Portfolio Project Assignment Option #1: Research and Reflection Paper—Management Perspective

Your Portfolio Project is to create a research and reflection paper that synthesizes information gathered from an interview you will conduct with a manager of your choosing, the knowledge you’ve gained in this course, and your own personal experiences.

Be sure to read the Portfolio Project description below thoroughly before beginning to work on the project.

Portfolio Milestone Deliverables

The following deliverables are due before midnight on Sunday of Weeks 2 and 4, respectively:

Week 2: Interview Subject and Summary of Theories (20 points of the Portfolio Project)

Select which of the two Portfolio Project options you will complete and submit. Before midnight on Sunday, submit the name of the person who will be your interview subject, along with a summary of the theories that you plan to cover.

IMPORTANT: with respect to the identification of the person you will interview, submit only the person’s first and last name and the name of the organization. Do not provide specific contact information unless requested specifically by the instructor.
With respect to your summary of theories, your approach to theory can change as you progress through your project, so the information you provide for this Week 2 deliverable is not set in stone. Instead, this assignment provides an opportunity to begin thinking about your Portfolio Project and record your preliminary ideas. Your submission should be one page in length.
Week 5: Portfolio Project Outline (20 points of the Portfolio Project)

Submit an outline of your Portfolio Project that includes bullet points in the form of sentences or phrases describing each major argument you want to make, and that is organized as the final project will be organized. This should by no means be a complete or final document, but it should be sufficiently advanced to serve as a guide and working draft of your project to ensure that your writing is clear, thoughtful, and precise.

Interview

For your interview, choose a manager with whom you are familiar—ideally, someone you admire and aspire to emulate. Ask her or him for some time—perhaps you can sit down for coffee—during which you can describe your course learning objectives and discuss what you have so far taken away from the class (in brief). Ask the manager what insights she or he has to offer to you at this point in your career.

The goal of the interview is to gain insight into what makes a good manager from the perspective of someone in a management position. Some topics to touch on in the interview could include the following:
•How did your interviewee come to be a manager? (i.e., What career path did she or he follow?)
•What has surprised your interviewee most about what it means to be an effective leader (as opposed to the popular view of what a successful leader is and/or does)?
•What roles are played by managerial goals, objectives, decision making, and communication on the job?
•How does the interviewee handle change management at his/her organization, and what specific challenges has she or he encountered?
•What advice does your interviewee offer to someone in your position and with your short- and long-term goals?

At the close of the interview, be sure to thank your interviewee for her or his time and assistance!

Note: Any documentation resulting from personal interviews by CSU-Global students are for the sole purposes of fulfilling a course assignment and will not be used as part of a larger study, published, or distributed outside of the course environment.

Research and Reflection Paper

In the next phase, ruminate on what you learned in your interview—especially anything that helped you gain a deeper insight into the topics you studied in the course. Then, write a research and reflection paper in which you draw upon learning shared with your instructor and colleagues, your individual learning, and knowledge you have gained from the interview to demonstrate a more in-depth understanding of the foundational principles of management. Go beyond recitation of memorized facts or regurgitation of information; strive to synthesize the most important topics of management (i.e., leadership, personality, motivation, decision making, communication, and the importance of good management to yourself and society) into a hybrid research and reflection paper.

Your well-organized and coherent paper should integrate responses to each of the following questions:
•What leadership precepts did your interviewee impart to you (or what can you glean on the topic as a result of your interview), and how do those dovetail with one or more of the modern theories of leadership?
•How do the personalities of workers, colleagues, managers, and subordinates impact your performance in, and experience of, the workplace? How do they interact with one or more leadership models to create the most effective work environment?
•In light of your interview, the leadership model(s) you’ve discussed, and your own personality, what one or two tenets of motivation theory have you taken away from the course?
•How does your understanding of motivation theories impact your conceptions of the best practices when it comes to making decisions and communicating at work?
•Based on your interview and knowledge gained from this course, what does it take to be an effective employee, a successful manager, and an exemplary citizen of society?