SMO 430, Lecture A1 – Fall Term 2018 Introduction to Small Business Management
Instructor: Darryl Lesiuk, Alberta MBA Technology Commercialization
Class Time: Tuesday and Thursday 12:30 pm – 1:50 pm from September 4th, 2018 to December 6th, 2018, no class September 6th, 2018, and November 13th, 2018
& November 15th, 2018 – Fall Reading Week.
Classroom: BUS B - 9 Office: TBC
Office Hours: By appointment Telephone: 780.441.1573
Email: [email protected]
Course Description
This course is for students who are interested in starting and/or managing a small business enterprise, have started a venture and want to improve their managerial skills and/or interested in gaining exposure to how to manage a small business enterprise.
Focus is specifically on issues related to the establishment of small business enterprises and particular issues related to managing them. This course employs the knowledge already acquired in the Undergraduate Program disciplines (OA, Marketing, Finance, Accounting, etc.) and applies it to case analysis and to the study of existing small businesses in Alberta.
Students should be prepared to visit small business sites and to prepare case analyses of their management systems.
Four all-encompassing themes will be emphasized throughout the course:
1. Every business, large or small, operates within a framework of ethical standards.
Those standards have an impact on all types of decisions business managers make.
2. Managers of small businesses typically have an abundance of responsibilities, yet a scarcity of resources.
3. The problems facing managers of small businesses don’t tend to come in clearly defined and strategically isolated packages.
4. The decision to become a manager of a small business is as much a personal decision as it is a decision based upon opportunities. Small business ownership and management is not for everyone.
Throughout the term, each student will have numerous opportunities to apply and integrate the knowledge already acquired in other courses in the functional areas of business
DEPARTMENT OF STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATION
administration. By the end of this course, a student should be able to answer the following three questions about small business management:
• What do managers of small businesses do?
• What are some of the characteristics of effective managers of small businesses and their firms?
• Does the management of a small business appeal to me as a career option?
Throughout the term, the Instructor will assign short practical cases for each team to evaluate and for which to provide an analysis and recommended solution or corrective action to the issue or issues identified. Contributions to these discussions will impact each student’s Participation grade.
Maximum benefit of this course is the result of preparing for and attending all classes, active participation in discussions, full commitment to the team, and performing assigned tasks to meet and exceed team and classmate expectations.
Course Objectives
This introductory course in small business management has three basic objectives:
1. To guide students in discovering what it would be like to be a manager of a small business – to develop a thorough understanding of the rewards and risks of small business management, the diversity of small enterprises, and the unique responsibilities, challenges, and pressures associated with the management of such businesses.
2. To provide students with a supportive environment for exploring whether each has the determination, temperament, and abilities to become a manager of a small business.
3. To help students build some of the required skills of effective small business managers. These skills include the ability to develop creative business solutions in light of resource constraints, the ability to both assume and delegate responsibility, and the ability to influence others.
The course has three supplementary objectives that are more general in nature but which will assist students to prepare for their future careers:
1. To provide students with a high degree of awareness of the ethical problems and pitfalls in businesses of all sizes. The course also will assist students to recognize those challenges, develop strategies with which to deal with them and to provide corporate and community leadership in this critical area of decision-making.
2. To provide each student with the challenge of functioning effectively as a team member, in a simulated real-work environment with a project focus.
3. To assist students to improve their communication skills – both oral and verbal, by the use, in part, of the case method of teaching whereby students are encouraged to participate in classroom discussions or debates and by requiring individual and team- prepared reports. Failure by a student or a team to use proper English grammar,
punctuation, spelling and composition will result in a lower grade for the paper than would otherwise be earned on a well presented report of equal academic content.
NOTE: Issues related specifically to business planning and start-ups are not covered in this course. Those interested in these topics should enroll in SMO 431 (New Venture Creation).
Required Materials
Small Business Management: Launching and Growing New Ventures, 6th Canadian Edition, Longenecker, Donlevy, and Champion.
Recommended/Optional Text
Building a Dream, Eleventh Edition, Good, W.S.
Library Resources:
The University of Alberta Winspear Library has a wealth of material, printed and electronic, that should be accessed to provide background material for your BCC and other assignments throughout the course.
Course Evaluation
Students will be assessed based upon their performance in class and in carrying out the following assignments:
Individual Effort:
Class Participation 20%
Final Examination – Take home 20%
Sub-total Individual 40%
Small Business Management Team Effort*:
Project Plan for Business Challenge Case (BCC) 10%
Lessons Learned Presentation 10%
Oral Presentation of BCC 20%
BCC Report 20%
* Impacted by Peer/Team member assessment 60%
100%
Assignments
All hand-in assignments must be submitted on the due and in soft copy format via email to instructor at [email protected]. The deadline is by the beginning of class (i.e., 12:30 pm) on the due date listed in the course outline below for each assignment regardless if the class is held.
Individual Participation
Students must actively participate in all classroom discussions. Participation grades will be awarded on two criteria. The first is attendance. Unexcused absences will lower the Individual Participation mark. One mark will be deducted for each class a student misses without a valid written excuse, up to the maximum marks allocated to Individual Participation.
The use of notebooks and other electronic devices during class time is permitted ONLY for class material and relevant research. All electronic communication devices are to be TURNED OFF during class. Failure to respect this requirement may result in an offending student being asked to leave the classroom for the remainder of the class. Violations will lower a student’s class participation mark, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.
Subject to the above deductions for unexcused absences, participation marks will be awarded based on the quality and quantity of the student’s contribution to the class discussion.
Examples of participation include raising an important point during the class discussion, participating in a dialogue with the instructor during class, asking a question of a guest speaker or a critical evaluation of the business plan presented by another team.
All students are required to bring and utilize a “tent” type of Name Card to each class, with their first name clearly displayed on it.
Teams
The instructor will divide the class into a number of Small Business Management Teams, which will become focal points for discussions and project work. Each team will simulate a real-life work team similar to those in a typical business. An attempt will be made to ensure that members of each team have diverse backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses, academic interests and personal characteristics to ensure that there will be a wide variety of opinions, academic training and perspectives within teams.
The instructor reserves the right to determine the membership within each team but student initiatives on team membership are welcome. Teams should have no more than six members and no fewer than four members. An effort will be made to equalize the size of teams, where possible.
To support this process the students will complete and submit the Small Business Management Team Membership Recommendation form (below) to the instructor.
Evaluation Criteria Class Participation
Given the intensive course material is it critical to your successful completion of the course that you attend and participate in the each class. Your active participation is very important to the learning process of this course. The evaluation of your participation will include your level of preparation and the quality of your contributions, questions, and insights. This component has been weighted rather heavily for three key reasons:
1. This course adopts a “learning by doing” approach. It is important that each student is motivated to actively participate in class exercises – and be rewarded for doing so.
2. Effective small business managers require persuasive oral presentation skills for use in sales, negotiations and overall business management. It is equally important that a student is rewarded for building communication skills through actively contributing to class discussions.
3. The entrepreneurial side of small business management is about taking risks and learning from mistakes. Although it is difficult to simulate the financial risks of small business ownership, the instructor can simulate the psychological ones by asking students to “take a risk” by volunteering to participate in class exercises and discussions.
Final Examination – Take home
A Final Examination will be distributed at the last class of the term and will cover all readings, class presentations and discussions throughout the term. The examination will cover a combination of material from the assigned text and any other material presented, including Team Presentations. However, the examination will not reference any specific student presentation or company with which a team worked throughout the term. The Examination is due by 12 noon December 10th, 2018 and must be submitted by e-mail to the instructor at [email protected].
Students are encouraged to consider the examination as if it was a “real business assignment”, with the student acting as an outside objective consultant. Students are encouraged to meet with their team members to discuss the examination questions and to “brain storm” solutions and responses. In addition, any other resources may be drawn upon to assist in the preparation of responses to the examination questions.
All papers, however, must be the work of the individual student identified as the author on the paper. Note that the Final Examination has the option of being an Individual Assignment.
The ONLY EXCEPTION to this requirement is that, if some or all members of a team agree on every aspect of their answer to a question on the final examination, they may prepare a single response on behalf of all participating Members and submit it by e-mail to the Instructor, clearly identifying the authors on the paper. If some or all members of a team agree on all answers to the final examination questions, they may submit a single final exam.
Each participating member of the team will receive the same grade on the Final Examination.
Small Business Management Team Assignments
Developing and Analyzing a Business Challenge Case (BCC) – An Overview
To further a student’s exploration of what it is that managers of small businesses do and whether this is something that he or she would like to do in the future, the team project assignment sends students “out into the field” to investigate a small business of their own choosing.
Each team’s task is to find an owner of a small business who is willing to provide the team with details on a business challenge that his or her firm is currently experiencing.
It will be up to each team to discover why the owner perceives the event or challenge to be of serious concern to the business. It is important for each team to select a firm with a challenge that is serious and relatively broadly based: one that is affecting or will affect the business and that may require changes in more than one of the functional areas of the business (e.g., operations, marketing, human resources, etc.). Each team will be responsible for developing and analyzing its own Business Challenge Case study for its selected small business.
In developing the Business Challenge Case study, each team will describe the company’s major products or services, its operating environment, its overall strategy and its owner’s objectives. If possible, it should also provide non-confidential information on the firm’s past and current performance. The team will then outline the critical event or challenge and explain why the owner perceives it to be a major concern.
When analyzing the case, your team will diagnose the background factors contributing to the development of the challenge and identify the strengths and weaknesses of the firm’s current response in light of available resources and constraints.
It is expected that each team will undertake focused, relevant research during the case study in order to more fully understand the nature of the challenge, gain an appreciation of the operating environment of the business and to facilitate a practical formulation of a recommended solution. This research should utilize the resources of the University of Alberta Libraries. It should also include interviews with knowledgeable individuals from the business being reviewed and from outside of the business. Each team is to offer suggestions for resolving the on-going challenge and provide well-researched support for the recommendations. If the business has responded effectively to the challenge, the team is to recommend subsequent steps or decisions to be taken to ensure that the response continues to be effective. Again, recommendations must be supported by research.
The BCC is NOT to be merely a descriptive essay about the selected business and the challenge or challenges it faces. The project is focused on gathering the facts, analyzing the challenges and all relevant aspects of the business, conducting extensive research, considering the alternative solutions and presenting logical, supported recommendations.
This Business Challenge Case has three team components and one individual member component:
1. Team Components:
a. Project Plan b. Oral Presentation c. Written Report
2. Individual Member: Peer – Assessment of each Member’s Individual Performance
BCC Project Plan (5 to 7 pages in length)
1. Each team is to prepare a Project Plan for the Business Challenge Case study. This assignment “sets the stage” for the team work and is designed to help demonstrate the value of planning, effective delegation, teamwork and time management. The Project Plan should include an identification of the company, a brief description of its business and its operations, a discussion of the nature of the business challenge to be studied and the relevance that the selected challenge has to the business. The Project Plan should not include any specific analysis of the selected company’s challenge.
2. Each team is to identify the Challenge Case study goals for the members of the team and for the company. Identify how the goals are to be achieved. The project, to be successful, has to be a ‘win – win” for both the students and the company managers contributing their time and efforts to addressing the selected challenge.
3. Each team must develop their own performance appraisal criteria and the weight of each, to be applied within the Peer Team Evaluations to be completed at the end of the project.
Students are reminded to review the implications of the Peer Team Evaluation component of the course when completing the Project Plan.
The Peer Team Evaluations completed at the end of the project must be consistent with the objectives and individual assignments of the Project Plan.
Lessons Learned Presentations
Each team is to identify a “Dragons’ Den” or equivalent presentation on YouTube or any similar publicly available medium that conveys a practical, significant lesson for class members. Each team is to present their selected video in class and then lead a class discussion about the source video presentation, its strengths, weaknesses or other features that convey a worthwhile lesson about Small Business Management. Each team presentation is to end with a summary statement of the lesson or lessons to be learned.
The “Dragons’ Den” presentations taken in class may not be selected for this component of the class. In order to avoid duplication of presentations, each team is to provide the title of the video selected, together with its URL, to the instructor prior to the scheduled presentation. The instructor will respond to a team if it selects a video presentation that has been previously selected by another team and will reject that selection. The first team to inform the instructor of a particular video presentation will have the honor of presenting it.
Presentations will be judged on the basis of:
• The value of the lesson about some aspect of Small Business Management to be learned from the video,
• The quality of the leadership exhibited during the class discussion of the selected video,
• The summary statement of the lesson or lessons to be learned from the video and any recommendations or conclusions presented by the team.
The teams will present according to the schedule as provided in the course outline below. Each team will have 10 minutes to present following by 5 minutes for discussion.
Oral Presentation of BCC
Each team is to present its Business Challenge Case study to the class. This is the venue for demonstrating each team’s resourcefulness, creativity, willingness to take risks, and drive to succeed. In short, it is the opportunity to demonstrate the team’s entrepreneurial skills and its ability to identify, evaluate, and address significant issues affecting a small business. Each team is to use whatever presentation style, support material and strategy it considers will be most effective in communicating the results of their work. It is recommended that each team build on the individual strengths of each team member in research, preparing the oral presentation and in completing the written report. The presentation may be made by any of the team members.
Representatives of the company or organization with which a team has been working throughout the term must be invited, in writing, by each respective team, to attend the scheduled Oral Presentation. A copy of this invitation must be delivered to the Instructor before the Oral Presentation. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in a penalty to the negligent team.
Teams will be scheduled to present as per the Course Outline below and will have 20 minutes to present followed by a 10-minute question and answer period.
Business Challenge Case (BCC) Report
Each team is to prepare and submit a written report of its Business Challenge Case study.
The written report is to be prepared as if it wassubmitted by an independent outside consultant that had been retained by the business owners. The objective of the case study and the report is to identify practical solutions to the challenge being faced. It is the venue for demonstrating that the team understands the responsibilities of small business managers, and for demonstrating their analytical and communication skills. This assignment also provides the team with an opportunity to develop its persuasive written communication skills.
Your team’s BCC report must effectively communicate the team’s analysis, conclusions and recommendations. To achieve that, the report must be well organized and exhibit proper grammar and spelling. Content will account for up to 100% of the paper’s grade but a penalty of up to 60% of the paper’s grade based upon its content will be assessed if organization, grammar, spelling and presentation are deficient. For example, if the content of a paper would otherwise earn an 80% mark but the paper is grammatically deficient, that mark could end up being as low as 32% after applying the associated discount.
All teams will submit their 20 to 25 page in length plus relevant appendices BCC Report to the instructor by email, provide a copy also to the company with which they
worked, and provide the instructor proof of sending the report to the company by 12:00 noon on December 6th, 2018.
Peer/Team - Member Assessment
In order to encourage full and enthusiastic participation by each class member in his or her respective Team, a peer evaluation technique will be applied to the team’s performance. As specified above, each team is to determine the criteria to be utilized by each member in this valuation process, as part of its Project Plan.
It is strongly urged that, as part of the Criteria identified in the Project Plan, each team set a time to meet each week and include within at least three of those meetings a discussion of each individual’s performance to that date, relative to the selected criteria.
The discussions should be open and fair with the objective of ensuring an equitable contribution by each member of the team. This should ensure each member of a team receives timely, relevant feedback from all team members during the term and has an opportunity to improve his or her performance, if required, to avoid any unpleasant peer assessments at the end of term.
The average of each team member’s evaluations must equal 100%. The grades awarded for the team assignments will be assigned to the weighted average of the evaluations.
Individual student grades on the assignments will be determined by applying the average individual peer team numerical assessments to the grades awarded for the assignments.
For example, consider a hypothetical team of four students. A total of 400 points is to be allocated amongst the four students. If all students contributed equally to the project, all should be evaluated equally and should receive 100 marks each. If the instructor awards an 80% grade for a written report submitted by a team of four students and all student peer-team evaluations are equal, (100%), then all four students in the team will receive the 80% grade. However, if the averages of the individual four peer team evaluations are 75% for Student 1, 150% for Student 2, 125% for Student 3 and 50% for Student 4, the individual student grades will be 60%, 120%, 100% and 40% respectively. Yes, grades in excess of 100% will be possible. However, for every premium grade there will also be a discounted grade.
Students are reminded not to discount the impact on individual grades of this evaluation process. It can be significant if there are disparities in individual member contributions and evaluations. The time to recognize this impact is at the beginning of the term, when one can respond effectively and avoid any negative evaluations by other teams members.
The objective of this requirement is to add reality to the dynamics of teamwork and to encourage all students to pull their respective weight and not let their team down. It is also a mechanism whereby students who work harder to achieve a higher project grade can be recognized by their peers who do not put as much into the projects.
Each member of a team will submit a confidential performance evaluation of members of the team, including themselves, on December 10th, 2018 utilizing the selected performance criteria that were submitted as part of the Project Plan for the assignment.
The evaluations may be a combination of verbal commentary and a numerical assessment; however, each evaluation must contain a numerical assessment of each student’s overall contribution to the team projects.
If an individual team member fails to submit a Peer Team Evaluation, the calculation of the average evaluation for each individual will utilize only those Peer Team Evaluations that were submitted.
Each individual team member will only be provided with the average of all peer team member evaluations of their performance. No team member will have access to the other team member evaluations or to the average evaluations of other team members.
The instructor reserves the right to disqualify any peer team evaluation submitted by any student if, in the sole and unfettered opinion of the instructor, the evaluation appears to be unrealistic or intended to distort an effective and honorable student evaluation process.
Final Grades
Individual aggregate percentage grades for the course, determined in accordance with the above methodology, will be converted by the instructor to the official University grading system (letter grades) utilizing a combination of the instructor’s expectations for various levels of achievement and a distribution of grades generally in accordance with University guidelines for senior undergraduate courses. Where feasible, the instructor will use natural breaks in percentage grades to separate final awarded letter grades. There is no intent to apply a bell curve to allocating grades.
Academic Integrity
“The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at www.ualberta.ca/secretariat/appeals.htm) and avoid any behavior, which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.” (GFC 29 SEP 2003)
University Policy
In order to protect the integrity of the B. Comm. degree, the University may expel, suspend, reprimand, or reduce a course mark of any student who breaches the Code of Student Behaviour in one of the following ways:
(1) Assisting another student in the commission of an academic offence;
(2) Plagiarism;
(3) Cheating;
(4) Distributing confidential academic material;
(5) Misrepresenting facts for the purpose of obtaining academic advantage.
Plagiarism includes the copying of data or information from electronic files of any sort, including that presented on the World Wide Web, and the presentation of the material without acknowledging the source as a quotation, with proper documentation.
In addition, the University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour.
It is online at www.ualberta.ca/secretariat/appeals.htm. Students must avoid any behaviour, which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Please review the "Don't Cheatsheet". It is available on the same web site.
Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.” (GFC 29 SEP 2003)
“Policy about course outlines can be found in Section 23.4(2) of the University Calendar.”
(GFC 29 SEP 2003) Recorded Material
“Audio or video recording of lectures, labs, seminars or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as a part of an approved accommodation plan. Recorded material is to be used solely for personal study, and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without prior written consent from the instructor.” (GFC 61 JUL 2008)
Course Outline
Note: There have been speakers invited to present their insight and expertise to the class.
Due to the possibility of scheduling changes associated with the guests the following outline is subject to change.
Week 1:
September 4th, 2018
§ Course Overview
§ Topics: Small Business Management Team Formation Business Ethics – It Applies to All Businesses
September 6th, 2018 – no class, time to select your team members and research potential companies for BCC.
Week 2:
September 11th, 2018
§ Topics: Course Opener Case (posted on ulearn) class discussion
§ Guest Speaker: Patricia Sherbaniuk, Public Services Librarian, Winspear Business Library, University of Alberta.
§ Readings: Chapter 1: Entrepreneurs
Chapter 2: Startup and the Need for Competitive Advantage
§ Assignments: Team Membership Recommendation due September 13th, 2018
• Topic: Small Business Realities -- a real business or a job replacement?
§ Cases: Frogbox Inc.
§ Readings: Chapter 3: Family Enterprise
Week 3:
September 18th, 2018
• Topic: Small Business Realities -- a real business or a job replacement?
§ Cases: Gurutropolis
§ Readings: Chapter 4: Franchising and Buyouts
§ Assignments: Project Plan due September 20th, 2018
§ Topic: Small Business Management Relies Upon Few Doing Much
§ Cases: Foldio
§ Readings: Chapter 5: Developing an Effective Business Plan
Week 4:
September 25th, 2018
§ Topics: Small Business Management Relies Upon Few Doing Much
§ Readings: Chapter 6: Small Business Marketing, Product, and Distribution
September 27th, 2018
§ Topics: Managing a Small Business
§ Cases: VoltSafe
Text Case 1: Dori’s Diamonds
§ Readings: Chapter 7: Promotional and Pricing Strategies Chapter 8: Global Marketing
Week 5:
October 2th, 2018
§ Topic: Management – The “Big Picture”
§ Cases: The Carry-out Picnic Box
Text Case 2: Industrial Hose Headquarters
§ Readings: Chapter 9: The New Venture Team, Small Firm Management, and Managing Human Resources.
October 4th, 2018
§ Topic: Facilities Planning and Alternatives
§ Cases: Snappy Socks
§ Readings: Chapter 10: Form of Organization and Legal Issues Chapter 11: Selecting the Location and Planning the Facilities.
Week 6:
October 9th, 2018
§ Topics: Quality Management
§ Cases: Cook IT
§ Readings: Chapter 12: Operations Management and Control Systems October 11th, 2018
§ Topic: Evaluating and Managing Financial Performance
§ Cases: Electric Nolet Scooter
Text Case 11: Prestige Dance Academy
§ Readings: Chapter 13: Evaluating and Managing Financial Performance
Week 7:
October 16th, 2018
§ Topic: Evaluating and Managing Financial Performance
§ Guest Speaker: TBA
§ Readings: Chapter 14: Financing Requirements, Pro Forma Financial Statements, and Sources of Financing.
October 18th, 2018
§ Topic: Family Enterprise Buyout Opportunities
§ Cases: Wannawafel
Week 8:
October 23rd, 2018
§ Topic: Franchising
Consumer Tips – Buying a Franchise in Alberta Managing Growing Firms and Exist Strategies
§ Cases: Handout Case – Jimmy’s Auto Repair
§ Readings: Chapter 15: Managing Growing Firms and Exit Strategies October 25th, 2018
§ Topic: Small Business Management – Insights offered by a CEO
§ Guest Speaker: TBA
§ Cases: Handout Case – The Great Plains Printing Account Week 9:
October 30th, 2018
§ Assignment: Teams Lessons Learned Presentations – 4 teams.
November 1st, 2018
§ Assignment: Teams Lessons Learned Presentations – 4 teams.
Week 10:
November 6th, 2018
§ Topic: Practical Financial Forecasts
Financial Performance and Business Ethics
§ Cases: Handout Case – Acumen Partners
Handout Case – Does Sam Have a Business For Sale.
November 8th, 2018
§ Assignment: Team Business Challenge Case Presentations - 2 teams.
Week 11:
November 13th, 2018 & November 15th, 2018 – No Class for Fall Reading Week.
Week 12:
November 20th, 2018
§ Assignment: Team Business Challenge Case Presentations - 2 teams.
November 22nd, 2018
§ Assignment: Team Business Challenge Case Presentations - 2 teams.
Week 13:
November 27th, 2018
§ Assignment: Team Business Challenge Case Presentations - 2 teams.
November 29th, 2018
§ Assignment: Team Business Challenge Case Presentations - 2 teams.
Week 14:
December 4th, 2018
§ Topics: Course/Instructor Evaluation
Review of Previous Final Examination Questions December 6th, 2018 – Last Class
§ Topics: Course Summary
Small Business Management and You!
§ Assignment: BCC report due Week 15:
December 10th, 2018
§ Assignment: Final Exam and Peer Team Evaluation due by 12:00 noon via email to instructor at [email protected].
Summary Instructions For Students Regarding Ethical Issues Associated With Data Collection, Processing, Retention and Return
1. Sensitive or Confidential information is not to be requested from a participating company in the course of completing this assignment.
2. This information includes, but is not limited to, the following:
a. Corporate Financial Information
b. Customer Lists, Prospect Lists or Past Customer Lists
c. Proprietary information of any nature, relating to products, processes, systems or strategies that could be of interest to any third parties
d. Employee Lists, or other information relating to personnel, independent contractors or agents
e. Significant contracts, agreements or other documents of a private nature between the parties to such documents
f. Supplier Lists, where supply of goods or services may be considered to be a valuable component to the company’s business
g. Any other information that, using your good business judgment, may be considered by the company to be private, sensitive or confidential.
3. If you do receive any information that may be private, confidential or sensitive, you are to immediately make that fact known to the primary contact with the company, IN WRITING, and seek confirmation of your right to use that information, subject to the over-riding constraints imposed by the Course Syllabus and the University of Alberta Research and Scholarship Integrity Policy and the Code Of Student Behavior.
If permission is not received, you are to immediately return all documents to the company, without making any copies or notes relating to the content thereof, with an attached letter confirming the return.
4. If at any time you are in doubt whether or not any information or documents that come into your possession are private, sensitive or confidential, you are to immediately contact the course instructor, provide him with full disclosure of the facts and seek further advice on the appropriate handling of the situation. All contact numbers for the instructor are listed in the Course Syllabus.
5. If you have any questions about any aspects of this document or the guidelines with respect to confidential information contained in the Course Syllabus, you are to ask the instructor for further clarification before proceeding with the assignment.
Agreement to Participate in Confidential Peer – Team Assessment We, the undersigned Team Members, agree as follows:
By executing a copy of this Agreement, we each consent to participate in a confidential peer evaluation of our respective contributions to the Team’s overall work and assignments required for completion of SMO 430, Lecture A1, offered during the Fall 2016 Term by the School of Business at the University of Alberta.
Each member of a team will submit a confidential performance evaluation of every member of the team, on December 12th, 2016, utilizing the selected performance criteria that will be submitted to the instructor as identified in the Course Syllabus.
We each recognize that the Peer Assessments will be utilized by the instructor, as identified in the Course Syllabus, to determine the Contribution to Team mark for each member of the team. This will result in some team member’s teamwork component mark being less than that for other team p members, if individual peer evaluations are not all equal. This, in turn, may result in different final grades for team members whose other grade components are equal.
We understand that we will have access to the evaluative materials that are submitted by all of our team Members for this purpose, but we will not have access to the identity of the team members who submitted each evaluation nor will we have access to any comments that may otherwise identify any team member and their respective comments.
We understand and accept that our consent is not mandatory for the purposes of grading this course and that we are providing it freely. Any class member not wanting to participate in the peer assessment process will be placed in a separate team for which all members will receive the same team marks.
Dated this ______ day of _________, 20___.
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Signature of Student Signature of Witness
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Signature of Student Signature of Witness
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Signature of Student Signature of Witness
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Signature of Student Signature of Witness
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Signature of Student Signature of Witness
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Signature of Student Signature of Witness
Small Business Management Team Membership Recommendation
Team Number ___________ (Submit One Form Per Team) (To be assigned by Instructor)
Recommended Team Membership: (Subject to Instructor Acceptance) Name Area of Study or Specialization (Please Print)
_________________________ ______________________________________________
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Comments:
Student Agreement
SMO 430, Lecture A1
Introduction to Small Business Management Fall Term 2018
Instructor Darryl Lesiuk
You may not contact participants until you have signed and submitted this document to Instructor Darryl Lesiuk.
I, ___________________________________________,
§ have read the course syllabus and thoroughly understand and accept the constraints it has identified with respect to working with the selected company and respecting all confidential or sensitive information with respect to its business interests, including, but not limited to:
financial information, product information, information on services provided, information on customers, suppliers, employees, independent contractors or other information that could in any way be considered by the management of the company to be private information.
§ have read the draft letter of introduction to be given, in proper form, to the participating company upon their agreement to participate with my team in this study and understand and accept the terms of participation to which the company is agreeing.
§ have attended an instructional session in which the ethical issues relating to this project have been discussed;
§ understand the requirements of the University Policy contained in Section 66 of the GFC Policy Manual, and understand that violation of the policy constitutes a violation of Section 96.2 University of Alberta Research and Scholarship Integrity Policy and Section 30 Code Of Student Behavior;
§ have had all of my questions relating to the project answered;
§ agree to act in accordance with the University policy and course requirements for the project; and
§ agree to notify the instructor immediately if an untoward or adverse event occurs in the conduct of the assignment or if data analysis or other review reveals undesirable outcomes for the participant(s).
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Signature Date
