MGTS7610 Management Communication (S1, 2025)
Assessment task 1: Business writing portfolio
1. How much does this task contribute to my final grade?
This task is worth 40% of your final grade:
• Email + Critical Reflection = 12%
• Letter + Critical Reflection = 13%
• Media release + Critical Reflection = 15%
2. When is this task due?
• Late submissions will receive a 10% penalty per day (or part day) .
• IT problems are NOT an acceptable reason for submitting work late.
• To avoid late penalties, don’twait until the last minute to submit your work.
• Your work will not be graded if it is more than 7 days late.
3. How do I submit this assignment?
• Go to the MGTS7610 Blackboard site and click “Assessment” in the left-hand menu.
• Go to the folder for “Assessment 1 – Business Writing Mini-Portfolio” .
• Inside this folder, you will find a Turnitin submission link – Click “View/Complete” .
• Followthese instructionsto upload your assignment.
• Check it has been uploaded correctly and download your digital receipt.
4. What should I do if I am sick and can’t submit the assignment on time?
• You may be able to get an “extension” (that is, a later due date) if you are sick or have anotheracceptable reason.
• To obtain an extension, you MUST
o apply onlinebefore the due date, and
o provide thenecessary documentation .
• The UQ Business School Examinations Team is responsible for all extensions.
• Do NOT ask course staff for an extension.
5. Can I use AI for this assignment?
• You MAY use AI when preparing this assignment, including:
o ChatGPT and other generative AI tools
o Grammarly and other online grammar checkers
o DEEPL and other translation tools.
• You MUST
a) declare your use / non-use of AI on the assignment cover sheet.
b) submit a full transcript (e.g., screenshots) of ALL your interactions with AI.
Hyperlinks to the online tools you used are NOT sufficient.
Summaries of your AI interactions are NOT sufficient.
c) discuss your use/non-use of AI in your Critical Reflection.
If you don’t do (a) – (c) above, the maximum grade you can earn for this assignment is 4/7.
Course staff will NOT chase up missing AI-documentation.
• Failure to document your AI use may constitute student misconduct under UQ’s Student Code of Conduct.
6. What do I have to do?
Imagine you are the Communications Director for a (fictional) not-for-profit organisation
HealthyMeals that promotes a healthy eating.
Your job is to communicate on behalf of the Executive Director of HealthyMeals, in response to three separate situations. [see sections #7 - #9 below for more detail]
Then, you need to use the MGTS7610 Online Learning Modules to explain and reflect critically on your own writing (describing and evaluating your writing choices). [see section #10 below for more detail]
• Do NOT change the assignment question. Submissions that don’t follow these instructions will not be graded.
• Do NOT copy wording directly from the Assignment Instructions or other sources.
• Acknowledge ALL of your information sources in a single “Reference List” at the end of your submission.
7. All staff email - approximately one page
Write an email to all HealthyMeals employees (copy in the CEO separately), advising them that all senior managers and staff are required to complete new Indigenous Awareness training.
• Senior managers must complete a 2- hour “Break the Bias Program.”
• All other staff must complete a 4 hour “Beyond Diversity” program.
You can find more information about both programs onthis website.
NOTES:
• Follow the business email format outlined inShirley Taylor’s 2012 Model Business Letters, Emails and other Business Documents.
• Use these email addresses:
o for all managers and staff:
[email protected]
o for the CEO: [email protected]
• You may invent any other necessary
information, including the dates, times and locations of both training programs.
8. Letter - approximately one page
On behalf of your CEO, write a formal
complaint letter to the CEO of one of your
supplier companies, Office Printing Solutions (OPS).
OPS provides printing hardware and support
services to HealthyMeals. However, the quality and reliability of OPS’s support services has declined in recent months.
You can find information about managing relationships with suppliers here.
NOTES:
• Follow the business letter format outlined inShirley Taylor’s 2012 Model Business Letters, Emails and other Business Documents.
o Summarise the background to your company’s complaint.
o Politely propose a fair and mutually agreeable solution.
o Maintain a positive relationship between HealthyMeals and OPS.
• Use the assignment due date as the date of your letter.
• Use these contact details for the two CEOs:
|
Ms Simone Bradshaw Chief Executive Officer
HealthyMeals
45 Edwards Street Brisbane QLD 4000
[email protected]
|
Mr Omar Shetlani Chief Executive
Officer
Office Printing Solutions
63 Elizabeth Street Brisbane QLD 4000
[email protected]
|
• You may invent any other necessary information.
9. Media release - approximately one page
HealthyMeals is collaborating six Australian universities to provide a new healthy eating support service for international students.
You need to prepare a “new product” media release that could be published (without
alteration) on the HealthyMeals website, university websites, and by mainstream Australian newspapers.
NOTES:
• Follow the Media Release format taught in Week 4.
• Your media release should NOT sound like an advertisement.
• Include at least one quotation from the HealthyMeals CEO, expressing
excitement about the partnership with Australian universities AND/OR
describing the new support service.
• Include at least one quotation from the
University of Queensland Vice
Chancellor, Professor Deborah Terry,
explaining why she is happy to be part of this collaboration.
• You may invent any other necessary information.
10. Critical Reflection - approximately one
page for each reflection
To become an effective communicator, you need to think critically about your own writing and understand how your audience is likely to react to it. Small details – such as the
order in which you present information and which verbs you choose – can make a lot of difference.
This part of the assessment task asks you to think critically about the Email, Letter and
Media Release you have written and to
explain the writing choices you made when preparing them.
NOTES:
• Use the course OLMs to explain your writing techniques / decisions.
• Do NOT discuss the content of your Email, Letter and Media Release.
Focus on your use of specific linguistic features.
• Use / adapt the structure outlined in
the “Critical Reflection Writing Guide” available on Blackboard in the Week 5 OLM.
• Do NOT use bullet points. Use what you have learned about sentence structure and clear writing (Week 3) to write in
complete sentences and paragraphs.
• Use the first-person pronoun (“I”) with active verbs, e.g.,
— I began my email with … because …
— I wanted my audience to … So, I chose the words … .
— As explained in the Week 7 Online Learning Module, I …
— I used the online Merriam-Webster dictionary to check the spelling of … The advantages of this tool are …
The disadvantages are …
— I altered the media release generated by ChatGPT by … because …
11. What do I need to include in this
assignment?
Your assignment MUST include the following items, in this order:
1) MGTS7610 A1 cover sheet [available on Blackboard]. Please indicate if you used AI and sign the cover sheet.
2) Email
3) Critical Reflection on your Email
4) Letter
5) Critical reflection on your Letter
6) Media release
7) Critical Reflection on your Media Release
8) Reference List – include ALL of the
sources you used when preparing the above documents.
9) AI transcript. – if you used any form of AI, you MUST include a full transcript
showing ALL of your interactions with AI.
12. How should I format this assignment?
• Your assignment MUST be submitted as a single pdf file.
o The most recent file submitted before the deadline will be graded.
o If you submit a WORD (or similar) document, the formatting may be messed up during the submission process and you may lose marks.
• Follow this style guide when
formatting your Email, Letter, Media Release and Critical Reflection:
o Each Item (#7 - #10) should be approximately one page.
o The Reference List and AI-transcript can be any length.
o Start a new page for each item (using a page break is ideal)
o Use “normal”margins(“normal” is the default for all new documents in
Microsoft Word)
o Use 11pt Calibri font
o Use the following line-spacing:
Letter & Reference List: single line-spacing
Email, Media Release &
Critical Reflections: use 1.5 line-spacing.
o Insert clear spacin gbetween paragraphs.
o Format the Reference List using APA 7th style.