Purpose:

This assignment seeks to have the student identify, and evaluate the internal and external factors that influence organizational structure by researching and analyzing scholarly articles within the university online library.

Your manager overheard you telling a colleague that you are taking a graduate-level organizational theory class at UMGC. He remembers his college course on management and realizes that he found the knowledge he learned extremely useful over the years. Lately, he has felt that he has been overwhelmed with changes that require he and his employees to quickly respond to situations that he cannot always solve effectively. Experience has taught him that professional development is a lifelong endeavor. To that end, he would like you to select some articles for him to read on the following topics: Organizational Management and Leadership in the Workplace, or Organizational Structure, Future Workplace. Here are the points he wants you to address:

Step 1: Using OneSearch in the online library, conduct a search for at least 3 scholarly articles on internal and external factors that influence organizational structure and culture.

The articles should reflect on current and future management theories, philosophies, concepts, and best practices. Article selection should consider the changing work environment and the impacts of technology on management practices.

Step 2: Using the APA template format found here Annotated Bibliography create an annotated bibliography of each article. The articles should be summarized in at least one or two paragraphs as the format suggests.

Step 3: Aggregately analyze and explain the articles for the way in which environmental change impacts the workplace and managers. This section should comprise 2 paragraphs using multiple course readings and research to support how the internal and external factors identified in the selected articles can/do cause a change in workplace behavior and ultimately organizational structure and culture.

Step 4: Conclude the paper with a two to three-paragraph discussion of which factors identified in the selected articles are the biggest threat to managing effectively internal or external. You must pick one or the other (factors that are the biggest threat internally OR externally) and defend/support your position using APA formatted in-text citations. Be sure to clearly explain your reasoning for the selection and provide supporting examples and rationale from class readings related to the modern organization.

INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO PREPARE THE SUBMISSION:

• Read the grading rubric for the assignment.
  • Check the instructions to make sure ALL elements of the assignment have been covered
• Students are expected to use a variety as well as multiple course readings and research to support ideas, reasoning, and conclusions.
• Follow APA style guidelines to ensure that your final submission includes a Title Page, In-Text Citations, and a Reference List.
  • Paraphrase and do not use direct quotation marks. This means you do not use more than four consecutive words from a source document, put a passage from a source document into your own words, and attribute the passage to the source document. Provide the page or paragraph number. Note that a reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa.
• The analysis should begin with an introductory paragraph that clearly and succinctly explains what you intend to cover in the body of the paper.
• The analysis should end with a conclusion/summary paragraph that clearly and succinctly explains what you covered in the body of the paper.
• Third-person writing is required. Third-person means that there are no words such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first-person writing), nor is there use of “you or your” (second-person writing). If uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person .
• Contractions are not used in business writing, so the expectation is that students do NOT use contractions in the assignment.
• The paper must be double-spaced with 1-inch margins with 12 pt. font.
• Submit the final project into the appropriate assignment submission folder by the due date.
• NOTE: All submitted work is to be your original work. You may not use any work from another student, the Internet, or an online clearinghouse. You are expected to understand the Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy and know that it is your responsibility to learn about instructor and general academic expectations with regard to proper citation of sources as specified in the APA Publication Manual, 7th Ed. (Students are held accountable for in-text citations and an associated reference list only).