Project 6: Work as a Team

The class will be divided into four- or five-member groups, and each group will take a contemporary case (or other case of your choosing), in which an organization grapples with challenging internal or external conditions.

You will research the pertinent issues of the case and provide an analysis of the leadership decisions and effects of group dynamics on the outcome, positive and/or negative. From your research and division of the tasks in a Team Project Plan, each team will produce a white paper on the case, a one-page executive summary for your boss to share with other executives, and a short narrated presentation that succinctly covers the case.

There are eight steps that will lead you through this project. Begin by watching the video: (Click on the link) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpHay9AWNeg&feature=youtu.be which introduces the project you will be doing as it might occur in the workplace, and then continue with Step 1: Get to Know Your Team.

When you submit your project, your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below. You can use the list below to self-check your work before submission.

• 1: Organize document or presentation clearly in a manner that promotes understanding and meets the requirements of the assignment.
• 2: Develop coherent paragraphs or points so that each is internally unified and so that each functions as part of the whole document or presentation.
• 3: Provide sufficient, correctly cited support that substantiates the writer’s ideas.
• 4: Tailor communications to the audience.
• 5: Use sentence structure appropriate to the task, message and audience.
• 6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
• 7: Create neat and professional looking documents appropriate for the project or presentation.
• 8: Create clear oral messages.
• 1: Identify and clearly explain the issue, question, or problem under critical consideration.
• 2: Locate and access sufficient information to investigate the issue or problem.
• 3: Evaluate the information in a logical and organized manner to determine its value and relevance to the problem.
• 4: Consider and analyze information in context to the issue or problem.
• 5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions, checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.
• 1: Lead and/or participate in a diverse group to accomplish projects and assignments.
• 2: Demonstrate the ability to plan and execute a project, articulating clear objectives and goals for the team.
• 3: Contribute to team projects, assignments, or organizational goals as an engaged member of a team.
• 4: Demonstrate diversity and inclusiveness in a team setting.

Step 1: Get to Know Your Team

As described in the scenario, you will be working with a small team to produce your deliverables. Your instructor has assigned you to a team of up to five; take some time to review your teammates’ LinkedIn profiles and bios to understand the experience and skills within your group.

Because it is important that the team’s projects represent the work of all members of the group while still maintaining one cohesive voice, it may be helpful to read this guidance on team work. Be sure you reviewed the rubric under Assignments in Course Home that will be used to assess your paper and the contribution of members.

There will be a discussion area allocated for each team. You are welcome to use outside collaborative tools (e.g., Google Docs). Your team will use this area to establish ground rules for communication, adding ideas and information. The group will then complete and sign the team communications plan. After the plan is completed, elect one person to attach or link the final document to the team folder. This step should be completed early in week 8.

Now that you know how you will communicate with your team, take some time in the next step to read some of the theories about teams and leadership.

Step 2: Learn About Organizational Behavior

In the previous step, your team got to know each other and agreed on a communications plan. In this step, take some time to read about teamwork and leadership. Think about the challenges members must overcome to work together effectively, and how they can do this to achieve a positive outcome for the organization. Bad experiences have their own lessons for individuals and groups. In your own group, you will experience some practical challenges of schedules, resistance to group work, and perhaps failure of some members to contribute fully. Consider this an incubator of sorts, in which you may encounter experiences similar to the case you are studying. As you grapple with logistic, technical, and other team issues, you are experiencing normal team challenges. So, relax a bit and consider this a useful journey!

In the next step, you will choose your case.

Step 3: Choose a Case

Now that you have a better understanding of various aspects of organizational behavior from the reading in the previous step, select an organization from this Organization Description list. The descriptions include an overview and key information about the organization, as well as information about a breach or attempted breach.  Also, read this cybersecurity field overview; be sure you consider how each of the nine roles do or could apply as you review the case study. Your team can choose one of these cases or look for other options.

In response to the case study, your team will write an instructive white paper (6 – 8 pages) that analyzes a company’s management and leadership environment in a particularly challenging period.  Your paper should:

1. review the issues of the case study as background for the events relating to the role of the leadership and teams
2. analyze the leadership practices of the organization in the case study, and define the practices that leaders used to create collaborative and successful teams, or failed to effect successful working relations resulting in negative conditions
3. analyze the impact of the most relevant one or two of the nine cybersecurity role listed in the overview above
4. propose remedial principles and practices that the organization might adopt to enable a better outcome

After the paper is written, you will create a one-page executive summary of the paper and an asynchronous presentation of 12 slides, excluding the references slide and cover slide.

You will have three weeks to complete the following:

• create a team project plan by the end of week 8
• conduct research, develop an analysis of the issues of the case, determine your argument, provide supporting facts, and identify recommendations with an explanation of your rationale
• draft and finalize your paper and executive summary, and create a narrated presentation

In the next step, you will come up with a project plan.

Step 4: Project Plan

In the previous step, your team chose a case study. In this step, you will work with your team to establish how you all will apportion the work and create a single document with participation by all.

Be sure you are using team spaces to exchange ideas and drafts. If you use any outside collaborative tools, keep your instructor apprised and provide access to review, as necessary.

Finish this step by creating and submitting the final version of the team’s project plan to your team space. This step should be submitted by the end of Week 8.

Step 5: Conduct Research

In previous steps, you studied organizational behavior, and then the team chose a case and agreed to a project plan. Now it is time to do a closer read of the chosen case and do any additional research. Revisit guidelines on conducting research, if needed. Then look at Table 1, which provides some topics for your search strategies. In your search, you should consult scholarly resources as well as online resources, newspapers, and business blogs and sites for similar contemporary cases.

This step might be completed well before your paper is finished, or you may continue to do research as the paper is developed. Ideally, much of this step should be complete by the end of Week 9 to ensure time for writing. Move on to the next step when you feel you are ready to begin whatever writing component the team’s project plan has allocated to you.

Step 6: Writing the Paper

Using the research from the previous step, you and your teammates will write the white paper and executive summary as determined in the project plan. Your team paper and contribution to the team project will be graded using the team project rubric, so be sure the team reviews that document. The white paper and executive summary must be completed by the end of Week 10.

After your paper and summary are been completed, the team should move on to the next step, in which your team will create the narrated presentation. This next step must also be completed by the end of Week 10.

Step 7: Narrated Presentation

In the previous step, your team completed the white paper and executive summary. Your team must now create the asynchronous presentation that captures the primary argument and supporting facts of your paper.

The presentation should be engaging and should convey:

• a synopsis of the issues of the case
• your team’s analysis of the connection between leadership and outcomes
• any unexpected discoveries in this case
• proposals to mitigate challenges and your team’s rationale for such recommendations

In the final step, the team will submit the paper, summary, and presentation to the correct locations.

Step 8: Submit Your Work

Your final team assignment requires two files, a text document that contains the executive summary and the white paper, and a narrated presentation. One team member will submit a copy.

White Paper and Executive Summary

Once your paper and executive summary are complete, and all team members have reviewed these two documents, create a combined single document with these elements:

• Cover sheet in APA format with your team number and team member names where your name would normally go;
• One-page double-spaced executive summary;
• White paper, 6-8 pages double-spaced, and in perfect APA format;
• References

Presentation

Once your presentation is complete and has been reviewed by all team members, designate one team member to submit to the assignment folder for grading. Your professor will grade the project and each member will receive the team grade.

Share a copy of your paper and presentation with other teams.

The team will designate a member to post a copy of the paper and presentation to the discussion area by the end of Week 10. Take some time to review other teams’ work and provide constructive feedback. You’re done!