Task Putting all of our knowledge to the test: HERE’S YOUR CASE: Three months ago the State Association for Leadership in Business hired your private research company to conduct a study on preparing students to take leadership roles in business. It seems that a number of ranking members of the organization are serving on advisory committees for some of the business schools in the state. The advice they give has been their own, but they wonder whether they truly represent the total business leadership population. It would be good, they believe if they could know the options, experiences, and needs of business leaders on the subject. Thus, this year they persuaded the association’s board of directors to conduct a study on the subject as the association’s special project for the year, and this is where you come in. In general, the objective of the study is to learn whatever can be learned that will assist in determining the ideal set of skills for educating future business people to take leadership roles in the workplace. As you can see the problem is learning what business people in leadership roles do to help the businesses and the people who work with them become successful. With this information, one can better determine what skills should be taught in preparing student of today to become the leaders in business of tomorrow. Your work will involve learning what skills business leaders feel are needed to take on leadership roles. It means learning how businesspeople feel about the adequacy or lack of their own leadership skills that they acquired in the course of their education. In planning your work you developed a process for researching and discovering what skills business leaders possess. You researched what leadership skills business leaders deem most important. Then you evaluated the adequacy of current college programs for developing young business people’s leadership skills. You investigated which leadership skills schools and colleges should teach and which skills companies should teach. Knowing that the board would be interested in the possibility that there might be a role that business leaders should/could play in the development of courses and curricula for business schools you looked at the make-up of the advisory committees and boards for some of the major business schools in the country. The task facing you now is that of writing up your results. You will of course, organize your finding so that they most appropriately meet the requirements of your objective. Primarily you will write for the State Association for Leadership in Business thus, you will use a very formal format for your report. Additionally, it is likely that copies may be sent to educators in the state. Because the formality and length requirement of the situation justify it, you will give the report all the appropriate prefatory parts. In writing the introductory parts, you decide to include a description of your research methodology. A complete outline of your research plan will appear in the appendix of your report. With the data assembled, you will need to develop a meaningful report. You will write the full report using the impersonal side of the formality continuum – without I, you, they, them, our, your, and we. For this assignment you will use graphics to help readers picture the results and their meaning. Write each section of the report and include at least one table or illustration (bar chart, pie chart, or graph) in each section that relates directly to the content and will present the facts, and interpret them. Remember that you work for a research company (you can make up the name and develop the company logo) and that it is your job to serve your client’s needs. You have determined where you will need to start your investigation. You will need to gather the secondary research, interpret the research, determine where the “gaps” are and then use additional secondary research (data) that will support your assertions. Because the report is considered formal, you will include the prefatory parts – title fly, title page, letter of transmittal, table of contents, list of illustrations, executive summary, introduction, body of the report, closing (including a final summary, conclusions and recommendations), a bibliography and appendix. Each section of the report will need a summary and you will need a final summary, conclusion and your recommendations. Your section summaries will act as review transitions leading to the next section (page 426 – Transitions). The summary and conclusion should lead the reader to an understanding of the opinions and experiences found in your research that have been part of your research process. When done correctly the summary and conclusion will lead directly to the recommendation(s). It will be your decision as to the content you include in the recommendation based on your research for the ideal leadership skills needed in our current business climate (but just a hint: you need a recommendation). Write the report that will present the facts, interpret them, and recommend actions that will help your client increase the leadership skills student have coming out of a 4 year accredited business college. Address the report to Daphne Jones, President of the Board of Directors for the State Association for Leadership in Business. Remember as you include your research you will need to properly cite your sources in-text and label the tables and illustrations that you include in this assignment. You should include information from each illustration and discuss your findings using secondary research. Before you start you will want to determine the answers to a few questions: 1. What is your role (job) in the company? 2. What is the task that you have been asked to complete? 3. Who needs to understand what the data means? 4. What do you want your reader to do? 5. What does your reader need to know in order to do what you want him/her to do? For this assignment you will utilize: 1. A title fly, 2. A title page, 3. A letter of transmittal, 4. A Table of Contents – List of Illustrations, 5. An Executive Summary, 6. An Introduction, 7. The report proper – including the introduction – include headings, 8. A bibliography that contains all of your primary and authoritative research, and 9. An Appendix that includes your research plan and all of the tables that were part of your research that you did not used in your report. You will find an example of the Long Formal Report on pages 439 through 452 in your textbook. In order to orient yourself to the example you may want to take some time and read the associated case found on page 438. Be sure your reading is caught up or you will make this assignment difficult for yourself. Check List for the Long Formal Report: ? Please note that the example does not have a title fly, but we will include a title fly for our report. Use your work and notes from class. ? Title Page (example on page 439). ? Memorandum of transmittal (page 440) the end of your memorandum should have a closing, a goodwill statement and contact information. ? You need to develop a letterhead for the company and make up an address, telephone number, URL, etc. The letterhead should contain a logo, the address, phone number and a URL address (example for the letter format on page 594). There are many examples throughout the textbook. Additionally you can always Google “company letterhead” for examples. ? Table of Contents and list of illustrations (example page 441). ? Remember that your outline serves as your table of contents. Do not start writing without an outline. Your report will not have clarity. ? Executive Summary (example page 442) remember that the executive summary is the “mini” report of the report and should be about 1/8 the size of the report – in your case a minimum of two (2) pages long. The Executive Summary should summarize the contents of the entire report including the recommendations. ? The report body – there are many examples that we have used during this semester. You can find excellent examples in your textbook. You can also use the example of the long formal report body on pages 443 through 450 – remember that you will not include a signature at the end of the report as you have one on your letter. ? The conclusions and recommendations (example page 451) – notice that a list is used this makes it easier to see a progression and to give emphasis to each one. ? In order to assist your reader you will need to include either topic or talking headings for the sections of your report. The discussion concerning headings can be found on page 395 of your textbook. ? The report should have 1-inch margins, left, right, top, and bottom (this creates the frame and provides the formal look). A 10 – 12 point, easy to read font should be used, such as Times New Roman, Calibri or Arial. Points will be deducted for larger margins or for graphs/tables that are too large. ? As you write your report you will need to reference your secondary research in-text. You should use your textbook pages 604 (for in text references) and 605 (for the bibliography) for information on how to do so. ? As you insert your primary research (the tables) be sure to label them. You need to put them in order, then you need to add a title and a source (information about graphics can be found in your textbook on pages 253 through 264). ? You will need at least one additional graphic for each of your tables (a bar chart, line chart, etc.) information on how we develop these can also be found in your textbook on pages 256 through 259). Information for pie charts can be found on the top of page 260 and top of page 261. ? Your section summaries will act as review transitions leading to the next section (page 427-428). ? Each section of the report will need a summary and you will need a final summary, conclusion and your recommendation. Your textbook has an excellent example of a final conclusion and recommendations on page 451. Please note that a final summary is not included in this example and you will need to incorporate one. ? A bibliography in APA style (use the information in your textbook on page 605). As you will have research for this assignment you will reference all of your research. ? As always make sure you complete the report and upload it to the Blackboard site prior to 11:59 pm on Sunday, May 2.
