COM425 Grading Rubric Assignment: Final Paper The purpose of the COM 425 Final Paper is to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of the organizational communication concepts and skills that you have learned throughout this course. Imagine that you are proposing a new communication structure for an organization. Write a formal proposal in which you discuss at least five concepts that you feel are most important for successful communication within an organizational setting. Address why these concepts are necessary for successful communication and how best to implement them within an organization. Examples of concepts that you may choose to use are: active listening, organizational culture, conflict resolution, key principles of human communication, leadership strategies, formal and informal communication, etc. Your information for this paper should not be based on your own opinions; you must back up your information with research. The research may include readings from this course or from outside sources. In total, your paper must include at least five (5) sources with at least two (2) from ProQuest, which can be found in the Ashford Online Library. This is a formal paper and should include proper grammar, complete sentences, appropriate paragraphs, and correct citations/references in proper APA style. Along with explaining the communication concepts and including the research, you can also use your personal experiences to explain the research that you are presenting in your paper. NOTE: A full sentence outline of this assignment will be submitted during Week Three. You will receive feedback on your outline so that you can make improvements before you submit your final paper in Week Five. The paper must be eight to ten pages in length (excluding title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style. You must use at least five scholarly resources (two of which must be found in the Ashford Online Library) other than the textbook to support your claims and subclaims. Cite your resources in text and on the reference page. For information regarding APA samples and tutorials, visit the Ashford Writing Center, within the Learning Resources tab on you’re the left navigation toolbar, in your course. Writing the Final Paper The Final Paper: 1. Must be eight to ten double-spaced pages in length, and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. 2. Must include a title page with the following: a. Title of paper b. Student’s name c. Course name and number d. Instructor’s name e. Date submitted 3. Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement. 4. Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought. 5. Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis. 6. Must use at least five scholarly resources, including a minimum of two from the Ashford Online Library. 7. Must docume.

1. COM425 Grading Rubric
Assignment: Final Paper
The purpose of the COM 425 Final Paper is to provide you with
an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of the
organizational communication concepts and skills that you have
learned throughout this course.
Imagine that you are proposing a new communication structure
for an organization. Write a formal proposal in which you
discuss at least five concepts that you feel are most important
for successful communication within an organizational
setting. Address why these concepts are necessary for
successful communication and how best to implement them
within
an organization.
Examples of concepts that you may choose to use are: active
listening, organizational culture, conflict resolution, key
principles of human communication, leadership strategies,
formal and informal communication, etc.
Your information for this paper should not be based on your

2. own opinions; you must back up your information with
research. The research may include readings from this course or
from outside sources. In total, your paper must include at
least five (5) sources with at least two (2) from ProQuest, which
can be found in the Ashford Online Library. This is a
formal paper and should include proper grammar, complete
sentences, appropriate paragraphs, and correct
citations/references in proper APA style. Along with explaining
the communication concepts and including the research,
you can also use your personal experiences to explain the
research that you are presenting in your paper.
NOTE: A full sentence outline of this assignment will be
submitted during Week Three. You will receive feedback on
your outline so that you can make improvements before you
submit your final paper in Week Five.
The paper must be eight to ten pages in length (excluding title
and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style.
You must use at least five scholarly resources (two of which
must be found in the Ashford Online Library) other than the
textbook to support your claims and subclaims. Cite your
resources in text and on the reference page. For information
regarding APA samples and tutorials, visit the Ashford Writing
Center, within the Learning Resources tab on you’re the

3. left navigation toolbar, in your course.
Writing the Final Paper
The Final Paper:
1. Must be eight to ten double-spaced pages in length, and
formatted according to APA style as outlined in the
Ashford Writing Center.
2. Must include a title page with the following:
a. Title of paper
b. Student’s name
c. Course name and number
d. Instructor’s name
e. Date submitted
3. Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct
thesis statement.
4. Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
5. Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
6. Must use at least five scholarly resources, including a
minimum of two from the Ashford Online Library.

4. 7. Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the
Ashford Writing Center.
8. Must include a separate reference page, formatted according
to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing
Center.
Grading Criteria
Final Paper
25 points possible
Content Criteria 6 pts.
Student paper focuses on five (5) specific Organizational
Communication concepts from this
course.
3
Student follows the instructions of this assignment. 3
Writing Skills 4 pts.
Student writing is logical, clear, and well-constructed. 2
Student writing flows nicely with good transitions. 1
Student writing is grammatically correct with minimal errors. 1
Research Criteria 9 pt.

5. Student uses at least five (5) professional and academic
resources, including at least two (2)
from ProQuest.
3
Student uses research to back up ideas presented. 3
Student includes a reference page for all of the sources used in
the paper. 3
Style Criteria 6 pts.
Student paper is eight to ten pages in length (excluding title and
reference pages) and is in the
correct format (double spaced, 12 point Times New Roman
font).
3
Student paper follows APA guidelines. 3
Ethical Dimensions of External Organizational Communication
External organizational communication powerfully expresses
the moral character of organizations. The ways organizational
representatives interact with one another demonstrates the
relative levels of respect, honesty, integrity, equity,
responsibility, and trustworthiness of their organizations. As
modern organizational life has become increasingly politicized,

6. the ethics of interorganizational communication processes often
have been stretched by irresponsible attempts to influence
interorganizational outcomes.
There are many instances in the modern world where
questionable ethical choices have been made in guiding
interorganizational communication. News stories regularly
cover instances of organizational bribery, extortion, dishonesty,
manipulation, and collusion in the ways business, industrial,
health care, governmental, and even educational organizations
conduct business with their relevant publics. For example, there
have been many stories in the news about government lobbyists
engaging in unscrupulous activities while representing clients,
such as the revelations about former lobbyist and businessman
Jack Abramoff, who offered bribes and misinformed officials to
reap huge personal profits. Similarly, media coverage of
Bernard Madoff's extortion of clients' investment funds as part
of a Ponzi scheme to steal their money illustrates ethical
improprieties in the ways that some devious executives interact
with their clients.
Public relations, advertising, and lobbying activities have been
particularly susceptible to charges of ethical improprieties.
Groups of organizations often have been found to unfairly
monopolize control over relevant resources, products, or
markets. It is not uncommon for organizations to seek financial
gains at the expense of their employees, suppliers, customers, or
competitors. Such unethical attempts for interorganizational
influence and control violate the moral standards of society,
weaken the credibility of organizations, and threaten long-term
organizational effectiveness.
Three covering principles govern ethical organizational
communication: honesty, equity, and avoiding harm (Kreps,
1988):
1. For interorganizational communication to be ethical,
organizational communicators must strive to be honest. It is not
ethical for organizational representatives purposefully to
deceive customers, regulators, or competitors. Practices such as

7. false advertising, fudging of records, and withholding
information from stakeholders or regulators are clear examples
of dishonesty. Other questionable interorganizational practices
include espionage, sabotage, overpricing of goods and services,
discriminatory employment practices, and thievery.
2. For interorganizational communication to be ethical it must
be equitable. It is not fair for organization members to exert
undue and oppressive influence on different publics. Any
organizational practices that unfairly restrain free trade, self-
determination, and inhibit the activities of key publics—such as
instances of monopoly, conflict of interest, bribery, coercion,
stock manipulation, and discrimination—threaten equity in
organizational life.
3. Organizations also have the responsibility to minimize harm
to their environments and to their publics. For example,
automakers have the responsibility to build safe and reliable
cars that will not put drivers at risk of accidents, fires, and
explosions. Farmers have the responsibility to protect against
spreading toxins in the foods they produce that could lead to
serious illnesses and deaths for consumers. Officials who
operate nuclear power plants have the responsibility to enforce
safety measures to reduce the risk of public exposure to
radiation.
Organizations are more or less externally accountable to the
extent that they live up to these covering principles for ethical
organizational communication. Failures to promote external
accountability inevitably lead to unethical interorganizational
communication. Any organizational activity that endangers the
environment decreases the organization's external accountability
and violates implicit contracts between the organization and its
publics. Organizational activities such as falsifying public
records, withholding information about potential or current
dangers, causing harm to the environment through pollution,
and discriminatory employment practices are all instances of
low external accountability. The best organizations engage in
external organizational communication practices that promote

8. external accountability. For example, McDonald's has begun
providing nutrition information about all the foods it sells so
consumers can make good choices about the foods they choose
to eat. The company is not required to provide this nutrition
information but decided to do so to help its customers make
healthy food choices and to demonstrate its external
accountability to customers.
To enhance the ethics of interorganizational communication,
clear moral standards for organizational behavior must be
established and maintained by organizational leaders as
important themes of organizational cultures. The covering
principles for ethical organizational communication (honesty,
avoiding harm, and equity) should be used as guidelines for
directing and evaluating interorganizational communication.
Organization members, especially boundary spanners, should
strive to develop honest, culturally sensitive, and trusting
relationships with representatives of the interorganizational
field. Clear, sensitive, and ethical communication between
organizational representatives can facilitate the development of
effective implicit contracts and meaningful interorganizational
relationships. For example, Walgreens Pharmacies enacted a
new policy to make pharmacist advisers available in all their
stores to help customers learn about the risks and benefits of
prescribed medications, as well as to explain the correct use of
medications. This program demonstrates the company's concern
for customer safety and also helps to establish good working
relationships between pharmacists and patients. Similarly, the
personal banker strategy used by several banks to advise
consumers about good investment options is a way these banks
are building personal relationships between bank personnel and
customers.