Sample SOP - 4 for PhD in Organizational Leadership

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

About self:

My name is John and I have completed my Masters in Business Administration from the BGSU, Ohio with Organizational Leadership as my major. I have my Bachelors in Information Technology from JNTU, Lucknow, India. With good encouragement from my parents and an enormous interest in research, I wish to pursue my Doctoral Program (PhD) in Organizational Leadership at your esteemed university.

Why Organizational Leadership?

My expertise and work association as a Manager in several work areas has developed a drive in me to pursue my career in research in the field of Organizational Leadership. I believe that by my research in this field, I will be able to learn in depth the concepts of Leadership techniques, Organizational Behavior and Organizational Development and would like to explore new methods in improving the present policies and procedures being used in organizations. This will be a good experience and will help in my career.

My Goal:

My goal is intellectual enrichment and put to good use my knowledge to help those in need. The experiences in my life have made me to appreciate the value of this goal, and I am bound to get the impetus to strive ceaselessly to attain my cherished goals in the new millennium. I am convinced that my study at your esteemed institute which has a long term record of academic excellence, backed by expert faculty and very good research facilities would be a meaningful and rewarding experience. I earnestly look forward to being a part of your academic community.

My Work Experience is described in the following areas:

1. Worked as an Assessment Coordinator, The University of Findlay, Jun 08-Jan 09, with Dr. Paul Sears, Dean for College of Business

The projects handled are as follows:

Project 1: Collected data for backup and reporting purposes, including summary information on course and instructor evaluation.
Project 2: Maintained major academic records, including performance portfolios of the students.
Project 3: Generated assessment reports for the College of Business that included progress achieved by the college related to new strategies which are being implemented. All the reports have been developed in the form of Plan-Do-Check-Act.

2. Worked as a Technical Manager, Real Customer Ratings, Aug 08-Jan 09

• Served as a technical manager for Real Customer Rating which is a newly started joint venture by The University of Findlay and CRI.
• Worked with 5 employees responsible for the company.
• Developed logos for use with RCR website.
• Created technical and user documentation.


3. Program Manager, Mebrosoft Solutions, Jan 07-Jul 07

• Managed a team of four technical members.
• Maintained the database using Oracle.
• Designed and maintained the website for the company.

4. Assistant Manager, Magna Inc., May 06- Mar 07

• Managed 10 employees with an inventory with 30K.
• Hired and trained employees.
• Assisted in the sales of products as well as inventory storage.
• Managed cash and daily accounts for the supply of goods.

5. Undergraduate Research Assistant, Jan 05 – Oct 05

Worked with Professor G. V. Prabhakara Rao on Network Detection and Load Balancing Techniques. Conducted several tests on different networks.

6. Computer Technical Support, Mar 05 – Aug 05

7. College of Business, RGIT, Nandyal, INDIA.

• Provided computer support for 100+ users.
• Performed effective diagnosis and troubleshooting of hardware and software problems.

8. Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, Dec 03 – Nov 04

Computer Engineering Lab, Department of Computer science, RGIT, Nandyal, INDIA.

• Worked as Lab Instructor for “C and C++ Language” in Computer Engineering Lab.
• Worked as Assistant Teaching Faculty for “Introduction to Computers” subject.


Extra Curricular Activities

Worked with University delegates in organizing and managing college events and helped in technical papers delivered by students from different states and countries.

Research Papers

1. High Performing Teams
The paper discusses on how to build teams, importance of teams, key dimensions of a team in the firm and how to manage high performing teams. The paper also discussed about staffing in the firm.

2. Organizational Culture
The purpose of this paper is to identify the organizational culture and the methodologies to build teams from various cultures. It also discussed the relation of organizational culture with chief information officer.

3. Financial Analysis and Reporting on DELL Inc.
This paper describes the financial structure of DELL Inc. for the past few years and estimated the future financial structure for company by collecting the data from SEC filings for past few years.

Projects developed

1. LDAP
Designed and implementation Light Weight Directory Access Protocol V3 which accesses various databases located in different places and shares the data to database administrators. This project was implemented using Java.

2. Payroll system
Analyzed, designed and implemented payroll system. This system allows employees to record time card information electronically and automatically generates pay checks based on number of hours worked and total amount of sales.

Honors Received

• Nominated for the Best International Student for the Year 2008 at The University of Findlay.
• Appointed Graduate Research Assistant for Dr. Paul Sears, Dean for College of Business, The University of Findlay. Awarded scholarship from the Dean of the College of Business.
• Elected as organizing committee leader for “TECHNOVISION” a National Level Symposium.
• Secured first prize in the regional web-design contest and technical paper presentation.
• Member of the organization committee for all the seminars conducted by Rajeev Gandhi Memorial College of Engineering & Technology, Nandyal during 2002-2006.
• Student representative during my high school and college.
• Leading captain for our college cricket team.

Career Goals:
My rationale to seek a graduate degree in U.S. was a result of my search for a broader, interactive and challenging education with flexibility to choose the versatility of your own programme. As I perceive it, U.S. is the confluence of intellectuals from the various parts of the globe. A society of competitive and enterprising individuals with cosmopolitan outlook attracts students from all over the world. You get to study with international students and learn about different cultures and societies.

Why your university?
I am confident that I possess the required preparation, motivation, intellectual ability and commitment to do justice to a graduate program. I am convinced that my study at your esteemed university be a meaningful and rewarding experience. By graduating from an esteemed program like yours, I wish to gain in-depth practical knowledge of the subjects I have long adored, which I believe would help me to contribute to the technological advancements by learning and working alongside with some of the eminent faculty in the area. I believe this experience to be the cornerstone of my technological career ahead of me. But at the same time, with my strong background and ardor in pursuit of knowledge, I am confident I will be able to contribute to research work at your university and live up to the expectations of your academic standards. I earnestly look forward to being a part of your academic community.

Thank you.
Place:
Date: (John)