LDR 4350 Module 2 Module Paper: Midpoint Report on the Onboarding Project Example

Reviewed by Edgar Pennington, MBA Thomas Edison State University Updated October 2026

This LDR 4350 Module 2 example is the second module paper in Leadership Practicum, part of TESU's Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership. LDR-4350 asks students in this module to report on their leadership project while it is under way: what they have done, how others have responded, what obstacles they have met and how they have adjusted. The assistant store manager from Module 1 reports at the midpoint of spring hiring. His guiding team has trained eight peer mentors and won a protected first week for new hires, but one department lead resists losing scheduled hours. The paper analyzes the resistance with Cohen's field guide, describes the adjustment he negotiated and reports early retention figures and a first short-term win.

CourseLDR-4350 Leadership Practicum
ModuleModule 2
Paper typeModule 2 module paper: working on your project
LengthAbout 596 words, 5 pages
FormatAPA 7 student paper
SchoolThomas Edison State University
ProgramBachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership
UpdatedOctober 2026

Free sample paper for LDR 4350 Module 2

1

Halfway Through the Season: Progress, Resistance and a First Win in the Onboarding Project

Student Name

Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership, Thomas Edison State University

LDR-4350: Leadership Practicum

Mentor Name

Month Day, Year

What this page is doingThe title summarizes the midpoint report's three elements, what has moved, what has pushed back and what has already worked.
2

Halfway Through the Season: Progress, Resistance and a First Win in the Onboarding Project

What Has Been Done

Six weeks into the spring season, the project has moved through several of the steps Cohen (2005) describes. To help people see the problem, I showed the store manager and department leads the departure figures along with three new hires' anonymous comments, including "I spent my first day alone in the garden center and nobody told me where anything was." The store manager said afterward that the comments, more than the numbers, changed her mind. A guiding team formed: two department leads, a 14-year associate named Gloria and me. The team designed the onboarding plan: a peer mentor for each new hire, a first week with no solo shifts and short manager check-ins after the first week, the first month and the second month. We trained eight associates as mentors in two one-hour sessions.

How People Responded

Most responses have been positive. Mentors took the role seriously; two asked for a written checklist, which Gloria wrote. New hires in the first group said the mentor made the biggest difference. Allen (2006) found that socialization tactics that pair newcomers with experienced insiders, such as serial tactics, increased newcomers' embeddedness and reduced turnover, which fits what new hires are saying.

Resistance

The lead of the garden center, our busiest department in spring, resisted the protected first week. He needs bodies on the floor and saw the plan as taking scheduled hours away from him. Cohen (2005) emphasizes that resistance often reflects real concerns that leaders must address rather than override. His concern was real: a new hire who cannot work alone for a week effectively costs him a week of coverage.

What this page is doingTreating the garden center lead's objection as a real cost to be solved, rather than as opposition to be overcome, applies the course text's advice and leads directly to the adjustment.
3

The Adjustment

I took the problem to the store manager with a proposal: for garden center hires only, the store would add eight hours of coverage per new hire during their first week from the general labor budget, offset by the expected savings from lower turnover. She agreed for this season as a test. The garden center lead accepted, and he has since asked one of his own associates to become a mentor.

Early Evidence and a First Win

Of the 14 people hired so far this spring, 13 are still with us; the one departure was a student who moved away. Last spring, by the same point, five of 15 hires had already left. The numbers are early and the 90-day mark has not arrived for most, so I am cautious. But the guiding team has celebrated a short-term win, which the field guide recommends making visible (Kotter & Cohen, 2002; Cohen, 2005): at the monthly store meeting, the store manager recognized the mentors by name and reported the figures.

What I Have Learned So Far

Leading without full authority means bargaining, not directing. The most useful thing I did was put the new hires' own words in front of the managers. The hardest was accepting that the garden center lead was right about the cost and that my plan needed to change.

Next Steps

In the second half of the season I will collect the day-30 survey, extend mentoring to summer hires and present results to the district manager, who has asked whether the approach could work in other stores.

Conclusion

At the midpoint, the project has a guiding team, trained mentors and a protected first week, and early retention is encouraging. Resistance from a department lead led to a better plan, and a first win has been celebrated. The final paper will report the 90-day results.

References

Allen, D. G. (2006). Do organizational socialization tactics influence newcomer embeddedness and turnover? Journal of Management, 32(2), 237-256. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206305280103

Cohen, D. S. (2005). The heart of change field guide: Tools and tactics for leading change in your organization. Harvard Business School Press.

Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. (2002). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people change their organizations. Harvard Business School Press.

What the LDR 4350 Module 2 instructions ask for

The second module paper reports on your project while it is under way. Expect to describe what you have done, how people responded, what resistance or obstacles you met, how you adjusted and what early evidence shows. Use the course text's steps and tools to analyze the experience, not only to describe it. Classmates will review your paper, so present enough detail for them to offer useful critiques, and be candid about what has not gone as planned. Report successes and failures alike, since the course rewards learning from what went wrong. If your timeline has slipped, say why and how you will recover. Use the course text's steps to organize the report so readers can see where the project stands in the change process.

Inside the LDR 4350 Module 2 example

The paper opens with what has been done, organized by the course text's steps. A section reports how people responded, supported by research on socialization tactics. A resistance section explains a department lead's objection and treats it as a real concern. A section describes the negotiated adjustment. A section reports early numbers cautiously and a short-term win. A short reflection, next steps and a conclusion follow. Each section connects what happened to a step in the field guide or to research, so the report reads as analysis. The resistance section is the longest, because that is where the writer learned most. The early numbers are presented with a clear caution that the 90-day results are not yet in.

Reading the LDR 4350 Module 2 grading rubric

Mentors grade this module paper on a clear account of progress, thoughtful analysis of resistance and adjustment, use of the course text and research, early evidence and clear writing. Papers that show the writer changing the plan in response to legitimate concerns demonstrate leadership judgment. Reporting early results with appropriate caution shows integrity. A short reflection on what the writer has learned prepares for the final paper's deeper analysis. Peer reviewers in this course comment on each other's module papers, so papers that give enough detail for a useful critique, including the reasoning behind adjustments, serve both the grade and the class. Candor about uncertainty earns credit rather than costing it.

Common LDR 4350 Module 2 mistakes, and how to avoid them

Students lose points by reporting only successes, by describing resistance as stubbornness or by claiming results before there is evidence. Others write a diary rather than an analysis. Organize the paper around the course text's steps. Explain why people resisted. Describe how you adjusted. Report early numbers carefully and say what remains uncertain. Describe resistance fairly, in terms the person resisting would recognize. Say what you would do differently if you were starting over, since that reflection feeds the closing analysis. A free first sample on your own LDR-4350 Module 2 paper is available on request.

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This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Thomas Edison State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.

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More LDR 4350 and Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership sample papers

LDR 4350 Module 2 questions, answered

Where can I find a free LDR 4350 Module 2 sample paper?

A midpoint report on a hardware store's onboarding project, with resistance, an adjustment and a first win, is above.

What should a midpoint project report include?

Progress made, others' responses, obstacles and resistance, adjustments and early evidence.

How should a leader respond to resistance?

By understanding the real concerns behind it and adjusting the plan where those concerns are valid.

What is a short-term win?

A visible early success that builds support and momentum for a change, as Kotter and Cohen describe.

Why do peer mentors reduce new-hire turnover?

Pairing newcomers with experienced insiders builds role clarity, relationships and embeddedness.