Week 1 Discussion

Read the Following Case Scenario

A recent survey was taken among employees at Biotech Health and Life Products (Biotech).  The results were alarming, as it appeared the leadership has been less effective than in the past.  Some of the common complaints seemed to focus on the lack of vision, a breakdown in communication and a lack of connection with staff. 

You have read the results and as Vice President of Biotech, you completely agree with employees.   Leadership is the cornerstone to success in any organization and to permit poor leadership can only spell trouble. It occurred to you that the place to start change was staring you in the face - the new management hires planned for Warehouse Operations in Detroit and Brisbane.  Mumbling to yourself “but what do I want them to look like?” you decide that you must write a memo to HR Director, Jennifer Dion to make sure the “right” description of a leader is asked for in the soon-to-be released job description.  Scrambling around on the desk, you find the old job announcement so that you can make some changes.  It reads, “Biotech is looking for experienced warehouse managers who focus on keeping the distribution speed high and shipping costs low.  Manager must be able to motivate employees to keep distribution, packing, and shipping moving smoothly and efficiently.  Must be someone who can handle a fast-paced environment, is used to meeting deadlines, is driven and results-oriented.  Goal oriented and policy adherence critical to succeed in the department.”

Instructions

You will act as the Vice President of Biotech.  Write a memorandum to the HR Director, Jennifer Dion that explains the need for a new job announcement for managers at Biotech.  The memorandum will explain how the business environment has changed the view of the leader and defines the vision you have based on synthesizing the course material about leadership theory and definition of a leader in today’s business environment opposed to leaders hired in the past. 

In writing the memorandum, use the course material from week 1 (you may also use course material from week 2) to support the reasoning and conclusions made.  You will also use the Company Profile .  Answer the following:

• Explain how the existing job announcement for new hires was effective in the past based on the theories and view of leadership through the 1990’s.


• Explain why the leader of today would no longer fit the definition set out in the old announcement.


• Describe what a leader looks like today and what theories and leadership definitions support this description.

Memorandum Set Up

A memo is left justified with no indentations of paragraphs.  A memo is single-spaced with a double space between paragraphs to make the memo easy to read. 

 In business, writing must be concise, easy to read and free of writing and grammatical errors.

You are required to use in-text citations with an associated reference list. 

Use headings for each element.   It is suggested that you set up the memo with all of the required headings and then fill in each section of the memo.

Use a memo format:

To:

From:

Date:

Subject:

Remember, you are sending this memo to the HR Director so this is a formal memo.  Proof the memo carefully for typos, grammatical errors and ensure the memo conveys the points you are to address.  Why?  Because your work products is a reflection of who you are – it is your brand!  A good brand can lead to future opportunities in an organization such as a promotion.  

Make sure the memo is audience appropriate, concise, coherent, readable, uses appropriate terminology, is professional, provides a factual tone (no opinion and no recommendations), and is visually appealing. 

Memorandum Requirements

You are sending this memo to the HR Director, Jennifer Dion.  Read the memo to ensure all required elements are present.  You also need to use facts from the case scenario and course material to support the ideas and reasoning put forth. 

The language in the announcement has to be just right so that Biotech attracts the best candidates.  Therefore, it is important to help Jennifer capture the essence of a leader at Biotech.

• Make suggestions about language that should appear in the job announcement that supports the definition and characteristics you derived for the leader of today. 


• Provide an explanation so Jennifer knows why the specified language is important to convey the definition and characteristics of a leader;


• Make suggestions about language that would not be in the job announcement for this leader;


• Provide an explanation why the specific language should not be in the job announcement.


• Not just anything is acceptable so make sure to read the course material and make wise selections in creating this memo.

The following items are required in writing the memo.  Check off to ensure compliance to the following requirements.

• Use the grading rubric while completing the project to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible grade.  


• Third person writing is required.  Third person means that there are no words such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you or your” (second person writing).  


• Contractions are not used in business writing, so do not use them. 


• Students will not use direct quotation marks but will instead paraphrase.  What this means is that you will put the ideas of an author or article into your own words rather than lifting directly from a source document.  You may not use more than four consecutive words from a source document (including the case scenario) or change words in a passage as doing so would require direct quotation marks.  Use a passage from a source document by putting into your own words (paraphrase) and attribute the passage to the source document.  Changing words from a passage does not exclude the passage from having to have quotation marks. If direct quotes are presented, they will not be included in the grading.


• Use in-text citations and provide a reference list that contain a reference associated with each in-text citation. 


• Provide the page or paragraph number in every in-text citation presented.  Refer to this link for more guidance on how to do this:

 https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_electronic_sources.html