Contemporary Management

Overview
You have a friend named Morgan who works for a large organization (The precise type of organization isn’t important for this assignment. The organisation might be a service or manufacturing sector business, Government department, health or education organization, an NGO or a sporting or volunteer organization). Morgan knows you’re interested in organizations and management and that one day you fancy working as a management consultant. So, Morgan keeps you updated with what’s going on for her at work. Lately Morgan has been talking about how her organization’s managers have discovered social media. Morgan’s own boss, Wendy, who recently opened a Facebook profile, began discussing her favourite sports team in a thriving online fan community, and had started posting online reviews of goods and services she had used e.g. hotels, restaurants, and transport companies.
Today she asked Morgan directly if she thought their organization was making the most of social media technology. She wondered, in particular, if the organization should boost its use of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to connect with its stakeholders and whether the organization needed an internal social media systems such as ‘Sharepoint’, ‘Jive’ or ‘Yammer’ to enhance internal coordination.
Morgan responded by suggesting that Wendy hire a consultant to come up with some options.
‘Great idea’, Wendy replied. ‘Do you know anyone who could help? I’d prefer to keep this local if I can’.
‘Actually, I do! A friend of mine [you] is studying social media and management consulting and I’m sure they would be keen to help us out. By complete coincidence we’re having lunch together in a few minutes time. I’ll discuss it with them and report back in an hour.
‘Great! Actually let’s get this moving straight away. Why don’t you ask your friend to prepare a short report and come and see me on Friday at 10am and we’ll see what we can do’.
You meet Morgan a few minutes later in a cafe across from her office. She is quite breathless. She can’t wait to tell you what she’s done. ‘Good news’, she exclaims. ‘I’ve got you a consulting gig!’
‘What!’
‘This could be your big break!’
You explain to Morgan that you are no expert on social media and management consulting. What you have been doing is studying these topics as part of a Massey university paper called ‘Contemporary Management’. Undeterred, Morgan convinces you to take up Wendy’s offer and prepare a report for a meeting with her on Friday. Somewhat daunted by the offer you agree to meet with Wendy but explain to Morgan that it will be a critical analysis of popular management knowledge of social media.

What to do:
1. Download a copy of the Assignment Coversheet (from the stream site) and make this the last page of your assignment.
2. Complete the details on the coversheet.
3. Give your file a name that includes the paper number, your name and the assignment
number e.g. ‘152200_Assign_1_Jo_Sixpack.doc’.
4. Consult the OWLLwebsite for details on using report format:

http://owll.massey.ac.nz/assignment-types/what-is-a-business-report.php

5. Write either an inductive or deductive report in response to the above scenario:

http://owll.massey.ac.nz/assignment-types/inductive-vs-deductive-reports.php

6. Identify two sources (choose one source from each list below) of popular management knowledge that address the use of social media technologies.
7. Provide a critical analysis of these two sources using the categories of critical analysis proposed by Mingers (2000).
8. Conclude your report with recommendations as to how Wendy and Morgan’s organization might go about improving its use of social media and popular management knowledge. This assignment is to be no more than 1500 words (1500 word MAX).
9. Submit the assignment to the paper’s Assignment Two Stream page by 11:59pm May 15.
Your report should include:
? A clear description of the two sources of popular knowledge/advice you have chosen.
? A critical analysis of the advice found in the resources you have chosen.
? A comparative discussion between the resources you have chosen.
? A clear set of conclusions plus separate recommendations for the organization based on
your analysis on the popular advice on social media technologies.
? Clear, direct, engaging, provocative, illuminating and easy to understand prose.
Remember the report is for an audience of team members some of whom will have
limited interest in this topic.
? Note: The aim here is not to tell the organization what to do, but to offer an analysis of
advice on the topic to help inform the teams thinking and discussion on the topic.