Assignment # 9 Audio Posting

Click to hear audio announcement

Assignment # 8 Recent Quarter Business Results

Good evening everyone and congratulations on the end of another successful third quarter! With over $57 million in sales, I am proud to announce that we have surpassed our goal for increasing revenues this past quarter by 16%. This is a colossal step for us at ABC Incorporated as we continue to surpass our projections during these tough economic times to persist on being a top competitor in the electronics industry. As a token of our appreciation for your hard work, I am delighted to inform you that everyone will receive a 2.5% pay increase by Thursday, September 1^st 2011.

As we move forward into peak demand for electronic products during the holiday season, key metrics will provide us with leading signals to the success of our marketing plan. Each of the following metrics has to reach an effective level of performance before the financial metrics will show improved results: customer awareness, net marketing contribution, intentions to buy, and repeat purchases. We are confident in your ability to achieve these numbers and have a record breaking fourth quarter. With your effort, we can continue to be a leader in our competitive industry. Take care and good luck!

Assignment # 7 - Mini Saga

My chiropractor hurt his back waterskiing as a child. He went to the doctor and was informed he couldn’t water ski anymore. Disappointed, he went to the chiropractor to get it checked. That same day he was out waterskiing again, immediately realizing what he wanted to do for a career.

Assignment # 6 - Article From Business

Attention employees of the New England District Army Corps of Engineers:

Last month we had an issue regarding the safety of personnel supervising the water intake to the spillway at Littleville Dam. On Thursday July 6^th at 10:48 a.m. a visitor noticed that there was a beaver trapped in the water intake thirty feet upstream from the dam. After discovering the distressed beaver, the visitor contacted the park rangers on site to notify them about the beaver. The park rangers took immediate action attempting to save the beaver and help it pass through the dam getting it downstream. While attempting to trap the beaver in a fishing net, the tormented beaver bit a park ranger on the left wrist drawing blood. Thirty-five minutes later the rangers trapped the beaver in the net and carried it over the flood gate, getting it downstream.

While these rangers were heroic in action, this is not the protocol for the USACE. When a situation arises and a wild animal is in danger, immediately contact the Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife division and inform them about the situation. When their crew shows up, you shall assist them in whatever way they need. After completing the task immediately email Joe Falloretti at the New England District headquarters and notify him about the situation.

Remember, the safety of our park rangers is of upmost importance. If wild animals are in danger, contact the Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife and have them handle the situation. Take care and good luck!

Assignment # 5 White Paper

Social media is an incredible tool that any businesses, including XYZ Incorporated, can use to increase brand awareness, communicate their corporate message, gain customer feedback, find new customers, and increase sales. Figuring out how to use social media to your advantage is pertinent to the success of XYZ Inc.'s social media presence. Included in this post is a white paper for XYZ Inc. and it can be accessed by clicking here!

Communication Tips

http://robjoh.searchwarp.com/swa94412.htm

Here is a link that includes 11 tips for effective communication in the workforce. Effective communication is necessary for a business to be successful and to run effectively. We have all witnessed or read about many situations in which communication in the workforce resulted in a disaster. It's important to be able communicate with co-workers, supervisors, upper management, and others in the organization. Some important roles for communication includes delivering messages about job responsibilities, requirements, and feedback on how things can be improved. Communication is an endless process and is a critical component of organizational effectiveness.

While I was working as a park ranger at Knightville Dam and Littleville Lake there was only 5 employees to take care and patrol more than 50 square miles of territory. It was critical that we could communicate effectively via email, telephone, and face to face communication to increase our effectiveness.

A critical component of communication is to deliver information to people. We have seen and witnessed the negativity that results from with holding information about the organization from people as well as the rumors. Keeping employees undated about important information will make them feel important and prevent rumors from spreading. When information is not withheld, people tend to trust each other and that is very important in organizations. If you can not trust the people you are working with then how are you supposed to effectively run an organization?

Organizational Memo

I am currently unemployed so for this assignment I am going to talk about a past job that I had at a Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream scoop shop. Ben and Jerry's is in the super premium market for ice cream and its mission consists of three parts: a product mission, an economic mission, and a social mission. Their product mission is to make, distribute and sell the finest quality all natural ice cream and euphoric concoctions with a continued commitment to incorporating wholesome, natural ingredients and promoting business practices that respect the Earth and the environment. It's economic mission is to operate the company on a sustainable financial basis of profitable growth, increasing profit for its stakeholders and expanding opportunities for development and career growth for its employees. Their social mission is to operate the company in a way that actively recognizes the central role that business plays in society by initiating innovative ways to improve the quality of life locally, nationally, and internationally. 

Ben & Jerry's corporate strategy strives to implement the three integrated missions described above. The general corporate strategy can be based primarily on product differentiation and quality production. This strategy helps Ben & Jerry’s gain a strong competitive advantage as it can offer consumers something they perceive is appealingly different from rival competitors.  Ben & Jerry’s general strategy also combines several other key components, including fostering a company image of social activism, creating brand loyalty, and franchising the company to aid economic growth.

From my experience I would have to say that Ben & Jerry’s workforce is highly engaged in its efforts to support and sustain its corporate mission.

Worst Organizational Communication Episode

When thinking about the worst organizational communication experience that I have ever been involved in, I will always remember one of the first few weeks I was working as a park ranger at Knightville Dam and Littleville Lake. One of the first shifts that I worked by myself my boss left me a "To Do List." Included in the list was to "clear brush on the Eagle Cliff Trail." For starters my boss never showed me this trail before. With that said, there was a trail with a sign that pointed to the Eagle Cliff Trail, so I assumed that that had to be it. After five hours of clearing brush and 1.2 miles later, I saw a small path with a sign that said "Start of Eagle Cliff Trail." Clearly, I had no idea where this trail was and my boss assumed that I knew where it was even though he never showed it to me. It was obvious that there was a lack of communication and understanding. It turned out that it wasn't a big deal but I was really ticked off after doing all that hard work for nothing. The following day I came into work, I had to clear brush on the actual Eagle Cliff Trail and not the road that lead up to it.