Assignment $4\mathrm{.}0$: Consultancy Proposal & Scope of Work

One way to look at a proposal is that it projects specific actions, work to be undertaken, based on an understanding of what is needed or desired in response to a specific situation or problem set. Since your analysis and understanding of the problem at hand will influence how you see the solution and the work you produce to fulfill it$,$ the proposal$$in the eyes of your client and manager$$is an $$instrument of accountability,$$ a document that can be laid next to the completed work to check for follow through and completeness.

Proposals are usually not contracts but more of like $$promises$$ that rely on trust and confidence between parties. They may also be persuasive tools of a marketing and sales effort, or both.

The proposal is a crucial element in helping you frame your professional relationship with a $$client$$whether external or internal to your organization$$and calls upon your applying analytical and business communications skills to a specific problem and situation.

An effective and well thought through proposal...

$-$ Provides a purposeful, problem$-$assessment based on knowledge, study, analysis, research, interview, and $/$ or various kinds of information and data gathering, including observations and even anecdotes.

$-$ Develops and presents a view of a problem set or issue facing the client, and its content is a response to well defined and described problem sets.

$-$ Presents an $$argument$$claims and supporting evidence$$that may include and competing points of view on the problems at hand. The proposal may also assess or weigh those views $($such as when you consider more than one potential solution$).$ Claims and evidence should appear in both the problem$-$analysis and solutions sections.

$-$ The proposal always answers the lingering $$why$$ in the reader$$s mind.

$-$ What the proposal is not: a list of claims left unexplained or unsupported.

$-$ What the proposal is not: a list of cliche actions or sales$-$y $$solutions$$; a series of strident, can$-$do promises; or an occasion to flatter the customer and minimize the weaknesses or flaws in the organization, leadership, or worldview. Such proposals lack persuasiveness and do not hold up under scrutiny.

$-$ Defines the scope of work by specifying the type, degree, and depth of your work$-$products. The scope of work also sets expectations for all parties involved.

$-$ Some proposals include time$-$lines, cost projections or estimates, and contingencies. Defining these factors creates a $$soft contract$$ and client$-$side expectations between you and the client. Such details are typically part of a formal rather than informal proposal.

$-$ Reflects the goals and values of the customer$/$client$/$organization$,$ though it may also attempt to sway or alter those views or values strategically and purposefully $($for the client$$s own good$).$

$-$ The proposal may use persuasion to validate the need for action as much as for the proposed solution.

$-$ May respond $($formally$)$ to a specific RFP $($request for proposal$)$ and closely follow or reflect the specifications, requirements, rules, and other $$givens$.$

Your Proposal Targets

You are writing an informal proposal to the Pres and his organization.

It does not have a specific length because you must apply your understanding of the situation and how it may impact the scope and depth of work for your consulting tasks and for revising the Case Documents.

Situation Meets Case Documents$$caution ahead

The Case Documents contain explicit $$frame$$ directions for revision. These are the instructions before each part of the case, e$.$g$.,$ email, memo, microblog.

The Case directions also contain a variety of $$clues$$ that$$when combined with the Simulation Guide and your developing understanding of rhetorical awareness$$strongly suggest a degree of revision beyond what the Case instructions specify.

In essence, completing the assignment accurately and completely requires that you understand the implications of the Simulation and apply these to your evaluation and implementation of the Case Document instructions and to the Case Documents themselves.

Not being told what to do$,$ step$-$by$-$step, requires judgment on your part along with a grasp of the tools available to you for decision$-$making and document creation and revision. $($Not being told takes you into the domain of the workplace, where you are far more dependent on interpretation and implicit cues, than in traditional schooling$).$

You may discover that your $$instruction sets$$ conflict with your own sense of what$$s needed and scope of work. You may also wish to minimize the scope of work, or interpret it literally, to avoid the consequences and responsibilities of thinking the problem through on your own.

These conflicts are baked into the situation $($and assignment$).$ Hence, you will have to question your own assumptions and approach to the assignment$$s $$deliverables$.$

This means that you should plan