Assessment 2 Information
Subject Code: BUS101
Subject Name: Business Communication
Assessment Title: Case Study – Report
Weighting: 40%
Total Marks: 40
Due Date: Week 8 – Monday 3.55pm (AEDT)
Assessment Description
Length: 1000 words
Case Study: Read the following article about communication during the Brisbane floods in 2011:
January 2011 Flood Crisis – Brisbane Council
During early January 2011, significant flooding occurred throughout Queensland resulting in three
quarters of the state being declared a disaster zone. On 11 January 2011, modelling by Brisbane
City Council and Bureau of Meteorology indicated more than 40,000 homes and businesses across
Brisbane would be affected by flooding. Council needed to urgently communicate with Brisbane
residents and businesses in the impact area, as well as the broader community. The rapidly
changing situation, failure of some communication channels, power outages, isolation of some
communities, and the reliance on new technology impacted the way Council communicated with
external and internal stakeholders. Council’s Marketing and Communication branch (M&C) devised
and implemented a campaign to communicate vital flood information to the people of Brisbane.
Reference: Public Relations Institute of Australia 2018, January 2011 Flood Crisis – Brisbane
Council, viewed 6 June 2018. <https://www.pria.com.au/resources/emergencycrisiscommunication/january-2011-flood-crisis—brisbane-council>.
Assessment Information
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Your Task:
Using this information as a starting point, conduct further research to find out what else could be done to
improve communication to all stakeholders. This research will be based on topics (the communication process;
barriers to the communication process; channels of communication; social media communication principles;
group decision making and stakeholders) covered in class during weeks 1, 5 and 7 and applying the report
writing skills covered on week 4.
The assessment is to be presented in a Report Format using headings and requires the following sections
 Cover page
 Table of contents
 Introduction (100 words) – state simply the purpose of the report and the structure to follow
 Overview of the situation (100 words) – a general description of the events, who are the stakeholders
and communication issues
 Communication (500 words) – your own research on what communication issues arose, who was
impacted by the communication, who was responsible for the communication (support your research
with communication theory)
 Conclusion (100 words) – a summary of the key information you identified in your report
 Recommendations (200 words) – Identify a minimum of 2 strategies the government or councils could
implement to improve disaster management communication in the future (support your
recommendations in relation to the theory covered in your communication overview)
 Reference List
Please refer to the marking criteria as a guideline to help you complete the report.
Reference guide: Use a minimum of four references. This may include text books, news articles from
respected publications or government bodies, and journal articles. Referencing should be in the Harvard style
– please refer to Kaplan’s ‘Harvard Referencing Guide’.
KBS presentation guidelines: Arial, size 11 font, 1.5 spacing
Submission: PDF and submit to Turnitin by the due date. Late submissions will incur a late penalty.
Other useful links: These links are to give you a starting point in your research