BUSINESS COMMUNICATION - MIDTERM EXAM

Date: 20/4/2020

PART A – You have to complete all questions – 60 marks (approximate 150 words per
question)

1) Do you consider your daily texting, Facebook updates, blog entries, emails, and other
informal writing to be “real writing”. How might such writing differ from the writing
done in business? (15 marks)
2) In the tough times like what we are experiencing with corona pandemic , how can
leaders inspire their employess whey they don’t have good new to share?( 15 marks)
3) Why is it smart to keep your cool when making a claim and how should you go about
it? (15 marks)
4) Why is the passive voice acceptable,even desirable, in bad news messages when it’s
considered poor, impersonal writing in most other situation?( 15 marks)

PART B - You can choose either one question for your answering (40 marks)

1) You are a member of IU Youth Union and the team is planing for the Orientation
Week for the freshmen (September 5, 2020). You have taken on the job of ordering
600 T-shirts and 600 caps with printed IU logo. They are in two colors Blue and
White. For each color, you want to order 100 t-shirt for each size (S,M,L), and the
caps must be adjustable cap. All products need to be delivered one week before the
event. And before signing the contract with supplier, you also want to know the costs,
ordering times, extra charges and discount policy.

YOUR TASK: Write an email to Mr. VIET LE at vietle@inaodongphuc.com.vn. He

is a sales representative of a potential supplier of TS company. Explain your order and
list specific questions.

2) You are the owner of TS company which established in 2000. For the last ten years,
your company had joined the charity program called “SAVETHECHILD” and this is
how the company try to contribute back to the local society. Each year, you and the
management team would manage and donate 150 – 200 millions VND for the
program. Unfortunately, this year is being a tough year for a company. Since corona
pandemic happened, the business is strongly affected and the sale revenue declined
around 70%. You are facing with lots of difficuties right now in order to maintain the
company and keeping the staffs on jobs. Now, you have received an invitation letter
to attend annual ceremony of SAVETHECHILD program in which they expect the
donation from your company as usual.
YOUR TASK: Write an letter to Mrs. ANNA NGUYEN – head of SAVETHECHILD
charity program. Explain your situation and refuse to attend a ceremony and inform
 that your company can’t be able to donate for the program this year. You can use
direct or indirect strategy to write this negative business message.
Mrs. ANNA NGUYEN
Head of SAVETHECHILD program
123 Tran Hung Dao st, ward 14, district 5
HCMC – Viet Nam

PART A (60 marks)

1. (15 marks)
From my perspective, due to tremendously wide-used online platforms in contemporary
lifestyles, daily texting rarely determines the actual writing performances of individuals.
Indeed, social media have inevitably built up the second global home, where people can
display themselves and interact with others instantly, demanding the most convenient
form to communicate. Thus, many trending simplistic terms created, are not formally
accepted but understood tacitly, well-utilized in the virtual world. Regarding business
aspects, writing requires adequate, concise, and conventional standards based on
determinate pieces of evidence, assuring its inherent reliability, and professionalism. For
example, reporting corporate data will express it transparently in a well-qualified way of
writing, whereas posting on Facebook does not need to type in a complicated manner,
even free to use different emoji. Nevertheless, despite typically casual online writing,
individuals depend on relevant contexts to behave suitably. While uploading job
recruitments on Facebook, employers must ensure that their material is grammatically
accurate and consistently illustrated.

2. (15 marks)
Broadly, we should find out in-depth the most suitably effective strategy relied on
specific fields of work that are impacted by stressful situations. However, based on
common sense, firstly, managers themselves need to perceive how crucial to nurture and
spread positivity towards coworkers, among individual teams, thus, bring up the vitality
for the entire organization. Second, leaders should hold joint meetings to explain specific
obstacles, prepare for advantageous ways of coping with them, and the most pivotal one
is the firmly persevering safeguard of the rights and benefits of workers during the severe
time, as much as the company can. Additionally, concerning the COVID-19 pandemic,
legal compliance with the government's rules enforcing social distancing opens up new
incentives for businesses to check how successful online work is. Indeed, leaders
expected to be the quickest person to adapt to changing environments, then motivating
their subordinates to revitalize the company and keep pursuing organizational goals.

3. (15 marks)
Asking for any compensation naturally provokes negative feelings. However, when
immersed in highly unpleasant perspectives and generating claims, individuals can not
behave with the most effective rationality. As the inner world interconnected decides the
outer one, the stronger the angry one-self gets, the less persuasively they display. Thus, to
receive the most favorable outcomes, claimers should leave out intense emotions, focus
on the bright sides logically, and suggest adequate solutions, enhancing equitable analysis
to perceive problems objectively. In the modern world today, customers can be accessible
to feedback through online comment activities, leading to significant contributions to the
progressive improvement of the company. For example, whenever users complain about
low-quality products on TiKi comments, the customer service department quickly
responds to support and even replace goods, showing the ideal impacts when claims
reach to change. Therefore, we should appreciate this opportunity and make claims
precisely, eliminating the exaggeration of our emotions.

4. (15 marks)
Passive voice structures can accommodate unwanted information because of the focus on
behavior and the removal of subjects. For instance, when an employer says, "I do not
accept your application because of under-qualified background," the word "I"
transparently focuses on that employer taking action, which is not a desirable outcome.
Nevertheless, changing to "Your application is not accepted because of under-qualified
background," the tone seems more sympathetic and reduces the miserable impacts of bad
news. Additionally, when writing formal contents, the impersonal manner of passive
voice lessens the particular and firm characteristics required in most of the contexts.
Conversely, the direct impacts of the active voice are generally appreciated thanks for
representing the primary performers instead of activities. Thus, based on specific cases,
we should flexibly apply active or passive voice to reach the most satisfactory outcomes.

PART B (40 marks)

April 20, 2020

Mr. Viet Le, Sales Representative (vietle@inaodongphuc.com.vn)

TS Company

Subject: ORDER T-SHIRTS & CAPS FOR AN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY EVENT

Dear Mr. Viet Le,
I am Pham Hoang Mai Phuong, on behalf of the International University Youth Union.
As planning for the Orientation Week for the freshmen on September 5, 2020, we need
600 T-shirts and 600 adjustable caps in total, with additional requirements listed below:
● both having a printed IU logo;
● each divided dually into Blue and White colors;
● for T-shirts, each color separated equally into 3 sizes (S, M, L).
The latest day to receive products is acceptable on August 29, 2020.
Due to demanding large quantities of products, please consider any discount policy, and give
us the most reasonable price. Should any extra charges include, please let us know when
providing the ordering confirmation.
If you have any concerns, please reach us at (028) (0123456789).
Thank you for your time in reading my email.
Sincerely yours,
Signature
Full Name - Pham Hoang Mai Phuong
The representative of the International University Youth Union