Your company, Sierra Publishing Company, launched a corporate fitness program 18 months ago. The results have been tremendous. Your employees have lost a collective 5,367 pounds, and the employees have had fewer sick days and paid less for medical care. The problem? Many of the sales and management staff entertain clients at business breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. These employees have expressed concern that their hard work in the fitness program is sabotaged when they entertain clients and dine on food loaded with fat, calories, cholesterol, carbohydrates, and sodium. They also worry that hidden “hazards” in certain foods (e.g., dressings, sauces) may cause them to make poor food choices even when they are attempting to make good ones. Joe Moreno, a senior vice president, is trying to find ways to address employees’ concerns. He has assigned you, his assistant, the task of researching the nutritional content of menus at the five restaurants where employees most frequently entertain clients. He also wants you to find guidelines for making healthful food selections regardless of the restaurants employees and their clients choose. Even if the company pays a little more for healthful meals, this cost is offset by the benefits healthy employees bring to the company. You are to present your findings in a report. Joe will then share the information with all Sierra employees.
1 Which of the following would be the MOST appropriate problem statement on which to base your research?
A. Sierra employees need to know how to make healthful eating options when entertaining clients.
B. To provide Joe Moreno with the nutritional information he requested regarding five local restaurants.
C. To investigate healthful eating choices Sierra employees can make when they entertain clients.
D. What are the nutritional guidelines at area restaurants?
E. What are some healthful eating choices Sierra employees can make when they entertain clients?
2 Which of the following would be the MOST appropriate purpose statement to guide your research?
A To analyze Sierra’s responsibility for providing healthful dining opportunities for employees and clients.
B What should Sierra Publishing do to provide healthful dining options for its employees?
C Which five area restaurants provide the most healthful options for sales and management staff and clients?
D Why Sierra should provide nutritional information to employees who entertain clients.
E To find healthful eating options at area restaurants and develop general guides for healthful restaurant dining
3 Which of the following would likely NOT be a factor you would research to address your report problem?
A The five restaurants employees and clients visit most frequently
B General guidelines for healthful eating
C Nutritional content of meals by type (breakfast, lunch, dinner) at each of the five restaurants
D Foods to avoid based on sodium, fat, and calories
E Cost of meals
4 To make your report as helpful as possible, you should
A Interview the owners of the five restaurants about their menu offerings
B Avoid any talk of calories, carbohydrates, and cholesterol since employees won’t know what these are.
C Eat at all five restaurants to see which healthful options taste the best.
D Plan to include the complete menus of all five restaurants in your report.
E Identify the most healthful options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at all five restaurants.
5 To find nutritional guidelines to help the employees make good choices no matter which restaurant they choose, your BEST option is to
A Consult the U.S. government’s Web site on nutrition.
B Interview a nutritionist.
C Conduct a focus group of Sierra employees who participate in the fitness program.
D Consult “NutritionWatch.org,” the Web site of a non-profit that promotes healthy eating.
E Consult several authoritative resources on nutrition.
6 You have studied the menus and the nutritional information for the five restaurants you were asked to research. Which of the following indicates an interpretation problem?
A Of the five restaurants, Restaurant B and Restaurant C have the most fried foods.
B Restaurant A contains the most vegetarian options, so it is the most healthful restaurant.
C Of the five restaurants, the food at Restaurant C has the highest sodium content.
D Restaurant A offers the most low-fat dinner choices, while Restaurant C offers the most low-fat lunch choices.
E Of the five restaurants, Restaurant D has the most low-fat options for breakfast.
7 Which of the following would be the LEAST helpful way to organize the part of your report about the five restaurants?
A Organizing by the meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) offered at the restaurants
B Organizing by food ingredient (fat, salt, cholesterol, carbohydrates, sodium)
C Organizing by most to least healthful restaurant
D Organizing by least to most healthful restaurant
E Organizing by restaurant, in alphabetical order (Restaurant A, Restaurant B, etc)
