Aspects of communication that relate to sustainability: communication

Assessment task 4 (weighting = 35%)

Workplace communication issues

Effective communication throughout a workplace is an essential ingredient to align people’s efforts towards achieving organisational goals. Yet it seems that ‘communication problems’ are continually mentioned as one of the main difficulties for most organisations.

Your boss, the CEO of ABC Company, has asked you to investigate the question: ‘why managers should make effective communication a priority’? In so doing she expects you to examine four issues:

1. the interpersonal aspects of communication – communicating to persuade and influencing others (key points for practicing the art of persuasion);
2. the organisation as a whole and formal communication channels – establishing and maintaining formal and informal channels of communication downward, upward and horizontally;
3. personal communication channels – including personal networks, the grapevine and written communication; and finally 
4. aspects of communication that relate to sustainability: communication of sustainability activities and achievements (the corporate social responsibility report), and the sustainability of an organisation’s communications activities themselves.  

Working in groups of four, each student will write on one of these four workplace communication issues.

Please follow these guidelines to complete the assessment:

1. This assessment comprises two parts:
   1. group-assigned written report, and
   2. three-minute individual oral presentation.
       
2. In Week 6 you will be assigned to a group of four students. Internal students will be given their group in the tutorial; external students will be notified via email. Each group is expected to produce a team contract:
   • establishing team procedures
   • identifying expectations
   • specifying the consequences for failing to follow these procedures and fulfill these expectations.

Since the basic purpose of this team contract is to accelerate your team’s development, to increase individual accountability for team tasks, and to reduce the possibility for team conflict, make your contract as specific as possible:  (a) specify each task as detailed as possible, (b) specify each step in a procedure or process as detailed as possible, (c) specify the exact person(s) responsible for each specific task, and (d) specify the exact time and exact place for completion or submission of each task.  Complete, sign, and submit a copy of your finalised contract to your tutor in Week 7.

1. Each student in your group needs to select ONE of the four workplace communication issues.  Please note: there is an individual mark for your particular section and a group mark for the overall report.
    
2. Start your web-based research with a search of popular business publications, even trade journals, professional journals and current affairs journals, for any information about workplace communication issues. Finally, use academic research to support your findings in relation to your selected theme.
    
3. Each student needs to find 8-10 secondary sources for his/her section. Please note you are expected to use a minimum of four (4) refereed academic journals. You will be shown how to tell if a journal is peer reviewed/refereed. Do not include more than 10 references per student.
    
4. Document your report using SCU Harvard format.
    
5. You are encouraged to write a first draft of this report at least one week prior to the due date to ensure adequate time for revision. Please be aware that the writing quality and appropriate referencing will be marked as well as the content.
    
6. Submit the report Turnitin via the Blackboard site no later than the due date: Friday 1st June 2018, 9.00am (QLD time). Please note: only one student submits on behalf of their group.
    
7. In addition to the report each student will be required to give a three minute oral presentation on their respective report section. Further details will be presented at the beginning of the unit on the presentation requirements.
    
8. Refer to the Marking Criteria Guide and Marking Rubric located under Assessment Tasks and Submissions on the Blackboard.
    

PRIOS/CDT brief (covered in lecture and tutorials) for Assessment 4:

1. Purpose: To conduct web-based research into four workplace communication issues.
2. Reader: The CEO of ABC Company (your boss).
3. Information: Based on secondary research.
4. Organisation: Direct order approach.
5. Style: Formal. Be sure to proofread carefully to ensure that there are no sentence-level errors such as spelling mistakes, wrong word choice, incorrect punctuation, etc.
6. Channel choice: Written document and oral presentation.
7. Document design: Report format.
8. Length: 1500 words per group member for the report + a three minute oral presentation.