Business Communication Chapter 7 Digital Media Here One Possible Revision Agent Thanks For Contacting Home Exercise

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7: Digital Media 7-14

Here is one possible revision:

Agent: Thanks for contacting Home Exercise Equipment.

How may I help you?

Agent: Great—the model number is located on the front near the UPC code. Please read

that number to me.

Customer: It’s model number HG-8975.

Agent: Thank you. What problem have you encountered?

Customer: Yes. What should I do with it?

Agent: Just insert one end of the cross bars into the threaded end of the spacer and

tighten it, and that will make the cross bar long enough to reach both pillars.

[LO-3] AACSB: Written and oral communication

7.16. Message 7.B

Four fairly obvious weaknesses in this podcast are as follows:

1. The introduction is abrupt and could offend a professional audience.

3. The podcast exhibits a poorly planned sequence, forcing the speaker to backtrack and define

social media halfway through the recording.

4. After listing the various types of social media, the speaker says “notice the common threads,”

then introduces the first thread by saying “One,” thereby implying that at least a “two” and

7.17. More than one medium would work for these examples, but students should be able to support

their choices. Here are some possible solutions: [LO-1] AACSB: Written and oral

communication

a. A conventional website would work well since it would allow users to search quickly for

7: Digital Media 7-15

product design. Other possibilities include a community Q&A site (perhaps as part of the

main website) and a wiki.

b. A handwritten note would be best for a message of condolence.

7.18. Responses will vary. Here are some examples: [LO-2] AACSB: Information technology

7.19. The message is dictatorial and implies that employees are not pulling their weight. The memo

will offend conscientious employees, and even those guilty of taking a little extra time now and

then will resent the tone of the memo. The writer can treat this as a routine memo, with a

straightforward change in routine procedures. The first paragraph can contain the main idea of the

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CASE SOLUTIONS

Here are possible solutions for this chapter’s cases.

7.23. Media Skills: Email; Message Strategies: Routine Messages

Note: Students can find a wide variety of products to compare with Slack by searching online for “Slack

alternatives.” For the purposes of this project, they don’t need to dive into the gory details of these

systems; a high-level look at major features and benefits will suffice. [LO-2] AACSB: Information

technology

concept, but offer distinctive capabilities. Azendoo’s model is based on tasks and projects, and it

incorporates chat and other communication functions are part of that approach. In this sense, it goes

beyond the capabilities of Slack and in fact offers project-management tools that many Slack users have

been requesting. One of its major benefits is wide integration with third-party tools, from Evernote to

cloud storage systems such as Dropbox and Google Drive. Critically, it can even seamlessly connect users

resource management to keep documents and other files from falling through the cracks or getting

abandoned on some individual’s PC. We need to bring everything together, in other words—not just

communication streams. Accordingly, both Azendoo and eXo Platform are attractive choices. Between

these two, Azendoo’s ability to work with so many third-party applications without code-level

customizing makes it the most appealing solution for us.

7: Digital Media 7-20

We compared these messages using the following criteria:

• Was the message necessary and a good use of the recipient’s time?

• Did the message have a clear purpose?

• Did the message provide the information the recipient needed?

• Was the tone of the message appropriate for the situation and the audience?

• Did the message exhibit “professional–grade” writing quality?

• Was the subject line clear and compelling?

Based on these criteria, we ranked the messages in this order, from most-effective to least-effective:

Sender

Summary of the message’s effectiveness

1. Etsy

Offered an easy-to-follow summary of the changes (complete with

descriptive subheadings) and invited questions from recipients, both good

examples of the “you” attitude in action

2. HipChat

A lengthy and complicated message that summarized how the privacy

policy was changing as a result of HipChat being acquired by another

company; there was a lot of information, but it wasn’t formatted as

clearly as the Etsy message; the message did invite questions and

feedback

3. Good Platform

Didn’t provide any summary of the policy changes, thereby forcing

recipients to read the entire policy to figure out the changes for

themselves; however, it did explain that the changes were made to better

serve the Good community of users, and the message invited questions

and feedback—both good examples of the “you” attitude in action

4. Headspace

Didn’t provide any summary of the policy changes, but the message did

invite questions, which we found to be a good example of the “you”

attitude

5. Uber

Didn’t provide any summary of the policy changes and didn’t invite

feedback or questions

7.29. Message Strategies: Online Content; Collaboration: Team Projects

Note: Students should bear in mind that while their individual experiences may be unique, they are all

attending the same college so even their pooled wisdom is limited in that respect. Consequently, the

advice they offer future college students will need to be generalized so that it has value to anyone

Oh, I Wish I Knew Then What I Know Now: Advice for Incoming Freshmen

You can’t coast through college. Some of us, we admit, didn’t apply ourselves to the utmost in high

school and still managed good grades. This approach simply won’t work in college—the workload is too

great, and the expectations are too high.

Be smart about managing your time. Time is your most valuable asset, and you need to use it wisely to

succeed in college and to keep from losing your mind. Lists are your friend! Keep a to-do list with due

dates and use it to block out time for assignments and activities. If you put things off to the last minute,

you will be miserable and you won’t perform at your best.

7.33. Media Skills: Podcasting; Message Strategies: Marketing and Sales Messages

Note: A one- or two-minute podcast doesn’t allow any time to ramble, so students will need to have a

clear and focused message. They should also make it clear in their introductions whether they are

offering a general recommendation or a specific recommendation. Here is an example: [LO-6] AACSB:

Written and oral communication

Hi, my name is Yvonne Norris and I’m a junior accounting major at Moorefield University. I’d like to

share with you some good reasons to consider enrolling at Moorefield, wherever your interests may lie.

[pause]

For me and many others, college is a stepping stone to a rewarding career. [pause] With that in mind, one

of the most important things to consider in choosing a college or university is reputation. Does the school

have a name that employers are likely to recognize and respect? [pause] For Moorefield, the answer is

7: Digital Media 7-25

ASSISTED GRADING QUESTIONS (accessed on MyBCommLab)

7.34. Email has become overused and inappropriately used in many situations for several reasons: it

was the first digital medium/channel that was widely available so it got put to use in a lot of

7.35. Using the inverted pyramid style of writing means to open with the most important part of the

message and then support that with progressively finer levels of detail. It can be an effective