GEB 5212 Dr. J. Ainsworth 1

ASSIGNMENT 3: Bad News Business Letter OBJECTIVES Correct formats for documents. Demonstrate that you know how to format and organize business letters appropriately. Correct strategies for documents. Deploy writing techniques for delivering negative news messages requiring the thin sandwich approach, in addition to standard business writing techniques: context, audience appropriate, clear and concise. SCENARIO Great Eats to the Beat Restaurants will be installing a software-based cooking system in all its restaurants during the next month. Unlike sit-down bistros, GEBs new system is set into motion as a customer approaches the counter, gives his or her name, and places an order. The cashier sends the order electronically to the kitchen, and hands the customer a coaster. RFID strips beneath every table pick up the signal from the coaster and send it back to the kitchen. Thats how the runnersomeone other than the person who took the orderknows where the customer is sitting, what the customer ordered, and the customers name. Now that the order has gone into the kitchen, the new software-based cooking system kicks in. The new system is smart enough to separate the elements of a customers order and send each of them to the monitor that hangs above the relevant food-prep station. The flatbread maker sees flatbread orders; the pantry chef, who makes all the salads and desserts, sees the salad order; the rtisseur at the broiler stationyou get the picture. So everything everyone needs to cook shows up in a queue, and the chefs each hit a plastic button beneath the screen to signal that they have begun. When they have finished, they press a button that bumps the food order to the quarterback, who gathers the finished product and puts it on a plate with all the other stuff the customer wants to eat. For example, a customer orders our free-range chicken dish. Just as in a high-end kitchen, the risseur cooks the chicken breast at a different spot from the one the lgumier uses to saut the vegetables. Of course, the two elementsthe chicken and the vegetableshave different cooking times. However, GEBs software is ready to sequence the timing. In the case of baked chicken and potatoes, the chicken takes five minutes while the tubers take two. So the rtisseur receives the chicken order three minutes before the potatoes order appears on the lgumiers screen. Both are finished at the same time and the quarterback plates them together. Then the runner picks up the plate, heads to the customers table, and says, Hi, Fred. Taylor, our efficiency expert, stresses how the gamelike properties of this arrangement can create time efficiencies, increase productivity and help motivate the crew, with the cooks and runners all able to see how they are performing compared with everyone else. When you give them real-time data, Taylor says, it can radically change their behavior. Therefore, senior management at GEB Restaurants counts on gaining more efficient and motivated employees. On the other hand, the software system lets managers keep score, update sales and track orders in real time. Because of these features, you have noted that employees are grumbling about the possible negative consequences of the new system. First, employees are worried that computerization allows big brother to scrutinize their work habits constantly. Second, the employees feel they are already performing well. Competing with each other will stifle their ability to build rapport with their customers,

GEB 5212 Dr. J. Ainsworth 2

which will hurt repeat business. Last, but not least, they are concerned that robots will take over their jobs, which could lead to layoffs. Source: http://www.wired.com/2012/07/ff_lyfekitchens/3/ TASK 1) In your teams, select one team member to record your brainstorming ideas during your meeting.

(Your recorder will need all teammates email addresses to send notes to after the meeting.) 2) In class, brainstorm with your teammates and discuss possible

ways of approaching the employees in your letter. 3) As a GEB restaurant manager, you must write a letter to all

employees explaining that management is proceeding with the installation as scheduled. Emphasize the positive aspects of the new system. Then reassure the employees and allay their fears and concerns about the consequences of the new system.

Please bring a draft version of your letter to next class for peer review.

Save your document in Microsoft WORD, as yourlastname_badnewsletter.

Upload your document on Canvas to

Assignment 3: Bad News Letter. FORMAT Your letter will be in letter format, one page maximum. Use letter formatting on p. 128 of the textbook. FORMATTING ALL DOCUMENTS FOR GEB5212 Word document 1-inch margins on all sides, 8.5 x 11 inch 11- or 12-point businesslike font Ragged right margin (left justified only) Block formatting (no indented paragraphs) Single spaced, with an extra space between

paragraphs Paragraphs spacing before (0 pt.),

after (0pt.) Saved as yourlastname_assignmentname

Page Topic 74-81/82-

86 APA/MLA Citation for Articles in a Journal

165-166 Formatting titles 181 Title page of report 215 Figure 7-14. Using Headings 214 Checklist: Using Headings

222-223 Lists 128 Letter format

133-134 Memo format 397 Dates 403 Numbers 404 Percent vs. %

Feel free to invent any details you would like to make your documents

more realistic.