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Chapter 05 - Creating Leadership Documents and Reports
5-1
Chapter 5 – Creating Leadership Documents and Reports
Teaching Notes
Chapter 4 introduces students to the typical types of documents they will write as
professionals. It covers how to decide which document type is appropriate and also
discusses approaches to writing as a team. In this chapter, they will learn to do the
following:
• Determine purpose and type of report for different leadership situations.
The applications in Chapter 4 provide opportunities for the students to practice developing
an executive summary based on information provided in a case and write a proposal and
report on their selected transformational leader example.
Application 4.1: Creating an Executive Summary
The Case – Merging Benefits at Huge Computer Company
This application is designed to help students learn to select relevant information from a
Chapter 05 - Creating Leadership Documents and Reports
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Approaches to Teaching
This application may be done in small groups during class sessions. It should not be
necessary to discuss the case before turning it over to the student groups. You can allow
the students 20 to 30 minutes to read and analyze the case, synthesize the information, and
produce a detailed outline of the executive summary.
The application may also be assigned on an individual basis to be done either in class or
outside and turned in for grading. In this case, the purpose will expand to include writing
skills, with particular emphasis on conciseness, clarity, and coherence.
Example Response to Assignment
You will probably see a high degree of agreement about the important points of
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New Benefits Plan for Huge Computer Co.
Executive Summary
The consulting team has interviewed the Computer Co. (CC) benefits manager and the
Huge Co. (HC) VP of human resources. This report presents our interview findings and
recommendations for a new benefits plan for Huge Computer Co. (HCC).
Plans Are Geared to Differing Employee Needs
CC’s workforce of 8,000, and particularly its 2,500 software engineers, are young, mainly
in their 20s. CC enjoys a high retention rate and has been ranked among the 100 best
places to work. The current plan has been in effect for six years, reflects the interests of a
young workforce, costs $26,000 annually per employee, and is nationally recognized.
Features of the plan include stock options far above the industry average, 401k way below
We Recommend a Blended Plan
The following recommendations for key features of the new HCC benefits plan are
intended to appeal to the younger CC workers while retaining the features that the older HC
workers consider essential:
• Stock options in line with industry averages
• 401k at the current HC level
• Medical, dental, and life insurance according to the HC plan
Chapter 05 - Creating Leadership Documents and Reports
The features are oriented to the longer-term needs of the HC employees, with the
expectation that CC employees will soon begin finding these more attractive. The flexible
Application 5.2: Leadership Profile Proposal and Report
As discussed in Chapter 1, this leader profile assignment could be expanded to include a
number of various types of writing and presentation experiences for the students.
Handout to use for overall assignment:
Leader Profile Assignment
For this assignment, you need to select a transformational leader in your field of study,
career, or other area of professional interest and create a profile of him or her as a model of
leadership communication and transformational leadership. Your focus throughout must be
Please select this person carefully so that you can learn about leadership communication as
well as improve your own abilities. In addition, based on the individuals who have worked
best for this assignment in previous courses, I strongly suggest you do not select one of the
following as your person to profile:
1. Your parent or another relative
2. A major celebrity or famous political or historical figure
Approaches you could take to gather information on your selected profile target are
follows:
Chapter 05 - Creating Leadership Documents and Reports
1. Interviews: You can interview him or her or others about him or her or you can
use interviews that others have done. If you do an interview, you should write an
interview guide with very targeted questions (we will talk more about this in class).
3. Personal Experiences: You can draw on your own experiences with the
individual. Explain what you have witnessed as examples of leadership
communication.
The leader profile assignment runs across the semester and consists of the following parts
(included as applications in Chapters 5):
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Leader Profile Proposal Assignment
For the proposal, the instructor may want to have the students do a full-length
formal proposal or a more informal e-mail version. The instructions for both
follow below.
Profile Proposal E-Mail Assignment
For your proposal assignment, you should follow standard formats for a professional e-mail
of one page (see LC text) and include the following:
1. Standard sections (Date, To, From, Subject).
3. The individual’s identity, including name, title, current position, and relevance to
you or your career plans.
4. Your rationale for selecting him or her, including why you think he or she is a good
example of leadership communication and why you see him or her as a
Chapter 05 - Creating Leadership Documents and Reports
Profile Proposal Assignment
For your proposal assignment, you should follow standard formats for your 3- to 5- page
proposals and include the following:
1. The individual’s name, title, current position, and relationship to you
2. Your rationale for selecting him or her. You must include why you have selected
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Leader Profile Report
For your final Leader Profile Report (5 to 8 pages), you will synthesize all of the
information that you have gathered and give me a coherent, comprehensive, logically
Questions you should answer in your report are as follows:
1. What does he or she do? What is his or her educational and professional experience
and what is his or her current title and position (content from a resume or bio)? Keep
this section very brief.
2. What is the major change or transformation for which this individual is known?
3. What kind of ethos does he or she project?
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8. What role did or does communication play in his or her transformational leadership
accomplishments?
9. How is he or she particularly skilled as a public speaker, writer, or in interpersonal
interactions? What do the examples of his or her communication abilities, such as a video,
recording, copy of written materials reveal about his or her communication styles and
abilities? You should include a brief rhetorical analysis of a portion of a speech or written
document to demonstrate his or her use of language. The objective of this portion of the
assignment is to help you appreciate a leader’s use of language for rhetorical purposes
(usually to argue a point of view or persuade others). Be sure to include the following:
a. Name of speech (occasion) or document, date, and location.
10. What have you learned about leadership communication by profiling this person? What
can we all learn? What makes him or her a good example of leadership communication?
11. How would you define leadership communication from your perspective, thinking
about your profiled leader as a model?
You should also include how you went about profiling this person, that is, interviews or
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Leader Profile Evaluation Forms
Evaluation of Leader Profile Report
Name:
Overall Performance:__________
Comments:
Content
Structure & Format
Brief discussion on the following:
Individual’s current title and position
Professional ethos, persona, appearance
Educational and professional experience
What role did or does communication play in
his/ her success?
How is he/she particularly skilled as a public
speaker, writer, or in interpersonal interactions?
What do others say about his/her leadership
communication abilities?
What have you learned about leadership
communication by profiling this person? What
can we all learn? What makes him/her a good
example of leadership communication?
Clear, meaningful opening (context, purpose,
foreshadowing) and closing
Well organized, logical, and coherent report
Style & Tone
Appropriate tone, not too informal or formal
for topic
feel, etc.)
No diction problems (poor word choices)
No unclear or awkward constructions
Grammar & Usage
Chapter 05 - Creating Leadership Documents and Reports
Evaluation of Leader Profile Oral Presentation
Name:
Date:
Delivery
1
2
3
4
5
Comments
Voice, Diction, Usage
Fillers (uhs, etc)
Content & Organization
Introduction (hook, subject,
topics)
Organizational coherence
Graphics/PowerPoint
Adherence to basic principles
