Business Memo

BUSINESS MEMO - VALUES AND CHOICES ANALYSIS OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES • Prepare a professional written communication. • Recognize the impact of corporate culture on choices that an individual makes in business. • Critically evaluate the individual choices an individual makes when his personal values are put to the test by organizational pressures. ASSIGNMENT: Watch the film Shattered Glass (starring Hayden Christensen) Assume that you are employed by the New Republic and asked to prepare a formal Business Memo to the company’s Board of Directors in which you are to: • Explain the facts surrounding the ethical scandal; • Describe certain choices that Stephen Glass made analyzing the pressures that led him to make those choices and discuss some realistic alternative choices he could have made; and • Make a recommendation to the Board for a change in its Corporate Values Statement. Use standard Business Memo format. If you use a Microsoft memorandum template, DO NOT include any background graphics. IMPORTANT: You are to assume that the characters and the business, as well as all events portrayed, in the film are real. Write as if you have personal knowledge of the people, businesses and events either from personal observation or from conversations you had with the people portrayed in the film. (In other words, you are to proceed as if you are analyzing real people, businesses and events, not a film, story or characters in the story. Don’t reference “in the film” or “the character”.) BODY INCLUDE ALL THE ITEMS BELOW IN YOUR MEMO Overview: Begin with an explanation/summary of the scandal, which must include: (a) Details of what happened, including an explanation of the people involved; (b) How the scandal was discovered; and (c) How the scandal was ultimately resolved for both Glass as well as the New Republic. • Discussion and analysis of Glass’ values and choices Specifically, you must: o Briefly describe how Glass was impacted by the corporate culture/pressures from the business/ industry or family/friend(s). ​ o Using detailed “facts” portrayed in the film, describe threedifferent very specific examples of a situation in which Glass was posed with making a values based choice, and for each situation: o Describe the choice he made (Explain, very specifically, the circumstances and what he did/ failed to do o Analyze/explain why he made the choice he did. - NOTE: You must take your time here in thinking about and discussing very specifically what He did and what motivated him to act as he did. o Propose at least one realistic (for Glass) alternative choice that he could have made in each one of the situations and discuss how that alternative choice would have affected the ultimate result. (Don’t merely state the obvious. “He could have told the truth and then he wouldn’t have been fired.”) ​ Conclusion: Briefly summarize and then suggest what the Board might include in its Corporate Values (Philosophy) Statement to protect against a similar ethical scandal from arising again and explaining how your suggestion would do that. (Remember that the purpose of a Corporate Values Statement is to give employees guidance as to how to act to uphold the company’s values. Think about the failure of The Soul of Dell and the success of the Netflix Values Statement. Think about the type of business the New Republic is in and the values it would want to uphold.) WRITING IS PROFESSIONAL AND SUITED TO THE MESSAGE​ ​ Direct approach is used and the message is clear. Be sure that: • statements in the message are accurate; • the tone is appropriate for your audience (a Board of Directors) • you have written in an active voice • your sentences are concise - without unnecessary words • your paragraphs are strong and flow logically Sent from my iPhone