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Chapter 5
Writing Good-News and Neutral Messages
Problem-Solving Cases
Routine Inquiries
1. You recently learned about a service organization on your campus, Mentors for Majors. The
Mentors are alumni and other working professionals who have agreed to field student inquiries
about the nature of their jobs, about strategies for career success, and so forth.
You’ve been thinking about a certain kind of career, and you’d like to get more information
about it from an experienced professional. Checking over the list, you find that there’s a mentor
in this very area. Write an email to the person in which you ask your questions. Find out the
main things you’d like to know about this field of employment in a way that shows
consideration for the reader and demonstrates your own serious interest in that type of job. (If
your instructor directs, use either someone you know or someone you’ve researched on the
Internet and through other resources. Turn in a one-paragraph profile of this person along with
your email of inquiry.)
2. You are a sales manager in a company (you choose what kind), and you just attended a
professional meeting where the featured speaker extolled the virtues of using Google+ (a social
networking space for collaboration and communication) in her organization. Intrigued, you’d
like to learn more about how Google+ might enhance collaboration and “collective intelligence”
among your sales staff or in your company in general.
First, do some Internet research on Google+. You might also set up a Google+ account of your
own to explore the Google+ features more thoroughly. Then email the speaker you heard—who
welcomed follow-up questions—and ask her what you most want to know about setting up and
using Google+ in your type of company or department. Whether or not you will pursue this idea
further will depend on her answers, so think carefully about what to ask.
3. You are a new assistant to a marketing manager at Home Hardware, a national chain of hardware
stores. Your boss has been studying the stores’ sales data from the last 10 years, and it appears
that the post-Baby Boomer generations have somewhat different hardware needs and preferences
than their elders did. For one thing, fewer younger adults are buying homes than the Boomers
did at their age; instead, the younger generations tend to be renters longer. But even young
homeowners seem to want different products, and different qualities in their products, than their
predecessors did.
“We need to get into the minds of these buyers and find out what their world is like,” your boss
says. “I think it’s time we did some focus group research to learn more about this demographic.
Look into having one of our local marketing research firms conduct a couple of focus groups for
us. See what process they’d recommend to help us understand our younger customers. Find out
what strategies they use, how much they’d charge—you know, everything that would be
involved in having them conduct some focus groups for us.” You do an Internet search to
identify some potential firms. To be methodical about your research and have a written record of
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what you learn, you decide to submit your inquiries in writing. Your first one will go to Burke,
Inc. The company’s website provides an email address for “general inquiries,” and that looks
like your best bet. After thinking carefully about what you need to find out and what would
make one research firm better than another for Home Hardware’s needs, write your inquiry.
(You may need to learn more about market research firms in general to figure out what to ask).
4. You’re part of the management team at a home healthcare company. You have a staff of about 12
registered nurses (RNs), 13 licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and 18 personal care aides (PCAs),
who provide services to the chronically ill, those involved in lengthy rehabilitation programs,
and senior citizens. Your company has been in business a long time and is well regarded. But
you’ve got a big problem: This year, your PCAs had a whopping 60 percent turnover rate.
This problem is costing the company a great deal of money. Each PCA you hire has not only
been through several interviews and a testing procedure but has also undergone two days of
training. When the PCAs leave, all that time spent on them is wasted—and some even disappear
with the cell phones you issued them. Plus, the PCAs who have to fill in for the ones who
suddenly leave have to be paid overtime or else they will grow dissatisfied and possibly leave.
What you pay your PCAs is well within the industry standard, so you’re not inclined to raise
their wages. But you do wonder if your hiring process could be improved. Specifically, you’ve
decided to look into personality testing as a way of hiring only those candidates who are really
suited to the work.
You’ve done a bit of informal research on personality testing, and you’ve learned that there are
several different kinds, that there may be legal issues involved, and of course that it comes with
a cost. To test the waters, you decide to call RightFit, a local HR management group, to discuss
the possibilities. The receptionist puts you through to Sheila Smith, apparently the owner of the
business, but you get her voice mail. Thinking quickly, you simply leave the message that you’re
calling to discuss the possibility of contracting their personality-testing services but that you’ll
follow up with an email providing the details.
Now write that email to Ms. Smith. Tell her enough about your situation and ask her enough ontarget questions to help her prepare a helpful response for you.
5. You’re part of the management team at Mazor’s Deli, a local restaurant chain with five locations
in the city. Each month, the management—everyone from the five store managers up to the
president/owner—has a luncheon meeting in which they discuss any issues that have arisen, the
financial health of the business, progress on current initiatives, any ideas for creating new
business, and various other topics. You think such meetings are a great idea, and you understand
the advantages of face-to-face communication (especially in this company’s culture, which is
close knit and family oriented)— but you wonder if these meetings are really worth the time and
expense involved. You recently attended a Restaurant Managers Association meeting where you
learned that many of your peers are conducting business meetings online. One online meeting
technology you kept hearing about was (WebEx, GoToMeeting, MeetingBurner, or some other
one—you choose). Curious, you checked out the product’s website, viewed the demo, and
studied the fact sheet. You are thinking that this product just might be a viable alternative to
Mazor’s monthly management meetings.
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To gather more facts before sharing your idea with your superiors, you decide to consult a
person you met at the RMA meeting who seemed to know a lot about online conferencing and
about the particular tool you’re interested in. Thinking carefully about what you’d like to learn
about using this technology for meetings, prepare your questions in the form of an email of
inquiry.
6. Parking is tight at your urban university, especially near certain buildings. The campus has two
large parking garages, and both of them are far away and downhill from the business building
where you have most of your classes as an MBA student. Normally you don’t mind since you
enjoy the trek from the garage to the business building. But as the president of your local chapter
of Delta Pi Epsilon, the national business honor society for graduate students, you find yourself
needing to reserve one of the few surface spaces close to the building. You have invited a local
businessperson to come speak at the chapter meeting on May 3 from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. This
guest will be rushing to the meeting from work and will be carrying a laptop as well as various
print materials to distribute. You think it would be impractical as well as rude to force this guest
to park in a garage and then trudge up a long hill to get to your building.
The parking services website at your school informs you that any special parking requests must
be made in writing and sent via email to Ms. Barbara Stallmeyer. Write Ms. Stallmeyer and get
permission for the reserved parking space you need. Be sure you make your request at least two
weeks in advance as the website directs you to do.
7. You’ve been given an important assignment from your boss, the VP at a real estate firm in
Philadelphia: to arrange a retreat for the sales staff where they can relax, recharge, and
restrategize. The boss wants to hold the retreat in or near Cape May, NJ. He has specifically
instructed you to find a large cottage, not a hotel or resort, because he wants the event to have
the feel of a getaway, not a business meeting. But the retreat will serve important business
purposes, so employees’ families will not be invited.
After a good bit of Internet searching, you think you’ve found the perfect place: a large cottage
overlooking Delaware Bay. You learn a lot about the property from the website— such as how
many the cottage will sleep and what kind of beds are provided, how it is equipped (it has a large
modern kitchen, a game room with air hockey and ping pong tables, and several large-screen
TVs with cable service), what it will cost, and how much money is due by when. You also learn
that linen service is provided and that minimal cleaning will be required at the end of your
group’s stay.
But you need to know more. For example, is there an area inside the cottage or on the porch,
with enough seats, where the guests can comfortably meet and talk? The pictures on the website
don’t make that clear. Is there Wi-Fi and cell phone service? What attractions nearby might your
co-workers enjoy? And then there are the smaller things. Are charcoal and lighter fluid included
with the grill, or is it a gas grill? Are there paper towels? Salt and pepper? Kitchen linens and
soap? What if the group wants to go out for drinks or food during the retreat? Are there suitable
places nearby? Is the cottage in a nice area? You’ve never been there.
You wanted to ask the realtor these and other questions by phone, but you and she have been
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playing phone tag. Plus, you want a written record of her answers. So you’ll craft a wellorganized email message to get the information you need to ensure that this important company
event goes well—and reflects well on you. Be sure to tell her what she needs to know about your
event in order to give you helpful answers. (With your instructor’s permission, you may change
the venue and other details as appropriate.)
8. You work for a large credit union that is upgrading the software it uses to manage and maintain
members’ account and personal information. Everyone who works with or has access to
members’ information (tellers, customer service representatives, financial officers, loan
representatives, department supervisors and managers, employee trainers, technical writers,
marketing specialists, clerical staff, and information systems specialists) will need training on
the upgraded software. Your boss has asked you, as the lead corporate trainer, to coordinate
training sessions.
You discover that the makers of the software (Financial Software Systems, Inc.) can provide
training on site or at its corporate headquarters, which happen to be in your town. You need to
know which of these options is not only the most feasible and practical but also the most cost
effective. You have 500 employees who will need training. You have a corporate training room
with 20 computers, a reliable Internet connection, and a data projector. The software will be
installed in six months. Ideally, you would like to train all of your employees in the two months
before the installation. That way they can continue to practice on the software installed in the
corporate training room if they would like.
Although you have thought about calling for the information, you decide to write so that you
have a permanent record of the answers to your questions. Write to Ms. Whitley Freeman,
training coordinator, to inquire about Financial Software Inc.’s availability to provide training
and for information that will help you decide whether to train on site or at company
headquarters.
9. You are a recently hired associate at Van Fleet Analytics, a medium-sized marketing research
firm. In addition to being a well-respected industry leader in marketing research, the firm prides
itself on its work within the community. One specific community service project is the
company’s annual “bowl-a-thon” to raise money for the local Humane Society. Your supervisor
asks you to coordinate this year’s bowl-athon. In the past, the bowl-a-thon has been held at
different bowling alleys throughout the city, so your supervisor leaves it up to you to find the
best deal. In conducting research on the Internet, you come across Marcotti Lanes, which bills
itself as “one of the premier bowling and entertainment centers in the region.” Intrigued, you
decide to find out more.
In an email of inquiry, come up with realistic details about the event (e.g., date, time, number of
lanes needed, food and beverage requirements) that you will need to let Marcotti Lanes know
about. In addition, devise a list of questions that will determine if Marcotti Lanes is suitable for
your event. These questions may be related to cost, non-bowling entertainment options, or
anything else of importance. Write the questions in such a way that you’ll be sure to receive a
thorough, detailed response.
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10. As Komal Gupta, the person in charge of the opening ceremonies buffet for the university’s
World Village celebration next month, you need to order food appropriate for the celebration.
Your town has a great Middle Eastern restaurant (Zorah’s) that you think you want to feature.
You visit the restaurant’s website and are happy to learn that you would be able to order enough
tabouli, hummus, pita bread, rice flavored with almonds and pine nuts, slow-roasted chicken
(Zorah’s specialty!), and baklava for 120 people.
What you aren’t sure of, though, is the cost. In addition, the website says the items can be
ordered by the half tray or the whole tray, and you’re not sure how many people a half tray or
whole tray will serve.
You’re hoping that because the event is for a worthy cause and because the event would
generate publicity for Zorah’s, you might get a bit of a price break on the order. You would even
be willing to pick up the order by 11 a.m. on the Saturday of the event. Using the email address
provided on Zorah’s website, write a request for the information you need to decide whether you
will serve Zorah’s food at the World Village celebration.
11. You took out your car loan with Community Bank because of its low interest rates. However,
your regular checking and savings accounts are at Ocean State Credit Union.
You can already tell that sending in a payment coupon and check each month will be neither
convenient nor easy to remember. You wonder if you can just have your car payment for
Community Bank automatically deducted from your Ocean State account and sent to
Community Bank. You go to Community Bank’s website and learn that this is possible, but no
details are provided regarding the process, so you decide to click the link to “Contact Us” and
ask your questions in the text box that appears. Though you’ll want to think of more questions,
you will at least want to know if there is a fee for this service and how long it takes to set up this
payment option.
12. You are an intern for Canon City’s recently formed Downtown Area Development Commission.
The commission promotes downtown businesses, markets the downtown area as a great place
for businesses to locate, and encourages citizens to shop downtown stores and enjoy local
entertainment and dining. To build community spirit, the commission has decided to hold a
contest to find its logo. Artists who are Canon City residents are encouraged to submit their
designs for the commission to use on all of its work. The artists agree to be photographed and
have their names used in the commission’s publicity. The winning artist will receive $2,500 and
a year of free advertising in the commission’s monthly newsletter and on the commission’s
website.
All the artists need to do is submit a logo in .jpg format, proof of residency (think of what this
might be as you write your document), and the legal agreement relinquishing rights to royalties
or profit from their work if the commission chooses their logo. The logo can be sent by email or
in the mail on a DVD, but it’s not your fault if the DVD is damaged in the mail. The other forms
can be completed online or downloaded and sent in the mail. Add any other details you think
would be helpful.
Your job is to write a request to local artists asking that they submit a design. The announcement
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will be posted on the commission’s website. You can format it in Microsoft Word as you want it
to appear on the site. Your company’s webmaster will take care of the online formatting; he just
needs to know how you want it to look. It’s important for artists to know that if they violate any
of the steps in submitting their logo, they will be immediately disqualified from the contest.
13. You and a friend have decided to move off campus next year into an apartment. Together, you
have narrowed down your list of requirements: The apartment needs to be within a 15-minute
walk of campus, have two bedrooms, allow pets, have on-site laundry facilities, and cost no
more than $550 per month including rent and utilities.
After scouring your campus resources with no luck, you come across a posting on craigslist that
sounds like it might perfect: “2-bedroom apartment within walking distance of campus. Laundry
nearby. Cost: $535/month. Available August 1. Contact Casey at cvenit@ecrealestate.com for
more information.” Taking into account your needs, write an email to Casey to find out if this
apartment will meet all of your requirements.
Remember, this correspondence could be the start of a year-long professional relationship.
Favorable Responses
14. You are an alum of (your school). You currently work as the director for a local nonprofit
organization (you pick the organization). Recently, your school’s Center for Career Services
contacted you asking if you would be willing to provide an internship for current students at
your school. These students would be juniors and seniors majoring in accounting, finance,
management, or marketing, though the Center for Career Services thinks marketing and
management majors would be most interested.
You are willing to provide the internship. You can offer 15 hours a week to someone who would
be willing to help with marketing, public relations, social media advertising, and general office
tasks. The intern would assist in writing grant proposals and perhaps presenting reports orally
and in writing to the organization’s board of directors. What you cannot offer, though, is
financial compensation. You’re a nonprofit organization that is not, nor is ever likely to be, in a
position to pay an intern.
Write a response to the Center for Career Services explaining what you can do and minimizing
any negative news.
15. You’re a junior financial analyst at the Wrigley Company in Chicago, and you’ve just received
an email from a student at the local university asking if she can shadow you for a day to learn
more about what the work in her major will be like. Write the student and tell her she can
shadow you; tell her which day of the ones she suggested is best for you and when she should
arrive; tell her where to park and enter the building and where/how to meet you; and cover any
additional questions she’s likely to have. Drawing upon your knowledge of the job you’re
pretending to have and the kind of company it’s in, write a cordial, clear, well-organized, and
thorough email that gets the visit set up and prepares the student to have an educational,
enjoyable day.
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16. You assist the operations manager at a manufacturing company, and one of your jobs is to
ensure that you always have enough staff to maintain your production schedule.
In the last week, you’ve heard from several of your supervisors that your newer employees, as
well as some of the more experienced ones, are asking about how to request vacation time
during the summer. They want to know when they can take vacation, how soon they need to let
you know, where they can go to use the online vacation leave forms (which are new since last
summer when employees had to print forms and fill them out), and how they can check online to
see how much vacation they’ve accrued (also new since last summer when they had to contact
their supervisors directly).Summer is a slow time for your company except for the first two
weeks in June, the last week in July, and the first week in August, when no one is allowed to
take vacation.
Creating realistic details as needed, write a response to these employees explaining the vacation
request policy and process.
17. You are an intern for Kaya Asher, director of corporate communications at Argus, a
management consulting firm. Kaya has been asked to lead a seminar to help the sales
representatives use more persuasive oral communication, including formal presentations.
Because she wants to do more than just tell her audience about oral communication skills, she
plans to use YouTube videos to make her presentation more interesting and engaging. She has
asked you to find four YouTube videos, two that illustrate effective oral communication and two
that illustrate poor oral communication. You find four videos that you think will work for her as
well as some alternatives. Write a response to her request. Provide links to the videos as well as
a brief summary of what each video contains and why you think it is appropriate for Kaya’s
presentation.
18. You’re an assistant manager at the Hilton Hotel, St. Petersburg, FL. You’ve just fielded a phone
call from Mark Freshley, who was a guest at your hotel last week. He had breakfast in the hotel
café the morning he checked out, so the printed bill you prepared for him was missing this last
expense. He’d like for you to email him a new final bill showing this expense so that his
company can reimburse him for it. Write the email to Mr. Freshley and send him the bill as an
attachment. While you’re at it, you’ll thank him for his business, of course. You’ll also take
advantage of this opportunity to invite him to join Hilton’s rewards program, HHonors. Study
the program at hhonors.hilton.com and select the details that you believe will be most appealing
to him.
19. As director of corporate communications at the headquarters of a large consumer-goods
manufacturer, you’ve just received an email from Jan Tofar—one of the company’s newest,
youngest hires—proposing that you discuss “mindfulness” in one of your weekly feature articles
for the company intranet. Jan has been reading research and Web posts about the negative
effects of multitasking and the benefits of a focused approach to one’s work. She believes that
the employees should be educated on this topic and taught how to minimize distractions that
create stress and hamper productivity. Specifically, you will use her ideas and some research of
your own to write a feature article about the benefits of reducing multitasking and increasing
mindfulness at work. Before coming to this decision, you made sure to get the approval of
Human Resources, since employee productivity and welfare is their area of expertise and
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authority. In your favorable response to Jan, be sure you show that you appreciate her idea, that
you will do a good job on the article, and that she’ll get credit for her suggestion.
20. Recently, you received a letter from Jana Perkins, president of Midway University’s Beta
Upsilon Sigma (BUS) business fraternity. BUS is holding a silent auction to raise money for
LIVESTRONG, a foundation to help cancer survivors and fight cancer, and has contacted you to
see if your company, Backwoods Outfitters, could supply some items for the auction. Your
company sells camping gear, hunting and fishing equipment, biking gear, skis, snowshoes,
clothing, nonperishable food and dry goods, canoes, kayaks— anything anyone would need for
an outdoor venture no matter how large or how small. In addition, Backwoods Outfitters offers
weekend rental packages that include a tent, canoe, backpacks, and supplies for $200 per
weekend. The store also rents canoes, kayaks, bikes, skis, snowshoes, and additional camping
gear separately.
As the manager for Backwoods Outfitters, you are happy to grant Jana’s request and see this as a
great opportunity to advertise your company and do something for the students and community.
Respond to Jana’s letter, telling her which item or items you will provide for the auction.
21. Great news: As president of your school’s Rowing Club, you’ve just received an offer from
Michael Selzer, the manager of a local grocery store and an alum of your school, to pay your
student organization $500 to staff his store’s table at the city marathon and half-marathon.
Considering that your student organization is currently fundraising to pay for a cross-country trip
to attend a competition, the timing of this offer couldn’t be better.
The water and sports drinks will be provided by the marathon, and Selzer will handle the setup
of the table and promotional banner. Your club is being asked to provide the person power—a
minimum of seven people to staff the table from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. This time commitment
may be an issue for some of your members, given that the race is being held the weekend before
finals week.
Write an email to Selzer thanking him for the opportunity and agreeing to participate. Find out
how many people have to be at the table at any given time, and ask any other questions you may
have. Be sure you make him feel good about choosing your organization for this fundraising
opportunity.
22. As the general manager of Riverview Golf Club, you are responsible for the club’s facilities,
accounting, and event planning. The club’s 400 members are very pleased with the job you are
doing. Last year, you received a special commendation from the club’s membership for your
role in securing and hosting a big golf tournament called the Midwestern Open. Things are going
quite well for both you and the club.
Recently, you received the following email: Hello, my name is Michael Jones, and I am an
assistant for Senator Katherine Rettig. The senator will be in town this weekend to meet with
some of her constituents. As you may know, the senator is an avid golfer. Ever since she
watched last year’s Midwestern Open on television, she has been very interested in playing a
round of golf at your club. We understand that your club is private, so please don’t feel obligated
to permit the senator to play at your club if you believe it would upset your membership.
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However, she would really like to play your course, and would require no special attention other
than allowing three members of her legislative team to play alongside her. Ideally, the senator
would like to play on Saturday afternoon. Thank you for your consideration. You are very
excited about the possibility of Senator Rettig’s playing at Riverview! It would generate great
publicity for the club. And since she is very popular with your membership, you don’t foresee
any problems with allowing her to play on Saturday afternoon. In fact, you believe that many of
the members would be interested in meeting the senator to hear her opinions on the recent tax
bill that was introduced into the Senate.
Respond to Michael Jones’s email granting permission for the senator to play at Riverview.
Provide directions and state what time the senator should arrive at the club. Also, ask Mr. Jones
if the senator would be willing to meet informally with some interested members for a half-hour
discussion of the new tax bill either before or after her golf round.
Order Acknowledgments and Other Thank-You Messages
23. You’re a student who just shadowed a professional in your area of study. You had a great day
with at the company. Sure, there was some down time when she was answering email and doing
paperwork, but she made an effort to tell you what she was doing and why. (Plus, for those down
times, she’d given you some good reading material about the company and its industry.) She
also included you in a meeting with her team and in chats with other employees on her breaks.
She treated you to lunch and had gone to the trouble to invite a couple of entry-level
employees—with jobs like the one you hope to get after you graduate—to join you. All in all,
she really outdid herself. Thank her in a way that befits the effort she went to for you. (Fill in the
realistic details that your message will need in order to be effective.)
24. You’ve just been hired as a marketing intern for a large online auto parts dealership,
AutoGeek.com. Your boss drops by your desk and asks you to look at the order
acknowledgment email message that the company currently uses. Here’s what it says:
This email was sent from a notification-only email address. Please do not reply to this message.
Dear [Customer]: You have received this message because you have ordered a product from
AutoGeek.com. If you’d like to be removed from our mailing list, reply with a blank message to
sales@AutoGeek.com. Please be advised that you may not change or cancel your order, as we
begin processing orders as soon as they are placed. We are currently checking your credit
information and inventory availability. You will receive a Sales Invoice once your order has
been assembled and packaged. If you do not receive a Sales Invoice within 24 hours, please
contact us. Your invoice number is: 11-38520. All orders are shipped no signature required.
Please be aware that orders only ship on business days, we do not offer weekend or holiday
delivery. All orders placed after 5 p.m. EST will ship the following business day. A tracking
number will be emailed to you within 1–2 business days. Frequently asked questions: Visit our
website and click on Customer Service. Thank you for buying from AutoGeek.com.
“Think you can do better?” your boss asks. “Absolutely,” you answer. Go for it. (If your
instructor permits, you may choose another type of business for this case.)
25. A few years ago you and your spouse bought a lake cottage near Saugatuck, MI, to rent out until
you retire there. It’s an attractive, nicely furnished cottage, and it rents reasonably well during
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the short summer season (this far north, the warm weeks don’t last very long).
You’ve been fielding inquiries from one Deb Sloan, who has been considering renting your
cottage for the week of July 4. Today you got her rental deposit in the mail and her confirmation
that she and her family do want to rent the cottage.
Send her a receipt for her deposit and thank her for choosing your property. Make her feel good
about her choice and provide any additional information she might need. You could build some
extra goodwill—and perhaps turn her into a repeat renter—by suggesting things to do and places
to visit while she’s in the area.
26. As part-owner of your parents’ restaurant, Zorah’s, you responded to Komal Gupta’s request for
information about serving 120 people at the World Village Celebration (See case #10). You said
in response to the request for a price break that you would put a little extra food on all the trays
and include a full order of olives (priced at $20) at no charge. You also agreed to waive the $100
deposit that is usually required for large orders.
Komal was impressed by your response and placed an order. Because each tray serves about 40
people, Komal placed an order for three trays of each of the following items: tabouli ($60),
hummus and pita bread ($50), flavored rice ($60). Because the slow-roasted chicken must cook
all day and is only available for dinner customers, grape leaves stuffed with lamb ($0.75 each,
two per person) were ordered instead.
Write a note to Komal Gupta acknowledging the order and expressing your gratitude. Make
Komal feel that selecting your cuisine for the event was a great choice.
27. As the assistant to the executive director of the Association for Business Communication, write
the “welcome” message that you will send to new members. The message will include a receipt
for their first-year dues, their member number (with which they can access members-only
webpages), and of course contact information for the organization. Highlight any other benefits
of membership you think new members would enjoy. Add any other opportunities for members
to become active in the ABC. Just as importantly, though, make readers feel good about the
investment they’ve just made in their professional development. Remember that the more they
take advantage of what the organization has to offer, the more likely they’ll be to renew their
membership next year.
28. Recently, you met with Dan Arojo, marketing manager with DeZine, a major architectural and
construction firm. His company released an RFP (request for proposal) for someone to design,
host, and maintain his company’s website. Your company, Web2Go, specializes in Web design
and plans to submit a proposal. Fortunately, Mr. Arojo was kind enough to meet with you to
answer some questions regarding the proposal. He emphasized that DeZine is looking for a
creative site that uses modern Web technologies but is user friendly, easily navigated, and
visually appealing.
You learned that DeZine’s signature architectural style is edgy and “hip” while being
environmentally conscious. You learned that you will need to include a list of all fees you will
charge for designing, creating, and hosting the site; if there are fees that DeZine will incur that
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are not part of the proposal, you must list them, as the company wants no surprises. In addition,
if you plan to subcontract any of the work (e.g., use freelance designers, artists, writers), you
must list the subcontractors in the proposal as well. Furthermore, any work you create would
become the property of DeZine, not Web2Go. After your talk with Mr. Arojo, you are confident
that your company’s proposal will meet his needs and are excited about submitting it. Write a
thank-you note to Mr. Arojo for meeting with you and providing you with the information for
your proposal.
29. You are the community liaison for a nonprofit organization of your choice. Your organization
participates in a program where donors can give to your program through an automatic credit or
debit card deduction. Write a letter to these donors to thank them for their donations and update
them on the organization’s accomplishments during the past year and plans for the coming year.
Tip: Think about how you might use technology to help you include a personalized salutation
rather than simply “Dear Donor.”
30. Recently, your student organization attended a national conference and competition in Anaheim,
California. You did a considerable amount of fundraising from both campus departments and
businesses in the local community prior to the trip to defray costs for your members.
After a lot of hard work and determination, your group placed fourth out of 25 teams from all
over the United States. It was a great experience—and clearly it would not have been possible
without the financial help from your supporters.
Now that the competition is over and you are back on campus, write a thank-you letter to your
supporters. Let them know how thankful you are for their contributions. Make sure that your
letter is professional so that you can keep them on your donor list for the future.
31. You are currently completing your senior year of college and are in the process of applying to
jobs for after graduation. One of the companies you would love to work for is Grant Thornton.
At the moment, the company does not have any job openings in your area, so you emailed Grant
Thornton’s human resources manager, Janet Robino, to request an informational interview.
She must have liked your message because she invited you to visit the firm. You did so
yesterday, and Janet was very generous. She showed you around the office and patiently
answered your questions. In addition, she introduced you to other employees at the firm, who
described the projects that they were currently working on. When the visit was over, Ms. Robino
gave you a Thornton coffee mug. It was a very good experience, and you learned a great deal!
Write a thank-you note to Ms. Robino expressing your appreciation for all that she and her
colleagues did during your visit.
Direct Claims
32. You’re a clerk in the accounting office of Hocking Hills Resort and Spa, which recently placed a
2/3-page advertisement in Travel Ohio magazine. Today’s email brought a notice from the
magazine that Hocking Hills’ account had been charged $3,700—the amount that a full-page ad
costs.
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You check with Lizzie Adams, the assistant director of sales and marketing for the resort, and
she informs you that this amount is wrong. She proves it by showing you a list of the magazine’s
advertising rates and a copy of the purchase order, which clearly states the amount for a 2/3-page
ad. Obviously, the accounting office for Travel Ohio has made an error.
Write Travel Ohio to request a credit to Hocking Hills’s account. Use the medium and any
supporting evidence that you think will do the best job of getting the results you seek.
33. You open the box of monogrammed shirts you ordered online for the servers at your new
restaurant, and your face falls: The shirts are the right color, style, and sizes, but the
monogrammed name on the shirts, “Mama Mia’s,” is misspelled.
You call the company from whom you purchased the shirts, Rite Uniforms, and talk with a
customer service representative, Suzanne Miller. When you explain the situation, she first offers
her sincere apologies. She then tells you what to do to get the shirts replaced. First, you need to
fax her a letter on company letterhead that explains the error and requests replacement shirts.
Once she receives this letter (which she will need in order to process your request), she will send
you return shipping instructions and get the company working on your replacement shirts.
As you prepare to do as she asks, you think about anything else you might add to your message
that will help Rite Uniforms solve the problem to your liking and get your relationship with
them off on the right foot. Prepare your fax for Suzanne.
34. Remington Textiles is hosting a welcome dinner for a delegation of German executives who are
interested in learning about Remington’s products and possibly pursuing some contracts. You
really want to make a good impression, so you have paid close attention to the details for the
dinner. You even contracted with a local design company, Ridge Water Designs, to make an
elegant, tasteful welcome banner to place above the doorway of the private room at the
restaurant where the dinner will take place.
When you ordered the banner, Robin Heinze, the designer, told you that Ridge Water Designs
could do the banner but could not deliver it until the afternoon of the dinner. Though you were
nervous about getting the banner so close to the time of the dinner, you agreed after you were
assured that everything would be fine. The banner arrived two hours before the dinner. It looked
great, but Ridge Water Designs had spelled the German company’s name incorrectly. Obviously,
you could not use the banner, which cost $225, and you were incredibly disappointed, as you
had sent Ridge Water Designs an email with the spelling of the company’s name and even
spelled it over the phone when you ordered the banner. On the day of the dinner, Ridge Water
Designs sent you a quick email to confirm that the banner was sent but indicated that no one
would be in the office for the rest of the day.
Write to Robin Heinze and request that you not be charged $225 for a sign that you obviously
could not use.
35. You are the production supervisor for Pearl River Growers, a greenhouse and nursery. You
ordered 200 trays of dahlia “plugs” (plants that start growing in small pots and are transferred to
larger pots or gardens once they’ve matured). One of the trays arrived frozen, which means that
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all of the plugs are dead. Choose an effective communication channel and create a message
requesting a replacement tray.
36. You are the building manager for Schneider Enterprises. After a recent construction project at
the company, you contracted Custom Cleaning Services, a commercial cleaning company, to
clean the office. According to the contract, you would pay $3,000 once the job was completed.
When you drew up the contract for the cleaning, you and Beth Menendez, manager of Custom
Cleaning Services, developed a checklist of cleaning jobs that needed to be done. The cleaning
crew worked throughout the weekend. Though you let them in the building on Saturday morning
and Sunday morning, you only checked in the evening that the building was locked after the
crew left. You did not check the crew’s work.
When you arrive for work on Monday morning, you notice that the cleaning crew missed some
of the items on the checklist, and the cleaning job is sloppy. There are streaks on the windows.
The walls also have streaks of dust, dirt, and fingerprints. Some of the light fixtures have not
been cleaned or dusted, and the floor seems to have a film of some kind on it—like the cleaner
did not quite cut through all of the dirt. You know that Beth would not find this cleaning job
acceptable and would want you to be a satisfied customer.
Contact Beth and request what you think is reasonable for addressing this situation.
37. You are a musician who has ordered books of sheet music for a wedding reception that you and
the other three members of your quartet will play for in two weeks. Unfortunately, when the
books arrive, they are not what you ordered. You can return the music, but you still do not have
what you need for the wedding in two weeks. You feel that because this is the company’s fault,
the company should overnight the right music at no charge to you. You’ll gladly return the
music you can’t use, but you won’t be paying the $7.95 shipping charge—that would be
unreasonable since the mistake was not your fault. You called to talk with a customer service
representative but got a message saying that all phone lines were busy and that for faster service,
you should go to the company’s customer support webpage. You go to the page and learn that
you can type your message into a Web form and receive a response within two hours. Write a
direct claim that gets you what you need.
38. You are the owner of a small bakery, Lakewood Confectioners. Your business is expanding, and
you decide to order three new display cases from Wolburg Furniture, a company based 200
miles away with whom you have not previously done business. However, you have heard
positive reviews about the quality of its products from a friend and fellow small-business owner.
When the display cases arrive, you are surprised to find four sitting on the loading dock, not the
three that you ordered. You double-check with your bookkeeper, Sam Ross, and verify that the
purchase order clearly specified three display cases. Normally, you would simply put the extra
item in a box and return it to the sender. However, these display cases are large, and shipping
one would be both time consuming and expensive. In addition, the large extra case is taking up
the limited space on your loading dock. Send an email to Wolburg Furniture’s shipping
department requesting that someone come pick up the extra display case as soon as possible.
Adjustment Grants
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39. You’re a customer service representative at CarParts.com, and you recently received a request,
posted to your website, that you correct an error your company made (see Chapter 6, case #14).
The customer makes a good case, and the purchase records confirm his account of what
happened: The website does list the wrong number for the part (a problem that you have the
webmaster correct immediately). The purchase records also show that this customer buys from
you quite often.
You’ll be glad to pay the return shipping for the wrong part (you will send him a prepaid UPS
label) and will credit his account once you receive it. You will also be glad to send the
replacement part directly to the car repair shop, as he requested. He does need to understand,
though, that it’s just not economically feasible for you to send this part via overnight shipping.
The best you can do is get it to the shop within two business days. He’ll need to let you know if,
under these circumstances, he still wants the part delivered there. You’ll of course extend your
apologies for the trouble caused by the error on your website. Overall, you’ll do your best to
restore any goodwill that the incident may have cost you and make the customer feel good about
ordering from you again.
40. You work in member services for a local credit union. Today you received a phone call from
Sue Wong, a very upset credit union member. Every month, her paycheck is deposited in her
savings account, with $1,000 automatically transferred to her checking account so that she can
pay her bills. The automatic transfer has been occurring for three years and has never failed
before. Last month, however, the funds were not transferred. Not realizing the funds had not
transferred, Ms. Wong wrote several checks against the checking account. The account, of
course, had insufficient funds to cover the checks, and Ms. Wong incurred service charges of
$250.
Although Ms. Wong should have checked her account balance before writing the checks, the
error is clearly the credit union’s fault. When you spoke with Ms. Wong on the phone, you told
her you would transfer the funds and reverse the service charges.
Credit union policy requires that you follow up these types of phone calls with a letter verifying
that you have resolved the issue and explaining to the member what you did. Write the letter to
Ms. Wong. You might remind her that if she would use the automatic payment option offered by
the power company, most credit card companies, and many other services, she wouldn’t have to
worry about what is in her checking account or about even having to transfer money to her
account each month.
41. Play the role of Suzanne Miller at Rite Uniforms and respond to case #33 in this chapter. The
customer has faxed his request for replacement shirts to you as you requested, and you’re now
emailing him to provide instructions for returning the shirts. Include in your message any
information that will answer his likely questions, and be sure to do your best to restore any lost
goodwill.
42. You have just received a claim letter from Candace at Handel and Schmidt Holdings (see
Chapter 6, case #16). As Bob Sawyer’s trusty office assistant at Sawyer Steakhouse, you must
handle her request for a partial refund on her bill. Sawyer’s is the most popular steakhouse in the
city—and it just so happened that, on short notice, the mayor decided to bring some visiting
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dignitaries to dinner on the night when the complaining customer held his company outing. That
would account for the seating delay that the customer’s party experienced. As for the unpleasant
server and mixed-up orders . . . you’re not sure what happened there. Perhaps the surprise VIPs
threw the staff into something of a tizzy. Regardless, you are disappointed that Handel and
Schmidt’s experience did not reflect your usually stellar service.
At any rate, you understand the customer’s point and are genuinely sorry that his special
occasion was flawed. You’ll definitely adjust the bill and do any other reasonable thing you can
to regain his confidence and earn his repeat business.
43. Rarely do your professional cleaners make a mistake, but it looks like this time is an exception.
Ms. Julie Todd just brought in an Eileen Fisher knit jacket that your cleaners managed to shrink
so badly that it isn’t even an adult size anymore. She also brought in a printed webpage showing
that the jacket, which is no longer available, had sold for $250. You asked her how long she’d
had the jacket, and she said two years. You promised to have your cleaners see what they could
do with the jacket and then get back to her. Now you must write her a letter offering her an
adjustment. The jacket was so hopelessly shrunk that it could not be restored to anything near its
original size. You have an adjustment chart that you use in cases like this one, and it indicates
that you should pay her half of the clothing article’s original value. So you’ll offer to void the
cleaning charge for the jacket and credit her account for $125 (if she wants the jacket back,
though, you cannot adjust the bill; you keep the article of clothing in such circumstances so that
customers won’t feel encouraged to make other such claims and then keep the clothing).
44. Oops—it looks like one of the mowing teams at your company (Beauty Lawn) made a mistake
(see case #12 in Chapter 6). Your customer’s request for an adjustment is reasonable, so you’ll
grant it. You’re just happy the damage wasn’t any worse. What else might make this new
customer feel that he chose the right lawn care company and that such errors will not be likely in
the future? Say whatever you think appropriate to retain his loyalty and restore his confidence in
Beauty Lawn’s expertise.
Internal-Operational Messages
45. Revise the following poorly written message so that the message is clear and direct and has an
appropriate tone and style. You may add information if you need to for the message to make
sense. Be sure to fix any grammar, mechanics, punctuation, or word choice errors.
From: Jim Hannigan
Sent: Tuesday, June 2, 2013
To:
All Employees
Subject: Security System As many of you have noticed the security system is not working at this
time, we are aware of this problem and are awaiting repair parts to correct the issue. In
response, the outer doors are unlocked and you will not need to use your badge until we are
repaired. Later this evening we will be falling back to keyed door locks for the evening. If you
are going out the front door, you will need to use the handle to get out the exterior doors after
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5 PM.
Thank you for your patients, Jim Hannigan
Building Supervisor
Ext. 5555
46. Revise the following poorly written message so that the message is clear and direct and has an
appropriate tone and style. You may add information if you need to for the message to make
sense. Be sure to fix any grammar, mechanics, punctuation, or word choice errors.
Employees are taking too long of breaks. This must stop immediately so that we don’t lose
productivity.
If we lose productivity, we could lose customers, and you could lose your job.
Remember that you get 15 minutes in the morning and 15 in the afternoon. You get 30 minutes
for lunch. This means you don’t leave early, and it doesn’t mean you take 30 minutes to eat
and then take another
5 or 10 to get back to work. This means you get back to work after 30 minutes. Also, this means
that when you are working, you are not allowed to be on Facebook or email for personal
reasons. This has lead to alot of waste time, to. I know all of you care about your jobs. If their is
any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for all of your hard work. It is
appreciated.
47. As a company that has more than 50 employees living in or near the city where it is located,
your company is covered by the U.S. Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This means that
employees who meet certain criteria, as outlined by the U.S. Department of Labor
(www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs28.pdf), may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave if
they have a baby, an extended illness, or an impaired relative to take care of.
Many companies have started “leave donation” programs that enable employees to donate some
of their accumulated sick leave or vacation time to fellow employees who have taken unpaid
leaves. As office manager for your company, you periodically remind employees of this
opportunity to help their colleagues. You think the time has come around again for this
reminder, especially since you’re aware of at least two employees who might need their coworkers’ donations.
Write the employees, some of whom have never heard of this program, about the leave donation
program. You will direct them to the FMLA website and to your own company’s intranet for the
full, official details; however, you will include the basics in your message: how much leave
employees need to have accumulated in order to donate, the minimum and maximum amount of
hours they can donate, the irreversibility of the donation, what recipients may use it for, how to
donate, the fact that donating is strictly voluntary, and whatever else you think readers need to
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know in order to decide whether to pursue the matter further. (To generate such details, you can
visit the FMLA website and the website at your school or business that describes this kind of
policy.)
48. You are the facilities and grounds supervisor for AVG Enterprises. It’s now April 1. Every
summer you clean the office carpeting and polish and wax the floors. Employees can also
request that their offices be painted, but their supervisors need to justify and approve the request.
Those who have had their offices painted in the last five years can forget having them painted
again, as you do not have the time or the budget. You do the floors one department at a time.
You have to schedule cleaning for accounting, human resources, education and training,
facilities and grounds, communications, sales, marketing, and information systems departments.
Usually, it takes a week to do one department, as you have to do this early in the evening so that
the floors are dry by the time employees arrive the next morning. If any offices need to be
painted, the job needs to be done before the floors are done; you need three weeks’ notice so that
you can pick colors, order paint, and schedule the work. The floor maintenance will begin June
1. Develop a cleaning schedule that you’ll send to all employees and department supervisors.
Remind employees of the approval process for getting their offices painted. Because not
everyone in the building has access to email, you’ll write this as a memo.
49. You are the human resources manager for a public relations company. Your company employs
people in many types of positions (e.g., communication, marketing and sales, creative services,
accounting, customer service and support, clerical). You were talking with a colleague at a
recent Society for Human Resource Management meeting and learned that your colleague’s
company offers professional development activities for its employees. These activities are
generally workshops in which an expert shares his or her knowledge on a particular topic such as
conflict resolution or email etiquette. Workshops are held on site. Most are only an hour or so
and are held once a month during the workday. Of course, employees are paid to attend these
sessions and are not required to attend all of them—only the ones that interest them.
You think this kind of professional development program is just what your company needs. You
present such a program to your CEO and receive permission to try the program for six months,
so you develop a list of topics, set a schedule, and contact experts who agree to lead the
workshops.
Send a message to the employees of your company in which you describe the program, present a
schedule, invite them to attend, and include a brief list of the topics the program offers in the
next six months. Be sure you think about what information might motivate readers to participate
in this program.
50. Over the last 10 years, you and four friends have grown your little technology consulting
business, IT Doctors, into an 80-person company. The time has finally come to hire a human
resources professional rather than contracting out the payroll and benefits services. So you hire
Lauren Kiser, who brings extensive knowledge and experience to the position. After working
there a couple of months, Lauren comes to you with a concern. “IT Doctors doesn’t have a
sexual harassment policy,” she says. “I see a lot of friendly teasing going on between the male
and female employees, but sometimes the females seem a bit offended. To have a welcoming
company culture and to ensure that you don’t run into legal trouble, I think you really need a
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sexual harassment policy. It doesn’t have to accuse anyone of anything. But it should make clear
what constitutes sexual harassment and emphasize that any such forms of behavior are grounds
for reprimand or even dismissal.”
To help you develop such a policy for IT Doctors, she sends you some Web links to other
companies’ policies and also directs you to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission’s (EEOC’s) website. Thinking carefully about the information you’ve gathered and
the kind of response you want from your employees, send out a memo in which you announce
IT Doctors’ new sexual harassment policy.
51. Continue on as the executive in case #50 above. The new sexual harassment policy you
announced two months ago seems to have been well received, but recently you had to use it as
grounds for a written warning to an employee whom two employees had complained about. This
warning went into the offending employee’s personnel file.
Perhaps as a result of this action, news of which no doubt made its way around the company
grapevine, other employees seem to have become curious about exactly what goes into a
personnel file and how that information can be used.
After doing some research on this topic, send the employees an email in which you enlighten
them. In preparing your email, consider the kinds of questions they’re likely to have. For
example, what kinds of documents get put into a personnel file? Which, if any, of these can be
shared, and with whom? Are the contents of personnel files ever shared with those who are
considering hiring IT Doctors’ former employees? Can employees read their own personnel
files? You may well think of additional questions that you should address.
52. Each year your company organizes a team to participate in your city’s Making Strides Against
Breast Cancer walk, one of a series of walks sponsored by the American Cancer Society. This
year you are the coordinator of your company’s team. Your first task is to invite all employees to
an informational meeting. Send a message to everyone in the company regarding the meeting and
include an agenda for the meeting. A little research on the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
website will help you decide what to include in your message. Of course you want your message
to start generating enthusiasm for the cause right away—but be sure you make clear that coming
to the meeting won’t obligate anyone to participate in the walk. You just want to spread the word
about it and be sure that anyone looking for a worthy cause to support (and an inspiring team
experience) knows about this opportunity. Those who want to be on the team can sign up at the
end of the meeting or let you know by August 3.
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