Description of Assignment:
Every year students leave secondary education to enter into full-time employment. However, many are not aware of the requirements of a professional work ethic, nor do they understand how to communicate accordingly. As such, your class will hold a meeting to discuss the requirements for formal communication in a professional work setting. You will assume the role of consultants who will prepare a Briefing document to present to these students who are about to enter full-time employment. Your preparation should cover the tasks below. You are all required to participate in the meeting, but will produce the documentation individually. You are free to schedule the meeting at mutually convenient time for all participants. The word count for your assignment should be no more than 1500 words excluding Appendices.
Task 1:
You are required to prepare two pieces of documentation for this Task. Using the agenda template on
Blackboard, prepare an appropriate and focused agenda to be discussed at the meeting. The agenda should
state the specific order of the things to be discussed. You are required to take notes during the meeting for
the minutes. Following the meeting, prepare the minutes with accurate, clear and concise information of the
salient points of discussion with the agreed action (AC 4.2).
Task 2:
Research and prepare the following briefing document for these secondary school students. The Briefing document should be structured in the format of a formal business report which conforms to academic writing standards.
a. The first section of your report should compare and contrast the main forms of communication in the workplace, and explain the contexts where each of the following can be used to communicate effectively (AC 1.1).
- Oral and written communication
- Formal and informal communication
- Electronic and hard copy
b. The second section of your report should explain the barriers to effective communication, and their causes. You should provide illustrative examples, and recommendations for preventing and eliminating such barriers (AC 2.1)
c. The third section should explain the purpose of an agenda and minutes (AC 4.1). You should include
your completed agenda and minutes for your meeting as Appendices to your report.
You should organize the information and ideas correctly within the relevant sections of the report, which should be professionally structured with relevant sections, and headings below (AC 3.1 & 3.2):
- Abstract [Summary]
- Terms of reference [Definition of key terms used]
- Procedure [Overview of meeting process]
- Findings [Outcome of the meeting]
- Discussion [Salient points of the meeting]
- Conclusion [Salient points of the meeting]
- Recommendations [Salient points of the meeting]
- Appendices [Agenda/Minutes]
- References [Sources of research]
NB: You will be provided with specific guidance on each section of the assignment during your seminar sessions.
