memorandum

Discussion #1

Read the Following Case Scenario

A recent survey was taken among employees at Life Science Nutraceuticals, Inc. (LSN). The results were alarming, as it appeared the leadership has been less effective than in the past. Some common complaints seemed to focus on the lack of vision, a breakdown in communication, and a lack of connection with staff. 

You have read the results, and as a senior leadership Consultant to LSN’s CEO, you completely agree with employees. Leadership is the cornerstone to success in any organization, and to permit poor leadership can only spell trouble. It occurred to you that the place to start change was staring you in the face – the new management hires planned for Warehouse Operations in Las Vegas and Miami. Mumbling to yourself, “but what do I want them to look like?” you decide that you must write a memo to CEO Alexandria Marvel to make sure the “right” characteristics of a leader are asked for in the soon-to-be-released job description. Scrambling around on the desk, you find the old job announcement so that you can make some changes. It reads, “LSN is looking for experienced warehouse managers who have a high task focus to keep the distribution speed high and shipping costs low. Managers must instruct employees to keep distribution, packing, and shipping moving smoothly and efficiently. Managers must be someone who can handle a fast-paced environment, able to meet deadlines, task-focused, personally driven, and results-oriented. The manager must be goal-oriented and adhere strictly to policy to succeed in the department.”

Instructions

You will act as a senior-level leadership Consultant to the CEO of LSN. You will write a memorandum to CEO Alexandria Marvel. In writing the memorandum, use only the course material from Week 1, and as necessary or desired, you may also use course material from Week 2. Reading the Company Profile provided will explain why contemporary leadership skills are so important to LSN.

Your memo will address the following specific issues to CEO Marvel.   

• Explain how the existing job announcement for new hires was effective in the past based on the theories and view of leadership through the 1990s. Be specific using examples from course materials and the existing job announcement.  
• Explain why the existing job announcement is no longer able to meet the needs of today’s leaders. Support your explanation with examples of the language changes you recommend updating the job announcement to be consistent with today’s desired leadership characteristics.  
• Explain the differences between management and leadership and why LSN needs to understand the distinction.  

Memorandum Set Up

Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document (no pdf files allowed) using 12-point font. A memo is left justified with no indentations of paragraphs. A memo is single-spaced with a double space between paragraphs to make the memo easy to read. 

In business, writing must be concise, easy to read, and free of writing and grammatical errors.

You are required to use in-text citations with an associated reference list. 

Use headings for each element. It is suggested that you set up the memo with all of the required headings and then fill in each memo section.

Use a memo format:

To:

From:

Date:

Subject:

Remember, you are sending this memo to the CEO, so this is a formal memo. Proof the memo carefully for typos, grammatical errors and ensure the memo conveys the points you are to address. Why?  Because your work products are a reflection of who you are it is your brand!  A good brand can lead to future opportunities in an organization, such as a promotion.  

Ensure the memo is audience-appropriate, concise, coherent, readable, uses appropriate terminology, is professional, provides a factual tone (no opinion and no recommendations), and is visually appealing. 

The memo should comply with the following guidelines, which can be used as a checklist. 

• Use the grading rubric while completing the project to ensure all requirements are met to lead to the highest possible grade.  

• Third-person writing is required. Third-person means that there are no words such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first-person writing), nor is there use of “you or your” (the second person writing).  

• Contractions are not used in business writing, so do not use them. 

• Students will not use direct quotation marks but will instead paraphrase. This means that you will put the ideas of an author or article into your own words rather than lift them directly from a source document. You should not, according to APA, use more than four consecutive words from a source document (including the case scenario) or change words in a passage as doing so would require direct quotation marks. Use a passage from a source document by putting it into your own words (paraphrase) and attribute the passage to the source document. If direct quotes are presented, they will not be included in the grading.

• Use in-text citations and provide a reference list that contains a reference associated with each in-text citation. 

• Provide the page, or paragraph number in every in-text citation presented. Under Resources on the Homepage, find Library, and from that, you can find examples of APA citations, including the use of course material. https://sites.umgc.edu/library/index.cfm (Then click Writing and Citing.)  You may also find useful the following link: In-Text Citations – Including Page or Paragraph Numbers.