Describing a workplace problem is not applying a theory to it
OB assignments usually give you a case or ask about your own workplace, then expect a named theory to do explanatory work. The commonest submission describes the situation vividly, names a theory, and never connects the two.
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The theory has to explain something you could not otherwise explain
Saying a team lacked motivation and citing Herzberg is naming a theory. Saying that pay increases produced no sustained change while additional autonomy did, which fits the distinction between hygiene factors and motivators, is applying one. The second uses the theory to account for a specific pattern in the evidence.
Theory selection matters as much as application. Motivation, group dynamics, leadership style and organizational culture explain different things, and picking the one covered most recently rather than the one that fits produces strained analysis that graders recognize immediately.
Reflective assignments have their own difficulty. They ask you to analyze your own behavior, and defensive reflection scores badly. A reflection that identifies something you handled poorly and analyzes why is doing what the assignment asks.
- A theory chosen because it fits the evidence
- Application that explains a specific pattern, not the general situation
- Reflection that is honest rather than defensive
- Workplace examples anonymized appropriately
What we work on
Your own assignment and your own rubric
- Motivation, leadership, group dynamics and culture theory
- Applying a framework to a case so it produces an explanation
- Reflective writing using Gibbs or a similar model
- Writing about your own employer without identifying people
- Structuring an OB essay so the analysis leads
Your analysis, your reflection
- We do not write your essays, reflections or case analyses.
- We do not supply completed assignments to adapt.
- We do not invent workplace incidents or organizational data.
- We do not complete work you will submit under your own name.
- We teach the frameworks and review what you wrote.
If you write about your own workplace, anonymize individuals and be careful about anything confidential. Colleagues have not consented to appear in your coursework. Read the full policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use its concepts to explain a specific pattern in your evidence. The test is whether the explanation would be available to a reader who did not know the theory. If your analysis would read the same with the theory removed, it is not doing any work.
Whichever fits what you observed. Herzberg suits cases where rewards produced no lasting change. Expectancy theory suits cases where people doubted effort would lead to outcomes. Self-determination theory suits autonomy and purpose. Diagnose first, then select.
Usually yes, and most OB programs encourage it. Anonymize individuals, avoid anything commercially confidential, and remember colleagues did not agree to be case studies. Check whether your program has rules on this.
Honest about your own conduct and analytical rather than confessional. The assessed part is the analysis of why you acted as you did and what you would change, not the emotional content of the account.
Usually that the case narrative dominates and the theory appears only as labels. The fix is structural: lead each section with an analytical claim, then use the case as evidence for it, rather than narrating and analyzing at the end.
Send the assignment and the rubric
We will tell you whether the theory is doing explanatory work and where the writing is describing rather than analyzing.
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