Order 2004658: Writing Business Letters

GRADED PROJECT

BACKGROUND

Phoenix Advertising, with its main headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, serves clients that include banks, insurance companies and local businesses such as restaurants and shops. You’re the vice president of human resources management at Phoenix, and you report directly to Gregory S. Forest, the president of the company.

Mr. Forest advises you that in the last month, four clients have complained about the advertising work produced by the Roanoke, Virginia branch of the agency. He reminds you that the Roanoke branch and its clients are vital to the overall success of the company.

Mr. Forest explains what he has learned about the situation at the Roanoke branch over the last three months. Three graphic designers and four copywriters have threatened to quit because their creative contributions on projects are being rejected or revised without their input. They want to be part of a collaborative team, not to simply produce work that the art directors and account executives can alter arbitrarily. These changes to projects have also caused tension between the creative teams and account managers, causing an art director and an account manager to leave the agency.

In addition to the four clients who complained, others have not renewed their contracts with Roanoke. Several have posted poor reviews of the Roanoke branch on social media sites, leading to a drop in profits.

In an attempt to increase revenues, the branch is accepting new clients without evaluating the effects of the new accounts on the current project workload. As a result, without notice or compensation for the additional hours, all salaried employees are required to work long hours several days each week. Employee morale and productivity are declining day by day.

ASSIGNMENT

Part 1: Interoffice Memorandum to Executive Team

Write an interoffice memo to the executive team of Phoenix Advertising n Use the ABC method of development n In one paragraph, summarize the situation at the Roanoke branch

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n Explain how the situation affects Phoenix Advertising as a company and why it demands immediate attention.

n In a separate paragraph, assign each member of the team a different fact-finding task.

n Give the executives instructions for reporting back to you (memo, email, report, etc.) and a deadline.

n Conclude your email with an appropriate final line or two, thanking them for their cooperation in this matter.

n Copy the president Part 2: Email to Payroll Office at Roanoke

Branch.

Write an email to the person in charge of payroll at the Roanoke branch of Phoenix Advertising. If necessary, brainstorm further about your department, your staff, and the agency’s policies about overtime.

n Invent e-mail addresses for yourself and another person in your department. Use the company name as the “host” rather than general commercial providers like AOL or Yahoo. Include all necessary components such as the @ symbol.

n Using the ABC method, draft an e-mail of three to four paragraphs.

n Briefly acknowledge that you are aware of the problems at the Roanoke branch.

n Assign the staff person in charge of payroll to provide you with payroll statements from the Roanoke branch for the last 12 months.

n Include a request for a summary of the agency policies and the branch policies regarding overtime and compensation/benefits packages.

n Explain clearly what you need that person to do, the date you need the information, and how you want the person to convey the information to you.

n Be sure you follow the format of the sample e-mail, using the new content you’ve written for the assignment. Use a specific subject line formatted in title case. Do not use an email app for this part of the exam.

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Part 3: Letter to Phoenix Advertising’s Social Media Director

Write a business letter to the social media director of Phoenix advertising. If necessary, brainstorm further. Draw on your own experience reading reviews and other online content.

n Create Phoenix Advertising letterhead.

n Use proper business letter format and including an attention line, a salutation, three to four paragraphs using the ABC method, and a signature block. Use a script font to emulate a signature.

n Acknowledge the importance of the social media team’s work for the company n Briefly summarize the areas of concern at Roanoke that Mr. Forest has brought to

your attention.

n Explain that you’ve read the clients’ comments online, and create 2-3 examples of critical or negative postings.

n Ask the social media director to research these and any other posts, and to come up with a plan to respond and to rehabilitate the Roanoke branch’s reputation in the business community.

n Give the director instructions for reporting back to you (memo, email, report, etc.) and a deadline.

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GRADING CRITERIA

The following rubric will be used to grade your project.

Writing Effective Communications Graded Project
Skill/Grading Criteria	Skill Realized A / 100-90	Sufficient B / 89-80	Developing C / 79-70	Needs Improvement F / 69-0
Interoffice Memo Content: effectively summarized the situation; clearly ex- plained how the problems at the branch affect the company; assigned appropriate tasks to the executive team; gave instructions and deadline for submitting reports Format: Used correct heading in all caps; equal tab; appropriate subject line in title case; copied to president	25-24	24-23	22-20	19-0

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Email Content: briefly acknowledged the problems at the branch; included clear requests for necessary information; gave instructions and deadline for submitting information. Format: used appropriate business email addresses; used appropriate subject line in title case;	15-13	13-11	11-9	9-0
Business Letter Content: effectively acknowledged the importance of the teams work; effectively summarized the situation; included 2-3 appropriate negative online postings; clear- ly requested director to re- search negative reviews and create a plan to respond. Format: created appropriate letterhead; included correct attention line and signature block.	25-23	22-21	21-19	19-0

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Audience awareness, tone, and word choice: Effectively used professional tone and correct word choice to convey information to each audience as appropriate.	15-13	13-11	11-10	10-0
Grammar, sentence structure, and mechanics: Effectively edited and proofread to ensure correct application of standard written conventions for American English.	15-13	13-11	11-10	10-0
General format: Applied correct font, justification, header info.	5-4	4-3	3-2	2-0

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SUBMITTING YOUR PROJECT

Type your two emails and web announcement in the same document and save it as a Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or Rich Text Format (.rtf) file. Be sure that the file contains the following information:

n Your name n Your student ID number n The lesson number (35001800) n Your email address

To submit your graded project, follow these steps: 1. Go to http://www.pennfoster.edu. 2. Log in to your student portal. 3. Click on Take Exam next to the lesson you’re working on. 4. Follow the instructions provided to complete your exam.

Be sure to keep a backup copy of any files you submit to the school!