MBA Assignment Question No.1

Poorly written rejection letters can be detrimental to your organisation’s image. What will you bear in your mind while drafting a rejection letter to a job applicant?

Suggested answer of the MBA Assignment

Generally, the recruitment process involves finding the candidate with the best skills, experience, and personality to fit the job.  It requires a series of collecting and reviewing resumes, conducting job interviews, and finally selecting and on boarding an employee to start working for the organization.

In fact, probably only looking to hire one person.  And, once we have determined who the successful candidate is, you will need to send all the other applicants an employment rejection letter(s).

Every applicant is potentially a future employee, colleague, or customer. Sending a job application rejection letter is a courteous gesture that signals respect and consideration, and will go a long way toward building and maintaining your company’s reputation, both as an employer and as a business.

As counterintuitive as it may seem, sending the applicants rejection letter to let them know that they are no longer in the running for the position advertised is actually a time-saver in disguise.  While it will take time to write and personalize each employment rejection letter, each letter also will reduce the number of follow-up calls, emails, and letters you will likely receive if you just leave you job application hanging.

One frequent scenario employers’ face is having to reject an applicant who has the potential to be an individual addition to their staff at some future point, when the right job opening comes up. The applicant rejection letter helps to maintain good relations with such potential future employees, and increase the changes that they will apply again when that “right” position in your company opens up.

While writing a rejection letter to a job applicant, definitely is reflects the image of the company, so the follow points to be keep in mind:

Be courteous and gracious: While the tone of letter should be business like, the formal nature of the letter shouldn’t deter from being polite and considerate.  For example, if you met with the candidate in person or interviewed them on the phone, you can strike a gracious note with an opening such as “It was a pleasure speaking/ meeting with you…”

Personalization is a good thing: By adding details such as the day you met or spoke with the applicant, you can customize the rejection letter so the recipient doesn’t feel as if they are on the receiving end of a form rejection.

Tone down the negative language: While it might be second nature to say something along the lines of “we are sorry to inform you,” the use of this kind of negative language imparts a discouraging tone to your letter.  Instead, try to frame the rejection in a more positive light by, for example, emphasizing that there were a number of qualified applicants for the position.

Be timely: When you’re faced with a crushing load of applicants, it can be tempting to put off writing rejection letters until some nebulous future date down the road when you have the time.  But, as every small business owner knows, “having the time” is a rare situation to be in. Communicating with applications in a timely way will go a long way toward preserving your company’s reputation.

Follow your company’s recruitment procedures:  If your business has policies or procedures already established for turning down job applicants, you should follow these procedures consistently for all applicants.  This will help prevent the likelihood of a disgruntled applicant’s challenge your process and claiming that you have been unfair by dealing with other applicants in a different way.

MBA Assignment Question No.2

You are entrusted with the responsibility to train a fresh batch of Graduate Trainees that have joined your organisation on ethical behaviour. Highlight the differences between ethical dilemma and ethical lapse citing 2 examples of each. In the absence of a clear set of guidelines, what should the trainees bear in mind to ensure they make ethical communication choices?    

Suggested answer of the MBA Assignment

I will handle the Graduate trainees by introducing the ethics concept and its behaviour in the organisation, as follows:

Organizational ethics express the values of an organization to its employees and/or other entities irrespective of Governmental and / or regulatory laws.  Ethics are the principles and values by an individual to govern their actions and decisions.

Example of ethical behaviours in the workplace includes; obeying the company’s rules, effective communication, taking responsibility, accountability, professionalism, trust and mutual respect for your colleagues at work.  These examples of ethical behaviours ensures maximum productivity output at work.

Ethics are principles of conduct within a society and strongly apply to business settings as well. Violation of ethics by companies is carefully observed by Government regulators and the public, both challenging a company’s reputation.

Ethical dilemma and Ethical lapse:  Ethical lapses are often confused with ethical dilemmas! In application, these are two very different things.  An ethical lapse is a failure to behave in an ethical way in some specific situation, while an ethical dilemma is a situation in which no good ethical choice or decision is possible.  

An ethical dilemma is a situation where ethical decision, making involves making a choice between alternatives that are not obvious or evident, usually in a gray area between ethically right and wrong. In an ethical dilemma, choices are blurred, and outcomes may result in unfair consequences to one or perhaps all the stakeholders involved.  This may occur in cases of competitive interests, such as in a firm, employees seek higher compensation and benefits while its investors and management want to maintain lower costs, with both having a valid ethical position.  When placed into an ethical dilemma in business contexts, the decision-maker has to rely on procedure or policy to come to a resolution.  These may be rigid and result in seemingly unfair outcomes.

Ethical dilemmas can be extremely complicated sometimes, with neither decision being ethically correct. 

For example, if a business finds out that an organization in its supply chain uses child labour, it logically and legally may have to either find another supplier or demand to stop using child labour.  However, this may result in loss of the only income and source of food for the child and their family, leading to greater poverty or starvation.

Such ethical dilemmas are inherently challenging.  Ethical dilemmas can be solved in one of three ways.  One can refute the paradox and after careful analysis, logically refute the dilemma.  A value theory approach can be applied by determining which solution is essentially the ‘lesser evil’ and can offer the greater good.  In some cases, as well the dilemma can be reconsidered and lead to the rise of alternative solutions.

An ethical lapse can be viewed in two ways, as either a clearly unethical decision or a mistake that resulted in an unethical outcome –either way it is a decision which is unethical.  An ethical lapse can be an error in judgement made during an ethical dilemma as well.  Therefore, an ethical lapse is not necessarily a characteristic of complete lack of integrity, but rather can be viewed as an ethical ‘blind spot’ or oversight.  Ethical lapses can be classified in several categories.  A lapse from subjectivity occurs when an unethical action is allowed due to the fact that morality cannot be defined –such is in more minute aspects where personal ethical codes differ from person to person.  There is also a lapse of conscience where an individual goes against something, they know to be unethical, potentially as a result of carelessness or an attempt to gain something.

An important ethical lapse is the authority fallacy which results in an unethical action because it has not been deemed unethical by a notable authority. 

For example, decisions in business are often defined by corporate codes.  If the action is not listed as wrong in such policies, people may choose to act unethically due to this fallacy.  Ethical lapse are commonly seen as individual and rare errors.  When an individual or company routinely causes harm, it is no longer just an ethical ‘lapse’ but an exemplification of unethical standards.

Ethics are fundamental in business and life situations as they guide competent decision-making.  In many cases, decisions involving ethics can have profound consequences on stakeholders as well as the legal liability or public reputation of a company.  Business decision-making must also rely on ethical standards due to the evident trickle-down effect to a firm’s employees, supply chains, and consumers.  In the current business and social climate, companies that are transparent and prioritize ethical business practices, which ultimately encompasses these ethical dilemmas, are commonly widely supported and can find success.

MBA Assignment Question No.3  

Nishka is creating the content for the FAQ section of her Organisation’s website. Based on the client feedback, there is one important issue that needs to be addressed. She needs to develop a powerful paragraph providing a solution to this recurring issue. As a communication expert, you have to guide Nishka to write the answer to such issues effectively.

MBA Assignment Question 3 (a)

Briefly explain to Nishka, the five ways in which paragraphs can be developed.    

Suggested answer No. 3(a) of the MBA Assignment

There are many different ways to organize a paragraph. The organization you choose will depend on the controlling idea/issue of the paragraph. 

I will explain to Nishka that what else should she keep in mind as she begin to create paragraphs?  Every paragraph in a paper should be:

• Unified: All of the sentences in a single paragraph should be related to single controlling idea.
• Clearly related to the issue:  The sentences should all refer to the central idea / issue, of the paper.
• Coherent: The sentences should be arranged in a logical manner and should follow a finite plan for development.
• Well –developed: Every idea discussed in the paragraph should be adequately explained and supported through evidence and details that work together to explain the paragraph’s controlling idea.

Most probably common ways for developing paragraph:

Step -1: Decide on a guiding idea/issue for the paragraph and create a topic sentence

Step -2: Explain the guiding idea

Step -3: Give an example (or multiple examples)

Step -4: Explain the example(s)

Step -5: Complete the paragraph’s idea draw a conclusion.

And also make Nishka aware of that survey results only 43% of respondents are satisfied with refunds. And 50% said they enjoyed the feedback that involved an apology, empathy, or other compensation unrelated to money.  Unsurprisingly, 60% stated that they were happier when received both.

MBA Assignment Question 3 (b)

Develop a well-structured paragraph of 4-5 sentences to resolve the customer issue employing the problem and solution technique.      

Suggested answer for question No.3 (b) of the MBA Assignment

Can effectively break down the problem-solving process with your team:

• Identify the problem that needs to be solved. One of the easiest ways to identify a problem is to ask questions.
• Brainstorm multiple solutions.
• Define the solution.
• Implement the solution.

For example:

A customer is demanding a phone call to solve their issue, but you don’t offer phone support and / or aren’t able to call them. They may be threatening to escalate above you or cancel altogether.

Reply:

We understand your frustration. We really appreciate your help if you can provide your email id, we will help you and we know it is stressful when you’re stuck like this. We are really sorry for the inconvenience caused to you and we will rectify the problem whatever you faced in website and we are assure you it will not repeat to you and the other customer of us.