business communication assignments week one
Prof. Hadarv
week1directions_wednesdayandfridayassignment_.zipFriday assignment(Business communication).docx
DUE FRIDAY JUNE 3rd 2016 @11:59PM
Positive Message
For this first Sunday Assignment, I'd like you to compose a positive message based on the following scenario.
In this scenario, you're the owner of Roth Roofing. After a major storm passed through Cincinnati, you were contacted by Donna Curtis, a homeowner asking for a quote. You met with her on the site, provided a quote, and then successfully re-shingled the roof. Further, you worked with her insurance to cover the costs and were able to complete the work two days ahead of schedule. All great news.
Now, you're writing a letter to Donna Curtis to conclude this successful transaction. This message is intended to complete the business with the home owner and build goodwill that shapes her view of Roth Roofing and your work. Given the events that have unfolded and the reading you've done from the book so far, what kind of message seems appropriate? How might you talk about the work, your interactions, or otherwise complete this business in a way that positively shapes the experience?
This letter is a courtesy, but you should also see it as a way of potentially garnering future references. The challenge here will be to be both pleasant and specific, concise but not terse. Think about your tone, the form of the message, and the visual appeal of this physical letter. You won't be graded on your artistic abilities, exactly, but do be aware of your decisions regarding document design. Your customers will, to be sure. Save your completed letter as a .pdf document.
Wednesday assignment (Business communication).docx
DUE WEDNESDAY JUNE 1st 2016 @11:59PM
Reader Review
The most basic dynamic to explore in communication is the interaction between a speaker and his or her audience. In this assignment, we will review a letter from the President of UC, Santa Ono. The letter appeared in a 2013 edition of UC Magazine. Your primary objective will be to pay close attention to the shifts it creates in your own attitude toward the speaker, the subject, the university, your role as a student, etc. These variations in your mood and thoughts are the purpose of the letter, so it will be interesting to investigate how this particular piece worked (or perhaps fails to work). It's important to remember that written documents might look stagnant, but they provoke changes within us.
For your first read, try to read it like you would any other online or print letter. Get a feel for the tone and delivery. However, as you read the letter again, start to document the experience. Pause. Take notes. Ask questions. Did particular phrases stand out? Why? How did they make you feel? Do you care about this subject? Does this make you want to care about the subject? Think about the length of sentences, the type of vocabulary, the visual aesthetic. How do these impact you as a reader? If you couldn't quite understand a passage, write it down. Try to explain what about the sentence is confusion or what in the wording is unclear to you.
Clearly, these responses will (and should) be wildly different. Your task will be to clarify your own opinion of how this writer is communicating and what audience he aims to reach. Further, you can you link these choices to our weekly readings. This process of slow evaluation is a fundamental step in evaluating your own writing. Throughout this course, we'll write and adapt our own work to better suit the context in which we write. So, let us begin with the writing of others and give it that close attention.
Your response should be 400 - 500 words long. Use multiple paragraphs to organize your thoughts and edit your sentences to the best of your abilities. This response should present your unique personal reactions as well as reasoned arguments from our textbook readings. Be sure to cite specific concepts from the book and explain them in enough detail to evidence a familiarity with the readings. The assignment is wroth 75 points.
http://magazine.uc.edu/issues/0413/ono_letter.html
Week 1 Directions( Business Communication).docx
Week 1 Directions
This first week, we'll primarily be focusing on tone, form, and context. Chapters 1 & 2 primarily deal with context and recognizing the formal conventions of business communication. While you will likely have had experience writing letters and emails, our goal will be to understand what the "unwritten" rules are behind them. How do we decide when to contact other employees or customers by email, social media platforms, phone, or other routes? What are the strengths of each method? Our primary goal is to think about these decisions closely. Doing so allows us to make informed choices and communicate more effectively.
Chapter 5 deals with tone. More specifically, it discusses "directness" and provides examples of "good news" and "neutral messages." This is the kind of news we hope to be delivering! That makes it a great place to start. Read this chapter closely and pay attention to the key words, as they will come up again. Further, consider the goal of these messages and how that affects the message's tone and length.
· How do we request information differently than providing it?
What are the short-term and long-term benefits of building goodwill between yourself and a customer?
Use your textbook(s) to complete following readings:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 5
In addition to your textbook readings, read the following associated articles:
Bonus Chapter A (online textbook resource)
Before Completing Assignments
Feel free to take a look at this week's assignments right away!
However, it's important that you've done the weekly reading and spent time with the lectures and resources above before you begin working on them.
