Wilmington University Week 5 Job Satisfaction Research Paper

Week Five: Research Paper – List of potential research topicsTo complete the Article Research Paper due in Week 5, please select a topic from the listprovided below or from the chapter readings.

? Managers’ challenges and opportunities in applying OB concepts.

? The three levels of analysis in this text’s OB model.

? Developing managers’ interpersonal skills also helps organizations attract and keep high performing employees.

? Motivation and work performance

? Leader behavior and power and work performance

? Interpersonal communication and work performance

? Group structure and processes and work performance

? Attitude development and perception and work performance

? Change processes and work performance

? Conflict and negotiation and work performance

? Work design and work performance

? Positive organizational scholarship

? Workplace discrimination undermines diversity effectiveness.

? Stereotypes function in organizational settings.

? Key biographical characteristics and organizational behavior (OB).

? The relevance of intellectual and physical abilities to OB.

? How organizations manage diversity effectively.

? The relationship between age and job performance

? Race and ethnicity on employment outcomes such as hiring decisions, performanceevaluations, pay, and workplace discrimination.

? The components of an attitude.

? Relationship between attitudes and behavior.

? Major Job attitudes.

? Approaches for measuring job satisfaction.

? Main causes of job satisfaction.

? Employee responses to dissatisfaction.

? Differentiate between emotions and moods.

? Sources of emotions and moods.

? The impact emotional labor has on employees

? Emotional intelligence.

? Strategies for emotion regulation.

? Personality, the way it is measured, and the factors that shape it.

? Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality framework and the Big Five model

? The concepts of core self-evaluation (CSE), self-monitoring, and proactive personalitycontribute to the understanding of personality.

? Personality predicts behavior.

? Terminal and instrumental values.

? Person-job fit and person-organization fit.

? Hofstede’s five value dimensions and the Global Leadership and Organizational BehaviorEffectiveness (GLOBE) framework.

? Factors that influence perception.

? Attribution theory.

? Link between perception and decision making.

? Rational model of decision making with bounded rationality and intuition.

? How individual differences and organizational constraints affect decision making.

? The three-stage model of creativity.

? Key elements of motivation.

? Early theories of motivation.

? Self-determination theory and goal-setting theory.

? Self-efficacy theory, reinforcement theory, equity theory, and expectancy theory.

? Employee job engagement for managers.

? Job characteristics model (JCM) and changing the work environment.

? Variable-pay programs and employee motivation.

? Intrinsic motivational benefits of employee recognition programs.

? Punctuated-equilibrium model of group development.

? Norms and individual’s behavior.

? Status and size and group performance.

? Issues of cohesiveness and diversity and group effectiveness.

? Strengths and weaknesses of group decision making.

? Continued popularity of teams in organizations.

? Team arrangements.

? Characteristics of effective teams.

? How organizations can create team players.

? Functions and process of communication.

? Downward, upward, and lateral communication through small-group networks and thegrapevine.

? Oral, written, and nonverbal communication.

? Automatic and controlled processing of persuasive messages.

? Common barriers to effective communication.

? How to overcome the potential problems of cross-cultural communication.

? Trait theories of leadership.

? The central tenets and main limitations of behavioral theories.

? Contingency theories of leadership.

? Contemporary theories of leadership and their relationship to foundational theories.

? Roles of leaders in creating ethical organizations.

? How leaders can have a positive impact on their organizations through building trust andmentoring.

? Challenges to our understanding of leadership.

Research Paper: This is a graduate course and students will be expected to research and writepapers summarizing in their own words what they have found on current topics from the weeklyreadings. Research is a theoretical review of relevant literature and application of findings in theliterature to a topic related to a specific industry, field, or business problem.

The research must be conducted using peer-reviewed trade or academic journals. WhileBlogs, Wikipedia, encyclopedias, course textbooks, popular magazines, newspaper articles,online websites, etc. are helpful for providing background information, these resourcesare NOT suitable resources for this research assignment.

Please Note: The UC Library staff are very helpful with assisting students in using the UCOnline Library journal database. Please contact them if you have issues. In addition, theinstructor has provided additional resources, including a research tutorial, in the “CourseResources” folder in the “Content” area of the course.

Assignment Requirements:

i. Choose a research topic from the chapter readings or from the list provided by yourprofessor.

ii. Research/find a minimum at least four (4), preferably five (5) or more, different peer reviewed articles on your topic from the University of the Cumberlands Library onlinebusiness database. The article(s) must be relevant and from a peer-reviewed source.While you may use relevant articles from any time frame, current/published within thelast five (5) years are preferred. Using literature that is irrelevant or unrelated to thechosen topic will result in a point reduction.

iii. Write a four (4) to five (5) page double spaced paper in APA format discussing thefindings on your specific topic in your own words. Note – paper length does not includecover page, abstract, or references page(s).

iv. Structure your paper as follows:

a. Cover page

b. Overview describing the importance of the research topic to current business andprofessional practice in your own words.

c. Purpose of Research should reflect the potential benefit of the topic to thecurrent business and professional practice and the larger body of research.

d. Review of the Literature summarized in your own words. Note that this shouldnot be a “copy and paste” of literature content, nor should this section besubstantially filled with direct quotes from the article. A literature review is asummary of the major points and findings of each of the selected articles (withappropriate citations). Direct quotations should be used sparingly. Normally, thiswill be the largest section of your paper (this is not a requirement; just a generalobservation).

e. Practical Application of the literature. Describe how your findings from therelevant research literature can shape, inform, and improve current business andprofessional practice related to your chosen topic.

f. Conclusion in your own words

g. References formatted according to APA style requirements

Grading Criteria:

? Content Knowledge & Structure (25 points): All of the requested components arecompleted as assigned; content is on topic and related to organizational behavior, criticalthinking is clearly demonstrated (few, if any, direct quotations from the source in thepaper); scholarly research is demonstrated; topics and concepts gained from the assignedreading and/or from research is evident.

? Critical Thinking (15 points): Demonstrates substantial critical thinking about topics andsolid interpretation of materials and reflection.

? Clarity & Effective Communication (15 points): Communication is clear, concise, andwell presented; scholarly writing is demonstrated; grammar, sentence structure, writing inthird person, and word choice is used correctly.

? Integration of Knowledge & Articles (15 points): Articles used are current and relevant(preferably published within last five (5) years and MUST be from peer-reviewed journalarticle publications. At least four (4) peer-reviewed journal articles are examined andanalyzed in the paper.

? Presentation & Writing Mechanics (30 points): Cover page, headings, in-text citations,page citations (page number citations required for specific information such as dates,years, list of items from article, names, numbers, statistics, and other specificinformation), and references are properly formatted.

Please Note: Plagiarism will not be tolerated. The paper must be written in your own words.