Assignment Overview

This assignment asks you to apply core organizational behavior (OB) and strategic management frameworks to a real, identifiable company operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The goal is not simply to describe the organization — rather, you are expected to critically examine how its internal people-management practices align (or fail to align) with the competitive pressures it faces externally.

You will produce a 2,500–3,000-word research paper that integrates a SWOT analysis with Porter’s Five Forces industry assessment, then connects both to at least one OB theory (see the approved theory list below). Think of this less as a business report and more as a piece of analytical writing: your argument should run throughout, supported by evidence from peer-reviewed sources and from what you observe about the company itself.

In recent semesters, students have found that companies undergoing significant change — post-merger restructuring, Vision 2035/2030 transitions, or digital transformation initiatives — tend to yield richer analysis. That said, any GCC-based firm with sufficient publicly available information is acceptable, provided you seek instructor approval by the end of Week 7.

Course Learning Outcomes Addressed

This assignment is aligned with the following MNGT 3380 course learning outcomes:

• Apply theories of individual and group behavior to real organizational contexts (CLO 2)
• Evaluate how organizational structure, culture, and leadership influence employee performance and firm strategy (CLO 3)
• Use analytical frameworks — including SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces — to assess organizational competitiveness (CLO 4)
• Communicate research findings in a structured, APA-formatted academic paper (CLO 5)

Task Description

Your paper must be organized around the following four sections. Each section carries a distinct analytical weight, so resist the temptation to treat earlier sections as mere background. The SWOT and Five Forces analyses should be doing real work — informing your OB recommendations in Section IV.

Section I — Company Profile and Industry Context

Introduce the organization you have selected. Cover its founding, ownership structure, main products or services, employee count (approximate), and the broader industry it operates in. Keep this section focused — one to two paragraphs is usually sufficient. You are not writing a company history; you are setting up the analytical sections that follow. State clearly why this company offers a useful case for OB and strategy integration.

Section II — SWOT Analysis

Conduct a SWOT analysis of the company, ensuring each of the four quadrants — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats — is grounded in evidence. Avoid generic SWOT language (for instance, claiming “good customer service” as a strength without substantiation). Draw on recent news articles, annual reports, industry publications, or academic sources to support your claims. At minimum, identify three items per quadrant.

After presenting the SWOT grid or narrative, provide a brief synthesis (one paragraph) that identifies the most strategically significant finding — the intersection of an internal factor and an external condition that you will return to in your OB recommendations.

Section III — Porter’s Five Forces Industry Analysis

Assess the competitive landscape in which your selected company operates, using Porter’s Five Forces framework. For each of the five forces — threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitutes, and competitive rivalry — evaluate the intensity of that force (low, moderate, or high) and explain your reasoning with reference to industry data or market conditions.

Pangarkar (2024) notes that a common error in applying this model is treating each force in isolation; where two or more forces interact meaningfully, address that relationship explicitly. Consider how GCC-specific factors — such as government ownership structures, Vision initiative policies, or the region’s reliance on expatriate labor — may shape one or more of these forces in ways that would not apply to a company in, say, a Western European market.

Section IV — OB Theory Application and Strategic Recommendations

This is the most analytically demanding section and should constitute roughly 40% of your word count. Select one or two OB theories or frameworks from the approved list below, and apply them to the internal organizational challenges or strengths you identified in Sections II and III.

Approved OB Theories / Frameworks (select one or two):

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs or Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory (applied to motivation and retention)
• Tuckman’s Five Stages of Group Development (applied to team dynamics)
• Transformational vs. Transactional Leadership (applied to organizational change)
• Equity Theory or Expectancy Theory (applied to performance management)
• Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions (applied to cross-cultural management in GCC workplaces)
• Lewin’s Force-Field Analysis (applied to change resistance or organizational restructuring)

Your OB analysis should lead logically to two to three concrete recommendations that the organization could realistically implement to improve its competitive position or internal effectiveness. Each recommendation should be specific — avoid generalities like “improve communication.” If you recommend restructuring performance appraisal processes, explain how, over what timeframe, and why the chosen OB theory supports that intervention.

Formatting and Submission Requirements

• Length: 2,500–3,000 words (excluding title page, abstract if included, and references)
• Style: APA 7th Edition for all in-text citations and the reference list
• Sources: Minimum of six peer-reviewed academic sources, published between 2018 and 2026; at least two must be sourced from AUM library databases (e.g., EBSCOhost, ProQuest, or Emerald Insight)
• Font: Times New Roman 12pt or Calibri 11pt; double-spaced; 1-inch margins
• File format: Microsoft Word (.docx) only — PDF submissions will not be accepted
• File naming convention: LastName_FirstName_MNGT3380_Assignment2.docx
• A title page is required and must include: course code, assignment title, student name, student ID, instructor name, semester, and submission date
• Headings corresponding to the four sections above must appear in the paper
• Submit via Moodle (My AUM Portal) by 11:59 PM on the Sunday of Week 10

Company Selection Guidelines

Students may select any company that is headquartered or has significant operations in the GCC (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, or Oman). Companies from other MENA markets (Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan) may be approved on a case-by-case basis. The company must have at least three years of operational history and sufficient publicly accessible information to support a substantive analysis.

Examples of past approved companies include:

• Zain Group (telecommunications, Kuwait)
• Agility Logistics (Kuwait)
• stc Kuwait (previously VIVA Kuwait)
• Americana Restaurants International (GCC food service)
• Gulf Bank Kuwait
• Tamdeen Group (Kuwait real estate and retail)

You are not restricted to this list — it is provided as a reference point. If you are uncertain whether your selected company is appropriate, email your instructor with a one-paragraph rationale before the end of Week 7. Late company approval requests (after Week 7) may limit the time available for feedback.

Grading Rubric

This assignment is graded out of 100 points, weighted at 25% of the course final grade. The rubric below reflects the four performance levels applied across all written assessments in MNGT 3380.

A Note from the Instructor

Students who perform well on this assignment consistently do a few things that are worth highlighting. First, they pick a company they are genuinely curious about — the analysis reads better when there is some authentic interest behind it. Second, they treat the SWOT and Five Forces as inputs to the OB section, not as standalone tasks. The paper should feel like one connected argument, not three separate reports stapled together.

I also want to be direct about sources: course slides and textbook chapters can support your understanding, but they should not anchor your citation list. Peer-reviewed journal articles and credible industry reports (such as those from KPMG, Deloitte Middle East, or the Gulf Research Center) carry considerably more weight in an assessed paper. If you are uncertain whether a source is peer-reviewed, check whether it appears in a journal indexed by Scopus, Web of Science, or EBSCOhost.

Office hours are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00–3:00 PM, Room B-214. Email queries are also welcome, though response times during exam weeks may be longer than usual.