ADMN4101- Durham F24 – Thinking About Management

– Professional Biography of a Manager Assignment –

 Guidelines and Requirements

This assignment allows each student to study the career of an entrepreneur, with a focus on the person’s managerial decisions and actions. The goal is to understand the decisions made by those who start businesses as they face challenges and manage through them as the business grows (or declines). It is a biography, but should be written from the perspective of a journalist interviewing or studying an entrepreneur.

The student selects the individual to write about. The one requirement is that the individual is an entrepreneur under the definition of ‘someone who has started and grown a business’. The purpose of this criteria is to observe how the individual navigates the pathways of business creation. (This can be compared to the final assignment where the goal is to observe large, established organizations.) The individual may be someone who, decades ago, started a business that has grown to a large organization, it may be an individual who started a business that remains an SME (small to medium enterprise) or it may be an individual who has started a company recently. Individuals who start social ventures are also acceptable as subjects.

Approval of a subject individual is not required, however, please do NOT write about Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs or Sarah Blakely.

Before committing to a topic, students should ensure that there is sufficient information available to complete the paper. Information may be drawn from any form of secondary source, including  interviews of the entrepreneur. Interviews available in print or video are acceptable, as are business publications, company records, academic publications, industry sources and books. Drawing from a variety of sources is encouraged to demonstrate academic rigour even if the primary source of information comes from interviewing the entrepreneur. (NOTE: You may interview the subject of your biography, if the entrepreneur agrees to be interviewed. See Appendix 1 for guidelines and requirements on interviewing people for this assignment.)

Recommended format:

Introduction – A brief paragraph (not more than 150 words) to identify the subject of the biography. Write this as though the reader has never heard of the subject. Note the industry environment the person works in, the company(s) they have started including product area. Avoid early life information (such as parents, education) – this type of information seldom appears in a professional biography. However, you may include the person’s career or life goals or motivations, especially for starting their business.

Body of paper – Select three key incidents, developments or issues faced by the entrepreneur in their professional life. Describe the incident in sufficient detail that it is clear why a decision was required. Many people will say ‘I decided to…’ and describe the course of action, without indicating the basis behind the decision or the alternatives. However, these should be in your paper. For each incident, describe the decision point, the options and the basis for the solution they chose. This is where your analysis will enter the paper. Include reflection on the subject’s personal motivations, ethical aspects of the issue and decision, and business strategy for each issue. Ideally, the issues discussed will be sequential, or connected in some way that can be seen to connect the decision-making process of the subject, or the person’s growth in managerial skills. Avoid including incidents where you are tempted to deem “there was no choice”. These do not tell you about decision-making.

Conclusion – Include a summary statement of the subject’s entrepreneurial pursuits. Incorporate what you have learned from the decisions made by the subject (not what you learned about the subject), or about the decision-making process used, in your conclusion of the paper.

This is an individual assignment. Students may write on the same topic as other students, however, each paper must clearly be an independent work. As the subject matter has a good deal of breadth and students will select from a wide range of information to present, it is expected that two papers on the same topic will be quite different.

The biography should be no more than 1,000 words, not including titles and references. Note that figures are not usually included in biographies. Appendices are not allowed. Sections of text beyond the word limit may not be read or included in grading.

In-text citations should be used for all information in the paper that is not the student’s original thought. Footnotes or endnotes are an acceptable format for the in-text citation. APA style should be used for the format of the references.

This biography should be written in first person, making it clear that you are writing about the subject (i.e. either ‘I have the opportunity to interview Mr. X  or read extensively about Ms. Y…). The concluding paragraph should be in first person as it reflects what you have learned.

Submissions are to be made in the appropriate folder in Blackboard. Documents should be in MS word format or PDF. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure the submission is correctly loaded and to retain a backup copy.

The following is a breakdown of the allocation of marks for the assignment:

• 10% – informative introduction
• 3 x 20% (60% total) – body of paper, divided for each issue discussed, clarity of why it is an important issue including alternatives, consideration of decision made and relevance to course concepts of individual strengths and motivations, ethical considerations, and business strategy
• 15% – conclusion which draws together paper and reflects insights gained by student
• 5% – accurate referencing
• 5% – good grammar, word use, logical flow to paper.

Appendix 1: Guidelines and Requirements for Interviewing Entrepreneurs for this Biography Assignment.

Note: These guidelines and requirements form part of the Research Ethics approval obtained for interviewing an entrepreneur for ADMN4101 Durham, F24, Professional Biography Assignment.

First, if an entrepreneur agrees to be interviewed by you for this assignment, be very grateful that they have given you their valuable time. Be respectful of their time and thankful for their assistance. Also treat any information they provide you as confidential until you know otherwise.

Before the Interview

To approach a potential interviewee, research their business and industry in secondary sources first. Use publicly available email or business phone (call, don’t text unless invited to do so) to inquire if the person would be interested in, and available for, an interview. If the business has a public outlet, you could also approach the entrepreneur in person. In your initial approach, you could use a script like the following one:

Hello,

I am [your name], a student at Trent University in the [Business program]. I am writing a paper on decision-making by entrepreneurs and wonder if I might interview you to hear about the decisions you have made in starting and building your company [name of company].

The interview would not take more than an hour of your time and can be scheduled for your convenience. I would need to complete the interview by early October to submit the paper on time.

My  paper is submitted to a Trent online system where only my professor and our Teaching Assistant can read it, so whatever you tell me during the interview will not be publicly available.

I think I will learn a lot more about business decision-making by talking to you and appreciate your consideration of this invitation.

Thank you.

Preparing for the Interview

Ask straightforward and direct questions. Ask follow up questions to ensure you understand the entrepreneur’s statements but avoid pushing for information, which may be confidential, about the business or the entrepreneur.

Below are a list of sample questions. Through your preparatory research, you can modify the question to be personalized to the entrepreneur and their business to elicit deeper insights. Prepare the questions before the interview. If the interviewee wishes to see them in advance, do provide them.

1. Why did you decide to start your business? What alternatives were you considering at the time?

2. How would you describe your business and the industry it competes in?

2. Can you describe one or more of the most significant decisions you have made in starting your business? Follow up: what were the alternatives you considered when starting the business?

3. Can you describe one or more of the most significant decisions you have made in building or growing your business?

4. What are or were the biggest challenges you made in building or growing your business? How do you approach significant business challenges?

5. What alternatives did you consider in making [a certain] decision?

5. What factors enter into your business decision making?

During and after the interview

You are not required to ask any questions about the entrepreneur’s cultural background. If Indigenous individuals self-identify during the interview, you should ask whether they would like you to have culturally appropriate assistance to interpret, or support, what they tell you. If so, contact your instructor.

The total time of the interview should not exceed one hour. It is suggested you take notes, either hand written or typed into a document. It is generally NOT recommended that you record the interview (video or audio) due to concerns about protecting privacy. Notes you take should be protected from distribution. They should be kept in a password protected account, or secure physical place. Do not share them with anyone, in any form, and destroy them after the course is completed. The notes should not be used for any other purpose than writing your ADMN4101 assignment.

Unless you have the explicit permission of the interviewee, do not post anything on a public platform (e.g. social media) about the entrepreneur or the interview.

If at any time the person you approach wishes to decline the interview, including before or during the interview, accept this decision and thank them for their time. If this will present issues in completing your assignment on time, contact your instructor to make other arrangements.

If there are any questions you ask that the interviewee does not wish to answer, respect that request and move onto the next question. If an interviewee looks uncomfortable and hesitates to answer a question, ask if they would rather not answer it.

Summary

Overall, enjoy the opportunity to learn from an entrepreneur directly how they make their decisions. Treat the entrepreneur, and what they tell you, respectfully.