Progressive Project
When clients, like government ministries or corporations, are looking for someone to complete a project as a contract, they will often put out a request for proposals, or RFP. This common professional document outlines the client’s expectations and requirements for a project, enabling potential contractors to submit their proposal for how they would complete the project. If they win and their proposals are accepted, then they get to complete the project they outlined in their proposal.
This course is structured around a simplified and hypothetical version of this process. Students are given a Request for Proposal which outlines the client expectations and requirements for the course project. Based on this, students produce a Proposal, and then go on to research and write a Policy Brief and a Communication Package to share their work with different audiences. These documents are, thus, connected as a single, multi-step project.
Each stage of the project corresponds to a graded term assignment in this course:
Proposal (20%)– You will submit a proposal to conduct research that meets specific goals and criteria. These goals and criteria will be provided in the assignment.
Policy Brief (25%)– You will then complete the actual ‘Research’ paper[sb8] that you proposed in the Proposal assignment.
Communication Design Package (25%) – Finally, you will develop a plan and materials to mobilize the knowledge from your policy brief, with an emphasis on accessible forms of communication for different audiences, including an infographic, a community presentation, and a social media story.
You will have the opportunity to study the Request for Proposal for this course Project in the Task at the end of this Unit.
But first, let’s read through the Course Scenario to gain an idea of the kind of research you will be working on in this course.
THINK & ENGAGE
| To get you thinking about the scenario, take some time to read over some initial resources related to the topic of Flexible Work. These are general, and you will certainly find more specific and relevant ones for your own project as you begin to focus your interests. Note: Some of these sources are Open, and some may require paid access through an institutional library. – Action Canada. (2020, May 7). Inclusive futures: Indigenous engagement in Canada’s workforce. Public Policy Forum. https://ppforum.ca/publications/inclusive-futures-indigenous-engagement-in-canadas-workforce – Davis, S., Murphy, S. A., & Watkins, J. (2023). Work changes and employee perceptions of co-worker flexible work policy use: a moderated mediation study. Employee Relations, 45(2), 516–534. https://doi-org.ezproxy.tru.ca/10.1108/ER-02-2022-0064[CA13] Dilmaghani, M. (2020). There is a time and a place for work: comparative evaluation of flexible work arrangements in Canada. International journal of manpower[CA14] . https://doi-org.ezproxy.tru.ca/10.1108/IJM-12-2019-0555 – Friedman, S. (2023, October 24). Employers need to prioritize employee mental health if they want to attract new talent. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/employers-need-to-prioritize-employee-mental-health-if-they-want-to-attract-new-talent-205738 – George, L. (2020, May 13). An indigenous future and present of work. Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship https://brookfieldinstitute.ca/an-indigenous-future-and-present-of-work/ – Marko Orel, Ondřej Dvouletý, & Vanessa Ratten. (2021). The Flexible Workplace: Coworking and Other Modern Workplace Transformations. Springer. – Mullins, L. B., Charbonneau, É., & Riccucci, N. M. (2021). The Effects of Family Responsibilities Discrimination on Public Employees’ Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions: Can Flexible Work Arrangements Help? Review of Public Personnel Administration, 41(2), 384–410. https://doi-org.ezproxy.tru.ca/10.1177/0734371X19894035 – Thanthong-Knight, R. (2023). Civil Servants’ Push for Remote Work Has Canadian Employers Watching Anxiously. Bloomberg.Com, N.PAG???? |
Orientation: What is a policy brief?
The course scenario project really turns on the research and production of a Policy Brief. First you will focus on a specific topic and develop a proposal to write a Policy Brief, and then you will research and write the Policy Brief. After writing it, you will work on distributing the knowledge from that brief to larger audiences. So, it would be helpful to look at some sample Policy Briefs, so you know what you are being asked to do!
In Unit 2, there are more developed lessons on the expectations, content and form of these documents. For now, we will just have a general introduction to the genre. Your goal in this section is to read over some samples to get a feel for the Policy Brief you will be developing.
Policy Briefs can take many forms, but essentially these are short (brief!) presentations of research and recommendations designed to inform decision-making about policy issues. The goal is a persuasive piece of research that works to convince decision-makers to shape policy in the interests or to the benefit of a particular group.
READ
| To gain an initial understanding of a Policy Brief, explore the following resources, focusing specifically on looking at samples of policy briefs: The IDRC document “How to Write a Policy Brief” includes links to several examples in the template section. Study the examples and we will return to this document in Unit 2 for applied practice. https://idrc-crdi.ca/en/funding/resources-idrc-grantees/how-write-policy-brief UC Davis Centre for Poverty and Inequality also has a library of sample policy briefs to examine. Choose 2 or 3 to read through, looking at the overall goal and structure of the documents. https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/policy-briefs ** Remember, for the projects in this course, you will be using secondary research only. Many of these examples refer to primary research projects which are beyond our scope! |
THINK & ENGAGE
| To guide your examination of Policy Brief samples, consider these questions about a specific example. UC Davis, “Social Safety Net Mitigates the Impact of Poverty on Brain Development and Mental Health.” https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/post/social-safety-net-mitigates-impact-poverty-brain-development-and-mental-health Whose interests are represented and advocated for in this Policy Brief?What recommendation is offered to inform policy development?What is the function of the Key Facts box? What can you learn there? |
Scenario: Call for Research to Inform Policy Development around Issues of Flexible Work
We will use the following scenario to guide our work through the course. Note that this scenario is realistic in its intent, but somewhat simplified for the purposes of this project:
Flexible Work: Issues, Opportunities and Risks
Many economic, social and cultural factors combine today to raise diverse questions about the nature and feasibility of flexible work. Factors like increased automation, changing technology, remote/hybrid work opportunities, accessibility and equity issues, environmental challenges, and the instability of the gig economy are just some of the issues that pressure us, as a society, to rethink questions of flexibility and work.
Focus/Scope
The impact of a changing world of flexible work is different for different groups, across fields and industries. Labour market impact might include questions of employment rates, job satisfaction and productivity; economic impacts might include questions of growth, innovation and competitiveness; and health and social impacts might include questions of balance, mental and physical health, and social values.
Perspective/Interest
But not everyone is affected by these issues in the same way. Many interest groups will have diverse views about the issues, risks and opportunities related to flexible work; these interest groups include labour, small business, large organizations, non-profits, public interest groups, as well as segments of the population, such as shift workers, working parents and accessibility advocates.
Taking Action
Ministries within the BC Provincial government are facing pressure to develop policy stances on a variety of issues related to the changing nature of work, including increasing opportunities to define and implement flexible work models. These policy stances might be needed across many different government portfolios, including economic development and innovation, labour, environment, health and social initiatives, and family development.
To support the development of policy stances across these areas, the government is soliciting research on the topic of flexible work, and the potential issues, risks and opportunities it represents across a range of sectors and interest groups. The goal is to gather arguments representative of a range of perspectives and interests across the region on this issue to inform future decision making.
As such, the government will put out an RFP (Request for Proposals), asking for proposals to complete such research. This research will culminate in the submission of a policy brief and a communication plan to disseminate the information from the policy brief.
Everything in the course will be linked to this scenario and your work to produce the communication documents requested. The first step will be to assess the Request for Proposals and begin to plan your proposal assignment. To do this, you will be asked to start thinking about the perspective and focus you would like to take for your project; hints about that are suggested above. This work is outlined in your Journal Task 1.