Fluent Essays

Instructions This milestone is designed to reflect your skills in assessing the leadership qualities of those involved in a company and how those qualities align with both the communications strategies of the organization and the company's culture. This exploration will be the next step into the world of evaluating effective communication and leadership strategies for a company, which is a key component of the final project. For this assignment, you will select an organization from the Final Project Subject list or one of your own choosing. Then, you will conduct some research on the organization's culture, leadership, and communications. Compose a paper that shares your analysis of the organization. Discuss the organization's culture (e.g., work environment, morale of employees), organizational operations, who the key leaders are and how they affect communications, the organization's mission, vision, and goals, and the internal and external audiences receiving the communications. Textbook: Business Communication: Developing Leaders for a Networked World, Chapters 2 and 3 We talk every day, but how much time do we spend listening? Being an effective communicator takes real skill and sometimes real patience when things do not go according to plan and people do not follow that plan. Article: Dealing With Poor Performance: Lack of Ability, or Low Motivation? This article discusses figuring out the root of performance issues. Article: Top 8 Sites for Researching Your Next Employer This article will give you some great websites to help you research your chosen company or organization for your final project milestone. COM 600 Milestone One Guidelines and Rubric A milestone is designed to serve as a stepping stone to the final project. This submission is a paper in which you take on the role of a consultant who presents a formal document to senior managers or those involved in mergers and acquisitions. This Organization Profile provides you with an opportunity learn about the company that you will be utilizing for your Final Project. Adopting the role of a consultant here will assist you in the preliminary stages of your Leadership Communication Analysis project. First, choose an organization and corresponding communication to analyze. You may choose one from the Final Project Subjects document (feel free to use the provided sample article as a starting point), or you may find your own organization and communication by reviewing a variety of sources. Do not simply do a Google search and settle on the first organization you see. You should conduct a robust search using at least three separate engines or sites. Those sites could include Vault.com, Hallway.com, or Glassdoor.com. Additionally, be sure to read the “Top 8 Sites” article from the Module Two resources. As you explore, take note of the organization’s operations, culture, leadership communications, and audiences. Then, research the organization and compose a paper with your findings. Specifically, the document should address the work environment and morale of the employees, as well as the role of the key leaders in the development and delivery of the organization’s communications. The submission should be drawn from the specific readings in the course material and must include the following:  The identification of key leaders who affect the organization’s communications and how they do so  A description of organizational operations from a systems theory approach  A description of the organization’s mission, vision, goals, and overall culture  An explanation of the internal and external audiences receiving the communications Guidelines for Submission: Your paper should be submitted as a 2- to 4-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and sources cited in APA format. Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value Key Leaders Identifies key leaders and makes clear connections between leaders and organizational communications Identifies key leaders but does not make clear connections between leaders and organizational communications Does not identify key leaders or describe their impact on organizational communications 26 Organizational Operations Describes the organizational operations from a systems theory approach Describes the organizational operations but not from a systems theory approach Does not describe the organizational operations 23 Mission, Vision, Goals, and Culture States the mission, vision, and goals of the organization and thoroughly explains the culture of the organization States the mission, vision, and goals of the organization but does not explain the culture of the organization Does not state the mission, vision, or goals, or explain the culture 23 Audiences Explains both the internal and external audiences Explains either the internal or the external audience Does not explain the internal or external audiences 23 Articulation of Response Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, or syntax Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, or syntax that negatively impact understanding of ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, or syntax that prevent understanding of ideas 5 Total 100% COM 600 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview The final project for this course is the creation of a leadership communication analysis and leadership communication plan. Can we learn from the past to prepare for the future? It is a common refrain in the business world. However, nowhere are the lessons of the past more helpful than in the field of corporate communications. All of us have seen, at one time or another, a company failing to get out the proper message. Whether it is about a product recall or an unforeseen corporate crisis, companies can be slow to react and their reactions are not always the most appropriate for the situation at hand. Being an effective leader is more than just making an impressive speech. The most important aspect of communication is not speaking, but listening. To be an effective speaker, you have to know that your message is being received and is being received in the manner that is expected. This paradox is what leads to most communications problems in the corporate world. In this course, you will explore examples of leadership communications and learn not only how they do or do not effectively reach their audiences, but the impact leadership communications can have on an organization. This experience will expose you to appropriate ways of communicating as a leader and proper strategies and approaches to leadership. For the summative assessment in this course, you will review an example of a leadership communication, discern how the plan could be improved in reaching internal and external audiences, and determine its impact on the organization responsible for the communication. Then you will develop a leadership communication plan designed to inform future leadership communications of the organization. This summative assessment will prepare you to create future leadership communications and take advantage of future leadership opportunities. The project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Four, and Six. The final product will be submitted in Module Nine. In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:  Evaluate the effectiveness of leadership communications of an organization for both internal and external audiences  Analyze the challenges and opportunities in creating a positive organizational culture for how they impact organizational growth  Develop strategies for developing future leadership communications directed to both internal and external audiences that are supported by systems theory and best practices  Develop ethical frameworks for leadership for organizational decision-making regarding the development of leadership communications  Recommend improvements to leadership communications for guiding management on effectively delivering communications Prompt For the summative assessment in this course, you will conduct a leadership communication analysis consisting of a company overview, the analysis of a leadership communication, and leadership communication guidelines. Examples of leadership communication might include, but are not limited to memorandums to internal employees regarding organizational changes or job responsibilities, speeches or presentations by an organizational leader, interviews of an organizational leader regarding a crisis event in the organization, and so on. First, you will review several examples of leadership communications from the same organization. You will conduct your analysis by first reviewing the mission, values, and goals of the organization and describing some of its important characteristics. You will use this profile of the organization to conduct your analysis of its communications. Your analysis will focus on how effective the communications were in reaching internal and external audiences. Then, using the information you discovered in your analysis, you will develop guidelines for the organization on how to develop future communications. This will help guide leadership on how they will develop future communications that avoid the previous issues in the communications. For both your leadership communication analysis and your leadership plan, you will be expected to support your responses with research and your own analysis when appropriate. Specifically, you must address the critical elements listed below. Most of the critical elements align with a particular course outcome (shown in brackets). I. Company Overview: In this section of the summative assessment, you will develop an overview of the company. This overview will serve as a profile for the company, detailing their daily operations and describing their key characteristics. This profile will be useful in your analysis and evaluation of their leadership communications. A. Provide an overview of how the organization operates from a systems theory approach. For example, how does the organization operate on a daily basis? On a monthly basis? How do individuals with different roles interact? B. Explain the mission, vision, and goals of the organization. For example, what is the mission statement of the organization? What are the employees expected to follow and abide by? C. Determine the role of key leaders of the organization in the development and delivery of organizational communications. D. Determine the most important internal and external audiences of the organization and justify your response. E. Describe the current culture of the organization. Your response should be a general description of the work environment and the morale of employees. II. Analysis of Leadership Communications: In this section of the summative assessment, you will analyze the leadership communications of the organization. You will focus on how well the messages reach internal and external audiences, as well as the impact of the messages on the culture of the organization. Your analysis should consider both the messages themselves as well as the role leadership played in the development and delivery of the messages. A. Evaluate the communications for how effectively leadership met the needs of internal stakeholders. B. Evaluate the communications for how effectively leadership met needs of external stakeholders. C. Analyze the communications for determining their impact on the culture of the organization. D. Explain the approach of the organization to issues of ethics. Your response should be a general explanation regarding the overall process (or lack thereof) of the organization regarding issues of ethics. For example, is it clear how issues of ethics would be handled by leadership? What steps were or were not taken into account for ethical concerns? E. Explain how issues in organizational culture inhibit opportunities for organizational growth. For example, how might interpersonal issues that arise from communications inhibit organizational growth? III. Leadership Communication Guidelines: In this section of the summative assessment, you will develop strategies that will serve as guidelines for developing future leadership communications of the organization. You will also develop an ethical framework that will guide the organization in addressing issues of ethics regarding the development and delivery of leadership communications. A. Develop leadership communication strategies that will allow future leadership communications of the organization to account for the needs of internal and external stakeholders. B. Develop leadership communication strategies that will allow future leadership communications of the organization to account for challenges with the message receiver. C. Recommend improvements directed to the organization for developing and delivering communications regarding meeting the needs of internal and external stakeholders and overcoming challenges with the message receiver. D. Recommend improvements directed to the organization for developing and delivering communications regarding the role that leadership will have when following your developed guidelines. E. Predict the social and cultural impact of the proposed leadership guidelines on internal and external stakeholders. For example, how might leadership communications developed under this plan impact the organizational culture? How might they influence the effectiveness of leadership? F. Develop an ethical framework that will be used in the leadership guidelines and justify your framework. For example, how is this framework an improvement over the organization’s previous approach to ethical issues? G. Develop leadership communication strategies that will allow future leadership communications of the organization to account for ethical issues using the ethical framework you developed. H. Explain how your leadership communication guidelines are informed by systems theory and best practices for organizational leadership communications. I. Explain how these developed strategies and recommended improvements would help guide leadership in effectively delivering future leadership communications. Milestones Milestone One: Organization Profile In Module Two, you will compose a paper that shares your analysis of the company you have chosen from the provided Final Project Subject list or one of your own choosing. You will conduct some research on the organization’s culture, leadership, and communications. Compose a paper that shares your analysis of the organization. Discuss the organization’s culture (e.g., work environment, morale of employees), organizational operations, who the key leaders are and how they affect communications, the organization’s mission, vision, and goals, and the internal and external audiences receiving the communications. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric. Milestone Two: Leadership Communication Critique In Module Four, you will discuss the impact of the leadership communications of your chosen organization. This exploration will be the next step into the world of evaluating effective communication processes for a company, which is a key component of the final project. First, complete a SWOT analysis for your chosen organization. Then, compose a paper that shares your analysis. Critique the company’s process based on your understanding of systems theory as well as other leadership evaluative methods. You also have the option of creating a TED Talk-type video essay (in lieu of a paper) in which you make the case, as a speaker, for your position. If you choose the video essay, you may record your submission with a camcorder, webcam, or even your smartphone. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric. Milestone Three: Recommendations for Optimal Leadership Communications In Module Six, you will formulate your recommendations on guidelines for optimal leadership communications, taking into account considerations such as company culture, ethics, and systems theory. You will consider the impact of optimal leadership communications on an organization and its alignment with your present understanding of systems theory. Submit your assignment as a PowerPoint or Prezi media presentation. You may submit speaker’s notes with your presentation, if you wish. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Three Rubric. Final Submission: Leadership Communication Analysis and Leadership Communication Plan In Module Nine, you will submit your final project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. The content generated in the three previous milestones will serve as the foundation for this work. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Rubric. Deliverables Milestone Deliverable Module Due Grading One Organization Profile 2 Graded separately; Milestone One Rubric Two Leadership Communication Critique 4 Graded separately; Milestone Two Rubric Three Recommendations for Optimal Leadership Communications 6 Graded separately; Milestone Three Rubric Final Submission: Leadership Communication Analysis and Leadership Communication Plan 9 Graded separately; Final Project Rubric Final Project Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your leadership communication analysis and leadership communication plan should be 12 to 15 pages in length with 12-point Times New Roman font and double spacing. Critical Elements Exemplary Proficient Needs Improvement Not Evident Value Company Overview: Organization Operates [COM-600-03] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates a sophisticated awareness of systems theory and how it relates to organizational operations (100%) Provides an overview of how the organization operates from a systems theory approach (90%) Provides an overview of how the organization operates from a systems theory approach but provided overview is cursory or contains inaccuracies (70%) Does not provide an overview of how the organization operates from a systems theory approach (0%) 3.16 Company Overview: Mission, Vision, and Goals [COM-600-01] N/A 100% Explains the mission, vision, and goals of the organization (100%) Explains the mission, vision, and goals of the organization but explanation is cursory (70%) Does not explain the mission, vision, and goals of the organization (0%) 4.75 Company Overview: Key Leaders [COM-600-03] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates a sophisticated awareness of how key leaders of the organization are involved in organizational communications (100%) Determines the role of key leaders of the organization in the development and delivery of organizational communications (90%) Determines the role of key leaders of the organization in the development and delivery of organizational communications, but determination is cursory or contains inaccuracies (70%) Does not determine the role of key leaders of the organization in the development and delivery of organizational communications (0%) 3.16 Company Overview: Internal and External [COM-600-01] Meets “Proficient” criteria and justification demonstrates keen insight into what makes the determined audiences the most important for the organization (100%) Determines the most important internal and external audiences of the organization and justifies response (90%) Determines the most important internal and external audiences of the organization but determination is cursory or contains inaccuracies or justification is tenuous or illogical (70%) Does not determine the most important internal and external audiences of the organization and justify response (0%) 4.75 Company Overview: Culture [COM-600-02] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates a sophisticated awareness of the elements that best describe the culture of an organization (100%) Describes the current culture of the organization (90%) Describes the current culture of the organization but description is cursory or contains inaccuracies (70%) Does not describe the current culture of the organization (0%) 6.33 Analysis: Internal [COM-600-01] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight into the specific elements that contribute to the communication’s effectiveness in meeting the needs of internal stakeholders (100%) Evaluates the communications for how effectively leadership met the needs of internal stakeholders (90%) Evaluates the communications for how effectively leadership met the needs of internal stakeholders but evaluation is cursory or contains inaccuracies (70%) Does not evaluate the communications for how effectively leadership met the needs of internal stakeholders (0%) 4.75 Analysis: External [COM-600-01] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight into the specific elements that contribute to the communication’s effectiveness in meeting the needs of external stakeholders (100%) Evaluates the communications for how effectively leadership met the needs of external stakeholders (90%) Evaluates the communications for how effectively leadership met the needs of external stakeholders but evaluation is cursory or contains inaccuracies (70%) Does not evaluate the communications for how effectively leadership met the needs of external stakeholders (0%) 4.75 Analysis: Culture [COM-600-02] Meets “Proficient” criteria and makes especially cogent connections between the communications and their impact on the culture of the organization (100%) Analyzes the communications for determining their impact on the culture of the organization (90%) Analyzes the communications for determining their impact on the culture of the organization but analysis is cursory or contains inaccuracies (70%) Does not analyze the communications for determining their impact on the culture of the organization (0%) 6.33 Analysis: Issues of Ethics [COM-600-04] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates a sophisticated awareness of how issues of ethics were handled by leadership of the organization (100%) Explains the organization’s approach or lack of approach to issues of ethics (90%) Explains the organization’s approach or lack of approach to issues of ethics but explanation is cursory or contains inaccuracies (70%) Does not explain the organization’s approach or lack of approach to issues of ethics (0%) 6.33 Analysis: Organizational Growth [COM-600-02] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response makes especially cogent connections between issues in organizational culture and their effect on organizational growth (100%) Explains how issues in organizational culture affect opportunities for organizational growth (90%) Explains how issues in organizational culture affect opportunities for organizational growth but explanation is cursory or contains inaccuracies (70%) Does not explain how issues in organizational culture affect opportunities for organizational growth (0%) 6.34 Guidelines: Internal and External Stakeholders [COM-600-03] Meets “Proficient” criteria and developed leadership strategies demonstrate keen insight into how to meet the needs of internal and external stakeholders (100%) Develops leadership communication strategies that will allow future leadership communications of the organization to account for the needs of internal and external stakeholders (90%) Develops leadership communication strategies that will allow future leadership communications of the organization to account for the needs of internal and external stakeholders but developed strategies are cursory or contain inaccuracies (70%) Does not develop leadership communication strategies that will allow future leadership communications of the organization to account for the needs of internal and external stakeholders (0%) 3.16 Guidelines: Message Receiver [COM-600-03] Meets “Proficient” criteria and developed leadership strategies provide keen insight into how to account for social and cultural challenges with the message receiver (100%) Develops leadership communication strategies that will allow future leadership communications of the organization to account for social and cultural challenges with the message receiver (90%) Develops leadership communication strategies that will allow future leadership communications of the organization to account for social and cultural challenges with the message receiver but developed strategies are cursory or contain inaccuracies (70%) Does not develop leadership communication strategies that will allow future leadership communications of the organization to account for social and cultural challenges with the message receiver (0%) 3.16 Guidelines: Improvements [COM-600-05] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight into improving the development and delivery of leadership communications for a variety of audiences (100%) Recommends improvements directed to the organization for developing and delivering communications regarding meeting the needs of internal and external stakeholders and overcoming challenges with the message receiver (90%) Recommends improvements directed to the organization for developing and delivering communications regarding the meeting the needs of internal and external stakeholders and overcoming challenges with the message receiver but recommendations are cursory or contains inaccuracies (70%) Does not recommend improvements directed to the organization for developing and delivering communications regarding meeting the needs of internal and external stakeholders and overcoming challenges with the message receiver (0%) 6.33 Guidelines: Leadership [COM-600-05] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates a keen insight into the role that leadership must play in developing and delivering communications (100%) Recommends improvements directed to the organization for developing and delivering communications regarding the role that leadership will have when following developed guidelines (90%) Recommends improvements directed to the organization for developing and delivering communications regarding the role that leadership will have when following developed guidelines but recommendations are cursory or contain inaccuracies (70%) Does not recommend improvements directed to the organization for developing and delivering communications regarding the role that leadership will have when following developed guidelines (0%) 6.33 Guidelines: Social and Cultural [COM-600-03] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight into the potential social and cultural impact of the proposed leadership plan (100%) Predicts the social and cultural impact of the proposed leadership plan on internal and external stakeholders (90%) Predicts the social and cultural impact of the proposed leadership plan on internal and external stakeholders but prediction is cursory or contains inaccuracies (70%) Does not predict the social and cultural impact of the proposed leadership plan on internal and external stakeholders (0%) 3.16 Guidelines: Ethical Framework [COM-600-04] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight into how to guide future leadership in in avoiding ethical issues regarding communications (100%) Develops an ethical framework that will be used in the leadership plan and justifies framework (90%) Develops an ethical framework that will be used in the leadership plan and justifies response but framework is cursory or contains inaccuracies or justification is tenuous or illogical (70%) Does not develop an ethical framework that will be used in the leadership plan and justify framework (0%) 6.33 Guidelines: Ethical Issues [COM-600-04] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight into how to guide future leadership in addressing ethical issues regarding communications (100%) Develops leadership communication strategies that will allow future leadership communications of the organization to account for ethical issues using the ethical framework (90%) Develops leadership communication strategies that will allow future leadership communications of the organization to account for ethical issues using the ethical framework but developed strategies are cursory or contain inaccuracies (70%) Does not develop leadership communication strategies that will allow future leadership communications of the organization to account for ethical issues using the developed ethical framework (0%) 6.34 Guidelines: Systems Theory and Best Practices [COM-600-03] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight into how each piece of the guidelines is informed by systems theory and best practices (100%) Explains how leadership communication guidelines are informed by systems theory and best practices (90%) Explains how leadership communication guidelines are informed by systems theory and best practices but explanation is cursory or contain inaccuracies (70%) Does not explain how leadership communication guidelines are informed by systems theory and best practices (0%) 3.16 Guidelines: Guide Leadership [COM-600-05] Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight in how the guidelines will assist leadership in effectively delivering future leadership communications (100%) Explains how developed strategies and recommended improvements would help guide leadership in effectively delivering future leadership communications (90%) Explains how developed strategies and recommended improvements would help guide leadership in effectively delivering future leadership communications but explanation is cursory or contains inaccuracies (70%) Does not explain how developed strategies and recommended improvements would help guide leadership in effectively delivering future leadership communications (0%) 6.34 Articulation of Response Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format (100%) Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization (90%) Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas (70%) Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas (0%) 5.04 Total 100%