Corporate profile /Critical Writing for the Professions – WTNGZZO.Assignment 4- Developing a Corporate Profile
Corporate profile /Critical Writing for the Professions – WTNGZZO.Assignment 4- Developing a Corporate Profile
As students in Critical Writing for the Professions, we have discussed the concepts of technical communication and
how we can develop sufficient, clear, concise, accurate, timely, and of course, relevant business-oriented writing
which lnforms, instructs, or Influences our audience. In addition, we have discussed how our writing meets/exceeds
the course goals of: Subject Matter Knowledge, Process Knowledge, Rhetorical Knowledge, Genre Knowledge,
Discourse Community Knowledge and Meta-Cognitive Knowledge.
Assignment 4 will build on the work you produced in Assignment 1. As you continue your formal education, you will
consider what type of a career you want when you graduate. You know that in today’s job market, many applicants
compete for few openings; therefore, it’s important for you to begin planning now for your job search and application
process. We have already researched the various skills and knowledge that employers in your planned career field
require, and then compared these skills to current college courses and the alternative resources available to help
you gain the appropriate skills and knowledge prior to graduation. One of the most important decisions you will make
is what type of organization would provide the best fit for the skills and knowledge you have gained, and what type of
organization would best suit your overall plans for your career and further professional development.
Taking your Academic Major (or possible Major) into consideration, Assignment 4 will require you to develop a
comprehensive Corporate Profile about a specific major/international organization to which you might apply for a
management or professional position after graduation from RWU. Remember: It’s never too early to begin your
research about possible future employment opportunities. The organization you choose should be a substantial,
multinational entity (example: Sony, Microsoft, Citibank), not a local small business. Education Majors should
consider a specific school system (please see me if you have questions about this aspect of Assignment 4).
1. If you choose a private company (such as Subway), you may have difficulty gathering financial information,
as private companies are under no legal obligation to publicly report their finances. Public companies are
legally required to report their financials. If you choose a specific school system, you should research their
budget process and ratings noting adherence to standard educational requirements.
2. Research everything you can find on your chosen organization using timely scholarly and reputable
popular resources – include information from annual reports, business periodicals, newspaper or magazine
articles, library databases, library resources, legal, and governmental sources. Please prepare a Working
Bibliography of your sources – see MLA or APA guidaiinas in cur text for documentation information and
formatting. A Working Bibliography is a listing of the sea you have found in alphabetical order. The RWU
Library website has a very good “documenting sources” entry.
3. Prepare a formal Memo – (Assignment 4A), briefly describing the organization you have chosen, and indicate
what information you anticipate being able to retrieve and “fresh what sources. You might also indicate what
information you may not be able to access, and briefiy expiain why. Please include a copy of the Working
Bibliography with the Memo. This Memo should be no more than 1 page single spaced (remember “white”
Space), and in accordance with examples indicated in the text. The Memo should be addressed to your
instructor.
4. Prepare a Corporate Profile (Assignment 4B) of your chosen organization including the following HEADlNGS:
a. Introduction – overview of your company or organization
b. Histogy – a paragraph (or two) about the beginnings of the company/organization and how it
developed into the entity it is today; describe the international history as well.
c. Organizational plan – how is the company organized: is there a central management team with
national and international subsidiaries? How is the company structured? ls the organization part of a
regional education system?
d. Financial summag – profit/loss ratios, stock analysis. budgets
e. Strategic goals or Mission Statement
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f. Major agggmgllshments – and what meaning do these accomplishments have for the company? if
your organization is a specific school administration, consider what information you need to prowde to
ensure that your audience will understand the major accomplishments including personnel, academic
results, etc.
9. Dynamics – how does the company function in its industry? ls it the leader or one of many competing
companies in an industry? How does the organization function internationally? How does the Q
organization handle intemationai and cultural concerns? How does the organization reflect diversity?
h. Any additional information you find that might be of interest to your audience
i. Conclusion – brief summary of the organization’s overall “footprint”
t“ Prepare your Corporate Profile – (Assignment 4&1 detailing your research about the organization, and use
the topics you researched as W. Your formal report should be approximately 2-3
pages in length, single-spaced, and formatted according to the guidelines in the hagggut and in the text
remember “white” space. This Assignment may include appendices for charts, graphs, or additional
information you feel is necessary for your audience (students in WTNG 220 and your instructor) to
understand your profiled organization. Please document any direct quotes, paraphrases, or “borrowed“
ideas/thoughts from your research in APA or MLA style, as indicated in Appendix A of the text.
6. Having conducted the research and prepared the formal report, develop a list of 5 specific and complex
questions about which you couldn’t fi d sufficient information, and for which you would like definitive answers
from the organization (Assignment 4a). In addition, once you have completed your list of questions, develop
a one-gage formal Letter (see examples in the text) addressed to an officer or official in your “profiled”
organization, in which you request substantive answers to your specific questions (Assignment 40). These
questions should be complex and should require critical thinking and analysis by the corporate officer or
official. At least two questions should relate to how this organization manages global and inter-cultural
diversity, and how they ensure that their organization reflects sensitivity to cultural differences. Please follow
the letter format as indicated in the text. Note: you will not send this letter – it’s just for the Assignment.
7. Prepare a Reflective paper (Assignment 4») in Memo format in which you describe the process you followed
in researching your organization, and the lessons you learned in that process:
0 Was the research process easy and straight-forward?
Did you need to revise/shift your research strategy or change organizations?
What surprised you most about this Assignment?
What did you learn about the way companies are organized or the way they deal with the public?
What did you learn about your own work habits, or about your strengths and areas you might need to
work on?
This Memo should also reflect how your work on all aspects of Assignment 4 demonstrates proficiency in
the Course Outcomes. The Memo should be approximately 1-2 pages (single spaced with “white” space)
and addressed to your instructor.
8. Please follow the dates indicated on the Syllabus for submission of assignments.
Please pay particular attention to grammar, punctuation, and spelling. The Assignment must reflect substantive
thought and be clearly organized. You should prowde clear and logical transitions within and between paragraphs
and be sure your AsSignment is free of agreement errors, unnecessary shifts in person, verb voice, tense and mood;
inaddition your ASSignment should reflect varied sentence structure and appropriate word choice. It is expected that
this paper wrll be proofread and edited. WWW
an emai.
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