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MAN 4120 Research Paper

General Information: You will prepare and submit a Draft Paper and a Final Paper.
The draft should cover the entire contents of the paper in a brief form to show that
you have started working on the whole paper (not just an outline). You must include
preliminary references and APA formatting in the draft. You will need to upload the
draft paper by the dates shown on the calendar. Please see the Draft Paper
Expectations at the end of these instructions.

Description: Select an organization such as your work, school, or other company to
which you have access. Use your text as a reference to describe and analyze the
leadership styles in that organization (do not copy definitions or phrases word-forword to avoid excessive matching percentages in the SafeAssign system). The
discussion may focus on one manager/leader or compare and contrast two specific
managers in the organization. Your description of leadership should include the
manager’s knowledge of individual and group behavior and ability to motivate and
communicate. Describe their ability to alter leadership styles by referring to
situational leadership theory in chapter 3 of your text. Your discussion should include
an analysis and observation of how and when the leader/manager employs each of
the four styles listed below (these may be Level 2 headings in the Analysis section):
• The Telling or Directing style
• The Selling or Coaching style
• The Participating or Supporting style
• The Delegating style
In each of the four cases, provide your assessment of manager/leader effectiveness
as you consider follower developmental or “readiness” level. You will need to look
ahead in your textbook for a basic understanding of these concepts as you prepare
your draft. Your future lessons will address all of these issues so that you will have
more complete information by the time your final paper is due.

Requirements: The paper must be well written with proper grammar, spelling,
punctuation, and references. The Research Papers will be a minimum of 6 to 7 typed
pages plus a cover page and a References page, bringing the total to 8 or 9 pages.
The paper will be double-spaced using 12-point “Times New Roman” font and
standard one-inch margins. This equates to approximately 1500 to 1800 words. The
paper must be correctly formatted and documented using the APA style.

Specific description (assembling the paper): Use level 1 and level 2 headings for the
sections shown in these instructions. The paper should consist of the following
sections:

• Introduction – (Level 1 heading) describe the purpose of the paper by
identifying your organization and clearly stating your thesis. This is the
information that you will show or prove about the organization. A thesis might
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include a statement such as “The XYZ Corporation’s leadership is well-founded
and preparing for success in the future” or, “The xyz corporation has several
leadership flaws that might limit success in the future.” Note that your analysis
section will provide support for this thesis (or opinion) and your conclusion will
describe how you proved your position. Size: About one page total.

• Background – (Level 1 heading) provide some historical perspective for the
organization. You should research and include references that provide this
background information. Size: About one page total.

• Analysis – (Level 1 heading) your discussion of several leadership styles will be
included in this section. You may focus on one or two specific leaders or the
leadership as a whole. Use Level 2 headings as sub-headings for each of the
four leadership styles you will describe.

Note that many students plan to describe personal observations or
experiences with the leadership at their place of work as implied in these
instructions. However, please understand that this is a research paper, it is
NOT a vehicle for merely expressing YOUR opinions on various leadership
styles.

Specifically, this paper offers the opportunity to report on an observed style
and then present the research on how the experts evaluate its effectiveness in
the given situation. Consequently, avoid writing an “autobiography” simply
describing your personal experiences and opinions on the styles. You may
express your personal opinions in the conclusion but limit the body of your
research report to examining how the researchers have assessed the styles
you are observing and describing.

Finally, these instructions state you must cite a leadership book (other than
your text) and scholarly journal articles. Consequently, you must reference
these expert scholarly researchers along with any of your own observations or
personal experiences. The approach you may use to accomplish this is to first
explain how you or other managers are leading in various situations. Then, in
each situation you present, follow-up your discussion with a comparison to how
the style is or is not consistent with what researchers (experts) say about it.
You will then give credit to these experts via in-text citations and list them in the
references.

Size: This is the main body of your research paper so prepare about one page
each for the four leadership styles, four pages total.

• Conclusion – (Level 1 heading) Discuss how your thesis was proved or
demonstrated and provide the lessons learned from the subject. You may
provide opinions here. Size: About one page.

• References – At least five (6) different sources must be cited and included in a
References page. You may include your text as one of these. The sources will
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not include Wikipedia, encyclopedias or dictionaries, although these sources
may be used in addition to the others. Use primary sources whenever possible.
Sources may include academic journals, books, articles (from major
publications and newspapers), and appropriate web-based database sites. The
PBSC library maintains extensive research databases accessible on line so
make sure you contact or visit the library for assistance if needed. NOTE: At
least one leadership book (other than your text) and two journal articles must
be included (electronic or hardcopy). You should also expect to include expert
documentation (personal interviews) in this paper so you should become
familiar with how to cite and reference them (see information at the end of
these instructions).

Formatting help:
APA Formatting, Style Guides, and APA templates are available in the online PBSC
library resources. Please contact the BAS librarian for assistance if needed.

Grading: Your draft and final papers will be graded on originality and consistency
with BAS plagiarism rules; grammar, spelling, and punctuation; content and length;
per the Research Paper’s Requirements (such as discussions & descriptions
mentioned in bold subheadings, etc.); and accuracy of APA formatting (quotations,
in-text citations & reference pages).

Draft Paper Expectations

A. The draft in this course is not simply an outline. Use paragraphs and complete sentences. Don’t place a
heading with content that merely says something like “to be filled in later.” The draft must include about
80% of the material you will submit in the final paper. It is identified as a draft because it shows your first
attempt to prepare a final paper but it has to have enough thought and content for the instructor to grade.
Your finished paper will be between 1500 and 2000 words. So, 80% of that for a draft will be in the 1200-
1400-word range. The draft paper is written like any formal research paper, including APA Level 1 and
Level 2 headings as in the final version and grammar, spelling, and content must be accurate.

B. DO NOT re-interpret the rules for how you have personally defined a draft in the past. This is not “just a
rough draft.” It must meet the PLAGIARISM RULES and all other formatting instructions. Furthermore, the
grade you receive on the draft also contributes to the final paper grade.

C. Your research papers and drafts are NOT simply “book reports” on your company, nor are they
autobiographical novels about your experiences within that business. Students have a tendency to write
about their experiences and about what they know to be true in their industry—thus, a type of
autobiographical novel. That is NOT a research paper. What was true for you may not be typical of other
business.

D. You can select small family businesses but an honest assessment of leadership or management skills might
require negative comments so this could deter you from writing honestly about the situation. All of your
facts and opinions must also be supported by scholarly/academic research. For example, if you state what
was learned during a leadership experience in your company, you also need to find research that supports
that learning experience or even research that refutes that experience. Online journals such as the
Academy of Management Journal (and many others) always have articles on the various business functions
you can apply to your business.

E. References for your draft are required since you are providing about 80% of the material the final paper
would include. All of your facts and opinions must be supported by proper research. You will need both intext citations and a reference list explaining where the citations were found. A good research paper has
one or more citations for every fact in every paragraph and instructors will look for that in your draft. Note
that you may not find specific information on the company or problem you are discussing. Instead, you will
be describing your company or problem and then finding scholarly support for how a similar problem was
resolved in other companies.

F. Please confirm your instructor’s policy on this following procedure: Before submitting to Step 2 (Preview)
or Step 3 (Draft), you should remove the reference list (NOT the citations) from your paper and submit the
paper without it. Then, submit the reference list separately to the instructor via Blackboard email. This can
save you a few percentage points because SafeAssign often views references as copied material.

G. Instructions indicate that the draft paper needs to meet the 15% SafeAssign rule. That is why you have
Step 2 to preview before Step 3. You are to first submit to Step 2, review the percentage, correct any
material exceeding 15% (paraphrase, summarize, re-word, or eliminate), and THEN submit to Step 3. You
may need as much as 24 hours between the Step 2 and Step 3 submittal to view the SafeAssign originality
report so schedule accordingly.