November 13, 2015

To:

Dr. Jayne Moneysmith

From:

Nicole Paul

Subject:

Proposal to Write a Recommendation Report for Adding an

Internet Use Policy During Work Hours

In June 2015, Okicki Hockey Training Center opened its first location in
Warrensville
Heights, Ohio. As a start up business, not many rules and regulations were
put into
place about Internet usage during work hours. The goal of this report is to
review
the current lack of policy and adding one.
Problem
The Okicki Hockey Training Center is focused on building hockey
fundamentals for
youth players located around the Northeast Ohio region. With the business
starting up
only five months ago many local players do not know the facility exist. With a
low
budget, most of the companys advertising is free through online services.
The main problem the company is experiencing is personal use of the
Internet during
work hours. With many of the employees main tasks to work and research
on the
computer it is creating problems by the lack of work they are actually doing
throughout
the day.
Employees using the Internet for personal use during work hours cause them
to be
unfocused on helping the company grow and are hindering the companys
success.
Many employees take longer to complete simple tasks when they are
computer based
because of the distractions they have.
Okicki Hockey Training Center does not currently have a policy in place
regarding

personal Internet use during the work day. By adding an Internet policy, the
company
could benefit in having more engaged and productive employees, and a
potential
increase in revenue.
Audience

Gatekeeper: You, Dr. Moneysmith are the gatekeeper for this proposal.
It is your job to read over the policy proposal and determine if all the
guidelines provided have been followed. The proposal must be detailed
enough that if an outside source were to read it they could fully
comprehend the situation.

Primary audience: The primary audience for my proposal is the owner

of Okicki Hockey Training Center, Corey Morril, and Head trainer and
manager, Tim Okicki. Corey and Tim will welcome the proposal and
want to find a solution to the problem. Corey and Tim will be concerned
over the issue because with the issue employees are slacking on their
work duties which can eventually lose the company money.

Secondary audience: All the employees at Okicki Hockey Training

Center are considered secondary audience. The employees of Okicki
Hockey Training Center will be the ones the policy directly affects. The
marketing employees may be reluctant to the new policy because they
are the employees sitting in front of a computer all day and would like
a way to blow off steam during breaks. The training team at Okicki
Hockey Training center will welcome the new policy. With less personal
use of the Internet by the marketing team, the better potential of more
clients being booked for training sessions.

Between my three audiences I believe that I will receive a wide range of

opinions on the new policy. The owner, head manager, and training team will
welcome the policy, but the marketing team who does the majority of
computer work will be reluctant to adopt the new policy.
Topics to Investigate
The following questions will be answered in my report:
1. Does the Okicki Hockey Training Center have any rules or regulation to
employee Internet usage?
2. Are there any consequences if employee is caught using the Internet
for personal use during work hours?

3. Do local competitors have personal Internet use policy during work

hours?
Do they have consequences if caught?
Is web surfing blocked on company computers?
4. What sort of benefits can be expected once a personal Internet
browsing policy is in place?
How will Okicki Hockey Training Center benefit?
How will Marketing employees benefit?
The final report will go into great detail on adding the policy to Okicki Hockey
Training Center, local competitors policy, and how Okicki Hockey Training
Center could benefit from the policy addition.
Methods
I plan on obtaining my information from: (1) various websites, (2) academic
articles (3) interviews and observations and (4) personal experience. The
following sources will likely be used:
Research Materials
Block, W. (2001). Cyberslacking, business ethics and managerial economics. Journal
Of Business Ethics, 33(3), 225-231.
Jian, G. (2013). Understanding the Wired Workplace: The Effects of Job Characteristics
on Employees' Personal Online Communication at Work. Communication
Research Reports, 30(1), 22-33. doi:10.1080/08824096.2012.746221
Nicefaro, M. E. (1998). Internet use policies. Online, 22(4), 31-33.
Mika, K. (2014). THE BENEFIT OF ADOPTING COMPREHENSIVE STANDARDS OF
MONITORING EMPLOYEE TECHNOLOGY USE IN THE WORKPLACE.
Cornell HR Review, 1-7.
Interviews
In addition to my research outlined above, I will be conducting primary
research in the
form of interviews and observations with current Okicki Hockey Training
Center

employees. I plan on getting in contact with workers of the Kent State Ice
Arena
and The Pond Ice Arena, two local competitors of Okicki Hockey Training
Center
Call to Action
I welcome any suggestions or critiques you may have regarding the Internet
policy.
Please approve my proposal so I can start working on Okicki Hockey Training
Center
Internet usage policy.