MHR 301 Manager Interview

“MANAGER INTERVIEW” ASSIGNMENT (20 points)

Goals of the assignment: To expose students to real-life applications of the management topics that we covered (Chapters 1-5). To practice business language and improve written communication skills.

Instructions: Choose a manager with whom you can sit face-to-face for 30 minutes to ask some questions about being a manager. GET YOUR APPOINTMENT ASAP.

Required interview questions:

(1) Can you describe a week at work? What activities/tasks do you regularly engage in? (Chapter 1)

(2) How is being a manager different from being an employee? What are some of the things that changed when you became a manager?

(3) In your opinion, how should an effective manager manage employees? What kind of a managerial approach do you follow? Can you give examples? (Chapter 2)

(4) Does any external factor (such as competitors, economy, laws, regulations, customer demographics, social trends, etc.) affect your plans and management? How so? (Chapter 3)

(5) Do you ever face ethical challenges as a manager? How do you handle them? (Chapter 4)

(6) As a manager you make many decisions every day. How do you make decisions? Do you make plans and think through every alternative before you make decisions? Or do you also listen to your intuition while making decisions? (Chapter 5)

(7) Can you tell me about your strategic planning process? Do you identify and follow a particular strategy? (Chapter 5)

You can ask additional or follow-up questions as well. After the interview, organize the answers and prepare a 4- to 5-page report that consists of the following sections and headers:

Manager’s Name - Title - Organization

Job Description & Responsibilities

Changes Experienced After Becoming a Manager

Managerial Approach: (Manager’s response here)

Analysis and recommendations: (Your analysis here)

Environmental Factors Affecting Management Practice

Analysis and recommendations

Ethical Challenges and Handling Methods

Analysis and recommendations

Managerial Decision Making Methods

Analysis and recommendations

Strategic Planning Tasks & Process

Analysis and recommendations

Lessons Learned

Under the header “analysis and recommendations,” analyze the manager’s answer using the class concepts and models we learned in class . Do the manager’s answers overlap or contradict with what we learnt in our classes? How so? Explain. Make recommendations for the manager.

Under “Lessons learned,” report the lessons you learned in this interview that you can use in your own career. Give specific examples of how you will use these lessons in your career (at school, work, sports club, etc.).

Submit via the assignment link on Blackboard on or before the due date. Below is the grading rubric.

Scoring Base	Rating = 6	Rating = 4	Rating = 2	Rating = 1	Score
Quality -- Effort invested in this work	The writing reflects that the student put much effort and attention interviewing the manager, analyzing the answers based on class topics, and thinking about the main lessons / recommendations.	The writing reflects that the student put adequate effort and attention interviewing the manager, analyzing the answers based on class topics, and thinking about the main lessons / recommendations.	The writing reflects that the student put less than adequate effort and attention interviewing the manager, analyzing the answers based on class topics, and thinking about the main lessons / recommendations.	The writing reflects that the student put too little effort and attention interviewing the manager, analyzing the answers based on class topics, and thinking about the main lessons / recommendations.
Quality -- Use of class topics and evidence	The writing provides in-depth coverage of all assigned topics/questions, and assertions are clearly supported by class topics and evidence.	The writing provides sufficient coverage of the assigned topics/questions, and assertions are supported by class topics and evidence.	The writing provides weak coverage of the assigned topics/questions, and assertions are weakly supported by class topics and evidence.	The writing provides very poor coverage of the assigned topics/questions, and assertions are very poorly supported by class topics and evidence.
Structure		The writing has all required headers/sections showing all of the required topics. Paragraphing and transitions are also clear and very good.	The writing has clear headers/sections showing most of the required topics. Paragraphing and transitions are appropriate.	Most required sections are missing. Paragraphing and transitions are also deficient.
Basic Grammar		The writing has no errors in word selection and use, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.	The writing has several errors in word selection and use, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.	The writing has serious errors in word selection and use, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.
Total Score