ENGL510  Foundations of Professional Communication

Writing Assignment 3 — Bad News Message

 

 

Instructions

In this assignment you will complete a collaborative project designed to solve the problem of delivering bad news.  Communicating bad news is one example of a complex workplace problem.  Incorporate strategies for analyzing group dynamics, resolving conflict, and communicating in a multicultural environment to complete the project. Each group has a dedicated discussion area to work on the assignment which begins with an individual effort. 

Situation:  Giving Bad News to a Customer

 

 

Assignment

 

Write a one-page letter to Greenfield’s construction manager informing him/her that you cannot make the requested change.  Note that you have chosen to write a letter rather than simply making a phone call or writing an email because this message might be considered a kind of addendum to the contract; therefore, you want a written record and you want it to be more formal than an email.

 

One of the most important features of a bad news message is the reason for the bad news, which ideally should be airtight and should not cause you to lose the good will of the recipient.  The best reason in terms of maintaining good will is the zoning rule because that takes the decision out of your hands, but this client may know that the rule is often not enforced.  However, you certainly can’t get into an explanation of why the company cannot bend the rule at this point.  The most airtight explanation is the contract deadline, but customers never like to be told no on the basis of “policy,” and clients who are spending a lot of money are accustomed to having exceptions made in their favor.  You want to explain the negative decision in a way that will allow you to keep the good will of this client, and both of the possible reasons that you could give have both strengths and weaknesses.

 

As you think about how to write this message, you need to consider what reason(s) you will give for saying no, how to present the reason(s), and whether you will offer anything to this client to soften the blow of the bad news.  As you draft the message, you need to consider how you will write the buffer, reason, bad news, any other needed explanations, any alternatives, and a closing aimed at maintaining good will. 

 

 Note that in writing this message, you will need to select the necessary information to include (as in the other writing assignments, some of the information is provided as background but would not be appropriate to include in the message), organize this information effectively for a bad news message, and put the information as much as possible in your own words and sentences.

Planning and Drafting

Bad news messages often start with a buffer that establishes goodwill with the reader. This is immediately followed by a clear and carefully worded statement of the bad news. The rest of the message provides support in the form of additional reasons, potential positives, possible alternatives.  A bad news message concludes with any follow up actions for the reader or from the writer, and ends on a cordial note to re-establish the goodwill of the reader.

 

Use the following format:

• Block letter formatting (see textbook)
• One-inch margins all around
• Left-only justification
• 12-point regular Times New Roman font.  (Although 11-point Calibri is Word’s default font, serif fonts like Times New Roman are more reader friendly for longer texts because the serifs draw the eye forward, while sans-serif fonts like Calibri are more effective for very brief texts in which you want to hold the eye.)

 

Please save the assignment draft that was agreed upon by the group as a Word document and post it in the Week 5 Bad News Message Draft Dropbox by midnight Sunday. 

This final paper for Week 5 consists of two parts, Part A and Part B. You must do both Part A and Part B to get full credit! You may include both parts in one paper.

 

Part A word count is a minimum of 600 words.

Part B word count is a minimum of 1400 words.

Therefore, the total word count for this paper is a minimum of 2000 words.

 

Part A

 

Resource: Article Review Format Guide located on the student website.

 

Locate an article specifically related to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX Act) of 2002. (I’ve attached an article that i’ve located already! Please see attached documnet!)

 

Write a review of the article in a minimum of 600 words. Your review should discuss how the SOX Act may affect ethical decision making in today’s business environment, and the criminal penalties for which the act provides.

 

·         In your references be sure to cite the name of the article with and format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

 

 

Part B

 

·         Read Chapter 15; page 401 “Theory to Practice” Scenario, of The Legal Environment of Business. In a minimum of 1400 words be sure to:

 

·         Answer all seven question located at the end of the scenario.

·         Your answer dealing with corporations should discuss in part, fiduciary duties of directors, duty of care, capitalization, taxation, officers, shareholders and business judgment rule

 

Cite at least two important court cases to support your answer.

 

Here is the Theory to Practice Scenario that Part B talks of…

 

 

 

 

 

Adams and Barker were two individual scientists

 

 

 

engaged in research related to inventing a patentable

 

 

 

pharmaceutical product. Once they had gained critical

 

 

 

mass for the project, they convinced Barker’s old

 

 

 

college roommate, Cornelius, to invest $100,000 in

 

 

 

exchange for an ownership share in a newly formed

 

 

 

company called Pharma Corporation (Pharma). The

 

 

 

parties agreed that Adams and Barker would continue

 

 

 

product development until the company was ready to

 

 

 

apply for a patent, then Cornelius would use his contacts

 

 

 

to find a manufacturer to produce and market the

 

 

 

patented drug. Pharma was structured as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

Name             Stock Owned (%)              Role

 

 

 

Adams                         35                        President, director

 

 

 

Barker                         35                         Vice president/Secretary, director

 

 

 

Cornelius                    30                          Shareholder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The parties hired counsel to incorporate Pharma,

 

 

 

issue stock certificates, and draft bylaws. The corporate

 

 

 

records were then turned over to Barker and

 

 

 

she filed them in her desk drawer. No additional

 

 

 

formalities were followed and the records were not

 

 

 

maintained, nor were any directors’ or shareholders’

 

 

 

meetings held.

 

 

 

In year 2, Pharma’s application for a patent was

 

 

 

rejected. The rejection required Adams and Barker

 

 

 

to hire an additional expert to help with research

 

 

 

and would put the project behind by approximately

 

 

 

16 months. Adams hired Elliot, a well-known scientist,

 

 

 

to help with the project. At this point though,

 

 

 

Pharma’s financial resources were drying up and, trying

 

 

 

to keep the company afloat, Adams began to pay

 

 

 

certain Pharma bills with his personal credit card and

 

 

 

Baker would sometimes write out personal checks for

 

 

 

lab equipment.

 

 

 

1. What category of corporation is Pharma and what

 

 

 

are the options in terms of structure and raising

 

 

 

capital?

 

 

 

2. Would Pharma be eligible to be an S corporation?

 

 

 

If one of the shareholders objected, could the other

 

 

 

two vote to become an S corporation without the

 

 

 

third?

 

 

 

3. Did Adams have the right to hire Elliot without the

 

 

 

others’ consent? Suppose that Cornelius believes

 

 

 

that Elliot is not a good hire for Pharma. Can he fire

 

 

 

Elliot?

 

 

 

In year 3, the financial condition of Pharma continued

 

 

 

to worsen. A representative of the dominant pharmaceutical

 

 

 

company in the market, Multi-Drug (MD),

 

 

 

approached Adams and Barker with an acquisition

 

 

 

offer. MD offered to pay $50,000 to buy all of Pharma’s

 

 

 

assets and offered a five-year employment agreement

 

 

 

with MD to both Adams and Barker. On the same

 

 

 

day as the offer, Adams and Barker send a one-page

 

 

 

e-mail to Cornelius informing him that they have voted

 

 

 

to approve the sale of assets of Pharma to MD and the

 

 

 

transaction would take place in one business day.

 

 

 

4. Suppose Cornelius is unhappy with the transaction.

 

 

 

Does he have any say in the matter? Does he have

 

 

 

the power to stop the sale?

 

 

 

5. Have Adams and Barker breached their fiduciary

 

 

 

duties to Cornelius? If so, what duties, specifically,

 

 

 

and how were they breached?

 

 

 

6. Are Adams and Barker protected by the business

 

 

 

judgment rule? Why or why not?

 

 

 

7. What type of lawsuit, derivative or direct, would be

 

 

 

filed by Cornelius to:

 

 

 

a. Force Adams and Barker to have a shareholders’

 

 

 

meeting and formal vote.

 

 

 

b. Recover against Adams and Barker for damages

 

 

 

Cornelius suffered as a result of an alleged breach

 

 

 

of duty.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the most useful features of any programming language is recursion and control structures, decisions and loops. Recursion and loop structures allow programs to repeat actions without duplicating code.

This console application focuses on your understanding of object oriented programming, control structures, and arrays.

Create an application that manipulates a billboard sign. Use the following guidelines:

• The program must include a Billboard class (separate from the main program class) that is capable of storing the text to display.
• The class must include data fields
• The Billboard class must include methods to manipulate the text (get, set, reverse, replace substring) as well as the capability to check the text (eg. test if the text is empty).
• The Billboard includes a list of predefined messages that can be set as the message in the billboard.
• The set method allows user to select a predefined message. Also, user can create his message
• Add one extra method that can be used for the Billboard
• The main program must create an object of Billboard class.
• The main program must include a menu to allow a user to select a function of the Billboard object.
• The application must exit upon user request.

For this project, do the following:

• Create an application that manipulates a billboard sign based on the above guidelines.
• Use comments in your code to demonstrate your understanding of each statement.
• Make sure the program runs correctly before submission.
• Zip all the files in your project to a file named yourname_Unit 4 IP

To calculate the percentage increase or decrease, you need to utilize the 2012 and 2011 numbers.