Personal Application Paper

Capstone Application Paper
As we come to the end of the program, your capstone paper will be an application paper which
describes how the important concepts from this program apply to your professional (and possibly
personal) life. This paper should be written with your current situation in mind and looking forward, but
not applying the program’s concepts retrospectively to a past situation.
As you reflect back on your learning in the MSML program with an eye toward future application of
ideas and concepts acquired, consider the following questions:

What are the most relevant concepts from the program to you?

How do those concepts impact you professionally now?

What learnings from this program do you anticipate making an impact on you professionally as
you move forward in your career?
From these six areas below, choose at least three to guide the direction of your paper.

Describe the change in your self-awareness and personal understanding. Synthesize and interpret
information from assessments, feedback, and self-reflections.

Describe how you have increased your capacity to manage people and teams (including virtual
teams) using effective interpersonal communications, and conflict management and negotiation
skills. Describe how you have increased your capacity to interpret team dynamics and practice
effective team membership and leadership.

Discuss your ability to lead as a moral manager and appraise ethical dilemmas, recommend
solutions, and assess the consequences of those solutions.

Describe your approach to organizational design, change and transformation; how has your
ability to lead and manage change shifted? In the context of change management, describe your
ability to put leadership and influence principles into practice.

Describe your ability to adapt to a global environment, relate to a diverse workforce and practice
effective management of diversity, inclusion and equity.

Describe your ability to enable an organization to respond to the external environment and adapt
as a learning organization using creativity and innovation.

In this paper you will want to demonstrate critical thinking skills by demonstrating the capacity to
comprehend and synthesize multiple ideas and/or models; using a systems approach, create the whole out
of multiple parts.
For each area that you include in your paper, cite at least two sources.
While it is important to address these questions, please do not write the paper as a series of questions and
answers. Think of it as an opportunity to reflect on the important learnings from the entire program.

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As you address these areas, be as specific as possible. Don’t just say, “I found the various models of
leadership to be relevant to me.” Write specifically about how you would apply a certain model to a
situation.
The important criteria in this paper are application and specificity. Your success in this paper
will depend not only on how well you demonstrate an understanding of concepts, but on how well you
can apply them to real world situations. The more specificity you bring to your discussion, the better the
application will be.
This paper should be written at a level consistent with graduate-level performance.
However, as this is a highly personal paper, it is acceptable—and advisable—to write in the first person.

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