Final Paper Service Project

SERVICE-LEARNING PROJECT

You will work in groups of 4 students (some students may be in a group of 5) to complete a service-learning project. The project is 150 points in total. Please carefully follow the project instruction and submit your work on time. When your work is ready for submission, you must first ensure you are not committing plagiarism, and only then upload your completed assignment. I will check your assignments for plagiarism. Do not email your assignments to me; you will receive no credit for emailed assignments. The objective of this project is to (1) understand what challenges that service businesses/organizations have been facing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) what actions and efforts that they have undertaken to stay engaged and connected with their customers. While many service businesses/organizations, small and large, have been adversely impacted by the pandemic, those services whose provision, delivery, and consumption cannot be easily shifted to an online format (e.g., travel and tourism, healthcare services, personal care services, etc.) have been arguably hardest hit. Therefore, it is important to study how these service businesses and organizations tackle the challenges and what best practices that we can learn from them.

Instructions: Working in groups, select a local service business in your community. Examples of a service business include daycare centers, grocers, retailers, restaurants, Airbnb, and Uber Easts. It can also be a not-for-profit organization that provides services (e.g., student clubs at UTRGV). Schedule a phone interview or a Zoom interview with the owner or an employee within the business or organization to learn about what challenges that they are facing during the pandemic and what actions and efforts that they have taken to tackle the challenges. Important Notes: • Please ensure that you take notes with details during the interview. • Although recording of the interview is not necessary, having the interview recorded will allow you to fill in the blanks in case your notes are not complete. If you would like to record the interview, then you must ask for permission to record before starting the interview. If not permitted, then please do not record the interview. • In-depth interviews usually take about 30-45 minutes to complete. Short interviews (e.g., less than 15 minutes) is less likely to generate useful insights. Below are the suggested questions for the interview.

1. As a business owner (or an employee within this business/organization), what are the challenges that you have experienced or are still experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic? (ask probing questions when necessary)

2. How do you tackle these challenges? (ask probing questions when necessary)

3. What actions did you take to stay connected with your customers when lockdowns were implemented?

4. Are you taking a different approach to engaging your customers now that social distancing and other preventive measures have been somewhat relaxed? (ask probing questions when necessary) 5. Do you see any business opportunities arising from this challenging time? (ask probing questions when necessary)

6. Is there anything else that you would like to share?

Based on your interview results, submit two assignments: Assignment #1: Interview responses. This assignment will be a summary of the interviewee’s responses to the each of the interview question as well as any additional comments that s/he shares during the interview. Assignment #2: Written report. This assignment will be a written a report (6-8 page long, double-spaced, 1-inch margin on all sides, Times New Roman and font size 12, and APA format) that includes the following sections: 1. Introduction, name of the business/organization, description and person interviewed. If the interviewee does not want to use his/her real name, then please use a fictitious name in the report.