115.

111 Communication Theory & Practice A1 S2 2023

A1 Case Study: Awa Boulevard Busway

You are the communications advisor whom Cynthia consults when challenging situations
arise. The Rose City Council recently published a plan to remove twenty 60-year old tōtara
trees lining a major thoroughfare to accommodate a new busway. This is not the first time
Rose City has attempted to alter the road layout in the historic neighbourhood of Sylvan Park
to accommodate increasing road-user demands.
Following the release of the plan, the Council received the following communication from an
irate ratepayer in their community:

Typically, correspondences of this nature would go directly to the Director of City Planning,
but she is on annual leave for 3 weeks. Cynthia has been put in charge of all planning
matters and has instructed her new intern, Arden, to respond to Ms. Branch’s email by
writing a formal letter in return.
Cynthia thought Arden would be up to the task because their job application and cover letter
demonstrated proficient essay writing skills. Despite Arden having little experience writing
formal business documents, Cynthia thought this would have been a great hands-on
115.111 Communication Theory & Practice A1 S2 2023

opportunity for managing complaints from members of the community. She gave Arden all
the information relevant to the complaint and requested a draft document be prepared to
send by Monday morning.
Here is what Arden drafted:

-the draft continues-

115.111 Communication Theory & Practice A1 S2 2023

After Cynthia read Arden’s draft, she soon realised that some guidance from a
communication advisor, particularly with writing professional documents, might be in order.
Since Cynthia is doing her regular job, in addition to being the Acting Director of City
Planning, she needs some assistance; this type of response is time sensitive and needs to
be done properly.
As a communication advisor, Cynthia has asked you to rewrite the letter and then write an
email with constructive feedback to Arden about the draft letter. Since you do not know
Arden, Cynthia is confident this developmental opportunity will be as objective as possible.
115.111 Communication Theory & Practice A1 S2 2023

IMPORTANT: all necessary source materials and additional background information

can be found in the Assessment Information | Ngā Aromatawai page on Stream.

THE TASK: Mend the relationship between Rose City Council and the citizen.

• Rewrite The intern’s letter to the concerned citizen to an acceptable standard that
residents would expect from a city council office using only the relevant content from
intern’s draft; then
• Write an email to the intern with the following information:
o Outline the changes you made to the letter and explain why
 be sure to be specific when citing examples
o Give guidance on how the intern could improve their professional
communication skills and effective writing strategies drawing upon
communication theories discussed in the lectures and the Writing Matters guide.
 show at least three places where you applied effective writing strategies
to improve the intern’s draft
*As you compose each document consider: the purpose of each document, the audiences’
concerns (both the citizen and the intern), appropriate tone and word choice, the formatting of
each document, and what information is necessary to include (and what can be omitted).