There are three correspondence assignments that make up the formal writing assignment for the correspondence unit. This page contains the third correspondence assignment.
In this correspondence assignment, you’ll write an email in response to the scenario below. (This case or scenario is adapted from the textbook Business Communication Today.)
You may not change the facts in the scenario but may add needed information that isn’t provided in the scenario. For this message, I particularly encourage you to consider the role that research (e.g., examples from other companies, advice from communication experts, etc.) can play in such a message. You should cite any research that you use. Along similar lines, carefully consider what forms you-attitude, reader benefits, and positive emphasis will take in the message.
As a recent graduate, you’re familiar with a wide range of resources on the web: social networks, blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other web technologies. When you started a new position as a human resources intern, you were rather disappointed to find your new employer solidly stuck in the age of email.
You use email, of course, but it is only one of the tools in your communication toolbox. You have hands-on experience with a wide range of social media tools, having used them to collaborate on school projects, to become involved in your local community, to learn more about various industries and professions, and to research potential employers during your job search. In fact, without social media, you might not have heard about your current employer in the first place!
Moreover, your use of social media on the job has already paid several important dividends, including finding potential sales contacts at several large companies that you forwarded to the sales department, connecting with peers in other companies to share ideas for working more efficiently, and learning about some state legislation that would affect the company’s hiring process.
You hoped that by setting an example through your own use of social media at work, your new colleagues and managers would quickly adopt these tools as well. However, just the opposite has happened. Waiting in your email inbox this morning was a message from CEO Stan Birdy announcing that the company is now cutting off access to social networking websites and banning the use of any social media at work except for the marketing, customer service, and sales departments. The message says that using company time and company computers for socializing is highly inappropriate and might be considered grounds for dismissal in the future if the problem gets out of hand.
You are surprised by the message and concerned that this action may harm the company and limit employees’ ability to research and learn. You consider writing to CEO Birdy, but instead, you wisely decide to send a message to your immediate superior first, explaining why you believe the new policy should be reversed.
Write a persuasive email to your supervisor explaining why social networking technologies, like Facebook, Twitter, etc., are valid and valuable business tools for departments beyond marketing and sales.
Tips:
This situation or scenario is the most complex of the ones you have completed this semester.
Notice that you’re writing to an immediate supervisor about a policy that someone at an even higher level (the CEO) wrote, so you have both a primary reader (your supervisor) and a potential secondary reader (the CEO). As you develop the message, here are a few points to keep in mind:
First, take time to consider the power levels of everyone involved and consider carefully what action you should ask for at the end of your persuasive email. Any action you ask for in your email must be within the primary reader’s scope of power as your supervisor will be the first to read the message.
Second, take time to consider what kind of information your primary (and secondary) reader would need to be persuaded to act. In particular, consider how research can help messages be more persuasive.
Along similar lines, consider both your primary and secondary readers’ likely concerns. Why might they think a social media ban (excepting sales, customer service, and marketing) is a good idea?
Finally, remember that design options (like headings, lists, tables, etc.) can be used in correspondence. Consider whether they would be useful in this message.
