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Skills Building Exercises
1. Point out the shortcomings in the following email message from a sports celebrity declining
an invitation to speak at the kickoff meeting for workers in a fundraising campaign for a
charity. (LO3)
Subject: Your request for free lecture
2. Criticize the following message refusing the claim for a defective riding lawn mower. The
mower was purchased 15 months earlier. The purchaser has had difficulties with it for some
time and submitted with the claim a statement from a local repair service verifying the
difficulties. The writer’s reason for refusing is stated in the email. (LO5)
Subject: Your May 12 claim
Mr. Skinner:
Your May 12 claim of defec%ve workmanship in your Model 227 Dandy Klipper riding mower
3. You work for an online mail-order company, Nonsensicals, which sells such novelty items as
T-shirts with clever sayings, unique toys and games, and such household accessories as
framed posters and retro table lamps. Most of the employees are young, somewhat quirky,
and very Internet savvy. Now consider the following email sent to everyone from the
company president: (LO6)
Subject: No More Social Networking during Work Hours
It has become obvious to me that people are spending too much %me doing social networking
and not enough %me actually working while on the job. From now on, you must do your
4. You own a small new- and used-book store and café with free wireless Internet access. You
enjoy the calm, quiet atmosphere of your store and like that your customers choose your
store to conduct business, socialize with friends, or just enjoy a good book and a cup of
coffee. Increasingly, many customers are talking on their cell phones—very loudly and in
places where they shouldn’t be. They hold up the order line by talking on the phone when
they should be talking to the cashier. They disrupt others who are enjoying the quiet
atmosphere to work or read. Sure, customers who are working on the computer may need
to talk on the phone, but must these customers be so loud and disruptive that those across
the room who are trying to read can hear their conversations? Many customers have
actually complained. You want to make these customers happy but not at the expense of
making your cell phone users unhappy. Write a cell phone use policy to post in your store.
(LO6)
In exercise 4, students will need to write an example of a negative announcement regarding
limiting cell phone use. Evaluate student’s answers based on the guidelines for writing indirect
Refused Requests, Case #2
The purpose of the message is to turn down an employee’s request for an organiza%on’s inclusion in a
company volunteering program. Due to the organiza%on’s poli%cally charged stances, you need to take
care in the wording of your message to explain the reason for your refusal while suppor%ng the
employee’s par%cipa%on in the volunteer program.
