Business and Technical Writing FINAL EXAM: AN INFORMAL PROPOSAL Background Information Phoenix Advertising, with its main headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, serves clients that include banks, insurance companies, and retail chains. You're vice president of human resources management at Phoenix. You report directly to Gregory S. Forest, the company president. You've already investigated the branch and provided a report on the problems there and your recommendations for management them. Mr. Forest has reviewed that report and now wants you to present to the executive team a specific proposal developing one of the recommendations you gave. One of my recommendations included facilitating better communication Following are the primary problems covered in the scenario but also carefully review the underlying causes you discovered in your investigation (which you created from your imagination). 1. From my imagination (Clients not getting what they are paying for) In the last three months, two of the top management peoples an art director and an account executive-have left the branch. Each left for a position with a competing agency. Three of the graphic designers and four of the copywriters are threatening to quit because they feel their creative efforts are being rejected or revised without consultation. They want to be part of a collaborative team, not produce work that the art directors and account executives evaluate arbitrarily. In an attempt to show increased profitability, the branch is accepting all potential clients without evaluating the accounts in terms of current project workload. As a result, without being given any notice and without compensation for the additional hours, all employees are working long hours several days each week. Employee morale and productivity seem to be decreasing with each passing day. 1. Process Step 1 Choose one of the problems. Use your brainstorming notes and the investigative report for the recommendations you listed to solve that problem. Brainstorm further about the reasons for and causes of that one problem by delving even further into the "whys" of that problem. As you did previously, list several questions and review the answers you've discovered. Explore those answers in greater depth to determine the fundamental causes of the problem. (Think of the problem as a set of symptoms of an illness that you need to treat. What disease is causing the symptoms? What areas of the body are affected by the disease?) Step 2 Freewrite further on each recommendation you made in your investigative report for resolving this problem. Ask yourself questions about what must change, what you must make happen with the employees and departments at Roanoke to solve the problem so it won't reoccur. Remember that your primary goal for the proposal is to revitalize the employees and departments in order to restore the Roanoke branch to full productivity. Use as a starting point any ofthe following that apply to the problem you've chosen: My recommendations 1. Examine workflow processes and the products or services you provide to client 2. System needs to be revised as most complaints concerning in-house processing 3. Including facilitating better communication 4. Giving compliments 5. Making criticism constructive B. Recommendation 1. Improvements need to take place in the response time to client 2. Information improvements should be considered regards to new accounts evaluations 3. Offering bonuses 4. Holding regular meetings through which coworkers can offer suggestions and voice concerns 5. Display care for our client and how they see our work product · What can the executive team do to reverse the downward spiral of employee morale and increased workload requiring overtime? · How can the executive team help the Roanoke branch retain its current clients and gain new ones? · Is training needed for employees and/or managers? If so, what types of training are required? How can the executive team accomplish training over time to minimize impact on business? · What can be done to streamline or reorganize those office procedures or to incorporate new technology to improve productivity? What training/support will then be needed to enable the office employees to embrace the changes and succeeds? Make sure you've done enough exploring in Step 1 to guide your creative efforts toward the changes you'll make in Step 2. You want to ensure permanent chage, so you must understand the exact nature of the cause in order to develop a detailed, logicall solution. Step 3 Break the overall plan into individual parts or actions so you can develop each step in the process separately, organizing a logical flow for each phase from beginning to end. · How much time is needed to accomplish each component or stage of your plan? · Are there steps that must be completed before another phase can begin? · How long will it take to complete each step? · How will it impact the daily operations of the branch and headquarters? Step 4 Now review the people at Roanoke and across Phoenix Advertising who you'1l need to accomplish each part of your plan. Your proposal must use people from within the company-don't hire outside personnel. Create names and job titles as well as qualifications to fit your plan. Review your list of steps and for ask yourself: · Who at Phoenix Advertising and/or the Roanoke branch has the experience, training, and qualifications to achieve this stage of my plan? What proves he or she is the one for the particular phase? · What exactly do I want that person to do to accomplish this step? When? How? 7. Who oversees the implementation of each phase? · What progress reports must be provided to the executive team and when? • What's my part in the proposed plan of action? Step 5 Your next step is to itemize the costs involved in accomplishing each component of your plan as you outlined it in Step 3. You may need to research current costs of additional employees, training/motivational programs, or-technology. The Internet or even phone calls to representative companies in the Yellow Pages can provide useful information. Your figures should have some realistic basis. Remember to factor in costs such as the following: • The number of employees involved in each phase •The loss of employee time from completing regular obligations of current job • Any travel or materials/workbooks needed for training Create appropriate budgetary categories related to the stages of your plan. Establish an overall cost for each phase and within each phase itemize the different costs involved. Itemizing is important to provide clear support for your numbers and line items the executive team can review if the total cost for the proposal is too much for the company's budget. I hope you help me with this, I need it ASAP. Thank you in advance Step 6 Organize your prewriting from Steps 1-5 using the following main headings: Introduction Background Proposal Schedule Staffing Budget Request for Authorization Answer is single spaced 5 pages.  |
