Business Communication Chapter 5 Homework The application may also be assigned on an individual basis to be done either in class or outside and turned in for grading

Chapter 05 – Creating Leadership Documents and Reports

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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

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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):

—————————————————————-———————————————————————————-———

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

———————————————————–————————————————————————————————

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

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Evaluation of Leader Profile Oral Presentation

Ability to present

Chart titles

Name:

Date:

Delivery

1

2

3

4

5

Comments

Leadership Image (ethos)

Energy level

Posture/stance/movement

Gestures

Eye contact

Voice, Diction, Usage

Fillers (uhs, etc)

Volume

Pace/Rate

Diction/Articulation/Inflection

Language proficiency/usage

Content & Organization

Introduction (hook, subject,

topics)

Organizational coherence

Knowledge, control of content

Solid content, capturing

selected leader

Required lead. comm. focus

Conclusion, Q&A, Summary

Graphics/PowerPoint

Adherence to basic principles