Author: Brandon Najarian

For team assignments, I am really willing to do whatever is needed to facilitate our task. Ideally, I would prefer to discuss our strengths and weaknesses as well as our schedule (both in and out of school) to come up with a plan that enables all the team members to participate equally. If another team member prefers to take a task that I feel more experienced with, I would be glad to provide input from what I’ve learned previously if it helps the other person.

My expectations when working in group assignments are the following:

1. Learn the subject of the assignment
2. Receive a good grade upon completion
3. Work is spread evenly between the members of the group
4. Have/facilitate an environment conducive to learning
5. Not have any last minute changes that places unneeded stress on other members

The goals I wish to achieve are essentially the same as my expectations when working in group assignments. Overall, I would like to achieve a good grade, learn the subject of the assignment, not feel that I worked more than others and to have a comfortable environment in which to work with my team.

Question 1) The correct answer should have been C because in a direct reply message, you want to answer the original question as quickly as possible. A is incorrect because you are being slightly redundant regarding the details of the original message.

Local Joe coffee shop combines a friendly staff with quality local ingredients, creativity, and years of expertise to provide the workers of downtown Honolulu with the best coffee experience on the island.

Voted best coffee shop in the state by the website mic.com, Local Joe combines classic drinks such as the Cubano and Café Au Lait with locally sourced ingredients to make a truly special cup of coffee. For the coffee lover looking for something different, Local Joe offers some unique house-made drinks such as the Bulletproof which consists of coffee (made from responsibly sourced beans roasted in-house), coconut oil and ghee butter blended together to make a surprisingly smooth coffee that will satiate any coffee craving you may have. Local Joe also has an unusual machine that imprints a unique image or message on top of the foam of any frothy drink, making each cup truly special.

The drink variety and quality offered by Local Joe easily rank them within the top five coffee shops on the island, but what really pushes Local Joe over the top is their food offerings. Local Joe’s has an in-house pastry chef that creates delicious dishes for the worker on the go. From their French Breakfast Croissant to the Paleo cookies, all the dishes are made fresh and, just like the coffee, with locally sourced ingredients. Local Joe also offers some favorites such as roast beef and pastrami sandwiches alongside vegetarian dishes like the avocado taco and their delicious Mexican quinoa salad.

Finally, the single best reason to visit Local Joe is the knowledgeable and friendly staff. All of the team members at Local Joe truly go above and beyond for their customers. On any given day, when sitting at one of the tables the first thing you’ll notice is how the staff greets the majority of the customers by their first name. At first glance, it may appear that this is just a superficial effort to increase their customer base and retention, but you would be wrong. The relationships go much further than that. If you continue eavesdropping, you’ll hear staff and customers discussing current events, family, relationships, careers, coffee and much more. This type of connection with a craftsperson harkens back to a simpler time when people took pride in their work and valued relationships with their patrons.

All of these offerings make Local Joe a must try for any coffee lover in Hawaii. The staff, combined with quality coffee and fresh local pastries and sandwiches, provides the people of Honolulu with a fantastic experience on par with some of the best coffee shops in the nation. Local Joe is truly an undiscovered gem right in the heart of downtown Honolulu. Make the trip and visit Local Joe at the intersection Nu’uanu Avenue and Marin Street, right behind O’Tooles Irish Pub. Open Monday through Friday from 6:30 AM until 5 PM and Saturdays from 8 AM until 1 PM, there’s always a seat ready for you, and remember that everyone is a local at Local Joe.

 

Brandon and Colton

The product I received was not what I purchased online. Please send the red Vans originally ordered per order number XYZ123.

On September 12, 2017 I purchased a pair of red Vans size 11 from the Vans website. During the 5-7 business days, I excitedly awaited the arrival of my favorite shoes. When September 17th came, I was sadly disappointed to realize that the pair of shoes in the box were two different sizes (one 11 and one 9) and not what I originally ordered. I expected that by dealing directly with Vans, I would receive a higher level of service than if I were to go through a distributor. Due to these shoes being unwearable because of the size differences, I expect to receive my original order at no additional cost to me.

I’ve been purchasing Vans for over 10 years now, and this is the first issue I’ve had when dealing directly with you. If Vans would like to keep a loyal customer and not risk losing me to a competitor, I expect the replacement shoes to arrive by September 25th.

Question 1 answer should have been A because the closing of a letter/email/memo should be a call to action if there is one. You want to reiterate what you are asking for as well as a due date and any possible reasons for the due date.

 

Question 7 should be false because the sentence can be written as “Business English is a pre-req. for this course.”

Active voice means that the subject in the sentence is the doer of the action, thats why the answer was B because the manager completed the performance reviews. A is incorrect because the subject is vague, and there is no clear indication of who completed the customer service blog.

 

In scenario one, the group seems to define success as receiving a high grade, even though the team relies heavily on only two out of the five members. Meanwhile, in scenario two, success seems to be defined as having a team that works well together; coming up with plans that are easily executed and spending minimal time outside of class working on the group’s presentations. In the third scenario, the team took an admiral approach by volunteering for responsibilities that the individual team member was uncomfortable with. The goal in doing so was to learn and/or become comfortable with techniques and tools that would be needed in their future.

The disappointments experienced in team one was many; they become fractured, with underlying tension ruling over all their meetings. Individual learning was not accomplished, as the majority of the work was completed by the two members who were most familiar with the subject, while the remaining team members either didn’t contribute or had their ideas dismissed without explanation or conversation. Even though a high grade was achieved, most of the team ended up learning very little from the project. Team two’s major disappointment was that, even though the team worked cohesively, the overall grade for the projects was low. Though team cohesiveness should be a goal in any team project, it can’t be the only goal. The third team’s goal of learning new tools and techniques was only partially achieved because, instead of working together and possibly learning from each other, it appeared that the individual members tried to teach themselves how to learn these new ideas and techniques. Instead of assuming that they were all autodidacts, they should have shared their collective knowledge with each other, helping their fellow team members accomplish their goals of learning new things by spreading their collective experiences with each other.

If group one defined teamwork as, well working together as a team, instead of just receiving a high grade, maybe the tensions between the team members could have been worked through. Since their only goal was to achieve a high grade, that is all that they did. The team members that knew little regarding the subject matter at the beginning of the project, knew little at the end as well. Team two gave the impression that their goal was to work as little as possible on the project outside of class and, again, that is all that they achieved. Though the team worked well together, the grade they achieved was lower than average. Most likely, the team didn’t take the time to really refine their project, and their grade reflected their effort. The last team’s goal to increase the individual team members knowledge and familiarity regarding tools and techniques that they would need in the future wasn’t even accomplished. If instead of focusing on individual learning, they tried to help each other learn these things then it’s possible that they would have learned far more from each other than expected. Though the grade they received was acceptable, the time spent accomplishing this was more than it needed to be due to a lack of teamwork.

In my opinion, successful teamwork should be defined as the following: Working with a group of your peers in a cooperative environment with the common goals of furthering everyone’s understanding of the subject matter and accomplishing the tasks set forth in the assignment. Successful teamwork should also include overcoming obstacles within the team and resolving any disagreements between each other in order to share each individual’s respective knowledge and skills in an environment that are conducive to learning.

STOP REPEATING YOURSELF!

Today’s class seemed to focus on eliminating unnecessary vocabulary from our writings. I tend to have issues with this because I write how I generally think, (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, thanks Audrey) which is usually in an overly complicated manner. Now, after reading chapter 4, I realize that in most situations over-clarification can be not only time-consuming but detrimental. When you look at it from the audience’s perspective, nobody wants to hear what they already know. Time is valuable, so don’t waste it repeating known facts.

Question 1:

Brian is attending a seminar on workplace efficiency and must make a presentation on this topic when he returns to work. Brian can increase his comprehension by keeping an open mind, listening for main points, taking selective notes, and…

I selected A because I didn’t read the response fully unfortunately. I should have selected B because, in order to retain an open mind, you need to not pre-judge a speaker based off his appearances. If you fall into that trap, the chances will increase that you may ignore possible good points the speaker presents due to your assumptions based off of their appearances.

 

Question 6:

Profiling the audience for a business message helps the writer

The correct answer should have been B: identify the appropriate tone, language, and channel. By profiling the audience, you will find out the best way to communicate to the audience as well as their level of understanding regarding the topic of your presentation. By doing that, you will be able to better relay your information to the audience while also increasing audience retention of your presentation.

 

The Chicken Email’s

Chickens on Campus

• Insert a general greeting to the audience (e.g. Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying the semester thus far.)
• Some sort of introduction as to who I am
• Lessen the formality. I would reword the opening line to: I’ve received a distressing report of a chicken acting aggressively towards a faculty member/student on campus.
• Change the fourth line so it does not appear to be a threat/warning (e.g. As a reminder, please do not feed feral chickens on campus as it may encourage the animals to approach people which may lead to an increase of these attacks.)
• The closing line is also very ominous and gives the impression that the writer will make the decision to remove the chickens. This line gives the impression that the composer of this email is a heartless individual. To give a more positive outlook on this statement, I would restate it as: Unfortunately, if these attacks continue, liability requirements may force the removal of the chickens.
• In my opinion, the outcome of the letter as written would be a general dislike of the composer because it has a dictator-esque connotation. The outcomes I would like to achieve in an email on this subject would be: a general understanding of why someone shouldn’t feed the chickens, any other incidents to be reported, give the impression that the chickens are a welcomed part of our campus, but there needs to be some control, let the readers know that removal of the chickens is a last resort, and if they follow our guidelines, shouldn’t be necessary.
• Communication problems: possible deluge of emails regarding chicken attacks, no emails regarding attacks because the readers are afraid of the repercussions for the chickens
• The only desirable elements to this email, in particular, are: informative (informs the staff that there have been incidents of chicken attacks), it provides a way to report such incidents, advises the staff to refrain from feeding the chickens