Horrible Bosses Interpersonal Essay Assignment
Students will review concepts from the textbook and in lecture regarding appropriate and inappropriate interpersonal communication practices in business. After viewing the film, Horrible Bosses, students will then prepare an essay examining contexts on situations present in the film and how they apply concepts covered and application in real world practices.
Course objectives utilized:
- Demonstrate knowledge of communication theories and models and problems associated with communication in business, including ethics.
- Illustrate ability to write for business/professional purposes by using clear, concise, and correct style.
Essay Directions:
- Students will first view the film Horrible Bosses in class after lecture of interpersonal concepts.
- After viewing the film, students will construct an essay (page and a half minimum) over appropriate and inappropriate instances of interpersonal communication in a business context/environment.
- Within their essay, students will: a) describe and argue three scenarios or observations of behaviors and messages within the essay being deemed appropriate or not, b) utilize communication sources to support arguments being made, and c) present alternatives to the observed behaviors and messages to correct the problem identified.
- Completed essays will be turned in online through class website.
Essay components and breakdown:
- Introduction: 15 points
- Attention getter – Students will begin the essay by drawing the reader’s attention to their essay through persuasive means (g. startling statistic, anecdote, jokes).
- Rationale – Students will identify why they are a) writing the essay, AND b) why this is an important topic to discuss. (Hint: stating that you’re writing this essay because it is an assignment is not acceptable; really think of why knowing this and discussing this really matters!)
- Thesis/Preview Statement – What three big picture scenarios or concepts will you discuss in this essay? This will layout the map of your essay; essentially previewing what you will discuss in your writing.
- Transition – Phrase indicating that you are about to move forward to the next section of your writing (g. “Now it’s explained _____, we will move to ___”).[unique_solution]
- Body Paragraphs: 20 points each
- Description – describe the context of the scene that you will discuss from the film. Be concise and clear of what situation you are using for your analysis.
- Assessment of communication – Address each of the following questions completely: How are you assessing this communication; acceptable or inappropriate? What in their communication made you answer that way? How could the characters have changed their communication to be more effective?
- Support – For each body paragraph students will need one business or scholarly article to support their argument.
- Transition – Phrase indicating that you are about to move forward to the next section of your writing (g. “Now it’s explained _____, we will move to ___”).
- Conclusion: 10 points
- Transition to conclusion – Phrase indicating that you are nearing the end of your writing (g. “in conclusion, wrapping up, in this essay we’ve discussed…).
- Review of thesis/Review statement – Review the major three points from your body paragraphs.
- Rationale and Application – Review why this information is important to know and how can we use this information in our future business settings.
- Closing Statement – End the essay in a memorable fashion and leave your reader with perhaps a final thought or consideration (Hint: Ending with “The End” is not an acceptable closing. This is a reflection to the attention getter at the beginning; How can you leave one last impression to your reader?).
- Formatting, Style, and Sources: 15 points
- Citations, essays, and reference pages should be completed in APA formatting (https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa6_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html ). Students should include the appropriate title page and reference page with their essays; 12pt. font Times New Roman or Arial with 1” margins.
- Exhibits professional business writing: clarity, coherence, fluency, grammar, tone, usage, and word choice.
- Essay must contain at least three pieces of business or scholarly articles as evidence to support claims. All should be present on reference page.
Approaches to writing this essay:
With how open ended this essay is, students may have difficulty on how to start or approach this assignment. Here are a few pointers to help organize or think about writing this essay.
- There are two ways to think about how to form your thesis statement
- An overall concept such as “Power & Dominance” being illustrated by three specific film scenarios. An example thesis could reflect: “Within the film Horrible Bosses, instances of communication power and dominance are shown in three scenes; Scene #1, Scene #2, and Scene #3”.
- Three different concepts being covered by three scenarios in the film. An example thesis could reflect: “In the film Horrible Bosses there are instances of communicative power, workplace bullying, and workplace romance communication illustrated in Scene #1, Scene #2, Scene #3.”
- Approaching the Rationale
- As stated in the directions, you’ll need to identify the importance or general NEED of covering interpersonal communication in a business setting. This can be very subjective, the main objective for this is are you able to formulate an argument and be clear on what you’re arguing for.
- Support and Evidence
- Using evidence is crucial for your success in this class and in your future business careers! The best place to start looking for supported is our University Library databases (https://catalog.library.txstate.edu/search/y).
- Once there, go to Communication Studies, then Communication Source from Ebsco Be sure to check the boxes on the “Search options” for Peer Reviewed and Full Text.
- When using your search, don’t forget to use words interchangeably as discussed in our definition of business communication! (Business, organizational, organization, corporation, etc.) Typically, looking for the communication concepts in the “Search” bar works best.
- Non-scholarly research is also acceptable, if the sources are credible (g. Forbes, Entrepreneur, Bloomberg Businessweek, the Economists).
Grading Rubric
| Essay Component | Comments and Points awarded |
| Introduction: (15 points) – Attention getter – Effective rationale – Clear thesis/preview statement(s) – Clear transition statement | |
| Body Paragraphs (x3): (20 points) – Effectively describes communication scenario – Assessment of communication argument present – Support used appropriately – Transition Statements | |
| Conclusion: (10 points) – Transition to conclusion clear – Review if thesis/main points – Review of rationale and application – Memorable closing | |
| Formatting, Style, & Sources: (20 points) – APA Writing Format followed – At least three sources used and cited – Exhibits professional business writing: clarity, coherence, fluency, grammar, tone, usage, and word choice. |
Application of grade
A represents that you provided excellent written description of communication concepts, rationale, and support for claims while exhibiting high quality, professional writing and style.
B represents that you provided great written description of communication concepts, rationale and support for claims while exhibiting high quality, professional writing and style with minor mistakes.
C represents that one provided acceptable written description of communication concepts, rationale, and support for claims while exhibiting acceptable quality of writing and style with mistakes.
D represents poor written description of communication concepts, rationale, and support for claims while exhibiting poor written quality and style with a distracting number of mistakes.
F represents that student shows no understanding of this task.
0 represents that you failed to complete the assignment accordingly.