Memo to the Top Notch Company

You are the Human Resources manager for Top Notch, a subsidiary of ABC Services. Top Notch is located in Chicago, and ABC Services, the parent company, is headquartered in Atlanta. It's November 1, and Top Notch is not quite meeting its sales goal for the calendar year. Everyone should know this because monthly and year-to-date sales vs. goal are posted in the employee newsletter each month. Employees are trying very hard to reach goal and the Top Notch management team thinks the company has a fairly good chance of reaching goal by year-end - or at least of being very close to goal.

The Human Resources director of ABC Services in Atlanta, your boss, just phoned to let you know that the CEO of ABC Services has decided to cancel the Top Notch holiday party because the organization is not meeting goal. The CEO doesn't think Top Notch should spend money on a holiday party or be rewarded with a holiday party when employees haven't brought in the sales figures stated in the goal. The Human Resources director asks you to get out a memo to employees to let them know that the party is cancelled. The holiday party, which is normally a very nice affair, was scheduled for December 7.

How are you going to communicate this message to Top Notch employees? Consider the purpose of this message, who the audience is for the message, and how the audience is likely to respond to the message.

Compose a draft and paste it into a posting in the discussion. We will look at your various approaches, noting the strengths and addressing any weaknesses.