1 MPM731 – Business Communication for Managers Trimester 1 2017 Assessment Tasks ASSIGNMENT 3 Getting the Message Across! One Message, Three Audiences, Three Media. DUE DATE: Friday 26th May 2017 at 11.59pm (electronic submission via CloudDeakin ONLY) TOTAL WORD LENGTH: 2000 words (+/- 10%) MARKS: 30 Marks = 30% of final unit score INSTRUCTIONS This is an individual assignment The aim of this assignment is to give students some practice at writing the same message to different audiences. The assignment requires students to create a communications strategy to deal with a significant organisational issue that will be requiring communications to both internal and external audiences. We see examples, both positive and negative, regularly in the media. These may include, but are not restricted to such instances as: • Organisational Change: Negative: closing down a department, off-shoring Positive: expansion of the organisation, takeover, restructure • Organisational Embarrassment or Celebration: Negative: faulty goods or services, internal issues; Positive: celebration of milestones or Innovations. • Image Management for Person with a Public Profile: Negative: redemption after a personal embarrassment Positive: launching the media profile of a person (eg seeking office) The potential audiences for the communication can be: • Internal Management / Board / Parent Company • Government / Industry Regulator • Staff / Supervisors / Employees • Consumers / Public • Local Hospital / Health Services / Emergency Services • Media – Radio / TV / Chat Shows / Popular Magazines The range of media to be used for the communication can range from Press Releases, Statements on the Company Website, to YouTube announcements, FB campaigns, and PowerPoint presentations (with recorded voice). 2 Process of Completing the Assignment Step 1: Context and Situation Choose the ‘situation’ that you are going to address in this assignment. If possible, select an industry about which you have some inside information and understanding so that you are attuned to the dynamics of the industry and the various stakeholders that will need to be addressed in the Communications Strategy. Step 2: Stakeholders Identify the three (3) stakeholder groups that you will address in your communications strategy. For example: • Stakeholder 1 Employees • Stakeholder 2 Government Body • Stakeholder 3 General Public Step 3: The Media for your Messages Once you have chosen the stakeholders, select three (3) different media to communicate your message. While the content to each of the groups will be similar, the form and tone of the message will be quite different. You will need to select different media for each stakeholder. So, as an example, from above: Specific Requirements of the Three (3) Messages While there are no limitations on the type of media chosen for the assignment, at least one of the communications must be a formally written piece (500 words) and one of the communications must be a multi-media presentation (graphics, sound and voice) that will be either a 5 minute YouTube clip (POSTED TO DEAKIN’S SITE), or a PPT presentation which includes recorded audio embedded into the slides). Students need to present a 5 minutes Podcast along with the report to be submitted on CloudDeakin for assessment. 3 Assignment Submission The completed assignment will include the following: 1. Descriptive Title (e.g. Restoring Confidence in the Brand) 2. Introduction to provide the context for the media strategy (500 words) • The context piece will introduce the organisation, the situation that needs to be addressed through a communication strategy, and a rationale as to why the three stakeholder groups, and choice of media, were chosen to address this issue. • The aim of the media strategy (The aim of this media strategy is to ……..) • The rationale for the choice of the three (3) media used in the strategy. • Expected outcomes of the strategy 3. The three (3) different media to communicate your message to the three stakeholders Notes: • The total word count of this assignment must not exceed 2000 Words • For example: o a 500 words report introduction o a 500 words written report o a 500 words Press Release o a 500 words PPT with 5 mins recorded narration embedded). Please note that there must be a 5 mins Podcast component to be submitted on CloudDeakin for marking. You can do this as part of the PowerPoint presentation or if you do not choose a PowerPoint presentation as a medium, then you must submit an additional 5 mins podcast for marking. • The assignment will be evaluated based on the content and the professional style of presentation of the document. • Please refer to ‘Rubric for Assignment 3’ for more details. 4 HINTS Assignment 3 Hints for preparing a multimedia presentation One of the communications for Assignment 3 must be a multimedia presentation with graphics, sound and voice. In other words, a podcast, such as might be posted to YouTube. Here are some hints to assist you with creating such a podcast using PowerPoint. To create your presentation, you can use PowerPoint. You can use PowerPoint’s ‘Record Slide Show’ facility or record audio files separately on a smartphone or similar device and embed them on slides. This can produce quite an effective multimedia presentation. If you are not sure how to do it, please do a search on-line for the instructions. Alternatively, you might create a PowerPoint presentation then use software such as Camtasia to record the slides on your computer screen with a voice-over. You might like to combine such a voice-over with other images or videos, such as a video of yourself demonstrating an idea; Camtasia allows you to edit and combine video files. • Camtasia allows you to record a PowerPoint presentation that you have on your screen. • It will record your voice from the microphone built into your computer (or a plug-in microphone if your computer does not have one built-in). • It can record your face while you are talking. • You can edit what you have recorded. You can remove mistakes or crop at the start and the end. • If you submit a file created using Camtasia you MUST save your file as an mpg-4 file, by going to Share and then advanced export. A 5-minute presentation created with Camtasia will probably be around 40MB, and you will be able to upload this Video to the Assignment 4 Dropbox. • Alternatively, you can save the presentation as a YouTube video and when you go to submit via the Assignment Dropbox paste a link to your YouTube video in the Comments box. If you save to YouTube you may want to make sure the settings for the presentation is on private – otherwise the whole world will be able to find and watch your presentation. Camtasia can be downloaded free of charge and used as trial software for 30 days from http://www.techsmith.com/download/camtasia/. Camtasia has tutorials on how to use the software. 5 Important note: If you use Camtasia (or similar software) to create your multimedia presentation, you *must*: • Submit the PowerPoint file to CloudDeakin even if you record it using screen-capture software such as Camtasia. • Include a screen shot of yourself talking by turning the ‘camera on’ in the record feature. You can keep the screen shot on for the remainder of the presentation if you wish, or you can turn it off if you feel uncomfortable with it on. • Scan a picture of your student ID that you will also upload separately with your assignment. The screen shots (2 and 3) are needed to verify that it is you contributing to the assignment. You can, of course, use software other than Camtasia, so long as it saves in mpg-4 format so the marker will be able to open the file on CloudDeakin to mark your presentation. So what is expected? • We are expecting a professional presentation. • The presentation should be persuasive – you need your audience (the stakeholder) to understand and remember the key parts of your message. • You should have an introduction that sets the context of the presentation. • You need to discuss key information about the issue you have chosen. • You need to make a choice about what information is important to be included in the presentation. • You may use Powerpoint slides and other means of getting your message across, with a person speaking to the slides. • You should conclude the presentation with a summary of the three or four major points. • Of course, adding visual aids (animations, pictures, diagrams, figures and so on) into the presentation is good, so long as they add to the professionalism of the presentation. But do not overdo it: we do not want a Bollywood spectacular. You are trying to explain an organisational issue, not win an Oscar. 6 A REMINDER ABOUT PLAGIARISM Definition: Any one of the following is classified as plagiarism: a. the submission of an answer that is substantially similar to an answer submitted by another student in the same, or earlier years, either at this or another University b. the submission of an answer that is not substantially the student's own work (or, in the case of joint work, not substantially undertaken by the individuals named as having undertaken the joint work) c. the submission of an answer that contains substantial quotations from other works, such as books or journals, without appropriate reference to the source. Please note that (a) applies not only to the student who has copied an report, but also to the student from whom the answer was copied. The piece of work that you finally submit should be your own: it should contain your ideas and be written in your own words. Consequences • Any student who (i) copies or otherwise uses the work of another person or (ii) allows • another person to copy or otherwise use his or her answer when both are completing the same or similar assessment will either lose credit for that assessment, the subject, or be disciplined in some other way. Plagiarism and Collusion Plagiarism and collusion constitute extremely serious academic misconduct. They are forms of cheating, and severe penalties are associated with them, including cancellation of marks for a specific assignment, for a specific unit or even exclusion from the course. The University’s definitions of plagiarism and collusion are as follows: • Plagiarism occurs when a student passes off as the student’s own work, or copies without acknowledgment of its authorship, the work of any other person. • Collusion occurs when a student obtains the agreement of another person for a fraudulent purpose with the intent of obtaining an advantage in submitting an assignment or other work. • You should note that the University views plagiarism and collusion very seriously and may impose serious penalties. • The University’s policy on plagiarism and collusion sets out your responsibilities as a student in regard to plagiarism and collusion. Students are responsible for ensuring that: • They are familiar with the expected conventions of authorship and the appropriate use and acknowledgement of all forms of intellectual material relevant to their discipline. • Work submitted for assessment is their own. • They take all reasonable steps to ensure their work can not be accessed by others who might seek to submit it, in whole or in part, as their own. • Turnitin Guide: http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/clouddeakin/help-guides/assessment/plagiarism Whenever you refer to another person’s research or ideas (either by directly quoting or by paraphrasing them), you must acknowledge your source. If you are ever in doubt about how to properly cite a reference, consult your lecturer or the academic skills website www.deakin.edu.au/current-students/study-support/study-skills/. The University policy of plagiarism and collusion is available from The Guide www.deakin.edu.au/theguide. Regulation 4.1(1)—Student Discipline also contains important information regarding academic misconduct. 7 Unauthorised Collaboration Unauthorised collaboration is a form of collusion. It involves working with others with the intention of deceiving your markers about who actually completed the work. If you have collaborated with others in preparing an individual assessment item, you must disclose this to your lecturer. Assignments will sometimes be set as group work, but even in these cases generally you will still have to write up and submit your own report. If you have any doubt as to what constitutes authorised or unauthorised collaboration, consult with your lecturer. Penalties The Assessment Panel or Faculty Academic Progress and Discipline Committee will impose a penalty on any student who is found to have committed an act of academic misconduct such as plagiarism, collusion, or unauthorised collaboration. These penalties can include: • Allocate a zero mark or other appropriate mark for the unit or the assessment task • Suspend from the course for up to 3 trimesters • Exclude from the course for 2 trimesters or more • Impose a fine of up to $500.00 • Additional/substitute actions: • Require an apology • Reprimand and caution the student • Allow resubmission an assessment task • Recommend counseling (on a voluntary basis) • Unacceptable Activities • There are some activities that are never acceptable in the preparation of assignments at the tertiary level. Students who engage in any of the following activities create some doubt in the mind of the reader that the student's work is original. Many of these activities leave the student open to charges of plagiarism. Students should never: • Submit an assignment without providing a list of references used. • Copy one or more sentences from a reference source (book, journal, web page, etc.) without formatting the material as a quotation. • Use data in the form of numbers, tables, graphs, diagrams or other images without citing the source of the material. • Use program source code, even if it is freely available in the public domain, without citing the source of the code. • Take material from reference material and paraphrase it (write it in your own words) without citing the source of the material. Use an idea made by another person without citing the source of the idea. 8