Part I
Examine the following scenario (which does contain fictitious data), and then follow the instructions at the end of this section.
Headquartered in Ottawa, and with locations in Halifax, Moncton, Montreal, Winnipeg, Regina, and Vancouver, Dupont Automobiles Inc. (DAI) is a highly successful automobile dealership chain. In the early 1970s, Maurice Dupont, an energetic, successful entrepreneur who had become alarmed by the Quebecois nationalism represented by the Front de libération du Québec, relocated his auto sales business from Québec City to Ottawa. Over the years, DAI prospered, and in 1995, Maurice engineered that the reins of the business go to his eldest son, Gilles, a holder of an automotive mechanics diploma from Park Technical Institute (PTI) in Surrey, BC, and an MBA from Waterstone University in Coquitlam, BC. Though a President and Chief Executive Officer known to manage with a some-times heavy hand, Gilles was highly capable, and built his father's Ottawa dealership into a wealthy and respected cross-country network.
DAI twice participated in PTI's Internship Program. During the September-December 2008 semester, five PTI Automotive students worked at DAI-four on the Repair Shop floor and one in the Parts Department. Immediately after their internship period, two of the former were later hired by DAI as apprentice mechanics. Further, three PTI Electronics program students spent that Internship semester with DAI, one as a data entry clerk in the Administration Department, one on the Repair Shop floor and one in the Parts Department; the last was hired into that department approximately one month after completion of the internship period.
Two years later, DAI decided once again to participate. Thus, from September through December 2010, it provided internship positions for two PTI Automotive Mechanics students and one Electronics student in the Service Department, another Electronics student in the Parts Department, and one Plumbing & Welding student in the Facilities Department. DAI later hired one of the Automotive Mechanics students as an apprentice mechanic; it also gave a regularJunior Technologist position to the Electronics student who had worked in the Parts Department, and hired the Plumbing & Welding student as a Junior Facilities Generalist.
In general, regular Apprentice Mechanics cost DAI about $35,000 per year, including salary and benefits; Parts Department employees cost the company some $37,000 per year, and both Data Entry Clerks and Facilities Generalists about $30,000. Over an internship period, an intern costs the company 75% of what it would have paid a regular employee.
You are S. Chung, Dupont Vancouver's General Manager. It is now February 1, 2011. Your boss, H. Bartok, DAI's Vancouver V-P, wants to respond to a recently received letter from L. Mahari, PTI's Internship Program Co-ordinator, asking DAI to participate in the Fall (September-December) 2011 Program. To assist in the preparation of that response, Bartok has asked you for a report that details what happened in the past, and that provides your recommendations for DAI's response to PTI. After consulting with two colleagues-L. Borowski, the Service Manager, and E. Martínez, the Personnel Manager-you have determined that, despite the still lingering impact of the last recession that continues to restrain some spending, DAI would be well able to offer four Internship positions: two Mechanic's Assistants in the Service Department, a Junior Data Entry Clerk in Administration, and an Assistant Facilities Generalist. You have also learned that by January, 2012, it is likely that the Vancouver office will need to replace retiring employees in those three areas.
Write the short evaluative report to Bartok. Adhere to standard memo conventions. (This means you should single-space your text, and not adhere to APA style.) Include any visuals you think necessary. (If necessary, you may want to take a quick look at Chapter 6 of your textbook, even though you have not yet been responsible for its contents.) Pay close attention to CMAPP complementary attributes such as 5WH, ABC, CAP, and KISS, to appropriate level of discourse, and to grammar and punctuation. Although you need not submit one, I strongly suggest you start by conducting your own brief CMAPP analysis.
End of Part I
Part II
In a standard memo of no more than two pages, from you as student in this course to me as its instructor, briefly answer the six questions below, regarding the short report you created in Part II. Make sure your answers are all complete sentences.
1. The CMAPP model identifies four types of primary purpose. Which of the four was yours in your report to Bartok?
2. What is your rationale for claiming that "purpose"?
3. Who was your report's primary audience and what justifies your response?
4. Who would any secondary audience(s) be and what is your rationale for your answer?
5. What was your rationale for any visuals you chose to include in your report? (Claiming simply that you did not include a visual because you did not think it would have been useful, for example, would not be a convincing rationale.)
6. What, if any, information presented in the scenario did you exclude, and why?
(Claiming simply that you "included only what was necessary and/or excluded what was not" would not be a convincing rationale.)
In constructing your memo, remember in particular the CMAPP Complementary Attributes of Accessibility, Brevity, Concision, and Precision, as well as the KISS principle.