Students taking the course for credit will have two sets of written assignments:
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An “applications notebook” containing two page memos summarizing how his or her organizational unit (or one of the organizations participating in the course) is addressing the issues discussed in 5 of the modules. These memos will assess (a) the current state of practice in the organizational unit, (b) a vision for what the state of practice should be in the unit five years from now, and (c) recommendations for what needs to be done to achieve this vision. These memos will be emailed to the instructor no later than two weeks after the date the module was discussed in class. The time between class discussion and due date is provided so students can discuss these issues with others in their organizations that are responsible for or share an interest in the issue. Each memo will count for 15% of the course grade.
Students on campus who are not attached to a specific organization may choose to focus on MIT, some other Boston area organization, or one of the companies participating in the course modules.
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A 10-page paper that focuses on one of the module topics and outlines a vision for how it fits into the organization of the future and its managerial implications. This paper can be done individually or as a team project. Those who are working on the Sloan 50th Anniversary Project will use this paper to draft their inputs into the report we are expected to produce. Two class sessions will be devoted to a discussion of these papers. This paper will count for 25% of the course grade and is due the last day of class.
