Individual Formal Unsolicited Proposal to External Stakeholder — Business/Organization (20%)
An unsolicited proposal is a tool to win new projects and business. It defines a problem and outlines what will be done, by whom, over what time frame, and at what cost. For this assignment, students will develop proposals to get hired (hypothetically) to deliver presentations on the external communications of existing businesses or organizations of their choices. Because this assignment feeds into the team presentation assignment, students may agree with their team members on the business or organization that they wish to write the proposal for.
Task
Your task is to write a three-page unsolicited proposal — plus front and end matter — to persuade your chosen business or organization to hire you as a communication consultant. In this proposal you will demonstrate to your potential client the benefits of hiring you to come up with recommendations on the business’s external communications. To accomplish this task, your unsolicited proposal needs to identify a problem, an opportunity, or a risk; show its importance to the business; and demonstrate your ability to address the problem in an end of semester group presentation. To complete this assignment students may draw on information from their industry analysis memo reports.
Your formal proposals will include front and end matter. For detailed information about writing proposals, please consult Ch. 13 in Business Communication: Process and Product and the relevant class slides posted on Moodle.
Content
Your unsolicited formal proposal will explain the following:
- Background of your chosen business
- The environment and industry in which the business or organization operates — you can draw on information from your Individual Informational Memo Report
- The problem/opportunity that you will address in the final presentation
- The scope of your work — what your work will cover; for example, if your chosen business is Air Canada, the scope of your work could be limited to all the external communications of Air Canada Rouge, or it could be limited to the social media communications of Air Canada Rouge.
- The methods that you will deploy to analyze the external communication channels of your client’s business
- The time frame over which you will complete your project (from the start of the project until you come up with recommendations on the external communications of your client — implementation time is not required unless requested by your instructor)
- The cost of hiring you, which will include any costs that you will incur to conduct your work as well as your fees (the cost that the business will incur to implement the recommendations is not required unless requested by your instructor)
- The credentials that qualify you to perform the task.
- To demonstrate your credibility, you will need to document at least four secondary sources using APA documentation style and ALL claims need to be substantiated. in that sense, even though you are required to have at least four secondary sources documented, you will probably need to have more cites documented to substantiate all your claims.
Content Tips
- Since this is an unsolicited proposal, the focus of the document is to show that your client is facing a real problem that needs to be addressed, that you understand the industry and the business, and that you are capable of developing sound recommendations if hired.
- All content needs to be relevant to the problem you have identified; in other words, all the proposal parts (including the industry analysis and background of business sections) have to feed into the problem identified in the proposal.
Organization
• Each part of the proposal should perform its function; for example, the introduction needs to introduce purpose, need, scope, and forecast document
• Paragraphs need topic sentences
• Paragraphs should include transition sentences and words
• The order in which information is introduced needs to support argument/content
Document Design
The task is to write a three-page document plus front and end matter using Times New Roman typeface with 11 – 12 – point type for body text. For spacing, use single space between lines and double space between paragraphs.
The design of your proposal needs to show professionalism by including front and end matter. For detailed information on designing proposals, please consult Ch. 13 in Business Communication: Process and Product, the relevant class slides posted on Moodle, and your own class notes.
Front matter includes the following:
- Cover page
- Title page
- Letter of transmittal
- Executive Summary
- Table of Contents and list of Illustrations
End matter includes the following
- References
- Appendices
Design Tips:
• Use design elements to enhance readability. Design elements include headings, footnotes, and appropriate formatting of specific elements of the proposal, like the letter of transmittal for instance.
• Incorporate figures and images to support and clarify argument
• Use meaningful titles and headings: talking or combination headings are appropriate for direct writing strategies.
• Ensure design consistency
• Use parallelism were appropriate
• Use bulleted lists were appropriate
Style and Mechanics
Since the proposal is written for the client, a formal, unbiased, and jargon free tone that draws on facts and research will convey your professionalism and establish your credibility. Students are expected to revise their grammar and word choice for accuracy and appropriateness.
Research
• All claims need to be substantiated
• All sources are to be cited using APA documentation system (a two-part documentation system)
• Sources need to be credible
Rubric
COMM 205 graders will use a standard rubric to ensure effective learning and feedback. Each category in the rubric is given a mark out of ten, which corresponds to Concordia University’s official grading scheme, with the total report mark being out of 50. The grade is then scaled out of 100. See Written Communication Feedback rubric in appendix 1.
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