Leading Organization and People
Video Transcript
On Monday morning, as you’re getting ready for work, you see an email from Mike, your manager. When you meet Mike in his office, he greets you with a big smile. “Listen,” he says, “You’ve been doing a spectacular job—I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback on your performance.” He gestures to a folder on the table in front of you. “In fact, given your recent achievements, I thought you would be the perfect person for this project.” He opens the folder, revealing a report titled Situation Audit, dated 10 years ago. “I did that report, and now it’s your turn to do an updated version.” You leaf through the report, noting the length and the amount of information in it. You look at Mike expectantly. “What we need is a report that summarizes the current situation, focusing on key internal factors that contribute to the organization’s strengths and weaknesses.” He continues, “It’s intended to be a source of information for key organizational stakeholders, but we probably wouldn’t circulate it in its entirety. We would use parts of this report to brief new employees and board members, among others. As you can see, this report would serve a very important function in our organization. Many, many people at all levels would use it.”
Mike tells you the report must include particular elements:
- a description of the organization’s current situation;
- an analysis of the path ahead;
- a review of significant changes that have occurred in the last five years, which should offer the leadership team insights that might be useful for future decision-making; and, finally, any recommendations you have for change or action, given that you might discover some things that merit attention.
“We need this report in four weeks,” Mike advises. “To enable you to focus solely on this report, we’re taking you off your other projects and designating you a special projects consultant—because we need a consultant’s eye for this. You need to put aside your preconceived ideas about the organization and look at it as objectively as possible, like an outside consultant would.” Mike smiles, and shakes your hand. “We know you can do this. You’re the best person for this job.”
Your situation audit report should include the following elements:
- cover page—not included in page limit
- executive summary—1 page; not included in page limit
- introduction—1 page
- fact sheet—1 page; see Step 2
- mission, vision, values and goals—1 page; see Step 3
- strategy and objectives—1 page; see Step 4
- strategy types and competitive advantage—2 to 3 pages; see Step 5
- organizational size and structure—2 to 3 pages; see Step 6
- critical resources—2 to 3 pages; see Step 7
- leadership, governance, and management—2 to 3 pages; see Step 8
- strengths and weaknesses—1 to 2 pages; see Step 9
- learning and change—1 to 2 pages; see Step 10
- conclusions and recommendations—1 page; see Step 11
- references—not included in page limit
- addenda—if needed, is not included in page limit
- submit—see Step 12
Note: The Situation Audit Report is expected to be 18 to 22 pages, excluding the cover page, executive summary, and references. The page ranges listed above are guidelines. The student can decide how many pages to allocate to a given topic so long as the report does not exceed the maximum number of pages allowed. However, where the suggested page ranges are longer, the intent is to highlight the areas of the report deemed to require more analysis. These particular areas of the report go beyond a statement of organizational facts. They require significant academic readings and a grasp of relevant concepts, which are expected to be integrated into the student’s analysis. Please carefully read the Student Expectations section in Step 1, Organize Your Work.
In developing the report, students should follow the exact order of the template using the same headings to separate sections of the report. Each step is to be included in the final submission. APA format must be followed throughout. See Writing Skills under Grading in the Syllabus for writing expectations.