Business Communication Chapter 5 Homework One of the best ways for business communicators to generate ideas for projects or solve problems is by brainstorming

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Solution and Answer Guide

Guffey/Loewy, Business Communication: Process & Product, 10e, 2022, 9780357129234;

Chapter 5: Organizing and Drafting Business Messages

Table of Contents

Zooming In—Critical Thinking Answers …………………………………………………………………………… 1

How a Wedding Website Grew Into a $100 Million Event Planning Business ……………………………………. 1

Zooming In—Your Turn Solution ……………………………………………………………………………………. 2

Applying Your Skills at MyEvent.com …………………………………………………………………………………………… 2

Ethics Check Answers …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3

Telling Right From Wrong ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3

Let’s Get Personal …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

Critical Thinking Answers ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

Writing Improvement Exercises Solutions ………………………………………………………………………. 6

Activities Solutions ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 10

Zooming In—Critical Thinking Answers

How a Wedding Website Grew Into a $100 Million Event Planning Business

• In what ways would research (gathering information) have helped the founders of

MyEvent.com move beyond their original wedding platform and remain relevant in

the rapidly changing world of Internet commerce?

Solution

Collecting information is important to any businessperson but especially to those in rapidly

changing environments. By collecting information from competing websites and customers,

• What techniques can business communicators at MyEvent.com and other companies

use to generate ideas for new products as well as to improve business processes?

Solution

One of the best ways for business communicators to generate ideas for projects or solve

problems is by brainstorming. This chapter describes techniques for effective brainstorming

• Have you experienced any crowdsourcing in your social or college activities? Have you

seen it in the news?

Solution

For years crowdsourcing has taken place with open-source computing. On university and

Zooming In—Your Turn Solution

Applying Your Skills at MyEvent.com

• As interns at MyEvent.com, you and your colleagues are in a unique position to

provide useful information. You have been asked to generate ideas about how college

and university students might use crowdsourcing. For what kinds of projects does

crowdsourcing make sense? To learn more, conduct research to discover

crowdsourcing projects that have been successful on college or university campuses.

With three to five classmates, generate five or more solid ideas for crowdsourcing on

college or university campuses. Organize your ideas into an e-mail message addressed

to MyEvent.com in care of your instructor. Explain what your research revealed as

well as listing your ideas for possible campus crowdsourcing projects. See Appendix A

for message formats and Chapters 7 and 8 for tips on preparing a professional e-mail

message.

Solution

To: MyEvent.com (c/o your instructor)

From: Your Name

Subject: How Students Might Use Crowdsourcing

First, thanks for this opportunity to offer ideas that might help MyEvent.com expand its

crowdsourcing programs on college and university campuses.

In conducting research, we learned that students at many institutions have employed

[return to top]

Ethics Check Answers

Telling Right From Wrong

• Banking giant Citigroup, with a reputation for past ethics struggles, engaged an

ethicist to offer advice on troublesome questions of right and wrong. One of his ideas

involved a simple test. “In an uncertain situation, . . . ask the four M’s: What would

your mother, your mentor, the media, and—if you are so inclined—your maker think?”

Compare this test with the five-question Guide to Ethical Decisions presented in

Figure 1.14 in Chapter 1. Which do you find more helpful?

Solution

To refresh your memory, here is the five-question Guide to Ethical Decisions presented in

Chapter 1 of this textbook:

1. Is this action legal?

Let’s Get Personal

• A study of the language that executives use during earnings calls reveals that their

words can have a distinct effect on investors. When executives use personal pronouns

such as I, we, my, ours, and us, investors leave with a more positive impression—

regardless of a company’s results. First-person pronouns, suggested the researchers,

create the impression that an executive has “more control over the past and

therefore more ability to influence the future.” Is it unethical for an executive to use

first-person pronouns to intentionally influence investors?

Solution

Much depends on the intention of the executive. Some executives may naturally speak in

first-person terms (I look ahead to the next quarter, and I am very optimistic about our future.)

Critical Thinking Answers

1. A survey from PayScale, the compensation data software website, revealed a

surprising gap in perception between managers and new grads. “Overall, the majority

of workers (87 percent) feel well prepared (immediately or within 3 months) for their

job upon graduation from college. In contrast, only about half of managers

(50 percent) feel that employees who recently graduated from college are well

prepared for the workforce.” The skill most lacking, said the managers, was writing

proficiency. What could explain this gap in perception between managers and new

grads?

Solution

The gap might be explained by a difference in standards. Students have been graded on

their work according to academic standards. It could very well be that employers have

2. How can bad writing waste a businessperson’s time? A researcher asked that question

of workers who read business material an average of 25 hours per week (about half of

which was e-mail). What writing flaws do you think they named? Should new

employees be trained in writing effectively on the job?

Solution

Of the 547 businesspeople interviewed in this study, 81 percent reported that what they

read was frequently ineffective because it was (a) too long, (b) poorly organized, (c) unclear,

(d) filled with jargon, and (e) imprecise. The author of the study claimed that “entry–level

3. Why is audience analysis so important in the selection of the direct or indirect

strategy of organization for a business message?

Solution

Audience analysis is important because it helps the writer decide whether the receiver will

react positively or negatively to the message. Help your students develop the habit of always

4. Ethical issue: Now that you have studied the active and passive voice, what do you

think when someone in government or business says, “Mistakes were made”? Is it

unethical to use the passive voice to avoid specifics?

Solution

By using the passive voice in the familiar statement Mistakes were made, the speaker or

writer is avoiding responsibility by refusing to identify who or what caused the mistakes.

Writing Improvement Exercises Solutions

5.1 Sentence Types

Solution

a. 1—Simple sentence

b. 3—Complex sentence

5.2 Sentence Faults

Solution

a. Fragment. Although they began as a side business for Disney, destination weddings now

represent a major income source.

b. Fragment. About 2,000 weddings are held yearly, which is twice the number just ten

years ago.

5.3 Emphasis

Solution

a. 2—Sentence 2 emphasizes the exceptionalism of American burgers with vivid words.

b. 2—Sentence 2 labels the important idea.

c. 1—Sentence 1 places the important idea first so that it is not lost in other verbiage.

5.4 Active Voice

Solution

a. Artificial intelligence (AI) has made applying for jobs easier.

b. Hiring companies are programming chatbots, another form of AI, to conduct interviews

5.5 Passive Voice

Solution

a. A serious error was made in our annual tax figures.

5.6 Parallelism

Solution

a. Gone are the days when job candidates could write a résumé naming an objective, listing

their skills, and hitting the Send key.

b. To be hired, an applicant must be reliable, creative, and enthusiastic.

5.7 Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

Solution

a. When pursuing entry-level positions, new grads often fail to negotiate salary.

b. To be interviewed for a specific position, you (OR a new grad) must submit a targeted

application.

5.8 Costco’s Polite but Firm Door Policy

Solution

Negative Version of Costco Entrance Sign:

• Do not allow your children to wander the warehouse without parental supervision.

Positive Version of Costco Entrance Sign:

Thank you for . . .

• Keeping your children with you at all times

5.9 Organizing Paragraph Sentences

Solution

a. Sentence #3

5.10 Revising a Pizza Promotion Paragraph

Solution

Note: Many possible revisions may be appropriate for the following paragraph.

Pizza Hut is considering launching a new product called The Extreme. It will be the largest

pizza on the market. With double the cheese and double the toppings, it will target

5.11 Constructing a Coherent Paragraph

Solution

For many reasons Valley Medical Center is considering beginning the process of converting

to electronic medical records (EMRs). If we do so, we can qualify for federal funds to

reimburse the cost of adopting the technology. In addition, we have learned that the federal

5.12 Constructing a Coherent Teamwork Paragraph

Solution

Effective teams convert conflict into better decision making. They strive to eliminate

destructive conflict, which can arise when team members take criticism personally. Such

5.13 Document for Analysis: Finding Faults in a Poor Message

Solution

Fragments: Sentences 1–2, 5–6, 12–13, 17–20

Passive voice: Sentence 4

Dangling modifier: Sentence 8

Lack of parallelism: Sentence 10

Revision:

To: Angela.Ortiz@gmail.com

From: Trent.Westbrook@premierefinances.com

Subject: Taxes on Profits From e-Bay and Other Online Sellers

Dear Angela,

As you are probably already aware, you can use eBay or one of the other sellers to clean out

your closets or to run a small business. You definitely should clarify your tax liabilities.

Although no clear line separates fun from profit or a hobby from a business, one thing is

certain: the IRS taxes all income.

A number of factors will help you determine whether your hobby is a business. To use eBay

safely, consider the following questions:

• Do you run the operation in a businesslike manner? That is, do you keep records,

track your profit and loss, and keep a separate checking account?

5.14 Brainstorming: Solving a Problem on Campus

Solution

Students will probably have no trouble finding a problem to analyze. Encourage them to

5.15 Brainstorming: Solving a Problem at Work

Solution

Students develop their organizing skills in preparing an outline that describes a problem at