Instructions

Each student is required to interview a manager that is two levels above an entry level position. If you are currently working, that would mean the boss of your supervisor. The purpose is to have the opportunity to ask about organizational topics that are relevant to the manager in the short-term and/or the long-term and how they are dealing with current issues. You can reach out to anyone who is a mid-level manager at an organization to ask for some time with them. I am happy to follow up with an email to the manager to confirm this as a university course assignment. Please interview your contact before Oct 20 in order for you to have enough time to write your report by the due date of Oct 27.

Interviews should not take longer than 1 hour and students should be prepared with questions. Use any topics of the textbook to guide questions. The report should not seek to be comprehensive. Let your curiosity guide you as long as the topic is somewhere in the textbook (i.e. negotiation, training, leadership, personality, motivation, group work, etc.). This is also a great opportunity to network and potentially develop a professional relationship that could be valuable in the future.

Note that this assignment is not a regurgitation of the interview, but an analysis of the interview topics discussed. I do not want to receive the interview transcript or quotations on what was said. Instead, I am looking for your analysis of the managers situation and how that relates to our course topics.

Answer the following questions/topics by completing a 2-page maximum, single-spaced, 12 font Times New Roman, typed summary:

1. Introduce the Manager, organization and what they do (i.e. how long theyve been in business)
2. Statistics of the Managers department (how many employees report to them and sub-departments)
3. At least two OB themes and issues/solutions that came out of the interview
4. Align the themes and issues/solutions with concepts discussed in our course/textbook
5. Your thoughts on the experience