Resources: Ch. 7, 8, and 9 of Communicating in Small Groups, and the Week 3 videos, “Planning a Playground” and “Politics of Sociology”

Write a 1,400- to 1,750-word summary of your responses to the following, after completing the collaborative Week 3 discussion associated with the “Planning a Playground and “Politics of Sociology” videos.

Group Interaction

• How clear was the intent of the discussion?
• How prepared were your group members for the discussion?
• Did everyone participate equally in the discussion?
• Were group members open to different points of view?
• How would you describe the overall climate of the discussion?
• Did you feel your group was productive in the discussion? Did you use the time efficiently?
• What strategies can you use in future discussions to increase productivity and outcomes?
• What approach will you take next time to increase group cohesion?

Video Analysis – “Planning A Playground”

• What are the issues in this meeting?
• What did they do well as a group?
• Can you identify constructive or deconstructive conflict occurring in this group? What are some key indicators? What conflict styles do you see?
• Based on what you learned this week, how might you handle this situation differently?

Video Analysis – “The Politics of Sociology”

• What are the issues in this meeting?
• What did they do well as a group?
• What types of conflict do you see in this video? Provide examples.
• There is a clear leader in this video. What can he do to be a better leader for this group?
• Based on what you learned this week, how might you handle this team situation differently?

Format your assignment according to appropriate course-level APA guidelines.

Links:

• Communicating in Small Groups, Ch. 7
• Communicating in Small Groups, Ch. 8
• Communicating in Small Groups, Ch. 9

Persuasive Speech-Topic: Why Volunteer in the community?

• • You must refer to at least three (3) sources and incorporate at least one quote, one statistic, and one specific example.
  • Use of a three-dimensional visual aid is also required.

  This speech is required by the course syllabus. These are your time restrictions:

  • Minimum time is 4 minutes.
  • Maximum time is 7 minutes.

• Persuasive Speech Checklist

  Ask yourself the following questions as you are preparing your Persuasive Speech:

  1. Are all of my claims supported by evidence?
  2. Do I use sufficient evidence to convince my audience of my claims?
  3. Is my evidence stated in specific rather than general terms?
  4. Do I use evidence that is new to my audience?
  5. Is my evidence from credible, unbiased sources?
  6. Do I identify the sources of my evidence?
  7. Is my evidence clearly linked to each point that it is meant to prove?
  8. Do I provide evidence to answer possible objections the audience may have to my position?
  9. Have I used a variety of supporting material, including statistics, quotations, and examples

  ***Please utilize Sample Outline for Persuasive Speech provided***

In an industry in which you have worked, have direct knowledge of,
and/or have conducted research in, describe an example of fraud that you
feel was particularly costly to the industry. Explain in terms of the
fraud triangle why the fraudulent behavior that you have described is of
a specific type, explain why the type of behavior seems common in your
industry, and is so costly. Then describe how the industry dealt with
the example of fraud you described. Does the industry generally deal
well with the type of fraud under examination? What improvements would
you recommend to help the industry prevent and detect the type of fraud?

On a warm summer day in early July 2011, Ms. Smith of the executive
team of X Company sat in her office preparing a request form for routine
travel expense reimbursement. She attached documentation in support of
the cost of the air travel portion of her planned trip, which she had
booked recently and reserved using her personal credit card. The
organization where Ms. Smith worked did not have a corporate travel
account.

After signing the form, Ms. Smith walked to the office of the chief
financial officer (CFO) to ask for his approval of the requested
reimbursement. The CFO, who knew Ms. Smith well and had worked with her
at a previous company, engaged in social conversation. He quickly
glanced at the documents, not bothering to inspect them or review the
total cost of the trip, since he trusted in Ms. Smith’s credibility. The
CFO initialed the form and gave it back to Ms. Smith, who then went to
see Alex, the Accounts Payable clerk with whom she had also worked at
the prior company. She wanted Alex to immediately process her travel
expense reimbursement request and approve a wire transfer of $6,250 into
her personal bank account. Alex was only too happy to assist her with
what he must have considered a routine task. He was busy with other
tasks and did not take the opportunity to review the details connected
with the travel expense reimbursement request. Alex immediately
initiated the wire transfer, filed the documents into Ms. Smith’s folder
for her trip, and then moved on to the rest of his busy day. Upon
returning from her trip, Ms. Smith did not file a reconciling expense
form with attached receipts of her trip.

Required: Discuss in detail at least three missing
internal controls, the reasons why these controls are important, and a
remedy in the case of X Company and Ms. Smith.

Your well-written paper must be 2-3 pages, in addition to title and
reference pages. The paper should be formatted according to APA Requirements. Cite at least two peer-reviewed sources, in addition to the required reading for the module.