For each of the “Assignments” below answer the following questions. Type your responses below each assignment description.

  1. In preparing the document would you use a direct or indirect pattern? Why would you use this pattern?
  2. If direct pattern is used, describe the 4 step organizational pattern you would use.
  3. Prepare the first paragraph for each of the assignments.

Assignment #1

As office manager of Cupertino Software, write a memo to technicians, engineers, programmers, and other employees getting them to reduce the number of overnight or second day mail shipments. Your Federal Express and other shipping bills have been over budget by 50% this year. You feel that staff members are overusing these services.

Encourage employees to send messages by fax. Sending a fax costs only about 35 cents and $15 for Federal Express service. Whenever possible, staff members should obtain the FedEx account number of the recipient and use it for charging the shipment. If staff members plan ahead and allow enough time, they can use UPS ground service, which takes three to five days.

Ask the staff to consider whether the recipient is really going to use the message as soon as it arrives. Does it justify an overnight shipment? You’d like to get this expense within budget by next month. Unless a sizeable reduction occurs, the CEO is threatening severe restrictions in the future.

Assignment #2

As president of CycleWorld you must refuse a request from the North American Biking Association (NABA). This group wants your company to become a major sponsor of the first annual Durango World Mountain Bike Championship. The associate would like you to contribute $30,000 as a corporate sponsor. This is way too much for your small company to contribute. You applaud the NABA for its proactive stance in encouraging families to participate in the sport of mountain biking. NABA was also instrumental in opening up ski resorts to mountain bikers during the summer months. You would like to support the Durango World Mountain Bike Championship. There’s no doubt that such races increase interest in mountain biking and ridership. You have sponsored some races in the past, but for small amounts-usually under $500-which paid for trophies. But the NABA wants to offer large cash prizes and pay the expenses of big-name champions to enter.

You are a small Eugene, Oregon, company, and all your current profits are being ploughed into research to compete with the Japanese imports. You’re very proud of your newly introduced brake pads and trigger action shift levers. But these kind of engineering breakthroughs are costly. You don’t have the big money NABA wants, but you’d still like to help out in some way. Write a letter to Christopher Van Wijk, North American Biking Association, 8310 Montague Expressway, San Jose, CA 95131.

Assignment #3

You are the president of a small printing operation employing 25 workers. On Friday, June 7, your print shop employees will join you at an expense-paid, one day retreat that you hope will improve teamwork among the workers. The retreat will be led by Wilderness Retreats, which offers companies outdoor team training designed to build employee trust, teamwork, and loyalty. Employees will meet at work at 8 a.m., and a Wilderness Retreats van will pick them up and take them to a nearby national forest. Employees will spend the day on team building activities, including a map-reading exercise that will require employee teams to find their way through a wooded areas to a “home-base”. The retreat will provide a catered lunch and time for socializing. The group will return to work by 4:00. Since the print shop will be closed during the retreat, you consider the retreat a work day and expect all employees to attend. Employees should dress casually. They’ll be outside most of the day. Create a document to employees announcing the retreat.

Assignment #4

As a server in the Tejas Grill, you have occasionally been “stiffed” by customers who left no tip. You know your service is excellent, but some customers just don’t get it. They seem to think that tips are optional, a sign of appreciation. For servers, however, tips are 80 percent of their income. In a recent New York Times article, you learned that some restaurants – like the new 16-32 Coach House in New York-automatically add a 15 percent tip to the bill. In Santa Monica the Lula restaurant prints “gratuity guidelines” on checks, showing customers what a 15 -20 percent tips would be. You also know that American Express recently developed a gratuity calculation feature on its terminals. As head waiter/waitress you’ve been asked to prepare a letter to Doug Young, general manager of Tejas asking him to adopt mandatory tipping guidelines.

Assignment #5

As Kissandra Powel, owner of Town and Country Landscaping, you must refuse the following request. Mr. And Mrs. Paul Alexander have asked that you replace the landscaping in the home they recently purchased in Kettering. You had landscaped that home nearly a year ago for the former owner, Mrs. Hunter. At the time you installed a sod lawn and many shrubs, trees and flowers. It looked beautiful when you finished, but six months later, Mrs. Hunter sold the property and moved to Dayton. Four months elapsed before the new owners moved in. After four months of neglect and a hot, dry summer, the newly installed landscaping suffered.

You guarantee all your work and normally would replace any plants that do not survive. Under these circumstances, however, you do not feel justified in making any refund because your guarantee presumes proper maintenance on the part of the property owner. Moreover, your guarantee is made only to the individual who contracted with you-not to subsequent owners. You would like to retain the goodwill of the new owners, since this is an affluent neighborhood and you hope to attract additional work here. On the other hand, you can’t afford to replace the materials invested in this job. You think the lawn could be rejuvenated with deep watering and fertilizer.

You would be happy to inspect the property and offer suggestions to the current owners. In reality you feel that the current owner may have a claim against the former owner or against the escrow company for failing to maintain the property. Clearly, the claim is not against you. Write to Mr. And Mrs. Paul Alexander, 3318 Clearview Drive, Kettering, Ohio 45429.

Assign documents in class.docC:\Greg Data\BA 205\Assign documents in class.doc