“Undercover Boss” Assignment
Brief Summary:
1. Find a business entity you hope to work for one day, and choose a
leadership position in that business entity.
2. Do some research, and establish what your leadership position entails
—think about the department(s) you oversee, your responsibilities, and
the kinds of people who work for you. Research your company.
Determine how your company is perceived by its employees, its target
“customers,” and the general public. Out of those three groups, pick
the one you believe your company has the worst relationship with
based on your research.
3. Give a presentation about your company and its relationship to the
group you chose. In your presentation, you will provide information
about what your company does and what responsibilities you have in
your leadership position. Most importantly, you will address why the
group you chose to focus on (your company’s employees, target
“customers,” or the general public) feels neglected, and the steps that
you and the department(s) you run should take to resolve the issue.
a. Your presentation should last five to ten minutes. A five-minute
minimum is a requirement, while a ten-minute maximum is a
guideline. You will give your presentation during one of our last
two class sessions: April 24, or May 1.
4. Write a reflection highlighting how you incorporated the things you
learned throughout your time in this class into your presentation.
a. Your reflection will be due on May 4 at 11:59 P.M. You must
submit to Blackboard as a Word document or a PDF file—this
means no links (Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.).
b. You won’t be graded for word-count, but aim for 500ish words.
c. Your reflection will be analyzed by SafeAssign, a plagiarism check
that analyzes millions of web pages and other assignments
submitted through Blackboard.
5. This assignment will be worth 20% of your final course grade.
The Research Phase:
- Do a little research on business entities you hope to possibly work for
one day. For-profits, non-profits, government entities, and other
institutions and organizations can all work. Pick the business entity you
believe would be a good fit for you (or, at the very least, pick a
business entity you would find interesting to research.
o You may choose any business entity regardless of size, notoriety,
or public perception (as long as it is not defunct, of course)—just
be aware that whatever company you choose will be the focus of
this assignment.
- You will be completing this simulation as though you hold a leadership
position in the company you chose. Use your company’s corporate
website (if they have one), LinkedIn page, and or other resources to
determine what kinds of leadership roles your company offers. Then,
choose one of those roles to embody for this assignment.
o You may choose to take on this simulation as the head of a small
department, your company’s CEO, or with a leadership role
somewhere in the middle. Just don’t fabricate a leadership role in
your company.
o Once you’ve determined what leadership role you want to take
on, establish your responsibilities as leader as well as (generally)
who you oversee. If you decide to head a specific department,
establish what your department does in relation to the wider
company.
- Now, this is when you go “undercover.” Your goal is to investigate your
company’s employees, its target “customers,” and the general public.
o These three groups are essential to the longevity of your
company. Your company faces serious operational risks when
these groups feel undervalued or antagonized. Can your
company really run without its employees? Can your company
exist without its target customers? Can your company’s
reputation stay intact without the general public on your
company’s side? Why might these groups feel undervalued or
antagonized by your company? And what’s the context? Are
these concerns based in reality? Ultimately, how might these
groups’ perceptions impact your company?
o There are MANY kinds of sources you could use to find
information about those groups. These sources can include
everything from your company’s website(s), news articles and
industry research reports, your company’s marketing materials
and press releases, online review sites, online discussion forms,
and social media. All I ask is that you use a variety of sources.
For example: social media can be a great way to track trends and
develop an idea of how your company is perceived, but should
ONLY be used to supplement more reliable sources (such as news
articles or industry reports).
o Based on your research, you will pick the group you believe has
been undervalued the most by your company. Do you think that
your company’s employees, its target “customers,” or the
general public have been overlooked the most? Whatever group
you choose will be the basis of your presentation.
The Presentation Phase:
- As a leader within your company, you will be tasked with giving a
presentation about the group you believe has been undervalued the
most by your company.
- You must determine who your presentation’s “audience” should be. You
may decide that your presentation’s audience should be the very
group you’re presenting about. Or, you may decide your audience
should be your subordinates, your fellow co-workers, a different
department in your company, your superiors, your company’s
investors, or an entirely different group. Regardless, you need to tailor
your presentation to a specific audience.
- Your presentation should have the following elements:
o You need an introduction, where you talk about your leadership
role within the company you chose, what kinds of work you do,
and who you oversee. If you run a specific department (rather
than the whole company), explain how your department
operates within the wider organization.
o You need to address the problem at hand—describe the group
(your company’s employees, its target “customers,” and the
general public) your company has the most contentious
relationship with, and explain why. Why does that specific group
feel undervalued or antagonized by your company? What specific
things did your company do (or not do) to cause these issues? Is
your company really at fault?
o You need to then explain what you and or your department can
do to help solve the problem at hand (regardless of whether you
and or your department is to blame for the problem).
o You need to conclude your presentation in an interesting way—
consider what you ultimately want your audience to take away
from your presentation.
- You are likely to use a slideshow or other presentation aids during your
presentation, but I am not requiring you to if you do not deem it
necessary.
o For those of you who decide to use a slideshow, I have one
guideline and one requirement:
Guideline: Remember that your slideshow is a presentation
aid, rather than the presentation itself. What’ll be more
important are the things you say and the points you make.
Requirement: If you decide to incorporate video clips into
your slideshow (for whatever reason), it should only take
up 10% or less of your presentation’s runtime.
The Reflection Phase:
- You must write a reflection explaining how you approached researching
and giving your presentation. Write about how the lessons from class
helped you throughout the research and presentation phases of this
assignment. You may pull from our lectures, in-class activities, and any
of the readings (required or supplemental).
- You must then create a bibliography, incorporating any source you
used in your presentation. I would prefer that you use APA style
citations (because this is a Communication course and APA is primarily
used by scholars in the Communication field), but ultimately, I’m more
concerned about your bibliography being thorough than formatted
perfectly.
Grading:
- Presentation: 85 Points Total
o Introduction: 7.5 Points
o Problem Explanation / Solution: 70 Points Total
Inquiry: 17.5 Points
Analysis: 17.5 Points
Comprehension: 17.5 Points
Interpretation: 17.5 Points
o Conclusion: 7.5 Points
- Reflection Paper: 15 Points Total
o Paper: 10 Points Total
Inquiry: 2.5 Points
Analysis: 2.5 Points
Comprehension: 2.5 Points
Interpretation: 2.5 Points
o Bibliography: 5 Points
Inquiry: Did the student identify relevant existing research on their
chosen company effectively?
Analysis: Did the student analyze the gathered information
effectively?
Comprehension: Did the student grasp and understand the sources
used?
Interpretation: Did the student interpret information from their sources
effectively and convey the information in their own voice?
For each of the underlined sub-categories, you will be ranked on a scale of
0/5 to 5/5 (0/5 = dismal / element missing, 1/5 = poor, 2/5 = fair, 3/5 =
good, 4/5 = very good, and 5/5 = excellent).
For example: if you do fair (3/5) on a section worth 5 points, you will get
three fifths of the 5 available points for that sub-category. Each score will be
added to determine your final assignment grade.
