Reports and Proposals

1.

• Informational reports: offer data, facts, feedback, and other types of information without analysis or recommendations.
• Analytical reports: offer both information and analysis, and they can also indicate recommendations.
• Proposals: offer structured persuasion for internal or external audiences.

2. Primary research contains information that you gather specifically for a new research project, secondary research contains information that others have gathered (and published in many cases).

3. Reliable: would produce identical results if repeated.

Valid: measures what it's supposed to measure.

4. A conclusion is a logical interpretation of facts and other information. A recommendation suggests what to do about the information.

5. An RFP is used to include instructions that specify exactly the type of work to be performed or products to be delivered along with budgets, deadlines, and other requirements.

Test Your Knowledge Chapter 9

1.

• Who is my audience?
• What are my audience members' needs?
• What do I want them to do?
• How might they resist?
• Are there alternative positions I need to examine?
• What does the decision maker consider to be the most important issue?
• How might the organization's culture influence my strategy?

2. When analyzing your audiences, take into account their cultural expectations and practices so that you don't undermine your persuasive message by using an inappropriate appeal or by organizing your message in a way that seems unfamiliar or uncomfortable to your readers.

3. Emotional vs. Logical appeals. Emotional appeals attempt to connect with the reader's feelings or sympathies while logical appeals are based on the reader's notions of reason; thee appeals can use analogy, induction, or deduction.

4. Three types of reasoning

• Analogy
• Induction
• Deduction

5. AIDA model. The AIDA model is ideal for the indirect approach and organizes the presentation into four phases:

• Attention
• Interest
• Desire
• Action

The AIDA model also has limitations such as:

• It essentially talks at the audience, not with them
• It focuses on one-time events not long-term relationships

Chapter 8 Test Your Knowledge

1.

• To convey the bad news.
• To gain acceptance for it
• To maintain as much goodwill as possible with your audience
• To maintain a good image for your organization
• If appropriate, to reduce or eliminate the need for future correspondence on the matter.

2.

• Will the bad news come as a shock?
• Does the reader prefer short messages that get right to the point?
• How important is this news to the reader?
• Do you need to maintain a close working relationship with the reader?
• Do you need to get the reader's attention?
• What is your organization's preferred style?

3. Sequence for Indirect

Opening with a buffer, providing reasons and additional information, continuing with a clear statement of the bad news, and closing on a positive note.

4. A buffer is a neutral, noncontroversial statement that is closely related to the point of the message and it establishes a common ground with the reader. A buffer can become unethical when it is insincere or deceptive to the reader.

5. The purpose of stating your reasons before explaining the decision is because it helps maintain the issues at hand and defuses the emotions that always accompany significantly bad news.

Routine Messages

To whom it may concern:

I recently purchased your "Negotiator Pro" for my computer. However, when I inserted it into my office computer, it wouldn't work. I took the CD back to the local business-supply store that I purchased it from, but since it had already been opened, they would not let me exchange the CD or receive a refund.

I would really appreciate it if you could either exchange the CD or offer me a refund. This is a program that I was really looking forward to using and I do not want my money to go to waste. Your company has been very beneficial to me in the past, and I do not want to have my trust in your products broken.

Thank you very much for your time and I hope you can help me solve this situation.

Lacey Long

Question 9:

5493 Beechwood Drive

Trenton, N.J. 08608

April 12, 2009

Florida Resort Bureau

1555 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard

West Palm Beach, FL 33401

Dear Sir or Madam:

I recently saw your advertisement about Florida resorts in the April 2009 issue of Smithsonian magazine and I was wondering if you could offer me some more information. My wife and I are planning a late September vacation with our two teenage children. I am particularly interested in resort areas that have public transportation available; some family members may want to participate in activities away from the resort.

Additionally, do you know of any resorts that are near large cities that can be reach by public transportation and that also have attractions for teenagers? Could you please include information on the off-season rates for amenities? My family has also expressed interest in attending a concert during our stay, do you know whom to contact for concert schedules? Lastly, I was hoping you could include some information about Florida weather in September.

I would appreciate it if I could receive this information within the next two weeks so I can schedule time off work in the fall. Thank you for your time.

Frank C. Atlas

E-mail Assignment

Netiquette Assignment

MEMORANDUM

Date: February 11, 2010

To: Macintosh Employees

From: Steve Jobs

Subject: How to earn respect: Creating the perfect e-mail

Macintosh Employees:

Network etiquette, or netiquette, are guidelines to help you from making errors in e-mails. If you make too many errors, a client or a colleague may lose respect for you. Therefore, I am sending you all some basic netiquette guidelines to help prevent this problem.

First of all, use acronyms sparingly. Not everyone knows what acronyms such as BTW, LOL, NVM stand for and this can lead to some miscommunication. Additionally, your e-mail receiver may think you are being lazy by not typing out the phrases. Please take the time to type out phrases and understand that not everyone knows the meaning of certain acronyms. I would hate to see one of your clients think you, and this company, are lazy.

Secondly, do not type in all CAPS. It is perceived as yelling. Colleagues and clients could take what you are saying the wrong way, and may become offended by what you say. Get your point across in a relaxed tone, but use words that make the receiver understand that what you are trying to say is important.

Lastly, make sure you have a good subject line. This guideline may be one of the most important because this can determine if a receiver reads your e-mail or not. For example, instead of sending out an e-mail with a subject line that says "Meeting", make the subject line "Meeting time changed to 7". Additionally, this will make storing e-mails easier and will also make it easier to find an e-mail. Subject lines are an important part to an e-mail, make sure you use a good one.

I hope this helps you all understand the importance of netiquette and I hope you all implement these guidelines. Here are some websites I used to research netiquette, I suggest you all to look at them.
http://email.about.com/od/emailnetiquette/tp/core_netiquette.01.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?Netiquette-Rules---10-Best-Rules-for-Email-Etiquette&id=785177
http://edition.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/07/21/netiquette.tools/

Steve Jobs

CC: Joe Smith

Class E-mail Revision

To: sarah@work.net
From: bill@work.net
CC: jim@work.net
Subject: Funding for training program

Dear Sarah,

I am writing you because I am interested in joining a training program. However, I do not have the funding to attend this program and I was wondering if you had any ideas on how to raise money for the trip. It is a very prominent program and I think the company would benefit from my attendance. Let me know if you think of anything.

Thank you,

Bill Jones
Regional Director
(918)867-5309 ext. 354