Introduction
An ethical problem proposal is a group written assignment. First, your group will identify a current ethical problem in the hospitality business
and report on how this problem is manifesting in a particular sector
(such as restaurants or upper upscale hotels) in the hospitality
industry. Next, you will choose an organization that one team member
worked or is working at or at least your group is familiar with. The
proposal is written as if your group is working for this organization
that needs help to make a change to solve an ethical problem. Then, your
group will propose one narrow solution to the problem that the
organization can reasonably implement. Decide who in the company this
should be proposed to (who can do something about the problem or who has
the authority to approve the proposal).
Proposal Format
The proposal should be at least four full pages (including cover page) in a typical internal business proposal format
(see proposal template). This is single-spaced with one line space
between paragraphs, as well as headers to indicate the different
sections. The proposal should not be more than six pages.
Proposal Elements
Cover page
All sections listed in the template (Please see details of each section in the next tab: Proposal Sections):
A clearly defined need/problem statement
The aim
A self-created clear data visualization, appropriately labeled with a title and a note that states the source of the data
Footnotes using footnote numbers in the text and full APA citation in the footnotes.
Table of reasonable accounting of costs (and possibly benefits) of the proposal
Proposal Sections:
Executive Summary
Even though an executive summary appears at the beginning of a
proposal, you should write this section last. It should include only the
main idea of each written section of the document.
Background
The background mainly focuses on information about the problem in a
general sense and specifics about the industry sector and the
organization. Explain how large the problem is by using statistical and descriptive information as much as you can. For
example, how common is the subminimum wage in the restaurant industry?
What percentage of restaurants employ this practice? (Check https://www.onefairwage.org/about
Links to an external site. to learn more about subminimum wages for tipped restaurant and service workers)
The background section should also explain the ramifications or
problems that occur because of this ethical issue and how it affects the
organization. The background’s penultimate (second to last) sentence
should be the problem statement. What, ultimately, is the problem for
the company?
The background statement should end with the aim. What do you hope to
do with your proposal and how will it help the company? (This may be
easier to write after you complete the proposal section.) Remember
that your aim should be fairly small, and if you are trying to solve a
multi-step or multi-pronged problem, you should only focus on the
easiest or smallest part. The aim will provide a transition into the proposal section.
Paraphrase and cite in footnote format all outside sources. Do not use quotes from other sources.
The data visualization will most likely appear in the background section.
Place it right after the paragraph where you write about the topic you
are visualizing. Reference the chart/visualization in the text.
Proposal
The proposal section should begin with what you aim to do. The rest
of the section should explain thoroughly how you (or the organization)
intend to implement the proposal. Think about as many aspects of the
proposal as you can.
Requirements
This section explains what is needed to complete the project/change proposed.
Deliverables and Measurements
In this section, explain what will be turned in (if applicable) and
how the success of this proposed project/policy change will be measured
quantitatively.
Costs (and benefits if applicable)
This section should only comprise a table that lists the categories
of costs (think accounting) and the amounts. You will have to do some
research to estimate the various costs. There can be a separate table
accounting for the benefits (savings, usually). The table should measure
the costs and benefits in dollars. If some benefits or costs are
difficult to quantify, you can write about those in addition to the
table.
Footnotes
Use footnotes, not endnotes. This is for the ease of the reader. Use
the footnote feature in your word processing program so they are
automatically numbered and placed. This will work if you insert the
footnotes immediately after the period with no space in between.
