Sample Bad News Letter and Persuasive Memo for Business Communication

Bad News Letter - Problem with service Scenario

Just last week, your academic organization ‘Educorp’ held a three-day international conference at a local hotel. You were the Co-ordinator of Logistics. About two-hundred people attended — participants (mostly academicians, research scholars, and professors from universities in Canada as well as different countries) attended the conference and took part in its proceedings.

Throughout the three days of the conference, the event faced many logistical problems: necessary equipment was missing or did not work (be specific & mention which equipment did not work); lunch on the second day was an hour late; and event staff spoke rudely to some of the participants, who complained to you (mention other problems/issues that occurred during the event).

You spoke with the event manager at the hotel repeatedly during the conference to express your concerns and to try to get everything working right. You have discussed the situation with your supervisor and with your organization colleagues, and everyone agrees that the organization should not pay the full fee to the hotel. Plan a responsive letter (in response to the invoice from the hotel) to the manager at the hotel, explaining why the organization is not paying in full and suggesting future steps.

Instructions: 1. Write short paragraphs (one each for Goal, Audience Need and Barriers) explaining your Goal for the letter (what is the message that needs to be communicated to the hotel manager?) and analyzing Audience Need (what are the needs/expectations of the audience/hotel manager from the message that you will be sending?) and Barriers (what are some of the potential barriers to this communication between you and the hotel manager? Explain the barriers in some detail). These three paragraphs should be written in a total of 300-400 words.

2. Write a formal letter. You should include letterhead and other features to make the letter as professional and ‘real’ as possible. The word limit for the letter is 300-400 words.

You work at a local law firm as a junior Office Assistant. At your workplace, there is very little healthy food to eat in the cafeteria, and you would like that to change. Write a memo to your Senior Manager asking for a larger variety of healthy alternatives to the junk food that is currently available. Stress a recent survey that states that healthy employees are more productive and show that the organization would have to spend less on insurance if the employees are healthier. Plan a memo to your Senior Manager proposing what you think might be some effective changes to the cafeteria menu options. Outline the problem, present your solutions, and think about audience and barriers.

Instructions: 3. Write short paragraphs (one each for Goal, Audience Need and Barriers) explaining your Goal for the memo (what is the message that needs to be communicated to the manager?) and analyzing Audience Need (what are the needs/expectations of the audience/manager from the message that you will be sending?) and Barriers (what are some of the potential barriers to this communication between you and the manager? Explain the barriers in some detail). These three paragraphs should be written in a total of 300-400 words.

4. Write a memo and aim to make the document as professional as possible. The word limit for the memo is 300-400 words.