Individual Assignment 2 Guidelines and Grading Rubric
Worth 100 Points
Due at end of Module 5

You will be required to prepare an Individual Assignment paper based on a business topics selected by you on a subjects relevant to the course material. I have also provided a list of topics that you may want to select from in the section below. The purpose of this assignment is to gain a better understanding of current events in business management, operations, and logistics and relate them to class topics.

Paper Formatting:

? Type up a three (3) page long paper of written material
? Describe how the topic relates to the course material
? Describe how the topics may impact what you would do as a logistics manager or operations supervisor
? Your write up will be evaluated on content, grammar, and spelling skills and should be presented in APA format
? The sources should not be over 3 years old, and should be at least 2 pages.
? You must provide a link that takes the user directly to the sources being used. Make sure it works once it is posted.

Management Topics:

? Organizational Behaviors & Culture
? Managing Individuals
? Organizational Change
? Motivation
? Effective Groups and Teams

NOTE: The following information was taken from the module content, please if possible use the book as one reference. Organizational Behavior: Key Concepts, Skills, & Best Practices by Kinicki, A. and Kreitner, R.

? Groups and Teams

Introduction
This module will provide you with an overview of group behavior and various tools that you can use to help you make managerial decisions.
You have all been involved with group and team activities in your lives so far. And, in your job as a manager, it will be increasingly important that you understand how to get things done through others and to get your employees to work as a team. A team is more than a group of individuals and building your team into an effective, smooth functioning unit can be a challenge. We will discuss some tools that you can use to better manage your teams and to move them from ?forming? all the way through to ?performing?.

Being able to make quality, quick, effective decisions is also another important aspect of a manager?s job. Some decisions must be made quickly under less than ideal circumstances while others require intense deliberation with other?s input. We will be reviewing several decision making techniques, along with their corresponding pros and cons. Pay special attention to the material in this module as you will be using many of these techniques in your every day work lives.

Objectives
After completing the material in this module, you should be able to:
? Explain the difference between groups and teams.
? Describe the five stages of Tuckman?s theory of group development.
? Contrast roles and norms.
? Identify common problems faced by teams and ways to design effective teams.
? Describe groupthink, and identify its symptoms.
? Compare and contrast different decision making models.
? Summarize the pros and cons of involving groups in the decision-making process.
? Identify and discuss tools and techniques for making better decisions.
? Describe common decision making traps and ways to avoid them.

? Reading:
Chapter 9 and 10 of Organizational Behavior: Key Concepts, Skills, & Best Practices by Kinicki, A. and Kreitner, R.

? Module 5 Summary

? Additional Resources

ARTICLE: Please select the link to read the article. 8 ways to Build Collaborative Teams
This article summarizes a Harvard Business Review publication which offers suggestions for encourage effective teams through collaboration. Think about how you can apply these tips within your organization and within the team setting at school.