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Introduction: While everyone has their own process for writing, creating an outline is often an important early step in the process in all types of writing, even for the most seasoned writers. By creating an outline, you draft a plan that organizes your thoughts, helps you see gaps in your thought process, and enables you to decide where in your paper you will address particular issues.
An annotated outline is a document that organizes the main sections to be included in your paper. The annotations are based on thinking through your approach to the paper and developing enough detail that anyone who reads the outline can follow your thought process.
The purpose of this assessment is as follows:
To build an annotated outline that shows the key sections of your analysis, the ethical considerations, and the leadership and collaboration aspects that you intend to include in your capstone project. With this outline, faculty can understand the organization and purpose of your paper; upon approval, you may move forward to writing the capstone project (Assessment 4).
To help you manage your work because you will need to start researching now (if you have not already) in order to create your annotated outline.
To demonstrate that you know how to cite in APA format by including some quotations or paraphrases from researched sources. The sources you include in the outline may or may not be used in your actual paper.
Assessment description:
Identify the main sections to be developed in the paper and tie them to the project objectives.
Each heading must have at least two sub-points to develop the detail required.
Identify where each supporting reference will be integrated.
Include at least one reference to support each major point of the paper.
Incorporate relevant quotes or paraphrases from a source that you might use for support, with an APA in-text citation.
Identify main points that address ethical aspects associated with your chosen business.
Ethical considerations/aspects should also be one of the headings of your outline.
Use the program outcomes to help determine the areas of ethics that you might want to cover.
Identify main points that address leadership and collaboration aspects associated with your chosen business.
Leadership and collaboration considerations/aspects should also be one of the headings of your outline.
An executive summary.
The body of your outline should be comprised of at least four main headings with additional subheadings and points. (Never use the word “Body” as a heading or subheading.)
MBA Capstone Project Description
MBA Capstone Project Description
Throughout your MBA program, you have worked to develop as a business professional and
prepare to meet future challenges as a business leader. Your program culminates in the
capstone project, which forms the primary focus of MBA-FPX5910, the final course you will take
in the program. The capstone project is intended to provide you the opportunity to demonstrate
your MBA program outcomes by:
•
Planning and executing the strategic and tactical elements of a comprehensive project.
•
Integrating and demonstrating the business leadership skills and techniques you have
learned throughout the MBA program.
•
Communicating your analysis and recommendations for a real organization both in
written form and in a formal presentation.
•
Completing your MBA program with an experience that reinforces and integrates what
you have learned throughout your MBA program.
The following information outlines the requirements and work associated with the capstone
project for MBA-FPX5910.
Capstone Project Examples
You have a wide variety of choice when it comes to choosing a capstone project that is
personally interesting and rewarding to you. It is your responsibility to propose a capstone topic
and scope that will allow you to demonstrate all of the MBA program outcomes.
Examples of project types that might be proposed to meet these requirements include, but are
not limited to:
•
A strategic plan developed for an organization to use that helps them solve a problem or
take advantage of an opportunity.
•
A strategic analysis conducted on a selected part or area of an organization.
•
A case study developed on a selected part of or situation within an organization.
•
An intervention developed to address an organizational issue; for example, a workshop
or training activity. The intervention should be broad-based enough to demonstrate the
program-level outcomes.
•
A consulting report developed to analyze a problematic issue within an organization; the
issue and analysis should be broad-based enough to demonstrate program-level
outcomes.
You may propose other project types for the capstone project so long as you are able to identify
how the proposed project satisfies the requirement of demonstrating the program-level
outcomes. When choosing your project type and/or topic, keep in mind that it must result in
recommendations, next steps, or some other type of actionable, evidence-based takeaways for
your intended audience, user, or subject of the project.
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Capstone Project Selection and Proposal Guidelines
The organization must be real, not fictitious. This may be an organization to which you have
direct access for data gathering or one for which you will gather data via published sources. In
either case, it must be an organization for which you can gather the data needed to complete
the project. If need be, you may be allowed to use a disguised name for the organization in the
project report, but you must disclose to faculty what actual organization is being used as the
setting for the project.
There are certain organizations that we want you to avoid using for your capstone. These
organizations have been overly covered in the various business courses and might not be
“fresh” enough for you to showcase your MBA outcomes. For that reason, we encourage you to
select more low-profile organizations, or ones you can easily access for researching and
analyzing. Do not select these organizations for your capstone project:
•
Airlines: Southwest, American, Delta, United
•
Retailers: Amazon, Target, Walmart
•
Tech Companies: Apple, Google, Netflix
•
Auto Companies: Ford, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagon
•
Beverage Companies: Pepsi, Coke, Starbucks
•
Burger King & McDonald’s
•
Harley-Davidson Motor Company.
•
Johnson & Johnson
•
Proctor & Gamble
•
Kellogg’s
•
Uber
•
Any other company that your instructor posts in Announcements
When proposing a capstone project, you will be required to briefly identify how the proposed
project ensures the demonstration of all seven program outcomes.
The scope of effort required should be such that it is doable in a 15–20 page paper, which is to
be submitted in Assessment 4.
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Capstone Project Requirements
The capstone course project must demonstrate your achievement of the MBA program
outcomes. The following table is taken from the Capstone Project Scoring Guide, at the Proficient
level. It outlines the expectations, at a minimum, for demonstrating each program outcome. (For
the best grade possible, strive to meet the grading criteria at the Distinguished level.)
MBA Program Outcome
Grading Criteria (at the Proficient Level)
1. Apply foundational knowledge
and an understanding of
business systems, processes,
and technology within and
across core disciplines.
Applies foundational knowledge (theories, models,
practices) and an understanding of business systems,
processes, and technology within and across core
disciplines.
2. Integrate information across
disciplines and from differing
perspectives.
Integrates most relevant supportive and conflicting
information (data, insights, best practices) across
disciplines from differing primary functional
perspectives individually and holistically.
3. Think critically and analytically
to provide evidence-based
solutions to business
challenges and opportunities.
Develops logical, well-supported, solutions based on
relevant, sound, logical, and credible evidence (data,
insights, analyses, best practices) to solve business
challenges and opportunities.
4. Apply innovative, strategic, and
sustainable approaches to
business practice and planning.
Applies innovative, strategic, and sustainable (longterm) approaches to business practice and planning.
5. Lead and collaborate in virtual,
global, and culturally diverse
environments.
Applies leadership and collaboration principles and
strategies for virtual, global, and culturally diverse
environments.
6. Integrate principles of ethics
and integrity into business
decisions.
Integrates principles of ethics and integrity into
business decisions by assessing ethical implications
and resolving ethical conflicts and dilemmas.
Capstone Deliverables
You will plan, execute, and deliver your capstone project; it should include the components and
requirements listed in this table.
Assessment
Brief Assessment Description
Submission Requirements
Assessment 1:
Capstone
Project
Summary
You will develop a brief summary of
your capstone project so that faculty can
approve your organization choice and
scope and provide appropriate
guidance. The project summary will also
list out each program outcome and how
the topic allows you to demonstrate
mastery of each.
•
•
•
Double spaced, academic
style.
Use at least one resource
from the Capella library
and one from the Wall
Street Journal.
Length is 2–3 pages.
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Assessment 2:
Capstone
Proposal
Assessment 3:
Annotated
Outline
Once your topic and scope are
approved, you will submit a formal
proposal that includes a concise
analysis of your business topic. You will
also explain how you will leverage your
leadership strengths assessment results
and coaching experience (provided by
BetterUp), as well as your knowledge
and experience as a leader, to support
your capstone work.
To help you stay on track and receive
faculty feedback, you will create an
annotated outline of your paper. This
document will list all of the major
sections and sub-sections of your paper
and include some resources.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Assessment 4:
Capstone
Project
The final written project report will be a
formal document prepared for the key
stakeholders of your project. The
structure and length of the document will
vary according to the type of project
being undertaken, but the report is
expected to be substantial.
•
•
•
Single spaced,
professional style.
Use at least two resources
from the Capella library.
Reference your BetterUp
leadership strengths
assessment results and
coaching experience.
Length is 2–3 pages.
Double spaced, academic
style.
Use at least four resources
from the Capella library, in
addition to Internet
resources.
Length is 2–5 pages.
Single spaced,
professional style.
Use at least six resources
from the Capella library, in
addition to Internet
resources.
Length is 15–20 pages.
In Appendix A, you can view the
Capstone Project Scoring Guide. Be
sure to review these criteria often
throughout your project to ensure you
are fulfilling the expectations of the MBA
program outcomes.
Assessment 5:
Reflection and
Goal Setting
(Note: this
assessment is
not part of the
Capstone
paper)
This paper will summarize how your
strengths—as identified in the BetterUp
leadership assessment and improved
through your coaching—helped you to
create an effective capstone project.
Your paper will include a reflection of
your growth, how you have applied your
strengths, & how you would apply those
strengths further to enact the
recommendations you made in your
Capstone paper.
•
•
•
Single spaced,
professional style.
Reference your
BetterUp strength
assessment
results and
coaching
Length is 2-4
pages
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Assessment 6:
Capstone
Presentation
This formal oral presentation will be
supported by a PowerPoint presentation
including slides with notes. You will
record the oral presentation and upload
it to the courseroom for formal review by
faculty. Your presentation should
present all facets of the capstone
project.
•
•
•
Presentation slides with
audio recording of you
presenting to your
audience.
Length is 10–20 slides.
Not to exceed 8 minutes of
run time.
Credible Resources
The majority of your resources should be from credible sources such as peer-reviewed,
scholarly journals and articles found in the Capella library. Other resources/databases, also
available from the Capella library, are the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Lexis
Nexis, IBIS, et cetera. By now you should have solid skills in navigating the Capella library, but
just in case you need a refresher, remember that we have a custom library guide, Research
Guide – MBA, which is an excellent place to start your research.
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You may also use additional Internet resources (such as blogs, websites, white papers, et
cetera), but evaluate and vet these sites/resources diligently to ensure you are using information
that is credible and evidence based. Use this information to determine whether or not the
resource is credible: Sources: What Can You Use for Your Research?; make sure you explore
the source types listed on the left.
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Appendix A – Capstone Project Scoring Guide
Criteria
Non-performance
Basic
Apply foundational
knowledge and an
understanding of
business systems,
processes, and
technology within and
across core disciplines.
References but does not
apply fundamental,
practical foundational
knowledge (theories,
models, practices) and a
functional understanding
of business systems,
processes, and
technology.
Applies fundamental,
Applies foundational
practical foundational
knowledge (theories,
knowledge (theories,
models, practices) and
models, practices) and a an understanding of
functional understanding business systems,
of a limited set of
processes, and
business systems,
technology within and
processes, and
across core disciplines.
technology within but not
across core disciplines.
Integrate most relevant
supportive and
conflicting information
(data, insights, best
practices) across
disciplines from differing
primary functional
perspectives individually
and holistically.
Analyzes information
Analyzes but does not
from a singular discipline integrate limited
or perspective or poorly information (data,
analyzes information
insights, best practices)
across disciplines from across disciplines from
few differing primary
few differing primary
functional perspectives. functional perspectives
individually but not
holistically.
Develop logical, wellDevelops unsupported
supported solutions
(that is, emotional
based on relevant,
testimonials, anecdotes,
sound, logical, and
or lack of evidence)
credible evidence (data, solutions and solutions
insights, analyses, best that are not logically
practices) to solve
connected to business
business challenges and challenges and
opportunities.
opportunities.
Apply innovative,
strategic, and
sustainable (long-term)
approaches to business
practice and planning.
Develops unsupported
(that is, emotional
testimonials, anecdotes,
or lack of evidence)
solutions or solutions
that are not logically
connected to business
challenges and
opportunities.
Does not apply or poorly Applies some elements
applies elements of
of innovative, strategic,
innovative, strategic, and and sustainable
sustainable approaches approaches to business
to business practice and practice and planning.
planning.
Apply leadership and
Does not describe or
collaboration principles poorly describes
and strategies for virtual, leadership or
global, and culturally
collaboration strategies.
diverse environments.
Describes leadership
and collaboration
principles and strategies
that may or may not be
appropriate to virtual,
Proficient
Integrates most relevant
supportive and
conflicting information
(data, insights, best
practices) across
disciplines from differing
primary functional
perspectives individually
and holistically.
Distinguished
Applies a balance of
theoretical and practical
foundational knowledge
(theories, models,
practices) and an indepth understanding of a
full range of business
systems, processes, and
technology within and
across core disciplines.
Justifies approach to
integrating foundational
knowledge, business
systems, processes, and
technology within and
across core disciplines.
Evaluates supportive
and conflicting
information (data,
insights, best practices),
integrating insights
across disciplines from
multiple diverse
functional and strategic
perspectives individually
and holistically.
Develops logical, wellDevelops logical, wellsupported solutions
supported solutions
based on relevant,
based on relevant,
sound, logical, and
sound, logical, and
credible evidence (that
credible evidence (that
is, data, insights,
is, data, insights,
analyses, or best
analyses, or best
practices) to solve
practices) to
business challenges and systematically solve
opportunities.
business challenges and
opportunities relevant to
all applicable
stakeholders and crossfunctional departments.
Applies innovative,
strategic, and
sustainable approaches
to business practice and
planning.
Integrates and justifies
innovative, strategic, and
sustainable approaches
to business practice and
planning that
appropriately challenge
the status quo while
recognizing change
management
implications.
Applies leadership and Assesses leadership and
collaboration principles collaboration principles,
and strategies for virtual, strategies, and
opportunities in virtual,
global, and culturally
global, and culturally
diverse environments.
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Integrate principles of
Does not assess or
ethics and integrity into poorly assesses
business decisions by
principles of ethics and
assessing ethical
integrity.
implications and
resolving ethical conflicts
and dilemmas.
Write coherently to
support a central idea
with correct grammar,
usage, and mechanics
as expected of a
business professional.
global, and culturally
diverse environments.
diverse environments
and integrates flexible
perspectives and
collaborative approaches
in business.
Assesses principles of
ethics and integrity by
analyzing ethical
implications but may
overlook important
ethical considerations.
Integrates principles of
Integrates principles of
ethics and integrity into ethics and integrity into
business decisions by
business decisions by
assessing ethical
assessing ethical
implications and
implications, resolving
resolving ethical conflicts ethical conflicts and
and dilemmas.
dilemmas, and making
right and just decisions
for the organization and
the larger business
community.
Does not write
Writes somewhat
coherently nor use
coherently to support
grammar and mechanics ideas, but writing has
as expected of a
some grammar,
business professional;
mechanics, or other
writing has major errors. errors that detract from
credibility as a business
professional.
Writes coherently with
minimal or minor errors
to support a central idea
with correct grammar,
usage, and mechanics
as expected of a
business professional.
Writes coherently to
support a central idea
with correct grammar,
usage, and mechanics
as expected of a
business professional;
writing is free from errors
and formatted
appropriately for the
purpose or audience.
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