Description

Assignment 2

Assignment Purpose:

In Assignment 2, students are provided with a business scenario.  Gleaning information from the scenario, students will create interview questions for candidates applying for the new Vice President position within the organization.  In completing this assignment, students will demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities to apply 21st-century leadership skills to a real-world situation. Students must show that the candidate should be prepared to be a leader within the context of the organization and its growth in the international market.

Assignment Scenario:

You are the leader of a medium-size organic cereal company known as “Cereal Stuff “. The mission statement is: “To provide the world with cereals and good stuff that the company can make.”  You want to expand your business to the Canadian and Mexican markets and develop a new related product containing quinoa that some of your customers have wanted you to make.  You have decided to take on a new vice president to spearhead the expansion. Your business is set up horizontally with each department in charge of their decision making.  Department heads are all vice presidents and they form a team that works with you to lead the company business efforts and to keep the business moving forward. The departments include: production, quality control and product development, finance and accounting, and marketing and sales. The new vice president will be head of the new marketing division. The business has a culture that is best described as an adhocracy. You are hoping to move toward a more democratic culture.  The business values include only using quality organic foods, the customer needs are first, and sustainability in production processes and packaging.

Assignment Instructions:

Step 1:  Review the assignment instructions carefully.

Step 2:  Review the grading rubric for the assignment.

Step 3:  Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced, 12-point font.   There is no set format to the paper but students should organize it in a manner that is easy for a reader to understand. It is important to make a clear presentation of the interview questions and the reasons for the questions.

Step 4:  Follow this format:

• Title page with title, your name, the course, the instructor’s name;

• Introduction paragraph (must include a discussion on the general type of candidate the CEO wants and why). The introductory paragraph is the first paragraph of the paper but is typically written after writing the body of the paper (Questions students responded to above).  View this website to learn how to write an introductory paragraph:  http://www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/donelan/intro.html

• Body, in paragraph form:

1. Number each question (no fewer than 10 questions);
2. Under each question identify through labels why you are asking the question based on the reading material from the class.
3. In separate paragraphs propose the answer you want as a response based on the reading material from the class.

• Summary paragraph capturing the importance of the questions chosen and the impact an incorrect candidate choice will make on the company's success. A summary paragraph restates the main idea(s) of the essay.  Make sure to leave a reader with a sense that the paper is complete.  The summary paragraph is the last paragraph of a paper.

• Develop questions that are reflective of what skills a leader should have to run a new department on an international basis;

• Create questions that consider the 21st business landscape, the role of the leader, leadership styles, the need to bring trust to the corporation and globalization;

• Utilize nonstandard questions for an interview- you want to discuss leadership and not where the candidate views their future in five years.  Remember that the candidates have been vetted and are experienced professionals. Give the candidate credit for basic tools of leadership.  Focus on what the CEO wants in a candidate for his company;

• Evaluate the remarks of the candidates as to how their leadership style, and skills in a global market and with sustainable products, will fit the organization and the business landscape of the future as the CEO perceives it.  

• Compare the leader’s views and contrasts them with the reading for weeks 1-6.

• Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a first measure;

• Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the paper;

• Consider submitting the paper to the Effective Writing Center (EWC).  The EWC will provide 4-6 areas that may need improvement.

Step 5:  In your paper, respond to the following elements of leadership:

Step 6:  Writing a formal paper should be done in the third person.  It 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).  If uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link:  http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person

Step 7:  In writing this assignment, students are asked to support the reasoning using in-text citations and a reference list.  A reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa.  View the sample APA paper under Week 1 content.

Step 8:  In writing this assignment, students are expected to paraphrase and not use direct quotes.  Learn to paraphrase by reviewing this link:  https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.html

Step 9:  Using the grading rubric as a comparison, read through the paper to ensure all required elements are presented.

Step 10: Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues, and third person writing. 

Step 11:  Submit the paper in the Assignment Folder.