978-0073403267 Chapter 1 Answers to Textbook Assignments

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Module 01 – Business Communication, Management, and Success

Part 2: Answers to Textbook Assignments

Questions for Comprehension

1.1 What are the three basic purposes of business messages? (LO 1-3)

1.2 What are the five basic criteria for effective messages? (LO 1-5)

1.3 What does PAIBOC stand for? (LO 1-6)

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Module 01 – Business Communication, Management, and Success

1.4 Why do writing and speaking become even more important as people rise in the

organization? (LO 1-1 to LO 1-3)

As employees rise in an organization, they are likely to have to write and speak more, as well as

1.5 If you’re just looking for a low-level job, why is it still useful to be able to write and

speak well? (LO 1-1 to LO 1-3)

All jobs require communication skills, and to get a job in the first place, potential employees

1.6 Why do you need to understand the purposes, audience, and context for a message to

know whether a specific set of words will work? (LO 1-2)

Purpose identifies what organizational problem the message will serve, what it must do to meet

1.7 What opportunities do you have in volunteer or student organizations to do real

“business writing” while you’re in school? (LO 1-5)

Students’ answers will vary. Most students will have a multitude of possibilities—campus

1.8 Discussing Strengths (LO 1-5, LO 1-6)

This in-class problem invites students to share strengths. It’s good if you’ll be using collaborative

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Module 01 – Business Communication, Management, and Success

1.9 Introducing Yourself to Your Instructor (LO 1-5, LO 1-6)

This assignment is straightforward. Kitty and Steve like it because it helps them see students as

individuals and as competent people. Many of them who are not good writers nevertheless have

impressive achievements in other areas. Because people going through rough periods may not

be ready to write about themselves, Kitty often gave students a choice of either this or Exercise

1.12. Steve also likes the assignment because it gets their “feet wet” regarding document format.

Take 10 minutes to tell students to

Use a complete memo format; remember to initial the memo. Headings are optional.

Include only information they feel comfortable sharing.

Be specific enough to show how they’re different from other people who are from the

same town, in the same major, planning the same career path.

List at least five accomplishments. These can be anything that makes the writer feel good about

himself or herself, even if it’s not the kind of thing that goes on a résumé. For example, someone

who has just run a 10K race for the first time may justly be proud of that, even though other

people run further or faster.

Your students may write better memos when you give them a memo about yourself. (They also

enjoy learning something about you, just as you will enjoy being able to see them as individuals.)

Use Appendix 1-A through Appendix 1-C as an example of one of Kitty’s introductory memos.

You can use Exercise 1.10 as an in-class discussion exercise to help students prepare for this

assignment.

If you use this problem, point out to students that it is very different from other assignments

they’ll have. Kitty has had students who have done very well writing about themselves and very

poorly when asked to assume the roles of middle managers. The opposite also happens: some

students who write vague, stilted memos about themselves do just fine in the course.

1.10 Describing Your Experience in and Goals for Writing (LO 1-5, LO 1-6)

This assignment tells you what your students already know about writing and can help you plan

the course.

Usually the very best writers will produce strong responses to this prompt. Mediocre writers

have problems. They often aren’t conscious of what they’ve been taught or of how their writing

has been evaluated—they remember only the grade, not comments. They may not have enough

awareness of labels or of the kinds of areas in which writing is evaluated to know what they see

as strengths and weaknesses. However, even if their view of strengths and weaknesses is off, you

may still want to know what they see as their strengths and weaknesses.

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Module 01 – Business Communication, Management, and Success

1.11 Letters to Angry Electric Company Customers (LO 1-5 to LO 1-7)

Letter 1

The salutation is impersonal and shows lack of interest on the part of the writer, who should

determine whether Harper Henry is a man or woman.

Letter 2

The salutation is too informal.

Letter 3

The courtesy title assumes that “Henry” is the writer’s married name, which it is not.

Letter 4

Of the four sample letters provided, this one provides the most effective message. The letter

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Module 01 – Business Communication, Management, and Success

1.12 Online Messages for Discussion: Responding to Rumors (LO 1-5 to LO 1-7)

Message 1

The subject line is vague.

Message 2

This memo gives too little information. The subject line is not specific, and the body of the

Message 3

The subject line does not inform readers.

The first paragraph gives too many details too soon, de-emphasizing the main point: no layoffs.

Message 4

The subject line sets a negative tone for the message.

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Module 01 – Business Communication, Management, and Success

Message 5

The subject line is acceptable, though “Layoffs—the True Story” would be better in case the

readers’ screen displays fewer than the 28 characters in this line.

Polishing Your Prose: Sentence Fragments (Odd-numbered answers are in the back of the

textbook.)

Several answers are possible—here are likely ones.

2. Diane downloaded the latest word processing app.

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Module 01 – Business Communication, Management, and Success

to a productive quarter!

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manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.