the GrAde
BCOM 3113 Students 2 November 6, 2013
The main purposes of this assignment are for you to
· Gather information for specific readers and purposes,
· Organize and format information, and
· Demonstrate your ability to apply all the principles of effective written communication.
Short Report Topic
Choose one of the three options below for your short report:
1. Helping Your Boss Promote Mindfulness: You’re a management major on co-op with a large customer-data company. Your company sells technology that collects detailed records of what customers buy, at what price, and when, and then crunches those data to help companies improve their revenue. The employees include computer engineers, salespeople, client consultants, customer support staff, technicians, and professionals in other business areas. You’ve been assigned to various areas of the company to learn about a variety of topics, and you’re currently reporting to Mark Lindsay, the director of communications. One of Mark’s duties is to work with the president to write the script for his monthly video to the employees. Mark has been coming across more and more articles about the detrimental effects of multitasking and the benefits of focused, “mindful” work, so he thinks he’ll recommend that the president’s next talk be on this subject. That’s where you come in. “See what you can find out about mindfulness on the job,” he asks you. “Find out what it means, how to have it, what its benefits are, and who’s practicing it.” Cite your sources, so they can be accessed, if needed.
Send your memo report to Mr. Lindsay, as an email attachment to a transmittal message, answering his (and the president’s) likely questions and helping them see what approach to take with this topic in the video.
2. Recommending Ways for Employees to Stay Informed with LinkedIn: You’re a new hire in the _____ department of _______ company (you fill in the blanks). Your boss, Sara Dallin, drops by your desk and tells you about a webinar she recently attended that extolled the benefits of using social media to stay abreast of trends in one’s field. She was particularly surprised at how useful LinkedIn can be for this purpose. She thinks the others in your department would be surprised, too, because most people think of LinkedIn as an employment-networking tool. But it’s also a great way to see what people are talking about in various professional areas. “Organizations, groups, and individuals share a lot of useful information there,” she says, “so we should be following what’s going on.”
She plans to send the department a persuasive message along these lines—but first she wants you to further scope out LinkedIn’s educational potential. Who are the thought leaders in the field? What kinds of things do they write about? How easy is it to contact a specific individual to ask questions? What groups are available, and how easy is it to join them? Can you see what your competition is up to? In what other ways might LinkedIn be a valuable resource for those in your department?
You’ll do this research for your boss and send her your findings. Try to tell her everything she needs to be able to prepare a persuasive and knowledgeable message to the team.
Send your memo report to your boss, Sara Dallin, as an email attachment to a transmittal message.
3. Helping Employees Interact with New Colleagues outside the United States: You work in the human resources department of a clinical research organization with about 2,000 employees. Like other companies in this industry, your company arranges, runs, and reports on clinical trials of new drugs, biomedical devices, and promising medical treatments. Your company recently expanded beyond U.S. borders for the first time by opening a new research facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Your boss, Mike Reno, wants to be sure that all U.S. employees who will be interacting with the Brazilian employees understand that Brazil, and Sao Paulo, in particular, has its own culture. Toward that end, he has asked you to prepare a short report on what people should keep in mind when conversing with those that manage and work in the Sao Paulo branch. For example, how formal are the Brazilians in their correspondence? Do they value directness or indirectness, or does it depend on the circumstances? What is their attitude toward hierarchy? What might be topics or wording to be careful about? When visiting the Brazilian site, what should U.S. employees know about the business and social protocol that is likely to be used there?
Write him a report in which you convey a helpful, accurate picture of the culture in Brazil and offer well-researched advice for U.S. employees that he can share with them as he sees fit. Cite your sources – and be careful to use reliable ones.
Send your memo report to your boss, Mike Reno, as an email attachment to a transmittal message.
Format
Remember these tips as you are composing your short report:
· Organize your Short Report in an easy-to-read Memo Report. Short Report Memo example:
Memo Report
DATE: May 2, 2018
TO: Annette Sawyer
FROM: Ben Cannon
SUBJECT: Options Available to Managers When Dealing with Chronically Tardy Employees
· This will be the memo report attached to your e-mail.
· You will compose in memo format – Follow heading format as it appears above.
· Design a business logo for the top of the memo that is related to the business in your chosen prompt. Type Memo Report underneath the logo.
· Organize your Transmittal Message in e-mail format . An example of a transmittal in letter format is on page 471.
· An e-mail message to your boss
· Length will be ½ to 1 Page
· E-Mail Format:
From:
To:
Cc:
Subject:
· Compose and type the report first, then compose your transmittal message.
· Keep in mind your reader’s interests and the purpose for the information. The report will probably be about two – four pages, although it may be more depending on the amount of information you include.
· Avoid overly casual language and explain well, since the report will be read by your boss and may be passed on to other supervisors or executives.
· Decide how to carefully organize the information in a functional, helpful way with appropriate headings for each section of the report. You may use bulleted lists or other graphic aids, such as graphs, charts, or pictures, if they will help present the information concisely and clearly. Chapter 5 of your textbook includes many tips on using visuals.
· Remember that when memos are more than one page, you should use continuation-page headings, BCOM textbook, page 95.
· Keep all information accurate and up-to-date!
Research
Please follow these guidelines for your informal short report:
· Use Chicago Style (Notes-Bibliography) Format
· Use at least three sources.
· Do not forget to cite sources within your report using citation footnotes
· Do not plagiarize!
Evaluation Criteria
Remember that the most important aspect of a report is usability. The information must be well-organized, clear, 100% accurate, and verifiable. This report must be in your own words.
Grade: Transmittal Message – 25 points
Informal Short Report – 150 points
Points will be assigned based on how well you apply the principles of business communication discussed in the textbook and in class (see the Scoring Rubric in Canvas).