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Analysis of Memo

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Submitted By kweaver
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CITE PAGE NUMBERS FOR QUOTES AND CITATIONS.
ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS The director of operations of Cliffside Holding Company proposed at a recent meeting that the company establish a training program for junior executives. The new program would fund the costs to send 20 employees to the Aspen Leadership Institute of Colorado for an intensive three week leadership-development training at the cost of $5,000 per person. The CEO of the company has asked the VP of Human Resources, Anil Ravaswami (hereafter referred to as “Mr. R.”), to analyze the proposal and report back his findings. Mr. R has completed his research and analysis and presents his findings in a memorandum to the CEO of the organization (A. Ravaswami, personal communication, October 10 2014). The following is an analysis of Mr. R’s memorandum that has been organized based upon the strategies presented in the book Asking the Right Questions, by Neil Browne and Stuart M. Keeley (Asking the Right Questions, 2015). Browne and Keeley have established a framework through which one can analyze and evaluate issues, reasons, assumptions and conclusions through a series of thinking tools and strategies and the following is presented based upon that framework.
What are the Issues and Conclusions? The issue at hand is what Browne and Keeley refer to as a prescriptive issue, one that seeks to determine whether or not the company should incur the costs to develop a new leadership training program. Prescriptive issues bring into question whether or not a contemplated action is _________________. Mr. R has been asked to make a recommendation as to whether or not there is merit in participating in the leadership program. At the end of his memorandum to the CEO, Mr. R presents his conclusion that the company should not participate in the program on the basis that 1) it would not

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