my topic: If I were to consider myself professionally successful and happy, I would be a ___Finance Manager____.

Length: 3-5 pages for rough draft

please follow the instruction and my topic!

Instruction: Part of the nature of Business Communication is an assumption that you are in this course not just because it is a requirement, but because of one or more of the following reasons: 1) you currently have a position and want to better your performance in your job; 2) you are preparing for a career in which correspondence in a business setting is necessary; or 3) you are needing to update/improve your resume. In any of these possibilities, and even if it is just a required course for you, one goal of our class will be to investigate and prepare for employment in your field.

Such a project is divided into the two reports you will be doing for this class: an Informal Report and a Formal Report. The Informal Report is discussed below. The Formal Report will assemble several basic, necessary features of the job search. In essence, the subject you choose for you Informal Report will still be with you for the Formal Report–and that subject should be a career or position that your eventual degree will make possible.

For the Informal Report, gather information about a position for which you might be interested in applying. Learn about the duties and/or the nature of the job. Discover if certification, licenses, or experience is required. Describe the working conditions in this field. Collect information regarding typical entry-level salaries and potential for advancement.

Also collect information about one or two companies where you might apply. Investigate each company’s history, products and services, size, earnings, reputation, and number of employees. Describe the functions of an employee working in the position you have investigated. To do this, you should interview at least one person working in such a position. Devote several sections of your report to the specific tasks, functions, duties, and opinions of this person. End your report with a summary of your findings.

If, instead, you plan to start your own business or to be independently employed, conduct research into this field. Interview two individuals who are employed in your proposed occupation. What do they think are the advantages and disadvantages to operating a business in this field?

This report will require some basic library research. To the left of this page are two links that may help you: Web Resources. This will give you access to job search sites, job information sites, and academic databases. If you are not sure how to use these resources, please let me know sooner than later. I will be happy to help you.

The aim of this report is to combine the type of research many job applicants do prior to writing cover letters and going for interviews with the practical experience of effectively arranging informative, well-developed material in a professional, concise, and strongly organized manner. We will be talking about your subjects and working together through the many steps of this project. Plan ahead, budget your time, and see me if you have any questions and/or concerns.

Parole Board Project

Instructions:

Your assignment is to read the case scenario regarding the parole request of the inmate, Matthew J. Carpenter, including the assumptions already listed below. Complete each exercise, following the instructions in each of the exercises keeping in mind the material from your textbook. Use the statements in the case scenario to assist you, as an agent for the state parole board in making a decision to grant or deny a discretionary release or parole to the principle of the scenario. He is presently serving an eight (8) year sentence for residential burglary in a medium security facility, and has completed 4 years, and 6 months. You may only consider those activities Matthew has been involved in while a prisoner and the opportunities made available to him during that time. You are not to consider the crimes committed, sentences previously received or anything prior to his imprisonment as facts to determine his parole but you may use them for analysis.

You are a member of the state parole board authorized to grant discretionary release of prison inmates. You have been on the board for two (2) years along with three other parole members. You are about to hear Matthew J. Carpenter’s request for parole. Matthew is up for parole, for the second (2nd) time.

The total semester writing assignment is broken up into to four (4) distinct exercises, each labeled accordingly and scheduled in chronological date order sequentially. Each exercise has specific instructions to follow for successful completion. When asked to list your answer, they can be numbered or bulleted but MUST be in complete sentences. At any point in time during the assignment you can edit your response for whatever purpose you wish, including resubmission for a higher grade, until the assigned due date.

Case Scenario:

Matthew J. Carpenter, a male, white, age 35, has begun serving his sentence in a maximum-security facility for the first three years of his 8 year sentence. His transition into prison life was rather uneventful and quick with only a few prison rule violations. In the last 4-½ years, Matthew was placed disciplined several times. The first two times for fighting; he was involved with another inmate, who allegedly made sexual advances toward him. He received one week of administrative segregation and forfeited thirteen (13) days of good time. The second time, he had something to do with a prison gang member, but the reason was never discovered. He was placed in administrative segregation for two weeks, and seventeen (17) days of good time was removed from his record. The third time he was placed in administrative segregation after a disciplinary hearing. Immediately after a face-to-face visitation with his girlfriend, Matthew was searched and was found in possession of a small bag of cannabis and a small folding knife. He was given administrative segregation for three weeks, and lost visitation rights for three (3) months.

Matthew, who dropped out of high school after he had turned 16 years of age, blames his youthful ignorance and hanging with the wrong crowd for most of his involvement in criminal behavior and drugs. He has admitted to smoking marijuana, doing cocaine, crack and heroin through counseling efforts of peer mentoring and group therapy. He has completed several prison programs dealing with anger management and drug intervention.

Matthew has participated in many prison vocational programs, and now works in the industrial arts area of the prison four (4) days a week. He has earned enough money credits to purchase the small incidentals that he wants from the prison canteen (commissary). He was participates in the religious programs at the prison on Sunday morning in nondenominational church services. Matthew was recently moved into a medium security facility which would allow him to finish his high school diploma, and possibly begin to pursue his Associate of Arts Degree through the local community college’s Internet-based distant learning program. He has asked the superintendent of the prison school for permission, which was granted, to begin tutoring other inmates toward their general equivalence diploma.

Matthew has had several run-ins with the law while a juvenile, but was never been held in a juvenile facility. As an adult he had been arrested several times, (see below criminal history), and has served a variety of sentences.

Additional Facts of the Case:

1. Matthew J. Carpenter has a significant criminal record that has shown his personal acceptance of his criminal behavior, which has progressively escalated in nature.
2. Matthew J. Carpenter’s social service counselor reports considerable progress. There has been a significant change in his attitude evident during group and individual therapy sessions.
3. At the present time he has accumulated forty-three (43) days of good time.
4. The inmate has made steps to finish his high school diploma or general equivalence diploma (GED) through a prison educational program.
5. During individual therapy sessions with the prison counselor, Matthew has admitted to using a variety of controlled substances prior to incarceration.
6. This is the second time, Matthew is up for parole.

(These should not be included in your listed facts or assumptions for exercise #1.)

As noted, these additional facts are for the purpose of understanding the offenders general background and personal history and should be used are for analysis purposes only.

I need you to do This!!!: Exercise #1: Fact finding

Part A: Using your textbooks and classroom notes as references, identify facts from the case scenario provided relating to the parties involved in the case. List as many meaningful facts as you can uncover that may have an influence on your decision-making process at the state parole board member. The facts must relate to his time in prison, will be written in complete sentences, and numbered in a format so they are distinguishable from each other. There are more facts inside the scenario that need to be uncovered.It is extremely helpful and most advisable to use the provided scoring rubric to determine how many facts you need to identify.The six (6) given facts/assumptions listed in the case scenario should not be used in your list of facts or assumptions.

Part B: List your own additional facts/assumptions that are not specified in the scenario that you imagine will affect his overall behavior and your decision-making process.You are adding your own facts to the scenario! You can be as creative as you wish as long as it can fit into the scenario and can be included in your dispositional statement. You will have an opportunity to edit or add facts or assumptions later, if necessary.

exercise#2 establishing ideology

Identify, list and explain generically in your own words, the correctional practices used in prisons pertaining to the overall treatment, custody or well being of inmates which will later help identify the inmate, Matthew as a good or bad parole risk. The general explanation of the prison practice should be sufficient to explain the benefit to the institution along with the objective and goal of each, and what an inmate would expect to benefit from the practice also. Each practice explained should be in a separate paragraph. One or two sentences will not be sufficient in explaining the practice. At this time, only those practices Matthew has been involved in during his time in prison should be explained. Your explanation should include how the practice is beneficial to the prison institution or to prisoner in general. Do not include Matthew’s name in your explanation. Once the prison practice is identified and explained, it should be explained as to which one of the three (3) main categories of correctional ideologies of punishment, rehabilitation/treatment or prevention it is linked to. Some practices could be linked to multiple correctional ideologies. In other words, what prison programs or prison activities he/she involved in or not that will help determine a prisoner’s potential parole risk?

Example: Administrative Segregation:

Administrative segregation was formerly referred at solitary confinement. Segregation is the separation of an inmate from the general population of other inmates. Segregation of this type is used as a punishment against prison rule violator. Usually the violation is adjudicated by a disciplinary board authorized by the prison administration to hear, judge and administer punishment to prison inmates. An inmate is brought to their attention by other prison staff or other inmates. Typically the inmate is written up by a custody or staff member by the issuance of a “disciplinary ticket” alleging a specific rule violation or illegal activity. This prison practice is a form of punishment for a violation of prison rules, regulation or prison protocol. It is used to as a negative reinforcement or displeasure relying on the hedonistic calculus of Jeremy Bentham.

This practice of isolation can also be used for the well being of the inmate by separating them for their own protection, such as in suicide watches where they might do harm to themselves or others. In some cases this practice is used on prisoners who are currently on death row, and are also separated from the general population of inmates for specific reasons. (This example should be used as an example of the format each practice is recorded but this particular practice can not be used in your assignment verbatim)

Adding Prison Practices to the Story: If there is a practice that is used in prison that is not included in the scenario of Matthew, use exercise #1b to establish it by listing it as another additional fact or assumption. Once listed in #1b, it can be explained in exercise #2 in general terms and then can be used in exercise #3 relating it to Matthew.#1b: List your own additional facts/assumptions that are not specified in the scenario that you imagine will affect his overall behavior and your decision-making process.You are adding your own facts to the scenario! You can be as creative as you wish as long as it can fit into the scenario and can be included in your dispositional statement. You will have an opportunity to edit or add facts or assumptions later, if necessary.

The Scenario

Imagine you are the media relations professional for the organization you are developing the media relations plan for. One of your main tasks is to identify who in the organization will act as its spokesperson. The spokesperson must of course be willing to fulfill that role. In real-life, part of your job will be to train the spokesperson to do media interviews before she starts doing them. You want to establish a very good relationship with the spokesperson and have her email address and cell-phone handy. You should make sure that the spokesperson knows that in case of a media request, she should get back to you ASAP to confirm her availability.

Now think of a current controversial issue that is relevant to, but not about, the organization that you are developing the media relations plan for. For example, if you are working on a media relations plan for Subway, then a controversial topic relevant to the organization could be the link between eating fast food and obesity. This topic concerns your company but it is NOT directly about the company.

Imagine that you just got a call from a news organization asking to interview your spokesperson. In a real-life situation, your first task will be to contact her and confirm that she can do this interview. You must always get back to the journalist ASAP. If you don’t, the journalist will move on to another interviewee and you will lose the opportunity to get your organization in the media. Once you confirm the interview, you should get a sense from the journalist of what specific topics they would like to focus on. Your job now is to pass this information to your spokesperson and prepare her for the interview. You want to make sure she is comfortable with the types of questions that may be asked.

The Assignment- Prepping for an Interview

For this assignment, prepare an email to your spokesperson addressing the ten points below. Please number your answers 1 through 10. You are submitting the email you composed as your assignment.

1. Identify the news organization, the interviewer, the program, and the time of the interview (pick a real news organization and a real journalist from anywhere in the United States or even the world!).
2. Do some research on the news organization and the journalist’s interviewing style by looking at former interviews this journalist has done. Is there anything noteworthy about this specific journalist and his/her style? What about the news organization? What can you tell your spokesperson about this? Write a summary of your findings.
3. Let your spokesperson know how long the interview will take. Your answer to this question will depend on the medium and the specific nature of the program. This will help your client mentally prepare for the interview.
4. Research the topic of the interview. You need to be especially aware of recent developments surrounding the issue. Give your interviewee reading materials by sharing links to news stories on the topic they will be discussing. You especially want to make sure that your client knows of any recent updates on the topic.
5. Predict a list of four questions the journalist may ask based on your research on the topic.
6. Answer the list of questions by focusing on specific talking points that you think your spokesperson must touch upon during the interview.
7. Offer advice on how your spokesperson should behave during the interview given the nature of the medium (for example: if this is a TV interview, what should she wear? If this is a newspaper interview, can she go off-record)?
8. Based on what you learned from the book and from class, offer any other related media advice.
9. Offer your spokesperson the opportunity to practice the questions in person or by phone with you.

The assignment is to write a reaction essay after reading the following two academic articles:

Skarbek, et. al. on working conditions in sweatshops:

Http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1536-… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Powell and Skarbek on wages in sweatshops:

Http://www.benjaminwpowell.com/scholarly-publicati… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Questions to focus on:

1. Which economic concepts can be used to better understand sweatshops and manufacturing in the developing world?

2. How could domestic policy improve outcomes for workers in sweatshops?

3. How could domestic policy harm workers in sweatshops?

4. Do international protests help or harm sweatshop workers?

Your response should not exceed 2000 words, and should be at least 1500 words.

Extra resources:

Krugman on sweatshops: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_dismal_… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Kristof on sweatshops: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15kristo… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.