PROBLEM: You have been directed by your corporate or organizational president to research one of the following situations/problems and prepare a formalized research paper. This paper should be addressed to the president, board of directors, and your professor. For this research, you should conduct a review of literature based on the current practices being used in today’s organizations (in terms of your selected research problem/situation).

For your research project, please select one of the following problem or situational areas to research. As you conduct your secondary and/or primary research, you should also develop a well-developed strategy as to how to implement your strategy into this organization. One way to view the selected problem is to think of a current or previous organization, in which you might focus your research efforts towards. For example, you may be facing the same problem in your current organization – so you could write this paper, based on addressing this particular problem with your current organization. If you do not see the relevance of any of these problems with your current or past employers – just write your paper as if you were employed with a Fortune 500 company or an organization currently in the news.
Here is the listing of potential problems or situations from you can select your research topic from:
1. Creation and implementation of an electronic usage (i.e., email, computer, or other computer technology) policy to be used in the organization.
2. Technological changeover from one computer system to a newer computer system (keep in mind the possible conversion problems).
3. Creation and implementation of a revised disciplinary policy to replace a current policy, which is not working (and lawsuits have resulted from the current, poorly written disciplinary policy).
4. Creation and implementation of a new compensation and benefits package (please remember that the president and board of directors may not be as accepting of this particular topic area… but it is worth the challenge of trying to convince them differently).
5. Creation and implementation of a new performance appraisal system or method of conducting performance appraisals.
6. Creation and implementation of an effective recruiting and retention program to enhance the quality of employees and management within the organization.

7. Rollout of a change management initiative.

8. Creation and implementation of a succession plan for mid level and C-Suite leaders.

AUDIENCE:
Please write your research paper as if your organizational or corporate president and/or board of directors would review and consider its findings and recommendations. However, your professor will be the final reviewer for this paper.

GUIDELINES:
1. Student should write a well-researched paper, approximately 6-8 pages and double-spaced (not counting a title page, table of contents, references or appendices).
2. Student should follow the APA Style Manual for referencing and citing sources in the paper.
3. Paper should be written in third person – not first person.
4. Paper should be error-free, so it may be wise to have another person proof your work.
5. All sources must be properly cited, according to APA style. In essence, you need to use in-text citations (no footnotes or endnotes in this paper whatsoever). Full citations of all works should be included in the References section, formatted in APA Style.
6. The paper must contain the following elements:
a. Title Page (or letter of transmittal if a memorandum format is used)
b. Table of Contents (unless a memorandum format is used).
c. Introduction
d. Problem Statement (5-8 sentence paragraph that clearly defines the problem and why it needs to be researched).
e. Review of current practices (background of literature) in the area
f. Strategic plan for change or creation of the anticipated change (use examples of where this approach has been successful in other organizations if pertinent).
g. Strategic approach for implementation of the change(s)
h. Final recommendations and possible outcomes (best and worst case scenarios)
i. Summary/Conclusions
j. References section
k. Appendix (if tables or charts or necessary)

SUBMISSION:

Prepare an outline with bullet points of what you plan to cover in your research paper. You may incorporate the guidelines into your outline. A sample outline is listed below. Please follow the format sample of a research outline.