Assignment
Managerial Written Communication; MBAC0046
Question 1: Retail rejection: Turning down a request to carry a product. Lee Valley Tools
(www.leevalley.com) sells high-quality wood- working tools across Canada through its retail stores and
around the world through its website and catalogs. While weekend hobbyists can pick up a mass-
produced hand plane (a tool for smoothing wood) for $20 or $30 at the local hardware store, serious
woodworkers pay five or ten times that much for one of Lee Valley's precision Veritas planes. For the
price, they get top-quality materials, precision manufacturing, and innovative designs that help them do
better work in less time.
Lee Valley sells both its own Veritas brand tools as well 5,000 tools made by other manufacturers. One
of those companies has just e-mailed you to ask if Lee Valley would like to carry a new line of midrange
hand planes that would cost more than the mass-market, hardware-store models but less than Lee
Valley's own Veritas models. Your job is to filter requests such as this, rejecting those that don't meet
Lee Valley's criteria and forwarding those that do to the product selection committee for further
analysis. After one quick read of this incoming e-mail message, you realize there is no need to send this
idea to the committee. While these planes are certainly of decent quality, they achieve their lower cost
through lower-quality steel that won't hold an edge as long and through thinner irons (the element that
holds the cutting edge) that will be more prone to vibrate during use and thus produce a rougher finish.
These planes have a market, to be sure, but they're not a good fit for Lee Valley's top-of-the-line product
portfolio. Moreover, the planes don't offer innovations in terms of ease of use or any other product
attribute.
Your task: Reply to this business letter message in proper format, explaining that the planes appear to
be decent tools, but they don't fit Lee Valley's strategy of offering only the best and most innovative
tools. Support your decision with the three criteria described above. Choose the direct or indirect
approach carefully, taking into consideration your company's relationship with this other company.
Question 2: Temper, temper: Business Letter to Metro Power employees about technology failures. This
is the third time in two months that your company, Metro Power, has had to escort an employee from
the building after a violent episode. Frankly, everyone is a little frightened by this development. As a
human resources administrator, you have the unhappy task of trying to quell the storm.
Metro Power rarely fires employees, preferring to transfer them to new responsibilities, which may
either draw out their finer points (and prove better for everyone in the long run) or help them decide to
seek greener pastures. But in three cases, you had no choice. In one incident, a man punched out his
computer screen after the system failed. In another, a man threw his key- board across the room when
he couldn't get access to the company's intranet. And in a third incident, a woman kicked a printer while
screaming obscenities.
In all three cases, co-workers were terrified by these sudden outbursts. Too many disgruntled workers
have committed too many violent acts against others in recent years; and whenever workers lose their
temper on the job these days, it causes great fear-not to mention financial losses from the destruction
of property and the disruption of workflow.
People are on edge at Metro Power right now. Rising energy costs, public and government scrutiny, and
cries of price gouging are causing additional work and stress for all your employees. Plus, too much
overtime, unrealistic expectations for overworked departments, and high demands on sensitive
equipment are con- tributing to the problem. Tempers are frayed, and nerves strained. You're
concerned that these three incidents are just the tip of the iceberg.
Your department head suggests that you write a reminder to all employees about controlling tempers in
the workplace. "Tell them that technology glitches are commonplace and not some unholy disaster. And
remind them to report routine computer failures to Bart Stone. He'll get to them in due course."
You say nothing to contradict her idea, but you wonder how to do what she asks without sounding trite
or condescending. You don't want to sound like some nagging parent; if you do, no one will pay
attention to your message. You sigh deeply as your boss strolls calmly back to her office. You're fairly
certain that every employee already knows about reporting computer failures to Bart Stone, assistant
director of information services.
Even so, you can think of a few suggestions that might be helpful, such as taking a walk to cool down
and recognizing that machines, like humans, are not infallible. You want cooler heads to prevail, but
that's just the sort of cliché you'd like to avoid in your message.
Your task: Write the business letter to all employees in proper format. Instead of uttering platitudes or
wagging your finger, include preventive maintenance tips for office equipment, such as turning off
systems at night, keeping food and liquids away from keyboards. making use of dusting sprays and
special cloths, and so on. Your boss also asked you to make it clear that abusive behavior will be
reprimanded, so include that point in a tactful way,"
