UWP 104A: Business Writing Internal Memo Due: Tuesday, Oct. 20 as .doc, .docx. or .rtf file in Assignments on Canvas. Purpose: To convey a problematic situation to a supervisor at work. To demonstrate understanding of memo conventions. Audience/Context: Choose from one of the following audience/situations. Do not attempt to blend them or use more than one. Also don't create imaginary circumstances that solve the problem posed by the assignment. Treat it as if you are writing to your boss and trying to offer a good clear, credible explanation. A) General Contracting Manager. You are acquisitions directors for a contracting firm. You estimate the amount of supplies needed for each job and are in charge of ordering them. You estimated a recent job would need exactly 50 widgets to complete it. Your account rep got the customer to agree to the job four weeks later, and you now need to order widgets for the job. In the past four weeks, the price of widgets rose from $12 each to $36 each, due to a sudden shortage of widget grease needed to make them. For that reason, your estimate will be incorrect. A manager oversees you and all account reps, and she has been pressuring reps to finish deals faster. Write a memo to her. B) Purchasing Manager. You are an organizational manager for an engineering firm. You have recently been part of a hiring committee that reviewed 26 applicants for a purchasing assistant in your department. You and the Human Resources director interviewed three finalists, none of whom had worked in engineering and two of whom arrived over ten minutes late to the interview. The third interviewee had typos on his resume and was unable to answer questions about his previous job experience. Based on this, you are not confident hiring any of the applicants and want to extend the search. The previous search was not advertised in a major trade journal, a decision made by your supervisor to save money purchasing the ad. Write your memo to her explaining the situation. C) Sales Manager. You oversee an employee who sells subscriptions to a gourmet-coffee-ofthe-month club. Your fiscal year end is two months away. You have had a review meeting with your employee and determined that the total amount of sales for this year is $75,800. Last year's total was $108,200, and his goal for this year was $125,000. The decrease is partly due to the employee's absence during a six-week medical crisis during last quarter (your biggest sales season). No one at your company has ever made more than $40,000 in sales per quarter. Report this shortfall to your supervisor, while supporting your employee's performance. NOTE: For All of These Scenarios (A, B, or C): Your supervisor’s name is Carlotta Lorenazooso. Her job title is Executive Supervising Manager. Your job title is whatever is listed in bold next to the letter of the option you choose (above). Make sure to get those right in your response. Assignment: Write an internal memo of 300-350 words that clearly and concisely explains all the factors of your context to the audience, which must include your actions thus far and ideas you might have for the next step. See the memo examples on pages 22-25, 44, 52, and 54 for more information, but know that you can (and often should) do more than that depending on your situation. Your memo must also contain all of the following elements: • At least two consistently used formatting styles for organization (bold, numbering, font size, etc.) • At least two sections with appropriate, parallel titles • At least one example or case study you find in an outside source that addresses how a similar situation is/was handled elsewhere, with enough info in the text for the audience to find that source themselves. (Your goal here is to refer to a piece of outside information and explain where it came from within the text without being obtrusive.) Grading Criteria (see syllabus for late paper policies): "A" papers will do all of the following things successfully (+), with no more than two areas that might be improved or be done more consistently (✓). "B" papers will do all of the following things well, with no more than three areas to improve or do more consistently (✓) and/or one area not done successfully (-). "C" papers will do most of the following things with multiple areas to improve and one or two areas that are not done successfully (-), or will fail to do one or two of the things completely while doing others very successfully. "D" papers will do some of the following things adequately, but will have multiple areas that require substantial improvement (often in more than one area), or will fail to do specific things (under page requirement, use of unacceptable source) that typically result in a "D". "F" papers will do some things adequately or even successfully, but the number of areas that are not done or need major improvement will outnumber those positive aspects. (+,✓,-) Context and Audience ___Does the assignment have appropriate tone for the chosen audience? ___Did the assignment have an appropriate organizational scheme, including clear subject line and structure? ___Does the assignment fully address the situation and problems? ___Is the information presented ethically and reasonably? ___Does the amount of detail seem appropriate for the assignment? ___Is the layout clean, with chunked text, adequate white space, etc.? Writing Content ___Are the sentences clear and concise, avoiding problems like wordiness or obscure language? ___Is the content correct, without mistakes in proper names, formatting, etc.? ___Is the assignment free of grammatical errors? ___Is the assignment free of typos? Assignment Specifications ___Does the assignment provide at least one detailed example from outside source to back up its point? ___Does the assignment effectively use memo format and two or more styles for organization? ___Does the assignment use helpful, parallel section titles? ___Was the assignment followed correctly, submitted on time, in correct document format, in correct place, with correct specifications and word count?
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