help with discussion
Heba Elwahsh
THE STAGES OF EFFECTIVE MESSAGE CREATION FOR THE STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS ASSIGNMENT
The stakeholder I am writing to is: The company Shareholders.
STEP 1:
Type your answers to the questions above.
Who is your audience?
• The company shareholders
What are their characteristics?
• They are owners of the company • They have the right to question the company’s management
• They possess voting rights since they are equity shareholders.
What makes them unique?
Who is your audience?
What are their characteristics?
What makes them unique?
How will they react to your message?
PLAN: Get the content right. 55%
Heba Elwahsh
• The shareholders are unique because they belong to the equity category of shareholders.
They possess full rights to knowing what is going on with the company and how is their
investments affected by the situation.
How will they react to my message?
• They are likely to be annoyed since the crisis can cause a drop in revenues which will
cause a drop in the value of shares.
Type your answers to the questions above.
Why am I writing this?
• I am writing the message to inform the shareholders about the impending crisis and the
company’s strategy to manage the situation.
What obstacles must I overcome?
What is the situation that has motivated you to communicate?
What obstacles must you overcome?
How will the message provide a strong argument and sufficient use of evidence?
Heba Elwahsh
• One of the obstacles that I must overcome is arousing the shareholders’emotions.
Another obstacle is overcoming communication problems since the shareholders are
diversified.
How will my message provide a strong argument and sufficient evidence? (You don’t have a lot of details to share right now. So, the key is to ensure you build credibility and address the audience’s needs)
• My message will provide a strong argument since I will inform the shareholders about the
incident and the potential causes of the crisis. In the message, I will also present an
argument on how the company will contain the crisis and ensure that the value of the
shares is not affected.
Heba Elwahsh
Write your answers to the questions above.
At this point in time (early in the morning), how much information does the audience need to know? (Remember, you don’t know much at this point).
How will you organize your message?
• I will organise the message in a chronological manner so that I can give an account of
everything that has happened and led to the crisis.
What needs to be communicated in the first paragraph?
• In the first paragraph, I will communicate the reason for the message.
What needs to be communicated in the second paragraph?
• In the second paragraph, I will communicate the strategies that the company is taking to
mitigate the situation.
What do I want my audience to do?
• I will need the audience to understand the situation and keep faith in the company’s crisis
management team to handle the situation.
How much information does the audience need to know?
What will be the arrangement of arguments?
1. Chronological? 2. Descriptive? 3. Facts vs. Analysis?
Heba Elwahsh
How do I want my audience to feel after reading my message?
• I will want the audience to feel that the company is concerned about them and it is doing
its best to safeguard their investments in the company.
Type your answers to the questions above.
WRITE: Get the delivery right. 25%
What style would the audience prefer for this communication under the circumstances?
• Formal • Informal
Are there any “red flag” words that could create a negative response?
What is your syntactic choice?
• Active • Passive
What is the design of this communication?
• Letter • Email • Memo • Report
Heba Elwahsh
What should my writing style be?
• My writing style should be official but I must sound friendly to the shareholders.
Are there any red flags that can create a negative response?
• There are no red flags can create negative responses since my goal is to communicate to
the shareholders about the situation and how the company handles it.
What is my syntactic choice?
• My syntactic choice is to use simple sentences to communicate with all the shareholders.
What is my communication design/document type?
• I will send emails to the shareholders and also make press releases so that I can ensure all
stakeholders receive the message.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO WRITE ANYTHING TO ADDRESS THE FRAMEWORK BELOW. THIS IS HERE TO HELP YOU START THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU WILL EVENTUYALLY WRITE.
Typical Deductive Framework for a Business Argument and Related Paragraph Structure
Heba Elwahsh
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