Problem Solving Paper

Topic: Alcohol Abuse in the Marine Corps

This paper should be 1000 words in length (all inclusive).

Your paper can focus on either a current or past employer of yours, or some other company with which you have significant familiarity. What’s needed is some knowledge of the inner workings of the company–its struggles, its strengths, its climate, and so forth.

The paper should include the following four sections:

1. Organization – Provide just enough details on the company for me to be able to understand the problem that will be described. Resist the urge to provide irrelevant details and feel free to omit or disguise any details that might be sensitive in nature.

2. Problem – Describe, specifically, one problem that the company is struggling with that will serve as the focus of the paper. Resist the urge to discuss multiple problems–focus on one specific issue with which the organization is struggling. Be sure to focus on a problem that can be impacted by the relevant topics.

3. Topic – Choose at least two topics from the list below and apply those topics to the problem. Describe very specifically how the concepts, principles, and findings represented in the topic matter to the problem, and how they can be leveraged to articulate a solution.

• Value-precept theory
• Job characteristics theory
• Challenge-hindrance stressors
• Expectancy theory
• Goal setting theory
• Equity theory
• Psychological empowerment
• Cognition-based trust
• Justice
• Ethical decision making
• Cognitive ability
• Emotional intelligence
• Team processes
• Types of power
• Transformational leadership

4. Recommendations – Provide a list of very specific recommendations/action steps that flow out of the discussion of the topics and that can help solve the problem. In thinking about how to craft the topics into those recommendations, strike a balance between being practical and being bold. Every organization has key constraints that need to be taken into account when designing interventions. Although those should be considered, resist the urge to “play it safe”, as that tendency often leads to modest interventions that are ultimately ineffective.

Beyond the parameters above, please bring your own self-expression, initiative, and creativity to the content and style of the paper. 80% of the paper grade will revolve around content issues, with 20% revolving around writing style issues–please see rubric for additional details.

Criteria

APA format, cover page, references, introductory paragraph & length
Distinguishes a primary source from a secondary source

Identified organization and/or industry

Framed the problem(s)
Discussed the topic(s) thoroughly
Provided plausible solutions as part the recommendation

Organization, logic, & integration of primary and secondary sources
Provides historical context of primary source
Grammar and Writing clarity