Reference no: EM132162875

Individual Communication Project

This assignment is about developing an effective approach to communication in teams. Those in leadership positions must support and enable effective communication, and they must be able to identify communication issues as well as making solid recommendations on how to improve communication as well as addressing specific issues.

For this assignment, you will be analyzing a case in your textbook to determine what communication issues exist,and then make recommendations supported by literature on how to improve communication.

You will identify 3-5 major issues and make recommendations to resolve the issues using literature to support your recommendations.

These major issues MUST align with the belonging and commitment concepts as addressed in Welsh & Jackson (2007) as noted below at a minimum and including the areas of understanding and awareness as appropriate.

The case use for this project is in your textbook (Griffith & Dunham, 2015), Chapter 5, pages 91-92: CASE 5.1, The Apprentice.

This project requires pulling information from multiple sources. For example, look at the Welsh & Jackson (2007) article, specifically on page 186, Figure 3.

This lists four important elements for internal communications; this includes communicating commitment, understanding, awareness and belonging to the employees.Commitment and belonging are required elements in your assignment, understanding and awareness may be included as appropriate.Kelly (1999) addressed the need to make sure the vision of the organization is aligned in all the activities and communication - so all communication should clearly support the vision and the goals. This should be reflected in interpersonal and organizational aspects of the communication process, as this is an essential element of leadership communication.

The expectation for this assignment, which is an individual project, is to assess the situation, conduct a gap analysis to determine the main issues (3-5 key issues are required for this assignment), and make recommendations supported by literature to improve the communication issues. For example, refer to Welsh & Jackson (2007) for recommendations.

The intent of this assignment is for you to demonstrate that you can analyze and recommendappropriate solutions with expert sources.Please read through these instructions and then contact the course instructor if questions remain. Remember your project must justify your recommendations and address and how your recommended activities/behaviors will help make improvements.

The paper needs to include the following elements:

1. An executive summary - we do not use an abstract because this is not a research paper, it is an applied paper and therefore intended to be used in an organization as a proposal for improvement. An executive summary explains to an executive exactly what the issues are, how you discovered the issues (analysis), and what you intend to do to improve the issues in 2 pages or less

. An executive normally reads this; stay away from big words intended to impress and keep it simple and to the point - don't waste the executive's time!

2. APA formatting throughout, grammar and spelling will be considered as well as sentence structure. Keep in mind that this is a demonstration of how well you can communicate not only your intentions, but also how well you write.

3. Basic recommended components would include:

a. Brief explanation of the background followed by a paragraph that explains the current situation as the last paragraph in the section

b. Discussion of the gap that exists between ‘what is' and what can be betterin the situation - refer to the gap analysis instructions in the course.

c. Summary of the ‘gaps' and a list of 3-5 key issues - issues and recommendations may be combined in one section, must include literature support for your recommendations (this can't be based only on your opinion).NOTE - it is recommended to include your gap analysis as part of your paper. Please refer to one of the formats recommended in the URL links identified previously.

d. Commitment & Belonging: These are the two minimum areas as mentioned above that must be addressed in your paper. Are these missing from the case?

If not, did you identify them in your gap analysis and how does leadership in the case address these elements? If they are missing, did you identify them in your gap analysis and what should have been done by leadership?

Ask yourself about commitment and belonging as well, are theyincluded in the case or not? What article(s) mention(s) these four elements, and is/are it/these referenced and cited in your paper?

e. Literature support to justify how you prioritize your key issues should be included as appropriate. Priorities should be based on the urgency of the situation as well as available resources needed to address the situation, as this a consideration in all businesses/organizations.

f. Conclusions should be the final section

4. A minimum of five academic references (these are journal articles) in required APA format; websites, a limited use of your textbook (3 text citations maximum), or other sources may be added but these are in addition to the five journal articles.

References always start on a new page, "References" should be at the top and centered, references should be in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author (this is APA formatting; use the resources available in the course and the Troy Library if you are not familiar with APA formatting).

5. The recommended size for this paper before the executive summary and the reference page is 5 to 6 pages. Longer is not necessarily better! There is no problem if it runs a little over six pages - grades are not given based on the weight of the submission.

The following articles are required for this project, and while it should not be necessary to read every word in every article, there are certain concepts in each that will be very valuable to you in developing your knowledge about communication and how to approach effective and positive communications.

These may all be found in the ABI informs database in the Troy Library, and these are listed in the Library Guide for MSM 6633 with direct links. It is reasonable to expect some of the concepts and information to appear on an exam in this course and in the capstone course.

Harshman, E. F., & Harshman, C. L. (1999). Communicating with employees: Building on an ethical foundation. Journal of Business Ethics, 19(1), 3-19.

Kelly, D. (2000). Using vision to improve organisational communication. Leadership &Organization Development Journal, 21(1), 92-101.

Tennyson, P. A., & Ray, K. (2005). Creating a strategic communication plan that gathers no  dust. American Water Works AssociationJournal, 97(1), 48-51,53-57,4.

Welch, M., & Jackson, P. R. (2007). Rethinking internal communication: A stakeholder approach. Corporate Communications, 12(2), 177-198.