Assignment #2 Memo Revision Assignment For this assignment, you will be assuming the role of an office manager who desperately needs the employees to clean up before leaving Friday

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Assignment #2 Memo Revision Assignment For this assignment, you will be assuming the role of an office manager who desperately needs the employees to clean up before leaving Friday. We always begin by considering the following: What is my purpose? (See textbook pages 115). In this case, you’re looking to get the willing cooperation of the office staff. You could order them, but that creates a disgruntled work force that will often resent you and start working against you. Who is my reader? (See textbook pages 116-117). These are professionals in the workplace. They have college degrees. They won’t react kindly to being asked to do janitorial work. You need to figure out how to persuade them to willingly do so by • • Overcoming Resistance Motivating Action How can I adapt my purpose to my audience? What strategies can I use to overcome their resistance? • • • Be positive and polite but not cringing (see textbook pages 122-123). Don’t beg. Consider what will be their points of resistance and find ways to minimize them. Consider incentives and benefits. Maybe offering to let everyone go early on Friday is a way to get that willing compliance. I know I always want to cut out early on the last day of the week. Also explain how their compliance will benefit them. Think about it from the perspective of the reader and ask yourself whether your memo would get your willing compliance. If not, revise it till it would. That’s one of my most important grading criteria: will it accomplish its purpose? Assignment #2 instructions Revise the badly written and ineffective memo in exercise 1.11 on page 34 in the textbook. The current draft is bossy, blames the readers, and treats them like children. It will only get reader resistance and a begrudging response (if any). You want willing cooperation, as that creates a positive office and ensures better productivity. Ordering people to do things is not what effective managers are about because it just creates a negative, unproductive workspace. You know how little you like to be ordered around; keep in mind your readers will hate it too. Ignore the assignment prompts given in the textbook. Just these instructions. The following pattern is useful for persuasive tasks and breaking bad news: 1. Open indirectly (see textbook pages 146). The audience is not going to be receptive, so opening with the request will cause them to bring a negative attitude to the rest of the communication. Begin with something positive. In this case, you might thank them for cleaning their desks on Friday. 2. Provide the reasons: There have been cuts in the custodial budget; that’s why you need to ask everyone to help clean. 3. State Request: Politely ask them to clean; provide a bulleted list that will break down the tasks visually. 4. Be specific. If you’re not, the tasks won’t get done. Don’t express the request as a question. Reader’s then think it’s optional and don’t follow through. 5. Overcome resistance: Emphasize any receiver benefits. This will help overcome any objections your readers might still have. 6. Offer an incentive. It’s best to do these things after you’ve made the request. It’s at that point the reader will be the most resistant—right after they see the list of things they need to do. 7. Close Positively: Thank the receiver for helping you out. Sound positive, as though this is going to happen rather than threatening with consequences if they don’t. 8. Include a bulleted list. There are several cleaning tasks that you want to visually stand out so they get done. Using a bulleted list with parallel phrasing will achieve this. 9. Format properly. Use single spacing, 12x Times Roman Font, and a blank space before and after lists. 10. Carefully proofread. Eliminate wordiness and confusing phrasing, Be conversational, economical, and grammatically correct. DATE: Current Date TO: All Employees FROM: Albertina Sindaha SUBJECT: Cleanup! You were all supposed to clean up your work areas last Friday, but that didn’t happen. A few people cleaned their desks, but no one pitched in to clean the common areas. So we’re going to try again. As you know, we don’t have a big enough custodial budget anymore. Everyone must clean up himself. This Friday, I want to see action in the copy machine area, things like emptying waste baskets and you should organize paper and toner supplies. The lunchroom is a disaster area. You must do something about the counters, the refrigerator, the sinks, and the coffee machine. And any food left in the refrigerator on Friday afternoon should be thrown out because it stinks by Monday. Finally, the office supply shelves should be straightened. If you can’t do a better job this Friday, I will have to make a cleaning schedule. Which I don’t want to do. But you may force me to.