizations, dolls and teddy bears
psychic prison metaphor suggests that organizations as a whole-including managers
and workers- are like children in that they have comfort objects that they cling to in
order to feel safe in the face of fear and anxiety. They likely have fear and anxiety
towards change because it can affect their organizations’ sense of identity down to
individual departments and even people. In the context of a psychic prison,
organizations may have developed a fixation on these comfort objects to provide a
sense of security during times of great change. Such a fixation can make it difficult
for organizations to move on and adapt to a changing environment. Some examples
of comfort objects in a workplace environment are ritualistic techniques, rules,
structures, or principles that may no longer be necessary or productive. In order to
assist in change, employers may need to create transitional objects or phenomena to
ease the conversion that is underway.
Applying Metaphors
•
In the case of the Hardee’s, employees seemed to cling to both objects and
rituals. The object that many of the workers clung to was the old cash
register. When told that we would be getting a new touch-screen system,
most of the workers complained daily that they would have to learn a new
register system and that they preferred the one they were used to. Along
with replacing the old cash machines with new ones, came a new system
for clocking in to work, which is one of the rituals that everyone clung
to. Before the touch-screen registers were installed, clocking in was done
by checking in with a manager and recording the time in the manager’s
presence on an employee card. Although this form of check-in/check-out
was inefficient and difficult because workers, like myself, often had to spend
time tracking down one of the managers, many remained resistant to
changing this system of clocking in because the new system, like the new
registers, was unfamiliar. Also, because of the new electronic system,
workers were no longer allowed to take breaks on the honor system. Now,
we were all expected to punch in and on for break on the registers.
Applying Metaphors
•
Despite the fact that the new system would make check-ins flow with
greater ease, the introduction of this new system threatened workers’ sense
of security in the workplace. One of my older co-workers even went so far
as to constantly mention how this was a sign that they were getting rid of
the old for the new, speaking not only in reference to the registers, but also
himself because of his lack of familiarity with computers. As a result, he and
other employees clung to the ritual of checking in the old way for as long as
possible. And when it came time to use the touch-screen computers, many
people asked to be transferred to the backline crew, where computer
screens were only viewed to start food orders rather than used to enter any
information. As a result of this worker resistance to change, motivated by
the fear of job loss and unfamiliar systems, the Hardee’s where I worked
went through a rather rough patch. New employees were hired in order to
have enough people working the front line on the new systems and old
employees had to be re-scheduled so that they could work in the back
where they were comfortable.
Applying Metaphors
• One transitional object that Hardee’s had at it’s disposal, but failed
to use, was the employee card. Rather than get rid of it and the old
register system all at the same time, which generated a great deal of
anxiety over swift change, they could have left the card system in
place while employees got acclimated to the new touch screen
system. In this way, employees could have learned to both use and
trust the new systems while still having the employee cards as a
‘back-up’ until they were more comfortable letting go of the old
methods. In this way, the cards would have acted as a change
agent without directly threatening anyone’s sense of job security. In
other words, by working with everyone to shift slowly, rather than
forcing a sudden change, Hardee’s could have kept fear and anxiety
at a minimum.
Applying Metaphors
• Throughout the “applying metaphors”
section, you should have discussed
problems with your workplace.
•
•
•
•
The machine prevented innovation
Subcultures fostered dissent
Politics created factions
Etc.
Recommendations for Change
• 1) Every workplace has problems and you
mentioned them in your analysis.
• In this section you will apply one or more
metaphors to solving the problems you
mentioned in the analysis section.
Recommendations for Change
• 1) Only solve problems that were
mentioned in your analysis section. NO
NEW PROBLEMS SHOULD BE
PRESENTED IN THIS SECTION!!!!
Recommendations for Change
• 1) If you have only presented three
concepts in analysis, you must have one
full concept in this section. So, explain
“the brain” in this section as you would in
the analysis: define concept as whole,
discuss main concepts and then apply
them to how the main concepts could
make your workplace better.
Recommendations for Change
• If you applied four concepts in analysis,
then in this section, you can use only the
main concepts that you already
discussed that are relevant for making
your workplace better.