Chapter $4,$ Preparing Written Messages, Student Handout ACTIVITY $4\mathrm{.}2$: STEP $6--$PREPARE THE FIRST DRAFT EMPHASIS TECHNIQUES Choose the preferred sentence from each pair and justify your choice. a$.(1)$ Lindsay$$s request to telecommute was denied, but she will begin a flextime schedule in two weeks. $(2)$ Although her request to telecommute was denied, Lindsay will begin a flextime schedule in two weeks. b$.(1)$ The Lawlor account was won. $(2)$ Jennifer is responsible for our winning the Lawlor account. Chapter $4$ Preparing Spoken and Written Messages $1.$ Cultural Barriers to Communication: Generate a list of five $(5)$ phrases and nonverbal expressions peculiar to your culture that a person from another culture might not understand. Explain what the $(5)$ phrases mean. $2.$ Revise the following message so that it is more logically ordered. You may also discover that some of the content is irrelevant and thus can be eliminated and that the the message is missing some critical information that needs to be added to fulfill the customer$$s request. Submit $($upload$)$ Revision online. Patricia Williams Director of Customer Service Flash Software, Inc. $8403$ Kentucky Avenue Cincinnati, OH $55003$ Dear Ms$.$ Williams: I recently purchased your new accounting software at Big Box Office Products. When I got the product home, I was unable to install the product on my Apple brand computer. I am a small business owner and think that your product will be very helpful to me in improving my productivity and potentially my company$$s profits. I returned the product to Big Box to get a refund or to exchange the product for one that might work on my computer. The manager told me he could not make the exchange but that I should contact, you, the maker, with my request. Can you help me$?$ I have enclosed the product with my letter. Sincerely, Tim Jeffreys $902$ Oak Street St$.$ Louis, MI $60042$ c$.(1)$ Thank you for donating time to work with the United Way campaign this year. $(2)$ Congratulations on your outstanding work as the campaign coordinator for $2007$ United Way campaign. Our city$$s goal was easily exceeded thanks to your exceptional leadership abilities. d$.(1)$ We appreciate your letting us know about your concerns. $(2)$ We appreciate your letting us know about the broken equipment, the outdated materials, and the poor employee morale at your branch. e$.(1)$ Your warranty does not cover these repair charges. $(2)$ Had you completed all scheduled maintenance on your Lincoln LS$,$ your warranty would have covered these repair charges. Chapter $4,$ Preparing Written Messages, Student Handout ACTIVITY $4\mathrm{.}5$: STEP $6--$PREPARE THE FIRST DRAFT COHERENCE TECHNIQUES Link each sentence to the preceding sentence to improve coherence $($avoid abrupt changes in thought$).$ a$.$ The design team meets every Monday at $9$ a$.$m$.$ They go over plans and goals for the upcoming week. Other departments have similar meetings. b$.$ Diversity awareness training seems important to some employees. It is very effective in improving communication and understanding. Employees should participate in this training. c$.$ Our company has initiated a new overtime policy. Employees can choose between overtime pay or compensatory time off. This policy could improve morale and productivity. d$.$ The publications department is working on new marketing materials. Our current brochures and materials are out of date. The materials do not reflect the significant corporate changes that have occurred in the past six months. e$.$ New computer software is being loaded onto our local area network $($LAN$).$ Personnel will be able to generate expense statements from their workstations. This will make the old paper forms obsolete.