Memorandum

To: Miss Jennie Enger

From: Joseph Laber JL

RE: Unit 4 Individual Project Proposal

Date: December 1, 2010

____________

The project I have chosen to do for my unit 4 assignment will be a memo to

my employer Justin Turnquist. I will be offering solutions to a business’
operations that are significantly beneficial. In this document I will summarize
the project, state my objective, explain my methods, give you a timeline on
my actions, and supply you with a means of critiquing.

In order to become an effective business owner I must practice finding more

efficient ways of conducting business. I am currently employed by Cold Stone
Creamery and we own a concession booth in the Fargodome. My
responsibility as a manager is to help facilitate all of the events held at the
Fargodome in which Cold Stone is in involved in. These events pose a
problem that is kind of tricky. Working at the Cold Stone booth in the
Fargodome has its slow times and its busy times. Busy times occur during
intermissions, halftime, or any time there is a break in the event. This offers
us very little time, typically about 20-30 minutes, to dish out the ice cream
and serve as many people as possible. The problem is that we can’t get the
people through the line fast enough consequently losing business. There are
numerous factors that affect this problem and can be changed, but those will
be explained later in the project.

My project is going to be a text heavy memo that will hopefully be around 3-

5 pages long. I plan on submitting it via blackboard by 5:00 pm Friday
December 23rd. I will be offering my ideas to Justin Turnquist, the owner of
both stores in town, in memo format. The form of preliminary research I will
be using is my past experience with similar dealings. Not only have I been
responsible for the Fargodome events, I also facilitate events for different
stores at fairs, festivals, and racing events. I therefore consider myself
knowledgeable, credible, and qualified to offer my ideas. I will be offering
visual aid in the form of a table that summarizes the causal factors and the
effects. My text will begin with explaining the problem at hand. I will then
write on the factors that appear to aid the problem. After that I will include
recommendations and link them to the previous section. My primary sources
will come from an interview of my co worker Andrew Peterson as well as my
last boss; a business owner who partake in similar events. I know these
people personally and am able to contact them any time by phone.

The objective of this assignment is to eliminate the time it takes for

customers to get through the line. My primary objective is to begin thinking
more like a business owner and understanding how my actions can affect a
business.

The methods I will take to accomplish this problem are pretty straight
forward. Through past experience at events, I will establish the causal factors
of the problem and brainstorm for ideas that could eliminate the problem. I
will also discuss with my co-workers if they feel as if these ideas could prove
beneficial.

This next section will include a timeline of the actions I will take in
completing this project in addition to criteria the report should be graded on.

Tasks
Submit Proposal

Brainstorm for solution; identify

causal factors.

Preliminary Research

Begin constructing final report

Submit Progress Report

Test ideas at actual event and

acquire results

Continue constructing final report

Submit Final Report

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Evaluation Criteria:
Grading Rubric ____/100
Organization
(30 pts) Information is organized in a fashion that is clear and defined.
(20 pts) Information is organized in a clear and somewhat definable fashion
(10 pts) Information is somewhat clear and is difficult to locate
(5 pts) Information appears as if there is no organizational structure

Proofreading

(30 pts) Error-Free

(20 pts) 1-3 minor errors
(10 pts) 1-3 major errors or more than 3 minor errors
(5 pts) Many grammatical and punctuation errors

All or Nothing

(10 pts) Includes a minimum of 3 external sources

(10 pts) Minimum of 2 visual aids that are applicable
(10 pts) The objective is understandable
(10 pts) Content applicable in similar business environments

References

Jeanette Justin (2010, Dec. 2) Telephone Interview

Andrew Peterson (2010, Nov. 24) Personal Interview

Justin Turnquist (2010, Nov. 24) Personal Interview

I will also include reference to my workbook!!!