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Purpose
This assignment will allow students to practice memo format, write in business style, and reflect on important information about their goals and communication style.
Content
Write a memo that describes to me who you are, what direction you hope to go as a professional, and your strengths as a communicator and writer. Answer the following questions in your memo in about one sentence each:
1) Briefly explain the traits that make you unique:
What are your core traits? How do you use your strengths day-to-day?
What about your background has shaped you as an individual or makes you unique?
2) Briefly explain your educational history, work experience, and the professional paths that interest you:
Tell your major and year in school. Why did you choose that major or emphasis?
Explain any work, internship, or job shadowing experiences you have had. What did you learn or gain form these jobs?
Explain two career paths you could see yourself pursuing. What would make you a good fit for these careers?
Within those career fields, what are two companies or organizations that interest you? Why?
3) Briefly explain your preferences and strengths as a communicator and writer— and what you hope to gain from this course:
What are your strengths and weaknesses as a communicator? How do you see those strengths and weaknesses affecting you in the workplace? What are your strengths as a writer? In what ways would you like to improve as a writer?
What could we cover this semester that would help you as a professional communicator?
Format
Strictly follow the course format for memos found in the document design lesson. (HINTS: This memo is to your instructor from you. Put one space between paragraphs and no spaces within paragraphs. Think about the role of bold headers, chunked paragraphs, bullets, and white space in business writing. Follow the document design model exactly). Please use Times New Roman 12 point font. Think about organization, having an introduction paragraph and a conclusion paragraph, and using professional tone. Please proofread your work for English language conventions and for writing style. No contractions in formal writing!
Assignment Details Please limit your memo to one page in length — practice conciseness (to achieve this, the right pace for the memo is to answer each question in about one to two sentences). 100 Points Possible. Review the grading rubric for how you will be evaluated and use the rubric as a checklist for your work. Upload your submission to Canvas by the deadline. part two: Submit – Communication Situation Analysis
Overview
After watching the video lecture on Analyzing Your Communication Situation, breakdown the communication scenario below by giving a detailed description of who would be in the audience, what the context is, and what matters about the speaker’s profile. Given those factors, explain how the speaker should adapt their communication in that situation. (Use the sample scenario analyzed in the video lecture as an example of how to approach the questions).
Scenario to Analyze
Scenario: Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas gives a speech at a ground breaking ceremony for a new transit line on the streetcar that will run from Union Station in downtown to the UMKC/Plaza area. (You can fill in other minor details, as needed).
Guiding Questions
Step 1) Explain the components of the Rhetorical Situation for the scenario Analyze the profile of the audience: audience demographics? primary/secondary? internal/external? direction of audience? background? role? title? position? beliefs? values? knowledge? interests? industry/sector? organizational entity?
Analyze the context the communication is happening in: setting? message medium? situation? type of task? date? time? place? occasion? economy? time of year? current events? organizational culture? document format?
Analyze the speaker’s profile: demographics? background? persona? organizational role or title? position? experience level? beliefs? values? knowledge? ethos/credibility?
Step 2) Label barriers and opportunities
Place a plus (+) sign next to the elements you listed above that you think advantage the speaker and are an opportunity in the communication situation. Place a minus sign (-) next to the elements you listed above that you think are a negative for the speaker and present a barrier they have to overcome in the communication situation. Step 3) Explain what strategies you would use to approach the communication situation
How should the speaker adapt their message? What strategies should the speaker consider for this communication situation?
Assignment Details
Your write up should be no more than one page in length. Bullets and sentence fragments are okay, where needed. You can use normal academic format for this paper (no letter or memo format needed). Please submit as a Word document. Use Times New Roman 12 point font. This assignment is worth 20 points. Upload your submission by the assignment deadline. thats the video Hi class This lesson is about analyzing your communications situation and then using that information0:00
to create strategic messages. In any kind of communication0:05
situation we’re in, there are always gonna be three elements and these three elements make up the rhetorical0:11
situation and rhetorical is kind of another fancy word for communication. So0:16
basically these are the three elements in any kind of a communication situation. There’s always going to be an audience,0:21
a context in which the communication is happening, and then a speaker or someone who’s0:27
doing the communicating. And that is true of any kind of situation, whether you’re just talking0:33
to someone else one on one or you’re giving a speech in an auditorium or you’re meeting0:38
with others only as a small group of people around a boardroom table. Regardless of the setting,0:43
even a telephone call, there’s always gonna be those three elements. So to kick us off,0:48
let’s just imagine a quick scenario. Pretend that the chancellor of UMKC has asked0:53
you to meet with him to learn about your experience as a student. Let’s just try to figure out, what0:58
would be these elements for that? What would you want to know about that meeting going into it based1:03
on these elements of the rhetorical situation? So first of all, you might want to know about who is he1:09
as your audience? What his academic background? What are his interests?1:14
What have his goals been for the university? You might want to know1:19
more about where he worked before you worked at UMKC. Lots of things you might1:25
want to know to help you analyze who is he as your audience? Next, questions about1:30
context. The setting in which that meeting is going to happen. Is he going to ask you1:35
to come to his office, which is sort of formal, or will you meet at a coffee shop instead?1:40
What time of day would you meet? What time of the academic year? What is his goal1:45
or purpose in meeting with you? It may be interesting to know what you1:51
should wear or what other1:56
things will be about the environment that could be important. And then lastly, what matters about you as2:01
the speaker, the communicator. He might have a very different meeting with different types of students,2:06
right? Whether you’re a traditional student or nontraditional student, live on campus or don’t live on2:11
campus. If you’re involved in activities or you have a job based on what your major2:16
is or your GPA, if you’re involved in athletics, those are all things that might shift the conversation2:21
based on who he’s speaking with. So just in this example, we can see kind2:27
of those elements of audience context and speaker brought to life and even based on the sort of2:33
questions you’d have that you’d want to know, you’d want to be able to analyze going into a meeting2:38
with the chancellor for him to learn more about your student experience. But I want to2:43
dive in to each of these in depth here for the rest of this segment. Let’s start with audience2:48
and figure out what kind of things will help us analyze our audience in any given communication situation.2:53
We’ll start with audience demographics. So when we say demographics, things like gender,3:00
race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geography,3:07
Lots of things there that we could include there to try to figure out what sort3:13
of demographic groups does someone belong to as your audience or what type of demographic3:18
groups are represented in your audience. Next item here is to say primary or secondary.3:23
Is your audience a primary audience, meaning your original intended recipient for3:29
your message or could there be a second or third or fourth or fifth level audience to consider3:34
who might also be receiving your message, even if they weren’t that very original intended3:39
recipient? So one way I like to think about that is if you think about one of the TV hosts with3:45
a late night talk show. The talk show host has got the guests3:50
that they bring onto the stage with them. Those two people are having a conversation. And3:55
that person, the guest, is kind of primary audience for that conversation. They’ve also got everybody in the studio4:01
audience who’s watching it being recorded, who’s laughing or reacting, and they’re also4:06
playing off of those people as maybe a second level audience for the interaction. And then there’s a third4:11
level audience of anybody who’s going to watch it on TV or recorded or on the Internet, right?4:16
So we call it a lot of different audiences then and that audience really starts to grow. But this is one4:21
way to think about who’s that primary audience versus what could some other levels of audience. We4:26
also want you to think about internal versus external. So internal audiences are any audiences4:31
that are part of your organization, part of your team, part of your work group, part of your company,4:37
right? The external would be all of these kind of entities that could be outside of the organization.4:42
So things like suppliers, vendors, distributors, government entities, the media,4:48
different trade associations, special interest groups, stockholders or investors,4:53
customers and clients or potential customers and clients, potential employees, unions,4:59
professional services. There are a lot of different entities there that could be outside of the organization that5:05
could represent external audiences that we might interact with. Well, we’ll also5:10
have those internal audiences that would be our colleagues or our teammates within our own company.5:15
We also want to think about direction of audience. I put a little directional symbol on the page here5:21
to help us picture this. You picture yourself in the middle. There are always5:26
going to be communication audiences that are above you represented by that arrow going up, below5:31
you, you know, maybe people who report to you versus people that you report to them. Communication5:36
audiences that are parallel to you on either side of you. And then there always there’s also going to be communication5:41
audiences that are external represented by that arrow that is sort of pointing in the outward5:47
direction. When we’re looking at our audience, we also want to think about5:52
at the individual level, what is that person’s background, their role, their title, their5:58
position, their own beliefs, values, knowledge or interests about whatever topic you’re communicating6:03
about, the industry, sector, organizational entity that you’re communicating with,6:08
you know, for something like a job application letter, cover letter, right? Those questions6:13
matter for sort of who is the company as a whole? So some of these6:18
questions might apply to individuals, some of these may apply to groups, some may apply to more of an organizational6:23
entity. Well, let’s move on to the element of context.6:28
So context just means what is the setting or the environment in which the communication is taking6:34
place? So it could be things like what sort of message medium are you using?6:39
Are you talking to someone on the phone? Are you sending an email? Are you composing a memo or another type6:45
of a business document? Are you speaking to them face to face? Are you giving a speech in front of6:50
a group? A lot of different message mediums that could impact the context.6:55
Things like the situation and the task that you have to perform. You know, if if a major company7:01
has to come out and deliver bad news or talk about bad earnings that quarter, that’s7:06
a bad news message. That task is different than if they get to announce some special deal7:11
or that they’re giving their customers some kind of incentive. The date, the time,7:17
the place, those kind of physical aspects of the context might also matter. The occasion.7:22
What’s going on in the economy, the time of year where we are in the fiscal cycle, current events7:28
going on, overall organizational culture, all of those could be part7:33
of that broader context in which our communication sits. And those elements7:38
of context can all impact your message and impact your communication. An analogy7:43
I like to give for this is thinking about the difference between giving a eulogy at7:48
a funeral versus a toast at a wedding. The exact same friends and family could be in the7:54
audience for both events and you would be the same speaker. But the element that changes7:59
there that lets you know you need to have a different type of message for each situation is the context.8:04
Next one is speaker, and by that we just mean the communicator, the person doing the speaking or the communicating.8:12
So what could matter about that when we think about how is that communicator’s,8:18
How is their own profile and their own presence impacting the communication situation?8:24
We want to analyze what would be elements of their own demographics, their background, their8:29
persona, their organizational role, title position, their experience level,8:34
their own beliefs, values and knowledge, and then lastly, their ethos or credibility8:39
that they bring to a situation. So ethos and credibility mean the same thing. It’s just a Greek word8:45
for trustworthiness, believability. And8:50
all of these elements can impact how much credibility a communicator has in8:55
any situation.9:00
Another thing to add to the mix here is the idea of what the purpose of your communication9:05
is in a communication situation and usually in business communication, there are going to be three9:10
purposes either to inform, to request or persuade, or to build goodwill.9:15
And I represent this is like a Venn diagram that we can think about how these might be overlapping,9:21
that you might have to inform someone about something at the same time that you’re trying to make9:26
a request. Or you may need to build goodwill at the same time you you’re doing both of those others. So9:31
these could all be overlapping in different ways. But when it comes to business communication, we’ll probably have9:36
one of these three purposes. So I’d like to practice9:41
applying this to some real world situations beyond just the Chancellor.9:47
And I’ve got four listed here. So just to get you thinking about how could the audience change,9:52
what might change about the context and what might change about what matters about the speaker in each of these situations.9:58
Hillary Clinton speaking at Yale graduation ceremony. We could think about who would be10:03
in her audience there? What matters about her as a speaker? The fact that she herself was a Yale graduate kind10:09
of lends her credibility in that situation. Kansas City Mayor Quinn Lucas breaking10:14
ground for a new line of the city street car. Sheryl Sandberg announcing10:19
a security breach of some kind at Facebook. And then Chief’s head coach Andy Reid giving10:24
a press conference after a game. So I’m actually going to take the scenario10:29
here about Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and try to analyze that here next as an example,10:34
and I’ve left the scenario about Kansas City Mayor Quinn Lucas breaking ground for a new10:40
line of the Kansas City street car for you to tackle in your assignment.10:45
So let’s look at the scenario of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid giving a press conference after a game. First of all,10:51
who would be in his audience? So he steps to the podium in that press room.10:56
Who’s in his audience? Probably the primary audience is going to be the media11:02
and the press, right? They’re the ones actually asking the questions. When he gives his11:07
answer, that’s that primary audience he’s directly answering in the room with him. But11:12
when he responds to them, he’s also thinking about other layers11:17
of audiences that could be out there a second or third or fourth layer audience who is all would could also be listening11:22
to that press conference and listening to his answers. So who could be in that broader audience? Right. Probably people11:27
like fans, his own players, the NFL as an organization,11:33
maybe potential recruits, the front office staff, sports analysts,11:38
the owners of the Chiefs, sponsors. So those are just some of the potential audiences11:44
out there that as he thinks about how to respond to questions and craft his answer, he has11:49
all those audiences in mind and he has to say and do things that are going to be appropriate or that work11:54
for all those different audiences. He’s not just speaking to one media person or one press11:59
person. He has all those audiences in mind. Now, let’s think about what could impact his context12:04
as he gives a press conference. Probably the biggest element would be whether they won or lost that12:09
particular game, right? But it could also be something like where they are in the season. Is it a playoff12:15
game or is it more of a preseason game? It doesn’t really matter. Was it the Super Bowl?12:20
Right. That that is a big element of context. What their win loss record is for that season.12:25
Say they had a loss, but it really wasn’t perhaps as big of a deal because they’ve12:30
been winning all along and doing really well. That’s different than if they had a loss that came12:36
and kind of a difficult season. Specific plays or game play on12:41
the field. You know, maybe they won, but they played really terribly for four hours.12:46
Then that’s going to impact, that’s the context he has to address. If there were any kind of injuries,12:51
any sort of controversies or current events going on that impact the game,12:57
whether it was a rivalry, weather that was happening. You know, maybe maybe they didn’t play that13:02
well, but it was because it snowed at Arrowhead Stadium for the whole time and13:07
there was snow on the field or there was some other conditions that impacted the game, right? So13:12
all those elements of context are things that he may have to address. And then13:17
the element of speaker, so, you know, thinking about him as a communicator. He has the title13:22
of head coach, right? That gives him a lot of built-In credibility. He’s now coached a Super13:27
Bowl championship, that adds more credibility. He even before that, was a very13:32
experienced coach. Things like his own win loss record over time, his own win loss13:38
record with the Chiefs could it be impactful here. He’s male. He’s not13:43
a former player, right? Some other past Chiefs head coaches have been former NFL players,13:48
but he’s not. So that just tells us some things about his.13:53
He’s Caucasian. So these are these all tell us some things about sort of his profile13:59
as a speaker and communicator in any given situation. Now, looking at this list of stuff,14:04
there are going to be some things on this list that we could say are opportunities14:10
or pluses that help him as a communicator here, that help him with his message.14:15
And there are other things that are maybe negatives or barriers that he asked to try to work with14:20
or overcome as he communicates. I could go through and14:25
label each of those. So I sort of done that with color here, that maybe negative things are in red and14:30
potentially positive things are in green. So the fact that the media and the press are14:35
questioning him, maybe that’s a barrier or a negative he’s got to work with. The fans are out14:40
there listening. That’s a positive. Perhaps there’s been some difficulty with the NFL he’s had to navigate14:45
and that’s a negative. But he you know, he’s no he’s got some good potential recruits14:51
coming in maybe paying attention, so perhaps that’s good. The analysts14:57
are listening who like what the team has been doing, but perhaps the owners or sponsors aren’t15:02
happy about what’s occurred. So he’s got to try to manage them and their expectations. Terms of the15:07
context, perhaps they lost the game and maybe it was a difficult loss because they were really15:12
far along in the season or it was a game that really mattered. However, they’d had a good win loss15:17
record for that season and for the season before. And maybe they played really well and there weren’t any injuries15:22
and perhaps there was some sort of a weather event that kind of contributed to how badly they played. But maybe15:30
there’s been some controversy in the news that they’re reacting to. And it was a rivalry, so that sort of represents15:35
a negative that they lost. So we could go through all of these and figure out does that go in the positive column15:41
or the negative column? We put a plus mark by that or a negative mark by that in terms of something15:46
that either is a barrier in his communication he has to try to overcome15:51
or an opportunity that he can use as the speaker. So15:56
what that basically brings me to is this model or this formula that16:01
whatever your purpose is in your communication, be it to inform, to build goodwill, to question or persuade,16:06
combined with the opportunities and the barriers that come from these elements16:12
of the communication situation, who the speaker is, who their audiences and what’s important16:18
and the context. Those two things combined give us an output of what our strategy16:23
should be. And I know that sounds maybe complicated,16:28
but it really isn’t. So this is not meant to be a special scientific16:33
brain surgery at all. We do this kind of stuff every day, all day long. We’re16:39
constantly calculating in the human brain what’s going on in our environment and around16:44
us who are speaking to, how they’re perceiving the things that we’re saying, and we’re making those calculations.16:49
For example, if you’re going on a date with somebody new, you probably would think through,16:55
you know, what situation or what context should I put it in that would be fun or interesting? What’s17:01
interesting, what I want to know more about them, what I know about them as my audience. What kind of things I want17:06
to share about myself, right? So you’re thinking about this stuff day to day. But17:11
where miscommunications happen and where communication problems happen is when17:17
people don’t calculate this slowly and carefully enough in a business setting.17:22
So our goal in this class this semester is to really slow this process down17:28
and to think about how to be strategic about our communication17:34
by really thinking through this kind of equation about how17:39
can I analyze the elements of what’s involved in this communication situation? What represents a17:44
plus for me right now? What represents a negative for me? And how then do I navigate those?17:50
That’s what becomes your strategy. And if we can become really deliberate and17:55
thoughtful about thinking that through every time we face a communication situation,18:00
then you’re more likely to avoid communication missteps because communication missteps are18:05
when someone has miscalculated one of those elements.18:10
So that brings me to the end and I’ll just ask you to reflect on what your takeaways were from the lesson.18:20
Anything that was new information that helped you see something in a new way or some information that you18:25
could see yourself using in the future on the job. Thanks for listening.18:30