BU610 Applied Business Research 2015

Section A (Waterloo Part-time MBA) Faculty Advisors:

• Shelly Jha sjha@wlu.ca

• Detlev Nitsch dnitsch@wlu.ca

• Jack Schnabel jschnabel@wlu.ca

BU610 Applied Business Research

Consulting Course Agreement: Key Elements*

• Deliverables

• Letter of Understanding

• Partner (aka Client) Responsibilities

• Role of Faculty Advisors

• Ethical Behavior

• Course Grading

•Not-for-Profit Practicum Report* The terms of the Agreement will expire upon: (1) the failure of the parties to execute a

Letter of Understanding, or (2) the termination of the Project with written notice by a party to the agreement.

•

MBA Team

Letter of Understanding

• provides a full and written description of the project and partner expectations*

• to include an estimate of travel and data collection expenses that the Team is likely to incur

• completed during the first 3 weeks of the course

• signed by the Team, Advisor and an Officer of the Partner

• attached to and incorporated into the Applied Business Research Consulting Course Agreement

• often accompanied by the Non Disclosure Agreement between the Partner and the MBA Team

* the scope should be in keeping with approximately 200 hours of effort per student on the Team

Partner (Client) Responsibilities and Rights

• to provide data about the company or organization including reasonable requests for financial information

• to provide reasonable access to its workplace, key management and staff, telecommunications equipment, and proprietary information needed for the Project

• to reimburse the Team for travel and data collection expenses upon presentation of original receipts

• to submit evaluations of the Project and the Team’s recommendations

• holds ownership of the Project report and interim materials submitted by the Team

Role of Faculty

• not a direct part of the Team

• provide the Team coaching, advice and oversight

• assign a grade for the course

Ethical Behavior

The Team agrees to adhere to the established

ethics policies of Wilfrid Laurier University.

WLU Research Ethics Policy: Must complete

the WLU Ethics Review process if use

questionnaires, conduct surveys, etc.

Factors Considered in Determining a Grade

• the nature and quality of the deliverables- contract/research proposal- progress reports and presentations- interim and final reports to the Advisors and Partner- the final presentation

• the process management and project management skills which are displayed by, and/or learned by the Team

- Partner relations- team relations- relations with Advisors

• the value added to the stakeholders involved- impact made/value added to the Partner- degree to which students learned individually and as a

team from the project content and the project process

Note:The Team is responsible for working toward the expectations of not only the Partner but also the Advisors and Laurier. Partner feedback will be taken into account at the discretion of the Advisors.

Deliverables for NFP PracticumDeliverables for NFP Practicum

Service Activity

• required to accumulate 40 hours of service

Report to the Not-for-Profit Organization

• may be oral and may focus on different matters than the report submitted to faculty

• expected to exercise discretion in determining the best way to report feedback to the NFP organization in a way that maximizes value added

Not-for-Profit Practicum Report to Faculty Advisor

• Prepared individually, whether or not a member of an NFP team• 8 pages (approximate) in length, typed and double-spaced• Electronic copy suffices; marked on a pass/fail basis• Content: -brief overview of what was done (responsibilities assumed, nature of the

contribution, etc.) -short description of the process used to provide feedback to the NFP

organization -detailed discussion of what was learned with reference to the practicum

objectives and possible learning outcomes -might also incorporate personal reflections on: -social - ethical issues experienced during the activity and/or

confronting the organization -the value of your activities to the NFP organization

Ground Rules• Nominate one group member to be the point of contact between team and faculty

member and team and client.

• Meeting times*:

– Jan. 6th and Feb. 10th workshops

– Feb. 3rd presentation of: team contract, pre-placement H&S Question. for host, course agreement, non-disclosure agreement, letter of understanding

– March 3rd, April 7th, May 5th, June 2nd , July 7th project updates

• Update Presentations:

– Arrive ten minutes early

– Formal presentation maximum (15 minutes)

– Discussion and comments (15 minutes)

• Meeting agendas should be circulated to clients and faculty panel 48 hours prior to each meeting ; minutes should be sent to client within 48 hours of meeting.

• Teams must email their client and advisor at least once per week to update them on:

– What progress the team made on the project last week

– What progress the team intends to make over the coming week.

*Meetings are mandatory for all team members. Please inform your instructor if you cannot attend a meeting.