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MLI61A130 Business Communication
ASSIGNMENT 1 (PAIR)
1a. COMMUNICATION STRATEGY ANALYSIS (10%) and
1b. EMAIL REQUEST (15%)
Learning outcomes
-
analyse audiences and define objectives to create targeted business messages
write coherent and convincing, reader-friendly business documents
critically assess business messages
develop the ability to think creatively
Assignment - Changing the world
You are an Aalto BIZ student. You are currently participating in the course ‘How to change the
world: sustainability projects’ (6 cr). The purpose of the project is to develop creative solutions to
real-life environmental challenges in case companies.
As a case company, you would like to focus on IKEA, because you work for IKEA Finland as a parttime cashier and have lately started feeling disturbed because you know that many of the
products people buy from IKEA end up being thrown away after only a few years.
While IKEA claims to play a part in preventing climate change by “improving [their] overall energy
efficiency and reducing [their] emissions of greenhouse gases” (www.ikea.com), you believe the
main problem is that their current business idea encourages throwawayism. While their business
model seems to be working at the moment, you believe that there will be a rapid shift in
consumer behavior against throwawayism in the next few decades.
To get the project going, you decide to send an email to IKEA Finland’s environmental manager to
persuade her that IKEA should participate in your project. In the email, you need to persuade the
environmental manager that participating in your project and developing alternative business
models would be beneficial to the company in the long-run because the current business idea
might not ensure future success.
Before writing the email, you realize two major issues.
1. You need to have some kind of preliminary ideas for the project of addressing
throwawayism at IKEA before you approach the company. This way, you can show the
environmental manager you have already spent some time thinking about different
possibilities. At the same time, you of course need to be open for their ideas, because this
is a project you would do together.
2. You need to plan the email message carefully in order to get the response you want.
Therefore, you decide to thoroughly analyse the situation by using the ideas discussed in
the first chapter of the book Guide to Managerial Communication by Mary Munter.
Use the following questions to help you analyse the situation.
1. What is your general objective in the case? And what is the specific communication
objective for the email that you are going to send?
2. What communication style(s) would be appropriate for these objectives?
3. How much and what kind of credibility do you as the communicator have? How does this
influence your message?
4. What are the important considerations about audience in this case? How do these
influence your message? Address the four audience questions in detail.
5. How should you structure your message, and why?
Task 1a Communication strategy analysis (10%), in pairs
Write a 1-2 -page summary of your analysis of the key communication strategy issues in this case
(see questions above). The summary should highlight the communication strategy issues that you
consider to be important in approaching IKEA, as well as how you plan to address these issues in
your email.
The audience of your summary is the lecturer. In writing the summary, remember to consider the
key macro writing issues that Munter discusses in chapter 3. In other words, use e.g. a preview,
message headings, topic sentences, white space and appropriate signposting throughout the
summary.
Task 1b Written request (15%), in pairs
Write the actual email request with your pair. The audience is the environmental manager.
Deadlines:
1. Upload 1a (communication strategy analysis) to Moodle by 8.50 am on Friday,
February 6. Please upload only one assignment per pair, and include your first names
in the document name, e.g. “A1a Christa and Miia”.
2. Upload 1b (written request) to Moodle by 3.00 pm on Sunday, February 8 AND bring
one paper copy of 1b to class on Monday, February 9. We’ll swap these with another
pair for peer evaluation. Please upload only one assignment per pair, and include your
first names in the document name, e.g. “A1b Christa and Miia”.
3.
Evaluation criteria for summary of analysis of key communication strategy issues
Grade 5: The summary fulfills all the criteria for grade 4. The main difference between 4 and 5 is that it is
crystal clear how the communication strategy issues are related to each other, and also how they will
influence the email message that will be sent. In addition, the controlling idea of the summary is very clear
throughout (no wordiness, strongly coherent, excellent use of macro-writing tools).
Grade 4: The summary provides a detailed analysis of all key communication strategy issues
(communication objective, communicator strategy, audience strategy, message strategy, channel strategy).
As such, the summary shows that the students have understood the key communication strategy issues in
the case. However, it might not be crystal clear how these communication strategy issues are related to
each other, or how they will influence the email message that will be sent.
The summary has a clear structure, and has an informative heading, a clearly stated purpose at the
beginning of the document and a preview that is linked (through message headings) to the body of the
summary. The controlling idea is relatively well maintained throughout the document (e.g. signposting).
There are a suitable number of paragraphs and enough white space. The summary also displays an accurate
choice and usage of words, spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Grade 3: The summary provides a good analysis of all key communication strategy issues (communication
objective, communicator strategy, audience strategy, message strategy, channel strategy, cultural issues),
but some of the issues could be analyzed more thoroughly. It might also be slightly unclear how the
communication strategy issues are linked to each other or how they will influence the writing of the email
request.
The main differences between 3 and 4 is that a summary of grade 3 does not analyze the situation in as
much detail as a grade 4 summary, and does not sufficiently utilize different macro- and micro-writing tools
to help the reader understand the controlling idea (i.e. these are used occasionally but not throughout). As
a result, the skim value of the summary is not as good as it could be.
Evaluation criteria for request
Grade 5: The request fulfils all the criteria for grade 4. The main difference between 4 and 5 is that the
ethos, logos and pathos are clearly tied to the recipient and his/her company. In addition, the request is
based on creative and implementable solutions to the issue at hand.
Grade 4: The reader understands the purpose of the request and finds out what s/he needs to know. There
are clear appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos in the request. The style is suitably polite and focuses on
positive opportunities. The language is error-free and the tone is professional (not informal language).
There are a suitable number of paragraphs and enough white space. The reader would be likely to respond
positively. The solutions are implementable but not necessarily innovative.
Grade 3: The reader understands the purpose of the request and finds out what s/he needs to know. There
are some appeals to ethos, logos, and/or pathos in the request. There are some issues with style, tone and
language that could be improved. The reader might respond positively. The solutions are implementable
but not necessarily innovative.