This course is about Business and Society. You (each student) are to visit (meet with, interview) a person outside your own company (also no relatives or personal friends allowed) who is engaged in a business activity that you can interview about material and content covered in this course.
Examples of business positions that the interviewee could be engaged in include:
Administrator (e.g. office administrator, non-profit organization administrator, university or other learning institution administrator, hospital administrator, etc.)
Agent or Broker (e.g. advertising agent, financial broker, insurance agent, real estate broker, travel agent, purchasing agent, etc.)
Business Owner (e.g. small business owner, owner of bank, consulting firm owner, franchise owner, etc.)
Consultant (e.g. business consultant, financial consultant, management consultant, project consultant, research consultant, public relations consultant, etc.)
Distributor (e.g. retailer, wholesaler, shipping firm, etc.)
Manager (e.g. bank manager, office manager, small business manager, hotel manager, franchise manager, sales force manager, financial manager, accounting manager, marketing manager, operations manager, project manager, etc.)
Professional - business (e.g. CPA accountant, banker, economic advisor, financial advisor, management advisor, marketing researcher, sales representative, loan officer, medical caregiver, human resources personnel, etc.)
Service provider (e.g. accounting services, financial services, marketing services, management services, Internet provider, other electronic services provider, legal services, medical services, oil and gas services, project services, utility services, etc.)
Any other similar business position
First, to prepare for the interview, develop a list of questions or topics you would like to discuss with your contact that pertain to this course.
A discussion board topic (in March) will be devoted to a discussion of possible interview questions. The interview should cover appropriate material (depending on the interviewee) in this course. Read ahead the material in chapters not yet covered in the course if this material is appropriate to discuss with your chosen interviewee.
Second, write up the interview by answering the following 8 sets of questions/instructions: (make each set of questions/instructions #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7 and #8 appendix a section of the paper with a specific recognizable section heading for each in the paper):
#1) Summarize the more interesting responses to your interview concerning topics discussed in the interview that pertain to the content and material in this course. Were there any surprises? Explain.
Do NOT include a word-for-word transcript of the interview. I am interested in reading your summary of the interview specifically as it pertains to content and material in this course. (Remember to use appropriate business terms and weave course concepts and material into your answers for questions #1 through #6).
#2) Critically analyze the interviewee responses. Do you feel your contact really understands his/her field as it pertains to content and material in this course? Explain. Did your contact reinforce points in the text or contradict the text? If so, in your opinion, which is correct? Be convincing.
#3) Did you learn anything from the interview that pertains to content and material in this course? Explain. Be specific.
#4) Develop a rating scale before the interview and rate the interviewee (after you have left the interview) on job performance and any other criteria (items) you feel are appropriate given the course material and the interviewee's job activity.
Give your results and explain in some detail why you chose the specific criteria (items) on the rating scale and what the interview scored on each criterion (item) of your rating scale. (I would suggest you do NOT mention this aspect of the write-up to your interviewee.) [Note: rating items are not ranking items.
With ratings, one uses a scale such as 1-5 where 1 is poor and 5 is very good. Ranking is where one lists the items in some type of order such as from bad to good.]
#5) Given what you have learned in this course, what concepts or techniques covered in this course would you recommend your interviewee adopt? Explain. Be specific and convincing. Write this part as if you were a consultant hired by your interviewee to review his or her work and make recommendations.
#6) Would you recommend this type of business activity (the job activity your interviewee discussed) to a fellow graduate student seeking employment? Explain.
#7) Give the name, company and location of your contact.
#8) In an appendix to the paper, list the questions you asked the interviewee. The words in this appendix do not count in the 2000 word limit of the paper.
If you feel that your first interview does not give you enough material to write a complete paper, contact a second person and add the results of the second interview to your write-up. But, remember, do not go over the 2000 word limit with the two interviews.
with a maximum of 2000 words.