How to Write a Board Paper or a Briefing Paper- Get
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In the coursework you position yourself as an employee or a consultant of a specific company and inform the Board of Directors of your company of a CSR or Ethics related problem that has arisen which is on-going and contemporary and which impacts one or several of your company’s stakeholder groups.
As this is a Board paper you should NOT cite using Harvard or APA in-text referencing but instead reference / cite / refer to important external information using footnotes. These footnotes should contain the information that is usually provided in the list of references / bibliography at the end. No list of reference or bibliography is required.
Furthermore, while in the exam there will be opportunities to explain theories, in the briefing paper you should not explain theories but rather apply them and ensure that you are producing a balanced argument which takes shareholders and other stakeholders into account and uses a variety of references. Do not solely base your argument on the opinion of one NGO or one newspaper article.
Format of the Board Paper
Draft Resolution: [Insert exact wording of proposed board resolution that the Board is asked to pass. The draft resolution must be clear, concise and unambiguous.]
Up to here you should have used fewer than 50 words
1) Executive Summary:
Explain in no more than 70 words what the paper is about and what it is endeavouring to achieve. The paragraph should be clear and concise and should state that the paper is seeking the board’s approval for a specific action.
2) Background:
Outline in around 150 words the background of the current CSR issue and the impact it has on some stakeholders (be specific on which stakeholder group is affected). Please provide the information necessary for a non-executive director to understand the proposal who does not have the background knowledge of an executive who has been managing the day-to-day affairs of a particular matter. If it is not possible to explain the background to the proposal in the space of 150 words include an appendix and provide further details like for example tables, graphs or images.
3) Recommendation:
Outline the recommendation in around 130 words. Do not repeat the statements made in the sections above. Mention if possible alternative options that were considered by management and explain why the preferred option was chosen. Also detail the outcomes that management is seeking to achieve from the proposal. If the implications of the proposal are complex include an appendix and provide further details.
4) Implications of non-action and of the recommendation:
Explain in around 100 words the implication the recommended action has on the company’s (key) stakeholders. You should also review the implications action versus non-action has overall for your company in all or some of the following areas (please use the appendix for tables and graphs):
- Company’s Strategy, Mission and/or CSR policies
- Corporate Governance and Compliance as well as liability/personal accountability for CEO and Board Directors
- Risk assessment
- Financial implications
Read the FT and other newspapers, e.g. the Guardian and write down CSR related issues. These will help you both for having examples for the exam as well as for finding one initiative/suggestion for the coursework.
Also read journal articles, these help with the theoretical context and written communication skills overall (e.g. Carroll’s pyramid of CSR: taking another look
Archie B. Carroll International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Carroll 2016)
Marking Criteria
Each briefing paper will be marked out of 100% with the following four criteria informing the decision (criterion 1 has a 10% weighting while the other three criteria have a 30% weighting):
- Overall professional looking document, with clear, coherent, concise and precise language (Overall does the paper look and read well? Is the style and structure suitably professional? Could this paper be submitted to the Board of a major corporation?)
- Depth of research, incl. sources shown for example in footnotes and appendices, with the appropriate level of information, and showing a balanced argument (Does this paper appear well researched and is not biased towards ‘just’ shareholders or ‘just stakeholders’? Does it seem authoritative / believable?)
- Demonstration of critical and analytical thinking rather than just being descriptive (Is it interesting? Does it fully analyse the causes and consider the impact? Does this paper tell the reader something that is not already widely known?)
- Appropriateness of the idea (contemporary, neither too basic, nor too complex), appropriateness of the choice of stakeholder groups, and an overall coherence of the argument (Does the paper overall make sense? Would the proposal lead to a Board approval?)
