This paper asks you to use the course topics to understand why some of your coworkers have higher or lower levels of performance and commitment. You will focus your paper on two different coworkers from your current job or from a past job. They can be your coworkers or subordinates, but not your supervisor. The paper should be double-spaced with one-inch margins and should be 2000 words in length (irrespective of any figures, charts, tables, clip art, photos, or graphics), with a margin of error of plus or minus 200 words (include a word count on your title page). The paper is required to have the following five sections:

a) The Effective Employee: Some Background - Describe an employee with high levels of both job performance and organizational commitment (the readings will describe this person as a “Star” employee). Give enough detail that it’s clear why you feel the way you do about this employee, with enough richness that this section “brings the person to life” for the reader.

b) The Effective Employee: An Explanation - Drawing on the specific terms introduced in the second, third, and fourth weekends of the course, provide an explanation of why, in your estimation, this employee has high levels of job performance and organizational commitment. You’ll need to strike a balance between breadth of coverage (i.e., the number of topics discussed) and depth of coverage (i.e., how detailed your use of a given topic is in explaining the employee’s attitudes and behaviors).

c) The Ineffective Employee: Some Background - Describe an employee with low levels of both job performance and organizational commitment (the readings will describe this person as an “Apathetic” employee). Give enough detail that it’s clear why you feel the way you do about this employee, with enough richness that this section “brings the person to life” for the reader.

d) The Ineffective Employee: An Explanation - Drawing on the specific terms introduced in the second, third, and fourth weekends of the course, provide an explanation of why, in your estimation, this employee has low levels of job performance and organizational commitment. Again, you’ll need to strike a balance between breadth of coverage (i.e., the number of topics discussed) and depth of coverage (i.e., how detailed your use of a given topic is in explaining the employee’s attitudes and behaviors)

e) The Ineffective Employee: Some Recommendations - Flowing out of the terms discussed in the previous section, describe what the top managers or leaders in the company could do, very specifically, to improve the performance and commitment of this specific employee. Then describe what you, personally, could do to make this employee more effective.

Feel free to be creative in approaching this assignment (within the guidelines). For example, you might conduct some interviews of the relevant coworkers (or the coworkers’ coworkers), or collect survey data. As another example, you might conduct some independent research on the practices of other companies to inform your recommendations. If necessary, an appendix may be used to present additional research.