| Course | LEAD 4093 Capstone in Administration and Leadership |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Capstone project proposal |
| Length | 1,200 words, about 4 pages plus title and reference pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | American College of Education |
| Program | B.S. in Business Administration and Leadership |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for LEAD 4093 Module 1
Seventy-Four Percent of Our Drivers Leave Each Year: A Capstone Proposal for an Iowa Regional Trucking Carrier
Student Name
American College of Education
LEAD4093: Capstone in Administration and Leadership
Module 1 Assignment
Instructor Name
April 5, 2027
Introduction
I supervise dispatch at a family-owned regional truckload carrier based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a composite company referred to here as Cedar Valley Freight. Founded in 1986, it runs about 210 tractors with 230 drivers and employs about 290 people in all. It hauls dry and refrigerated freight within roughly 600 miles of Iowa, mostly one-way loads for many shippers, plus two dedicated contracts for food manufacturers. Revenue was about $68 million in 2026, down from $76 million in 2022. This capstone, the closing course of my B.S. in Business Administration and Leadership, proposes to study one problem at the company and recommend a solution its leadership could act on. This first paper defines the problem, the questions, the evidence and the plan.
The Problem
Company records show that 74 percent of drivers left within the past twelve months, about 170 departures against an average of 230 drivers. Each departure costs the company money for recruiting, orientation and the weeks a tractor sits empty; the safety director estimates roughly $9,000 per departure, or about $1.5 million a year. Meanwhile, the operating ratio, operating expenses as a share of revenue, has worsened from 92 to 98 percent since 2022 as rates fell in a weak freight market. The two problems are linked: empty tractors cannot earn, and constant hiring keeps the fleet full of new drivers with higher accident rates. The capstone problem is therefore stated as one question: how can the company cut driver turnover in a way that also strengthens its finances?
Why This Problem
High turnover is common among long-distance truckload carriers, but it is not a law of nature. Burks and Monaco (2019), analyzing national survey and wage data, concluded that the market for truck drivers works much like other blue-collar labor markets and that the heavy churn is concentrated in long-distance truckload jobs, where pay is tied to miles and time away from home is long. That points to job design, not a shortage of people, as the place to look. Nationally, about 214,500 openings for heavy and tractor-trailer drivers are projected each year through 2035 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], 2026), so carriers that keep their drivers have a real advantage over those that keep replacing them.
Guiding Questions
Four questions will organize the capstone. First, why do Cedar Valley's drivers leave, and which drivers leave soonest? Second, what economic, social and regulatory forces outside the company shape driver turnover and freight margins over the next five years? Third, which strategic options, from staying the course to shifting toward dedicated and regional routes or selling the company, best address both turnover and margins, and what ethical issues does each raise? Fourth, what implementation plan, with costs, timeline and measures, would carry out the preferred option?
Scope
The capstone covers company drivers and the operations that shape their work: routing, home time, pay and equipment. It does not cover the small brokerage desk, which arranges loads on other carriers' trucks, except where brokerage is a strategic option. Maintenance staff turnover, though a concern, is left out to keep the project manageable. The time frame is the past four years of data and a three-year plan going forward. The audience for the final report is the company's president, its chief financial officer and the director of safety, all of whom have agreed to review it.
Evidence and Methods
The capstone treats the company as a single case, using several sources so that findings can be checked against each other. Yin (2018) describes this use of multiple sources of evidence as a way to strengthen a case study's conclusions. Four sources will be used. Company records will provide turnover by tenure, route type and home terminal, along with revenue, cost and safety data for 2023 to 2026. Exit interview notes for the past two years will be coded for reasons for leaving. Short interviews with twelve current drivers, chosen across tenure and route type, will ask what keeps them and what would make them leave. Public sources, including federal labor data and regulations, will frame the outside environment.
Drawing on the Program
The capstone is meant to pull the program together, and each module will use earlier coursework. The environmental analysis will apply the planning tools from strategic planning. The options module will use finance coursework to compare the economics of each option and the ethics course to weigh their effects on drivers and the community. The implementation plan will draw on project management for scheduling and on human resource management for pay and retention design. Communication coursework will shape the final presentation, which must persuade an owner-led leadership team that has seen many proposals fail.
What Success Would Look Like
A capstone recommendation needs a target the company can recognize. Leadership has said it would consider any plan that brings annual driver turnover below 45 percent within two years without raising the operating ratio. That target is ambitious but not unusual for regional carriers whose drivers are home most nights, and it would cut replacement costs by roughly $600,000 a year at current rates. A second test is safety: the share of drivers with less than a year of tenure, now about 40 percent, should fall, because new drivers account for a disproportionate share of the company's preventable accidents. Finally, the plan must be one the family owners can finance without new outside investors, which rules out options that depend on buying a large number of new tractors at once.
Ethical Safeguards
Drivers may speak more freely if they know their words will not be traced to them. Interview participation will be voluntary, no names will appear in any report and quotations will be attributed only by tenure band. Exit interview notes will be read by me alone and summarized by theme. Because I supervise dispatch, which affects drivers' loads and home time, interviews will be conducted by the human resources coordinator using my questions, so drivers do not feel pressure to please their dispatcher. The company's president has approved the use of internal data for the capstone on the condition that financial figures in the public version be rounded.
Module Plan
The five modules will build one report. Module 1, this proposal, defines the problem and plan. Module 2 analyzes economic, social and political influences on the company and on driver turnover. Module 3 weighs strategic and ethical options. Module 4 develops a recommendation with an implementation plan, costs, timeline and measures. Module 5 delivers the final report and a presentation for leadership, with a reflection on what the capstone and the program taught me. Data collection will be finished by the end of Module 2 so that analysis can begin on time.
Conclusion
Cedar Valley Freight loses roughly three of every four drivers each year while its margins shrink, and the two problems feed each other. This capstone will ask why drivers leave, what forces shape the company's market and which option would cut turnover while strengthening the business. Using company records, exit interviews, driver interviews and public data, it aims to give leadership a recommendation specific enough to act on.
References
Burks, S. V., & Monaco, K. (2019). Is the U.S. labor market for truck drivers broken? Monthly Labor Review. https://doi.org/10.21916/mlr.2019.5
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers. In Occupational outlook handbook. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers.htm
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE.
What the LEAD 4093 Module 1 instructions ask for
LEAD 4093's opening module commonly asks you to propose your capstone: the organization, the problem and how you will study it. Expect to describe the organization briefly and define one specific, measurable problem rather than a general area of concern. Most prompts want guiding questions, a scope that says what is in and out, and the evidence you will use. Many sections ask how the capstone will draw on earlier program courses. Address ethical issues such as confidentiality and permission to use company data. Close with a plan that shows what each later module will contribute, since the proposal becomes the outline of your final report. A target for success helps too.
How this LEAD 4093 Module 1 example is built
Company figures define the problem in this sample: 170 departures among 230 drivers, about $9,000 per departure and an operating ratio that rose from 92 to 98 percent. A labor economics article and federal outlook data explain why turnover is a design problem rather than a shortage. Four questions follow, matched to later modules, and the scope leaves out brokerage and maintenance staff. A case study design with four evidence sources is justified by a standard methods text. Each program course is linked to a module, and the ethics section has interviews run by human resources so drivers do not face their own dispatcher. A module-by-module plan ends it.
LEAD 4093 Module 1 rubric: what full marks look like
Capstone proposals are graded on focus, feasibility and integration. Instructors look for a clearly defined, measurable problem that matters to the organization, with evidence that it exists and why it is worth solving. Guiding questions, scope and methods should fit together and be achievable in the course time frame. Credit goes to proposals that show how earlier program courses will be used and that plan for data access and ethics. A module plan that builds one report earns marks for organization. Problems that are too broad, methods with no data source and proposals that ignore confidentiality tend to score lower, and APA 7 citations support the significance argument. Stating what success would look like adds weight.
Common LEAD 4093 Module 1 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Most first capstone ideas cover too much ground or cannot be counted, which makes the opening proposal harder than it looks. If you are unsure how to narrow your topic, what evidence you can realistically gather or how to connect the capstone to your program courses, we can help. Tell us about the organization, the issue you have in mind and the proposal guidelines, and a writer will shape a focused problem statement, guiding questions, scope, methods and a module plan. Employers of every size, nonprofits and public offices can all serve as the setting. The proposal for your capstone can be in your hands within two days.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official American College of Education 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.
More LEAD 4093 and B.S. in Business Administration and Leadership sample papers
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LEAD 4093 Module 1 questions, answered
What does LEAD4093 Module 1 usually ask for?
The first LEAD4093 module commonly asks for a capstone proposal that names the organization, defines one real problem, states guiding questions and lays out the plan for the remaining modules.
How narrow should a capstone problem be?
Narrow enough to measure and solve in one course, such as one turnover rate or one market decision, but connected enough to the business that solving it matters to leadership.
Can I use my own employer for the LEAD4093 capstone?
Usually yes, with permission for internal data; protect employees' identities and round sensitive figures in any version others will read.
Where can I find a free LEAD 4093 Module 1 sample paper?
This page has a full one: a proposal on 74 percent driver turnover and a slipping operating ratio at a 210-truck Cedar Rapids carrier, with four questions, four evidence sources and driver-privacy safeguards.
What methods suit a business capstone?
A single-organization case study using several sources, such as internal records, interviews and public data, lets you cross-check findings and build a practical recommendation.