book writing assignment “the making of a manager” by julie zhuo

Helpful link 

The Making of a Manager – Summary and Insights

https://benjamintravis.com/blog/manager
Book: The making of a manager by julie zhou 
+I also attached the powerpoint for 4 theory in the book+
As a manager, you often need to analyze the ideas of others as well as effectively convey your own thoughts and insights.  Managers also need to stay current with management approaches and literature.  This “book club” assignment provides you the opportunity to expand your management horizon and sharpen your critical thinking and communication skills.  As the capstone assignment for our semester, this is also your opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of, and ability to apply, many of the key concepts we’ve addressed this semester.

During Module 4, you’ll be asked to share with members of your reading group in the Module 4 discussion the key insights you gained from this book, your overall comments about the book, questions you might have, etc.   Those discussions are designed to help expand your understanding, share ideas, and learn from your classmates.  You will also need to incorporate what you learned from those discussions into your written Module 4 assignment. 

Carefully proofread your Module 4 written assignment (formatted as a Word document) prior to submitting it on Canvas.  While writing styles vary, most students will need 2500-3500 words (typically 4-5 single-spaced typewritten pages) to fully address all the required aspects with the expected level of depth required for this assignment. Your grade on this assignment will be determined by the content, organization, originality, and clarity of your writing.  Note: this  capstone assignment has a different format than your prior assignments.

To help clarify expectations of what I’ll be looking for in your Module 4 assignment I strongly encourage you to refer to the grading guidelines listed below and this grading sheet  downloadthat I’ll use.   If you have questions, let me know. 

Your Module 4 ” book club” written assignment will be graded according to the following guidelines:

Proper use of titles and section headings (worth 5 points)
An opening executive summary paragraph that highlights the main points of your overall analysis (worth 10 points).   Note:  this executive summary should not “preview” what you will be covering in your paper, but instead, concisely state the key points of your analysis (and then the rest of your paper will provide more expanded discussion of each of those key points).  See the example below for additional guidance on how to write an effective executive summary.
Brief discussion of the author’s purpose and intended audience for the book (what is the overarching message the author wants to convey to the reader, and who does the author hope reads and gains value from the book?)   (worth 5 points)
Analysis of how the book relates to the field of management and how well the author’s main arguments fit 4 of the specific theories and/or management concepts discussed in your textbook. (worth 40 points)  This is a very important part of your analysis, as it will demonstrate to me your understanding of, and ability to apply, the theories and concepts we’ve covered this month. You will likely identify lots more than specific 4 connections while you are reading your book…but for purposes of this assignment, choose 4 and provide  in-depth, well supported analysis of those aspects…don’t just offer a cursory overview of 10 connections without any real substance or depth 
 Discussion of your personal reaction to the book, how your reactions and insights were similar to (or different from) your classmates, and what you learned from discussing the book with your classmates (worth 15 points)
Discussion of the connections you see between the author’s main ideas and what you learned from each of the managers you interviewed for the Module 3 assignment (worth 15 points)
 Concluding paragraph that offers closure to the reader and re-affirms the key ideas of your overall analysis  (worth 5 points)
Overall quality/clarity of writing that reflects careful proofreading and minimal (if any) errors in spelling, grammar, and sentence structure  (worth 5 points)
 

Tips for Writing an Effective Executive Summary:  In the U.S. business community, readers of reports, memos, etc. expect to be able to quickly identify the writer’s key points.  So an executive summary is a critical part of any business writing, and may be structured differently from the writing style you’re most accustomed to using.  This executive summary (which should be the first paragraph of your paper) should clearly and concisely highlight all the key arguments of your paper, so that if a person only read this paragraph, he/she would understand all your key points.   Do not make this a “preview paragraph” — that is, do not write it like this: “first I will tell you about the author’s main ideas, then I’ll tell you about how some of those ideas connect to the theories in the textbook, then I’ll finish by telling you what I thought about the book and what I learned from discussing the book with my classmates”.   In the world of business, we are impatient readers who don’t want suspense…so that ‘preview’ approach offers no real value to the business reader.  Instead, structure your opening paragraph to offer real value to the reader and convey your own ‘voice’, providing something like: “Initially I dreaded having to read The First Time Manager as I expected it to be a dull book, with little practical value.  Instead, the author’s key arguments were interesting, practical, and helped me better understand the theories and concepts in the textbook.  By offering real life examples of active listening, situational leadership theory, and much more, the authors of First Time Manager confirmed the challenge of trying to effectively motivate and lead others.  Discussing the book with my classmates also helped highlight the need for a manager to be self-aware and open to continuous improvement.  My initial dread of reading the book has turned into motivation for putting into practice the advice provided by the authors.  I also have a new-found appreciation for the challenges managers face, and a desire to strengthen my own managerial capabilities.”   That type of opening paragraph provides a brief summary of your main insights and hopefully entices the reader to want to read more about each of those key insights.   While this opening summary paragraph should be the first part of your finished paper, you’ll find it much easier if you actually write this summary AFTER you’ve written the rest of the paper.