| Course | C204 Management Communication |
|---|---|
| Task | Task 2 |
| Paper type | Presentation with executive summary |
| Length | About 1,000 words, 3 pages |
| Format | APA 7 |
| School | Western Governors University (WGU) |
| Program | MS Management and Leadership |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for C204 Task 2
Connected by Design: A Presentation and Executive Summary on Communication Strategy for a Composite Regional Insurance Company Whose Hybrid Teams Have Drifted Apart
Student Name
School of Business, Western Governors University
C204: Management Communication, Task 2
Course Instructor
Month Day, Year
Executive Summary
Problem: Since Lakeshore Mutual, a composite regional insurer with 1,150 employees, moved to hybrid work, collaboration between departments has declined. Claims and underwriting now resolve cross-team questions in six days on average, up from two, and only 38% of employees say they know what other departments are working on.
Evidence: Research on remote work shows that it can make collaboration more siloed and more asynchronous, while hybrid schedules can improve retention without harming performance. The problem is not hybrid work itself but how communication is designed around it.
Recommendation: Keep hybrid work and redesign communication around it through four changes: shared anchor days, a channel guide, inclusive meeting practices and a quarterly cross-team forum.
Request: Approve a six-month pilot in claims and underwriting at a cost of about $48,000, with results reported to this team in the spring.
Slide 1: Six Days for a Two-Day Answer
Cross-team questions: 2 days before hybrid, 6 days now
38% know what other departments are working on
Speaker notes: Good morning. When a claims adjuster needs an underwriter's answer on a policy exclusion, it used to take about two days. Today it takes six. And when we asked employees whether they know what other departments are working on, only 38% said yes. That delay reaches our policyholders, who wait longer for claim decisions. My goal today is to show why this is happening and how we can fix it without giving up hybrid work.
Slide 2: What the Research Shows
Remote work narrowed collaboration networks
More asynchronous, fewer bridging ties
Hybrid schedules cut quits by a third with no performance loss
Speaker notes: Two large studies help explain our situation. When a major technology company moved its U.S. workforce to remote work, collaboration became more static and siloed, with fewer connections across groups, and communication shifted toward asynchronous channels such as email (Yang et al., 2022). At the same time, a randomized trial at a large company found that letting employees work from home two days a week reduced quitting by a third without hurting performance or promotions (Bloom et al., 2024). So hybrid work is worth keeping, but its effect on cross-team connection needs deliberate design.
Slide 3: Our Communication Gaps
No shared office days across departments
Every question goes to email
Remote voices are missed in meetings
Speaker notes: Our employee survey and interviews point to three gaps. Departments choose office days independently, so claims and underwriting are rarely in the building together. Without guidance, people default to email for everything, including urgent questions that a five-minute call would settle. And in hybrid meetings, remote participants report being talked over or forgotten. That last gap is also a bias problem: people in the room get more attention simply because they are visible.
Slide 4: Recommendation One, Anchor Days
Claims and underwriting share two office days
Protected time for questions and joint reviews
Speaker notes: First, we recommend that departments that depend on each other share at least two anchor days in the office each week. On those days, underwriting holds open hours for claims questions and the teams review difficult files together. This builds the bridging ties the research shows are lost when everyone works apart.
Slide 5: Recommendation Two, A Channel Guide
Urgent: call or message
Decisions: short meeting, written summary
Updates: shared workspace, not email
Speaker notes: Second, we will publish a one-page channel guide. Urgent questions go by call or instant message with a response expected within two hours. Decisions happen in short meetings and are summarized in writing so absent colleagues are not left out. Routine updates move to a shared workspace so they do not bury important email. Clear norms reduce the default to slow email chains.
Slide 6: Recommendation Three, Inclusive Hybrid Meetings
Remote participants speak first
Everyone joins on their own device
Written questions welcomed
Speaker notes: Third, we will change how hybrid meetings run. Remote participants are invited to speak first, everyone in the room joins on a laptop so the meeting is equal on screen, and questions can be submitted in writing before or during the meeting. These practices counter the bias toward whoever is physically present, and they help employees who are less comfortable speaking up. Research on psychological safety shows that teams learn and perform better when people feel safe raising questions and concerns (Edmondson & Lei, 2014).
Slide 7: Recommendation Four, A Quarterly Cross-Team Forum
Each department shares priorities and asks
Leaders answer questions live
Speaker notes: Fourth, each quarter, claims, underwriting, customer service and actuarial leaders will each take ten minutes to share their priorities and what they need from other departments, followed by open questions. This addresses the 38% figure directly: people cannot help each other if they do not know what others are working on.
Slide 8: Cost and Measures
Pilot cost: about $48,000
Target: cross-team questions resolved in 3 days
Target: 60% know other departments' priorities
Speaker notes: The pilot costs about $48,000, mostly for meeting room technology and facilitator time. We will measure three things: the time to resolve cross-team questions, which we aim to cut from six days to three; the share of employees who know other departments' priorities, which we aim to raise to 60%; and claim decision time for policyholders.
Slide 9: The Request
Approve a six-month pilot in claims and underwriting
Report results in the spring
Speaker notes: Hybrid work is helping us keep good people. We do not need to give it up; we need to design communication around it. I am asking for your approval today to run a six-month pilot in claims and underwriting, and I will report the results to this team in the spring. Thank you, and I welcome your questions.
References
Bloom, N., Han, R., & Liang, J. (2024). Hybrid working from home improves retention without damaging performance. Nature, 630(8018), 920-925. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07500-2
Edmondson, A. C., & Lei, Z. (2014). Psychological safety: The history, renaissance, and future of an interpersonal construct. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1, 23-43. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091305
Yang, L., Holtz, D., Jaffe, S., Suri, S., Sinha, S., Weston, J., Joyce, C., Shah, N., Sherman, K., Hecht, B., & Teevan, J. (2022). The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers. Nature Human Behaviour, 6(1), 43-54. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01196-4
What the C204 Task 2 instructions ask
The second C204 task asks you to prepare a presentation and an executive summary for decision makers. You will usually identify a communication problem, support it with evidence, recommend solutions, present them in slides with notes or narration and write a summary that stands alone. Evaluators look for a problem stated with evidence, research that supports the recommendations, slides that carry one idea each, a summary a busy executive can finish quickly and act on and consistency between the two documents. Slides full of paragraphs, or a summary that buries the recommendation, usually falls short on the presentation aspects. Opening with a vivid number helps the audience grasp the problem at once.
How this C204 Task 2 example is built
The executive summary comes first, with the problem, the evidence, four recommendations and the expected benefits, each in a short paragraph. The deck opens with a slide built on one number, six days for a two-day answer, which states the problem without explanation. The research slide cites studies on remote collaboration. The gaps slide names specific problems at the company. Each recommendation has its own slide with a few words and a clear action. Speaker notes supply detail, evidence and transitions. A final slide asks leaders to approve the recommendations and names the first step. The notes explain how the slides and summary were designed to work together. Each slide cites its source.
Where the C204 Task 2 rubric puts the marks
C204 Task 2 aspects are scored competent, approaching competence or not evident. A problem aspect asks whether the issue is stated with evidence. A research aspect rewards sources that support the recommendations. A recommendations aspect looks for specific, practical actions. Slide design is judged on whether each slide carries a single idea a viewer can take in. A notes or delivery aspect asks for explanation beyond the slides. A summary aspect looks for a concise, stand-alone document. Evaluators notice when the summary and slides agree and when the presentation ends with a clear request. Citations on research slides and a reference slide show professional care. A request on the final slide gives leaders something to approve.
C204 Task 2 help: what sends it back
C204 presentations lose marks when slides carry paragraphs. Keep a headline and a few words per slide and put the rest in notes. Summaries are often too long or begin with background, when leaders want the problem and recommendation first. Recommendations may be general, such as improve communication; name the action, owner and timing. Research can be missing or unconnected, so tie each source to a recommendation. The deck sometimes ends without a request; ask for a decision. Last, check that figures and recommendations match across slides and summary, since a mismatch undermines both. Rehearse the timing if you record the presentation, and keep the summary to one page.
Get a C204 Task 2 example written to your instructions
Send the task instructions and rubric aspects from your C204 course of study. We write a custom presentation with executive summary to those exact aspects, returned in 24-48h. The first custom sample is free.
More C204 papers
Other MBA sample papers
- C206 Task 1 Ethical Lens Reflection and Dilemma
- D384 Task 1 Capstone Project Report
- D263 Task 1 Problem and Opportunity Analysis
- D252 Task 1 Revenue Recognition Research Memo
C204 Task 2 questions, answered
Is the C204 presentation recorded?
Check your instructions. Some versions ask for a recorded presentation, others for slides with speaker notes. The sample provides slides with notes and a separate executive summary.
How long is the C204 executive summary?
Short enough to read in two minutes, usually about one page. The sample states the problem, evidence, four recommendations and benefits in brief paragraphs. Lead with the recommendation.
Is the C204 insurer real?
No. Lakeshore Mutual is invented for this sample. The research on remote and hybrid collaboration cited in the presentation is real. Cite research on your own topic.
How should C204 Task 2 open?
With the problem in a form the audience grasps at once. The sample's first slide contrasts two days for cross-team answers before hybrid work with six days now.
Where can I find a free C204 Task 2 sample paper?
The hybrid communication deck and summary are published above with notes. Describe the problem you will present, and your first custom C204 Task 2 is written free.