Workplace Scenarios John shows up to work approximately five minutes late this morning, walks silently (but quickly) down the hallway and begins to punch in at the time clock located by the front desk. Kim, the front desk manager, says, “Good morning, John,” but John simply ignores her, punches in, and heads into the shop to his workplace. Kim rolls her eyes, picks up the phone, and dials the on-duty manager to alert her that John just arrived and should be reaching his workplace at that moment. Savannah is the lead on a project with a team of six other people. The project involves using an outside vendor’s software. Without consulting Savannah, Amber (a senior team member) sends a professional email to the vendor asking for a change to the existing software. The vendor responds to the entire team expressing concern over making the requested change. Paul has worked for the company four years. During that time, he had one manager and three difference supervisors without any major conflicts. Due to a merger, the management structure changed and Paul’s former manager Pat is now the general manager. Sharon, Paul’s new manager, has a meeting with Paul over concerns that proper protocol is not being followed. Sharon tells Paul he must conform to the proper procedures or he will be written up. Paul protests as the process he uses was designed as a work around by Pat. Sharon writes Paul up for insubordination. hoose one of the professional scenarios provided in Blackboard under the Week 1 tab. Write a Professional Email Message (in the form of Figure 5.1 on page 76 of BCOM7) from the perspective of a character in the scenario. The email should discuss the communication issue provided in the scenario and should be addressed to another character from the scenario. The message should take the form of an email; however, you will submit your assignment to the online course shell. The professional email message must adhere to the following requirements: Content: Address the communication issue from the scenario. Request a face-to-face meeting to discuss the issue (at a specific time). Concentrate on the facts of the situation and avoid using overly emotional language. Assume your recipient is learning about the situation for the first time through your communication. Format: Use a descriptive subject line or heading. Include an appropriate and professional greeting / salutation. Use email form including: To:, From:, Subject:, and Signature. Clarity / Mechanics: Focus on clarity, writing mechanics, and professional language/style requirements. Run spell/grammar check before submitting. Your assignment must: Be typed, single-spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides. Your professor may provide additional instructions. Submitting your assignment: Submit your assignment through the online course shell only. The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are: Plan, create, and evaluate professional documents. Write clearly, coherently, and persuasively using proper grammar and mechanics, and formatting appropriate to the situation. Deliver professional information to various audiences using appropriate tone, style, and format. Analyze professional communication examples to assist in revision. “Professional Format and Style” How you do anything is how you do everything. -T. Harv Eker (from Secrets of the Millionaire Mind) This course is a mixture of learning a new format (business style) and adapting your English language skills to a different audience. Business communication relies equally on format (how you communicate) and content (what you say). Respond to the following: Discuss the Eker quote as it pertains to your professional experience and the material for Week 2. Find a quality resource that discusses the importance of format OR find a quality support that proves format does not matter in the context of the professional environment. There are several different formats (email, letters, reports, slides, and more) we will study this quarter. How important is the format in connecting with an audience? Defend your answer with relevant support. Consider a time when the way a message was delivered to you made a difference. What were your expectations about the message and how were they influenced or changed by the manner the information was delivered? Consider the methods discussed in Chapter 7: Delivering Bad-News Messages in BCOM7 (pages 110-128). Armed with this knowledge, make a recommendation for which method (inductive or deductive) is the best way to deliver bad-news. Defend your answer. Locate a bad-news message somewhere on the Internet and share a link here. Discuss which method (inductive or deductive) it most closely resembles and explain why the author chose that method to deliver the bad-news. What change(s) would you make if you were required to deliver the same message to someone else?
