Assignment 1: Analyzing Effective Communication The e-mail below (also found in Exercise 1-6 on pg. 32 of your textbook) is from a supervisor to
his/her employees. Read it and then discuss:
1. How it does and/or doesn't meet the characteristics of effective business
communication—practicality, specificity, conciseness, persuasiveness (please discuss
each characteristic and how it is or isn’t present in the message, and make sure it’s clear
you understand each term); and
2. Any suggestions for improvement you have.
It has come to my attention that many of you are lying on your time cards. If you come in late,
you should not put 8:00 on your card. If you take a long lunch, you should not put 1:00 on your
time card. I will not stand for this type of cheating. I simply have no choice but to institute an
employee monitoring system. Beginning next Monday, video cameras will be installed at all
entrances to the building, and your entry and exit times will be logged each time you use
electronic key cards to enter or leave.
Anyone who is late for work or late coming back from lunch more than three times will have to
answer to me. I don't care if you had to take a nap or if you girls had to shop. This is a place of
business, and we do not want to be taken advantage of by slackers who are cheaters to boot. It is
too bad that a few bad apples always have to spoil things for everyone