English+1410+Final+Project+Fall+2013


 * Final Product **

 You will create an imaginary company and use a business plan template as the vehicle for demonstrating proficiency in business communications. You will complete communications related to each of the following steps of a business plan: vision and mission statement, company overview, products and/or services plan, marketing plan, management plan, operating plan, financial plan. Time will be given in each class to discuss and plan for the week’s correspondence.


 * Steps to Completing the Final Business Plan Project **

1. Choose a group of students with whom you work well and decide collaboratively on what service or product your business will offer OR choose a product or service that you are interested in offering and try to recruit other students with whom you work well. Each group should have either four or five members.

 2. Agree definitively on your product or service as a working model.

 3. Give your company a name and create a logo.

 4.Create a company home page on the wiki.

 5. Establish roles: Consider who in a company might do a great deal of communicating. Possible roles might be director of marketing, president, vice president(s) (in charge of . . .), the human resources manager, corporate counsel, technology coordinator, chairman of the board. Decide which group member will be in charge of each of the following: products and/or services plan, marketing plan, management plan, operating plan, financial plan. Create a link on your wiki home page for each.

 6. Create department home pages for each member of your team. These should be linked to the company home page. Use your own names! Creativity is encouraged with this assignment, but I need to know who you really are in order to give you credit. Instructions on maintaining your home page are below.

 7. Collectively establish a vision and mission (what you want to accomplish and how you are going to get there). Look online at a variety of vision and mission statements for ideas. They tend to be very broad and are often grandiose and clichéd. Try to avoid these pitfalls, but don’t be too worried if you can’t. These should be one paragraph each and should be posted on your home page.

 8. Prepare a company overview. Where is your company located? How many people does it employ? Where did the idea come from? This should be one or two paragraphs and may be posted to your home page or given a separate link. Compared to a vision and mission statement, a company overview is generally much more concrete.

 9. Begin to communicate! Check the department pages of your group members often and respond as you wish.

 **Assignments**

 By the end of the semester, each member of you team should participate in or prepare the following:

 1.Two online discussions (the boxes at the bottom of each wiki page)  2.Two positive messages (see Chapter 6) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 3.Two negative messages (see Chapter 7) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 4.Two persuasive messages (see Chapter 8) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 5.One informal report (see Chapter 9) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 6.One formal report (see Chapter 10)

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> Use the models in each chapter; these are generally about one page long and most can take the form of emails, memos, or traditional letters.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> **Final Presentations** (see Chapter 12)

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> Our last two classes will be devoted to each team presenting its plan. All members of the team will participate. Each presentation should be between 20 and 30 minutes.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> **Maintaining your department home page:**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> All communication that you originate should be posted or linked to your department home page. At the bottom of your page, please provide a link to every post you make on another student’s departmental page so that you may receive credit. On your departmental page, title each link with the name of the assignment (e.g., positive message#2, negative message#1, formal report).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> **Reminder:**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">This is an English course in business communications. Your success on this project is linked to your ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing in a business setting. You will not be evaluated on your mathematical skills, understanding of business principles (unless they relate to communication), or the viability of your product, service, or plan from a business perspective.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">To refresh your memory, here are the objectives of the course: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 1. Demonstrate the ability to write routine memos, e-mails, and letters using clear business English and to effectively proofread correspondence written by others. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 2. Demonstrate the ability to use a positive tone when writing business letters, and emphasize benefits to the recipient. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 3. Demonstrate the ability to effectively write memos and letters dealing with negative messages, persuasive messages, and special messages (congratulatory notes, sympathy notes, and letters of recommendation). <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 4. Demonstrate the ability to revise business messages to make them more clear, concise and effective. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 5. Develop an understanding of informal and formal proposals and reports. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 6. Develop skills in making effective oral presentations. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 7. Demonstrate the ability to do online research. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 8. Demonstrate the ability to engage in collaborative writing. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 9. Understand the rules of grammar, punctuation, and capitalization in business letter and report writing. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 10. Value honesty and integrity in all facets of business communication.