Short Answers

Task Please answer the following questions. Please write you answers in a doc/docx file and submit it in Turnitin. Please DO NO submit in PDF format. Students are NOT required to include references in their responses. Question1. Consider the following routine request written by Jessica Coleson, a graduate assistant to Courtney O’Brien. You task is to assess the routine request. Please follow the style used in the textbook to criticise the routine request. [10 marks]

Question 2: i. Assume you work in a Software company where you manage a team of programmers. Your boss has just told you that,

due to budget cuts, several people in the company will have to go. You have a happy, successful team, and you have no idea how to deliver this bad news. Please write an interoffice memorandum to deliver this bad-news message. [10 marks]

ii. You would love to share this news with your friends, who manage the software-testing group and marketing group of the same company, for their own defence and planning. Should you? Why or why not? [10 marks] Question 3: i. Criticise the complaint that e-mail and other mediated communication are reducing the number of face-to-face interactions at work and that this is bad for business. Do you agree or disagree? Provide an explanation for your choice [10 marks] ii. You might have “pet peeves” when you read something. These are things that slow you down or annoy you as a reader. Sam, a bank employee, also has a pet peeve, and in his language: "It drives me nuts that people start their emails with 'Sorry to bother you, but . . . ' or 'I don't mean to be a pain, but . . . ' the things they are asking me to do are MY JOB. Why should they be sorry to ask me to do my job? I am happy to do it. It is no bother at all." You might never have thought "Sorry to bother you" could elicit a negative reaction. But if Sam reads it regularly, you can understand how the remark could irritate him. After all, why should people be sorry to ask others to do something that is part of their jobs? We believe we write or say "Sorry to bother you" to be polite. We do not want to create extra work for someone. Can you relate to Sam's comment? And also, what can you think of some replacements for "Sorry to bother you"? List at least five alternatives [5+5=10 marks] Rationale

This is an individual task and the topics are selected to assess your understanding and ability to explain fundamental communication process, verbal and non-verbal communication, and ethical communication. It will demonstrate your progress towards meeting the learning outcomes: ◦ Be able to explain the fundamental concepts of the communication process; ◦ Be able to discuss the impact of non-verbal communication. ◦ Be able to critically assess the main issues associated with ethical communication.