Month: September 2017

1. What are you willing to do for these team assignments?

1a) For these team assignments, I am happy to help out my team members with things they are having trouble with. I also feel more inclined to make sure my work is done earlier than usual since I have people depending on me.

2. What are your expectations (Product and process) for working on this team assignment? What are your goals (Learning, teamwork, and outcome)?

2a) My expectations for this assignment are foremost to do well and possibly even make some new friends. Throughout my short time at college, I’ve found that the people you meet and stay in contact with are just as valuable as the skills you learn. My main goal for this assignment would be to receive an A. (Contradictory, I know)

 

I don’t think its possible to be too direct in a message, some situations call for it.  I think the use of words in a direct email can get someone in trouble though. If an individuals is angry or upset and integrate their feelings in the direct message it may get them in trouble and less likely to receive the type of feedback they are expecting. For example if a customer is angry about a situation that had happened while eating at a restaurant and they display their feelings in the letter, the restaurant can easily reject their service next time or give them what they are rudely demanding. Some ways are receiving an answer or hitting a deadline can only be achieved if you are “too” direct.

I did not do so hot on this second Recall Practice and I think its mainly because the group I had worked with tried to come up questions that would trick the rest of the class.  So since my group thought that way, I assumed the other groups were doing the same. Which was not the case when looking at the questions everyone put together. Since my group and I were trying to do some trickery, I was looking for the trickery in every question in the Recall Practice. In the end it lead me to choose the wrong answers on a few problems I knew. I guess the big takeaway is to think of legit questions and to try and not trick the rest of the class because you may be fooling yourself in the end :[.

I missed  ____ works best with audiences who are likely to be receptive to what you have to say (or who are unlikely to view what you have to say as bad news). My answer was none of the above but the correct answer was front loading.

Which of the following about the direct organizational strategy is incorrect? I put it prevents frustration by revealing the message’s main idea early, but the correct answer is It wastes the reader’s time by going into detail after stating its main point.

I felt the questions may have been a trick question at the time so it altered my decision when selecting my answer, resulting in selecting the wrong answers and doing poorly on the recall practice.

I expect the other members of my group to put in the same amount of effort I am willing to and with all of our efforts we will achieve a great product. I’d prefer to pick our roles on what we feel we are best at, not experiment with our weakness because  I care about the grade and not working on weaknesses. Individuals can go to workshops or classes that specifically help you on your weaknesses.

My goals are to work well together as a team and to get an A on the group assignments.

Correct Answers:

5 of 7: Which example implies a refusal to open the Manaleo bathrooms, most effectively cushioning the bad news?

Although repairs on the bathrooms must continue at a safe pace to ensure cleanliness and safety when they reopen, the maintenance crew reports that they are making good progress. They hope to complete their work as soon as possible.

 

Reason:

• Although you canʻt prevent disappointment that bad news brings, you can reduce the pain somewhat by breaking the news sensitively.
• Positioning the bad news strategically
• Using the passive voice
• Accentuating the positive
• implying refusal
• Suggesting a compromise or a alternative

(refer to CH. 7: Negative Messages on pg. 185-186 in textbook: Essentials of Business Communication)

7 of 7:Viva Veggiemeister is declining an invitation to speak about the health benefits of juice bars at the fall conference of the Health and Fitness Trainers Association (HAFTA). Which of the following is the most effective buffer?

HAFTA members must be looking forward to your annual fall conference to be held at the Turtle Bay Resort this year.

Reason:

• Effective buffers open negative-new messages with compliments, appreciation, agreement, relevant facts, and understanding.

(refer to CH.7: Negative Messages on pg. 182-185 in textbook: Essentials of Business Communication)

 

I believe that I am capable to do all parts of the project after reviewing the assignment. I have no preference for part and would be comfortable with doing multiple parts if the team requires it.  I prefer to communicate through email or some messaging application (whatsapp, slack, groupme, discord, g+, etc.) since it is most organized for me, but text/call is fine with me. Due to my scheduling I should be able to meet before 1 on MW and 10 on TR, but afternoons are booked most days.

Proper scheduling and a timeline are the most important part for me and I believe should be established first day.

My only goal is to get a good grade. If that means doing extra work, ahead of schedule I am more than willing to allow that to happen.

 

This recall practice took me a bit longer than the others and I do believe that it was harder for the majority of the students. Lance did not give the average score, so that assumption comes from that. I did not do as well as the others and so I felt compelled to write about this question in particular.

Question 3 of 7

1.0 Points

 

I had gotten this wrong (choosing A over D). While I believe the reason I got this incorrect lies within the question’s wording (first sentence opposed to objective or overall end result of the situation), there is validity to the “correct answer D”. What makes this answer correct is what I believe to be what makes it wrong. The answer is too extraneous and solves the whole issue in the first sentence renderring the rest of what you would write to be nothing but BS fluff that could be smelt a mile away.

In class, we discussed how a short answer to these situations is normally not the correct approach. If you give the whole solution in pone sentence, is that not too short? All refund notices I receive from companies seem to be rather lengthy and begin with an apology, something this answer lacks.

I found the class’s reaction to the direct approach rather interesting. While the textbook and what can be viewed as the “popular opinion” and mindset (especially here) is that there needs to be a buffer and a pillow to everything rather than simple “yes/no” statements; the class seems to be mostly okay with being so direct.

While I always believed there is no real “too direct” approach to most situations, professional writing seems to push for a less “aggressive” approach.