Writing

Writing 210W Bad News Letter Assignment \"In The Company of Dogs\" Suppose you are the C00 (Chief Operating Ofcer) of the online business \"In The Company of Dogs.\" (inthecompanyofdogscom) You sell useful and interesting, somewhat high-end items to dog owners through a colorful, glossy catalog, website, and social networking. Your business has been successful and your parent company recently acquired your key competitor, \"FetchDog.\" Your ofce culture is professional and cordial and the employees are very haPPY; the environment is enhanced considerably by the company's policy of allowing pets to accompany their owners to work-some of their dogs have even been used as models in the catalog and website. Obviously, a love of dogs is a huge part of the company's culture. Unfortunately, your CEO and owner, Jane Mongrello, is not a dog lover--merer an investor and executlve concerned with the bottom line in her many catalog enterprises. With the recovering economy, sales of luxury items are down, and your business has experienced a 25% drop in sales in the last two quarters. Ms. Mongrello has determined that productivity is also an issue, and she is blaming it partly on the casual atmosphere of the workplace she's observed during her visits. She blames much of that on what she believes is the distraction created by the dogs, and she is concerned with cutting other costs, such as additional maintenance on the building and grounds needed by having the animals around. So she has decreed that dogs will be barred from the workplace all but one day a week: Fridays. She has offered some concessions in the form of an arrangement with a local doggie day -care center for a signicant discount. She's not completely heartless, you see! -to-day boss and fellow dog owner, know that your employees will be quite upset by this You, as their day . , ws You are aware that the policy allowmg dogs at work was a key factorm some of your employees ne - ing their jobs with the company. In addition, the creative staff may (legitimately) clann to be losmg their inspiration without their dogs at their sides during the workday. You W write a lettel' (sample format, pp. 32-34) announcing the change in policy, which will take effectin thirty days. It will be personally addressed and mailed to the employees' homes out of respect for M feelings. Your intent is for the employees to begin to absorb the news there, minimizing reactive W and emotion in the ofce. From our readings you'll have some background on delivering sensitive wagesthe psychology behind change and some methods for delivering bad news. In the \"Style and Tone\" handout, review pp. 267-269, on tone, and the indirect pattern, pp. 270273 (a variation of our \"get in/say it/get out\" structure). Your letter, to be adequately informative and sensitive, needs to be two-and-a-half to three pages, with the content paragraphs double-spaced