Length: Paper: $20-25$ double$-$spaced pages $($excluding title and references pages$)$

Due: Week $7$ by Sunday Midnight

Value: $600$ Points for $60\%$ of the grade

Post: Turnitin in Week $7$ Assignments

This is the Signature Assignment that measures the MAOL program learning objective of leadership

Strategic Issue Analysis Paper Guidelines

Prepare and submit a $20-25$ page paper in which you apply core concepts from the MAOL program to a strategic organizational issue with

significant leadership challenges; the issue may be a problem or opportunity that your organization is currently facing or has faced in the past.

Examples of strategic organizational issues with major leadership implications that could be the basis of an effective analysis include:

$$ Merger or acquisition

$$ Reorganization or restructuring

$$ Large lay$-$off $(10\%$ or more of staff$)$

$$ Entry into a new market and$/$or country

$$ New technology or system

$$ New product development and$/$or implementation

In analyzing the issue and proposing recommendations, you must position yourself as the leader either as a mid to senior$-$level manager or an

external consultant working with the senior management team. After briefly describing the issue, analyze the problem or opportunity from different

perspectives to draw conclusions and recommend action.

There are no new textbooks for OLCU $681.$ However, the final paper must cite and reference $20$ or more sources using the textbooks from the six

core MAOL courses: OLCU $600,601,650,613,614,$ and $615,$ and$/$or other relevant academic sources such as peer$-$reviewer journal articles.

Strategic Issue Analysis Paper Content

Issue Description

In $1-2$ pages, concisely describe the strategic organizational issue and its potential impact on organizational effectiveness. Positioning yourself

as the leader, the narrative should discuss the need addressing the issue, impact on the organization$$s short and long$-$range goals, key players

$($names optional$),$ and the leadership challenges faced.

Analysis

Examine the strategic issue from multiple leadership perspectives demonstrating your knowledge of the importance and value of each to

organizational and leadership effectiveness. For each core MAOL course listed below, apply relevant course theories and concepts to analyze

the issue, and assess the implications on the organization$$s short and long$-$term strategy and objectives:

$$ Ethics $($OLCU $601)$: Analyze the issue from an ethics perspective identifying one ethical issue created by the situation. Propose an ethical

decision$-$making framework discussing how you as the leader would address the ethical issues.

$$ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion $($DEI$)($OLCU $650)$: Analyze the issue from multiple dimensions of diversity, identifying DEI challenges created

by the issue and applying DEI strategies and$/$or models to encourage inclusion.

$$ Organizational Dynamics $($OLCU $613)$: Analyze the issue using the four$-$frame model considering potential structural, human resource, political

and cultural causes and implications in addressing the issue.

$$ Collaboration $($OLCU $614)$: Analyze the issue assessing the need to collaborate upward, with peers and$/$or followers. As appropriate, identify

the impact of team effectiveness on the issue, and how you as the leader could enhance needed collaboration.

$$ Change $($OLCU $615)$: Analyze the issue from a change management perspective. Describe a change management model you as the leader

would use to facilitate the change effort.

Integrated Leadership Analysis

$$ Critical Analysis: Integrate and synthesize your analyses of the issue from the multiple perspectives of ethics, DEI, organizational dynamics,

collaboration, and change identifying critical factors causing the issue.

$$ Leadership Approaches: Discuss two leadership approaches from OLCU $600$ that would enhance leadership effectiveness in addressing the

issue.

Recommendations

Recommend an action plan to address the critical factors identified in the Integrated Leadership Analysis to address strategic organizational issue.

Recommendations should be supported by evidence and data derived from your leadership analyses; the plan should be specific. Discuss why

and how the recommended action plan is aligned with and enables achievement of the organization$$s short and long$-$range goals.