Reference no: EM133239631 , Length: word count:750

Strategic Managerial Communication

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself." Eleanor Roosevelt

Context and Purpose
Experience is a powerful teacher. Personal and professional constraints restrict how much we can experience ourselves; thus, we rely on the insights and accounts of others to inform our point-of-view. With respect to communication, the ability to learn from and through others has multiple benefits, including opportunities to examine variations of our course content. The assignment this week affords students an opportunity to learn from professionals in management or leadership roles while advancing their Cardinal Choice assignment.

Assignment Details
For this assignment, you will first need to interview someone who can advance your current understanding of your Cardinal Choice Assignment. Upon completing the interview, you will be asked to write an executive summary capturing the takeaways and connections to course content (strategic managerial communication).

Depending on your selection of Career, Industry, or Issue, you will adjust who you solicit for this interview (see below) and the types of questions you ask them. Weeks One and Two (including all modules/readings) should be reviewed prior to completing this assignment; details and FAQs about this assignment are detailed below:

Interview Requirements: Interviewees should hold a management or equivalent leadership position to be considered. Given the topics and the need for honest answers, it is encouraged (but not required) that you avoid interviewing anyone you currently work with. In fact, an added benefit of this assignment is a hidden networking opportunity (i.e., this is a valid reason to contact someone you want to know better and engage them in conversation). Common questions and answers about this assignment include:

• Who should I interview? As noted above, avoid anyone within your current organization if possible. Ideally, this will be someone with more experience than you. The ideal person may be a loose connection (e.g., a LinkedIn peer) or someone who could shed additional insights on the topics discussed in our class. Most importantly, you should select someone with meaningful experiences and knowledge who can advance your specific Cardinal Choice:

• Career Track | Career Plan: For those who are building a Career Plan via the Cardinal Choice Career Track, you are encouraged to interview an individual who holds or had a position that you aspire to obtain in your career. Consider using the interview to deconstruct the path they took to obtain their position and the strategies needed to be successful in their role. As you later complete your career plan, information from this interview will ideally inform your intended pathway by highlighting skills, resources, experiences, & relationships needed to succeed.

• Industry Track | White Paper: For those who are building toward a white paper via the Industry Track, you are encouraged to find and interview a subject matter expert in your selected industry who has knowledge and experience regarding your area of interest. For context, consider asking overview questions about the industry, while seeking information about specific trends, developments, changes, etc. to the industry that may inform the direction of your Cardinal Choice project.

• Issues Track | Process-Improvement Plan: Students who intend to complete a process-improvement plan via the Issues Track should identify and interview an individual with expertise or direct knowledge of the issue you are attempting to address. During the interview, you may consider brainstorming possible ways in which related processes can be improved to address the problem(s) or potential concern(s) associated with the issue as you seek and develop improvements.

• How should I interview? The approach used to contact and request an interview opportunity is at each student's discretion. That said, you should acknowledge the purpose listed above and should arrange the interview to occur as soon as possible (to allot for contingencies). Virtual interviews (with video) are encouraged or face-to-face interviews if convenient.

• How many questions? Ten open-ended questions must be developed prior to the interview to guide your conversation. *At least four of the 10 questions should be related in some way to the content from this course (2 from Week One, 2 from Week Two). Remaining questions should connect to the Cardinal Choice Track you have decided to pursue. An interview guide (i.e., your questions) must be uploaded with your submission (10% deduction if missing).

Executive Summary: Key takeaways, insights, and observations from the interview will be summarized in the form of an executive summary. Executive summaries vary in purpose, but are known to synthesize vast, dense or complex information in a concise and well-designed document. The latter point, design, implies the document uses strategies to create high skim value other than heavy-text (or traditional paragraph-only) formatting. Information about high skim value can be found in Week One Materials.
The following are questions about specific requirements and sections of the summary to be delivered:

• Receiver? Consider the target receiver for this summary to be your OMBA peers (individuals with diverse backgrounds and limited time to process dense amounts of foreign information). Design and write the interview summary with their typical receiver characteristics in mind.

• How long? Approximately 2 pages in length, although deductions will only be assessed if the submission significantly deviates from the norm (i.e., anything less than 1 page, or more than 4).

• What to include? The most interesting findings! A thematic organization based on the conversation that emerges in the interview is highly recommended. Therefore, sections or themes will vary signficantly between students and by the Cardinal Choice Track selected. That said, *all students should include at least one section/theme that clearly connects interview takeaways to the course content (i.e., Weeks One and Two) along with another section that connects interview takeaways with the Cardinal Choice Track that you have selected.

• Format requirements? Submissions should use the competency-based approach and directly- related rubrics to inform design decisions. For instance, parts of Week One (e.g., see Clear Design module) address document design and factors to incorporate. You can use any program to create these (e.g., Microsoft Word), but upload a final PDF version (to protect formatting).

Attachment:- Cardinal Choice Interview Assignment.rar