Mgmt 591 Course Project

Effects of Communication within the DeVry Student Finance Department

Cindy Miceli

Miceli.cindy@gmail.com

MGMT 591: Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Instructor: Michael Mcgivern

April 20, 2013

Course Project

Introduction:

The organization that I chose is DeVry Inc. Specifically, I chose DeVry’s online student finance department because I am currently employed in this department. I started here as a Student Finance Consultant in July of 2012 and this is my first full time job after college. In my role, we assist student’s enrolling in courses and help plan how to fund their education. This job can be very satisfying yet frustrating at the same time. I feel that it is a great learning environment and overall, employee satisfaction is high. I feel that my position plays an important role in a student’s life as well as a critical part of the business.

DeVry University is an accredited institution that offers a variety of programs to students across the world to pursue an associate’s, bachelors and even master’s degree. DeVry has over 90 locations across the United States and Canada to service students in several areas. In addition, for students who may not live near a campus, DeVry offers an online classroom that gives students another flexible option. In this examination the focus will primarily be with the online division. The online division offers a non-traditional way for students to pursue a degree. It allows working adults, busy parents and a variety of others to attend class on their own time. Threaded discussions allow students to interact with one another, comparable to a classroom setting, but students can participate when they are available.

I no longer feel as though my role is important, in fact, advisors in this department often refer to themselves as “mignons” or “at the bottom of the feeding pole.” The work that I do now feels unnecessary and irrelevant. The morale throughout the entire department is low. Instead of trying to...