You will write a memo addressed to Jane Cannon, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or head of your company (you will need to create your own fictional company name or use a situation from a job you currently hold or held in the past). For this scenario, your supervisor has asked you to contact Ms. Cannon about a problem at your plant or store which you are directly aware of and for which you have proposed a solution. You are free to use a real situation from a current job or a previous job experience, or you can imagine a situation. When you are writing the memo, assume that Jane Cannon, since she has newly moved into a position of leadership in the company, is unaware of the exact working situation that you are addressing. Therefore, you must provide the background information necessary for her to understand the situation you are trying to correct. However, remember that this is a professional memo to a high-ranking corporate executive. Your job is to save your reader time by providing only vital and necessary information that is well-organized and edited.

When doing this assignment, remember the audience to whom you are writing and remember to build good will by employing some of the strategies (you-perspective, positive emphasis, non-bias language) discussed in the course text. You will also need to establish credibility for yourself as a writer. If you look carefully, you will find credibility built into this assignment. In addition, be very careful to use the appropriate tone and formality in addressing an executive. Also, make sure the memo is clear and easy to read. Experiment with some visual markers like headings or bullets. And remember, dont forget to tell Jane Cannon what you would like her to do about the situation as you conclude your memo.

In order to do well on this memo, consider the basic "Introduction, Body, Conclusion" organizational structure discussed in Chapter 10. For this assignment, the introduction should include:

• A brief statement identifying your function in the company/corporation (what's your job title?, how long have you worked for the company?, what are your responsibilities?) and providing background on the situation (no more than three to four sentences.)
• An explanation of the current situation (no more than one or two sentences).
• A very concise statement of purpose (a one statement summary of what the whole memo is about) at the conclusion of the introductory paragraph.
• Keep in mind the purpose of the introductory paragraph described in Section 10.1 of Chapter 10