Assignment

The Correspondence Packet

When working with clients or colleagues, it's imperative to strike the right balance in tone, arrangement and content. For many of you, short correspondences (letters, memos, and emails) will make up the bulk of on-the-job writing you will do. The correspondence packet is your opportunity to demonstrate effective business writing through examples of everyday business communication. For this project you will demonstrate your ability to apply a variety of writing strategies to specific situations.

Because these documents are so brief and address such specific situations, student examples are not provided.

Situation #1: Seventeen Magazine

Inspired by the buzz generated by the No Photoshop Movement and American Eagle's recent ad campaigns, featuring models whose images have not been digitally manipulated (see articles by Emily Legleitner and Austin Considine), Seventeen Magazine is grappling with whether or not to transition to a similar format. Some stakeholders at the company are resistant to the idea of change, pointing out that, while they agree with the principles of the No Photoshop Movement, the financial risk of upending a very successful business model outweighs their desire to be progressive.

For purposes of this scenario, assume that a new CEO has taken the reigns at Seventeen and has decided to make the switch despite the other stakeholders' misgivings. You have been hired to facilitate the change.

Situation #2: The Bad News Memo

You are the head of human resources at SimuTech, a company that produces software.

You have been assigned the unenviable task of informing employees of the company that expected holiday bonuses will not be distributed this year because of an unexpected downturn in company profits. This is the first time this has happened since the bonus program was created ten years ago.

This is a sensitive message because it will likely disappoint employees and may additionally cause them to lose confidence in the future of the company. Your challenge is to offset this initial reaction and reaffirm their commitment to SimuTech.

Why you are not give this money? Why this happening? And what?

Situation #3: The Policy Change Memo

You are still playing the role of the H.R. head at SimuTech, but this time you have been assigned to compose a memo describing a change in policy.

Last week one of SimuTech's employees, Craig Wilson, was terminated after support personnel discovered illegally downloaded content on his computer during a systems upgrade. Wilson was a well-regarded worker of SimuTech who had just recently been commended by the company for his high achievement. However, administrators at SimuTech terminated Wilson because they feel the use of office equipment for these purposes leaves the company vulnerable to legal action.

Your challenge in composing this memo is three-fold. Employees are curious and concerned about Wilson's dismissal, so part of the purpose of your memo is to calm fears and confusion about his termination.

Secondly, you have been instructed to remind employees that the use of office computers for personal and/or illegal purposes (such as illegally downloading copyrighted material) is against company policy and grounds for termination.

Finally, managers have decided to perform random searches on company computers to make sure this kind of activity is not taking place; you have to inform employees of these forthcoming searches and attempt to discourage negative reactions.

Never say the person's name. Tell your employees, What happen?

Remined employees use policy computer. What the new policy is?

Situation #4: The Statement-of-Concern Email

You are a vice-president in charge of public relations for Warren Enterprises, a technical consulting firm.

You have recently been contacted via e-mail by an employee of the local Chamber of Commerce, Susan Monk, with a promotional opportunity. Ms. Monk would like Warren Enterprises to pay a one-time fee of $2,000 to have a metal sign with the company's logo and contact information hung on the fence that encloses the local baseball stadium.

You would like to take advantage of this opportunity, but you had a previous bad experience with the Chamber of Commerce. A float Warren Enterprises paid $1,000 to sponsor in the town's annual Patriot Days parade was poorly constructed and contained a misrepresentation of your company's logo. Your previous attempts to receive a refund because of these circumstances have been unanswered.

In this e-mail response, your challenge is to restate your complaint about this original event to Ms. Monk and request either a refund or a reduction in the necessary contribution to sponsor a sign at the local ball field.