Florida University Southeast

School of Management and Leadership

Master of Project Management (MPM)

Module-1 Individual Assignment

Name: - Birhanu, Adisu

Completed Date of Submission: - January 14, 2023

Course Number and Name: - MPM-502 Communication and

Leadership

Module #1

QUESTION

Module 1 Assignment: Independently complete the questions for any four (4) of

the six (6) cases presented in Case Study 1.4-1.

pg. 1
 

Examine each “case” and determine the following:

1. Define the rhetorical situation: Who is communicating to whom about what,

how, and why? What was the goal of the communication in each case?

2. Identify the communication error (poor task or audience analysis? Use of

inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting of

information? Other?)

3. Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.

4. Identify possible solutions or strategies that would have prevented the

problem, and what benefits would be derived from implementing solutions

or preventing the problem.

ANSWER

CASE 1: The promising chemist who buried his results

Bruce, a research chemist for a major Petro-chemical company, wrote a dense report

about some new compounds he had synthesized in the laboratory from oil-refining by

products. The bulk of the report consisted of tables listing their chemical and physical

properties, diagrams of their molecular structure, chemical formulas and computer

printouts of toxicity tests. Buried at the end of the report was a casual speculation that

one of the compounds might be a particularly effective insecticide. Seven years later,

the same oil company launched a major research program to find more effective but

environmentally safe insecticides. After six months of research, someone uncovered

Bruce’s report and his toxicity tests. A few hours of further testing confirmed that one of

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Bruce’s compounds was the safe, economical insecticide they had been looking for.

Bruce had since left the company, because he felt that the importance of his research

was not being appreciated.

Questions

1. Define the rhetorical situation. Who is communicating to whom about what,

how and why?

What was the goal of the communication in each case?

Answer:

The research chemist Bruce was trying to communicate with the company associative

about new compounds he had synthesized from oil refining items. He did this to benefit

the company the specialist utilized a composed report as the method of

correspondence.

2. Identify the communication error (poor task or audience analysis? Use of

inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting if information?

Other?

Answer:

The communication errors in this case study were poor audience analysis and

inaccurate tests and lac of effective communication. Bruce didn’t make his research as

effective as needed. The case shows there was inadequate communication between

management and research chemist. We could feel that there is lack of direction from

management to employees and the new research program that Petro-chemical

Company was trying to launch was not well communicated with the employees. The

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lack of feedback tools for continuous listening so that the company and managers

understand how effectively they were communicating and how their employees were

responding. So, the audience analysis was poor. Bruce was not using the best practice

to format his reports according to the audiences (must have highlighted findings and

suggestions, further improvements must be clearly defined).

3. Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.

Answer:

Due to lack of effective communication, the chemist failed to communicate his research.

Because of this, the company had to launch major research program seven years later,

which was waste of money, time and workforce. Bruce left the company thinking that he

was not appreciated for his work. But in reality, his message was not conveyed. Due to

lack of communication skills, Bruce lose a job but the biggest loss which was incurred

by the company was Bruce’s goodwill. The company lost a promising employee too.

When this type of situation happens, it also effects the productivity, profitability and

quality of the company’s service.

4. Identify possible solutions or stratifies that would have prevented the problem,

and what be benefits would be derived from implementing solutions or

preventing the problem.

Answer:

The possible solution would be effective communication internally like weekly meeting

to communicate with each other about their past week work and upcoming work or

planning. This would have prevented from finding the research work done seven years

ago via weekly meeting and through this, company would have knew about the

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research years ago then they would have made firm beneficial financially as well as

researcher Mr. Bruce would be appreciated and this research would have benefited the

environment with more safe insecticide. Also Mr. Bruce should again be offered a job.

CASE 2: The unaccepted current regulator proposal

The Acme Electric Company worked day and night to develop a new current regulator

designed to cut the electric power consumption in aluminum plants by 35%. They knew

that, although the competition was fierce, their regulator could be produced more

cheaply, was more reliable, and worked more efficiently than the competitors’ products.

The owner, eager to capture the market, personally but somewhat hastily put together a

120-page proposal to the three major aluminum manufacturers, recommending that

their regulators be installed at all company plants. She devoted the first 87 pages of the

proposal to the mathematical theory and engineering design behind his new regulator,

and the next 32 to descriptions

of the new assembly line she planned to set up to produce regulators quickly.

Buried in an appendix were the test results that compared her regulator’s performance

with present models, and a poorly drawn graph showed how much the dollar savings

would be. Acme Electric didn’t get the contracts, despite having the best product. Six

months later, the company filed for bankruptcy.

Questions

1. Define the rhetorical situation. Who is communicating to whom about what,

how and why?

What was the goal of the communication in each case?

Answer:

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Through a 120-page proposal, The Acme Electric Company is communicating with the

three major aluminum producers about its regulators, which were built by them and

could reduce electric power usage in aluminum facilities by 35 percent. They sent a

proposal because they want their regulators placed at all of the company's facilities. The

communication's target is to capture the market and make a profit.

2. Identify the communication error (poor task or audience analysis? Use of

inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting if information?

Other?

Answer

She made a 120-page proposal and sent it to companies with full mathematical and

engineering theories behind the regulator's mechanism instead of classifying the major

goal and comparing how their regulator is best for the companies to other competitors,

and they failed to draw the proper graph that shows how much money would be saved.

3. Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.

Answer:

Due to insufficient communication, the Acme Electric Company suffered significant

losses and was forced to proclaim bankruptcy.

4: Identify possible solutions or strategies that would have prevented the

problem, and what benefits would be derived from implementing solutions or

preventing the problem.

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Answer:

The firm should make direct communication in order to have a good impact.

Instead of mathematical theories, the communication objective and the firm's main

purpose should be at the front of the proposal. Whoever runs a company would never

waste their time reading a 120-page proposal filled with mathematical theories. As a

result, The Acme Electric Company should have made it clearly apparent how their

product differs from others and how they can reduce electric power usage by 35%.

Instead of sending proposals, they could utilize a PowerPoint presentation or videos to

explain the benefits and value of them product in comparison to any other replacement

regulators on the market.

Benefits By using these techniques, they could get all the contracts because their

regulator was best at its work and they worked hard for it. And they did not have to face

bankruptcy.

CASE 3: The instruction manual the scared customers away

As one of the first to enter the field of office automation, Sagatec Software, Inc. had built

a reputation for designing high-quality and user-friendly database and accounting

programs for business and industry. When they decided to enter the word-processing

market, their engineers designed an effective, versatile, and powerful program that

Sagatec felt sure would outperform any competitor.

To be sure that their new word-processing program was accurately documented,

Sagatec asked the senior program designer to supervise writing the instruction manual.

The result was a thorough, accurate and precise description of every detail of the

program’s operation. When Sagatec began marketing its new word processor, cries for

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help flooded in from office workers who were so confused by the massive manual that

they couldn’t even find out how to get started. Then several business journals reviewed

the program and judged it “too complicated” and “difficult to learn.” After an impressive

start, sales of the new word processing program plummeted. Sagatec eventually put out

a new, clearly written training guide that led new users step by step through introductory

exercises and told them how to find commands quickly. But the rewrite cost Sagatec

$350,000, a year’s lead in the market, and its reputation for producing easy-to-use

business software.

Questions

1. Define the rhetorical situation. Who is communicating to whom about what,

how and why? What was the goal of the communication in each case?

Answer:

In this case study, the Author is communicating to the audience about an instructional

manual that was too difficult to understand and so it failed to communicate the original

theme, instead it scared the customers away. The manual failed to promote the product

and cost Sagatec Software, Inc. a lot of money. The purpose of the instruction manual

was to guide the customers about the new word processing program. However, the

manual was really difficult and could not be understood by office workers. Subsequently,

after a survey, the business journal made a decision about the manual as too

complicated for the end-users. The main goal of the communication is to provide

relevant and reliable information that can easily be decoded by the customers and they

would be able to perused, comprehended, and utilized by the intended interest group

effectively without any uncertainty.

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2. Identify the communication error (poor task or audience analysis? Use of

inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting if information?

Other?

Answer:

The communication error in this case study is substandard analysis of Their Audience.

Sagatec Software Inc. failed to understand that their audience has different levels of

understanding. Moreover, the content of manual was poorly organized, and it was too

detailed. Therefore, the instructional manual was difficult and understand and was not

appropriate for the target audience.

3. Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.

Answer:

The company made losses due to reduced revenue as a result of product campaign

failure. Furthermore, trying to amend their mistake, the company paid a cost of

$350,000 for the instruction manual to be rewritten by an expert.

4. Identify possible solutions or stratifies that would have prevented the problem,

and what be benefits would be derived from implementing solutions or

preventing the problem.

Answer:

The inside partners should have been involved in decision making before the

implementation of the program. This would have provided a platform for consultation

before starting the program. Consultation would have enabled the company to

determine the weaknesses in the program and iron them out before launching the

program. Furthermore, additionally, customer analysis should have been conducted

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through surveys before the implementation to understand the scope of the audience.

Thus, the company could have tailored information that meets the skills of the audience.

CASE 4: One garbled memo – 26 baffled phone calls

Joanne supervised 36 professionals in 6 city libraries. To cut the costs of unnecessary

overtime, she issued this one-sentence memo to her staff.

When workloads increase to a level requiring hours in excess of an employee’s regular

duty assignment, and when such work is estimated to require a full shift of eight (8)

hours or more on two (2) or more consecutive days, even though unscheduled days

intervene, an employee’s tour of duty shall be altered so as to include the hours when

such work must be done, unless an adverse impact would result from such employee’s

absence from his previously scheduled assignment. After the 36 copies were sent out,

Joanne’s office received 26 phone calls asking what the memo meant. What the 10

people who didn’t call about the memo thought is uncertain. It took a week to clarify the

new policy.

Questions

1. Define the rhetorical situation. Who is communicating to whom about what,

how and why?

What was the goal of the communication in each case?

Answer:

The situation is that the supervisor doesn't want anyone working overtime and is trying

to do this by sending out a memo in hopes that her employees change their schedules.

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2. Identify the communication error (poor task or audience analysis? Use of

inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting if information?

Other?

Answer:

Joanne's message is clearly geared towards her employees. However, her language is

inappropriate; it's unclear exactly what she wants her audience to do. The formatting is

messy as her.

3. Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.

Answer:

The losses that were incurred by this are time and credibility. A part of being a good

communicator is knowing how to talk to your audience and Joanne clearly failed at this.

Her employees may not go to her in the future if they have questions. Time was lost

because her employees likely didn't change their schedules and she spent too much

time fixing the miscommunication sentences are far too long and tangled and wordy and

are not to the point.

4. Identify possible solutions or stratifies that would have prevented the problem,

and what be benefits would be derived from implementing solutions or

preventing the problem.

Answer:

A possible solution would be to be to have a PR practitioner or skilled writer identify the

audience, the issue; and craft the appropriate message. She also could have had a

coworker proof read the message for clarity. This would have saved a week worth of

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unnecessary overtime and she wouldn't have lost credibility between her employees

and fellow coworkers.

Reference

1. J. Ward, "The project management tree swing cartoon, past and present,"

TamingData, July 8, 2019 [Online]

Available: https://www.tamingdata.com/2010/07/08/the-project-

management-tree-swing-cartoon-past-and-present/. CC-BY-ND 4.0. ↵

2. G. Robertson, “Comma quirk irks Rogers,” Globe and Mail, Aug. 6, 2006

[Online].

Available: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/comma-

quirk-irks-rogers/article1101686/ ↵

3. “The £8.8m typo: How one mistake killed a family business,” (28 Jan.

2015). The Guardian [online].

Available: https://www.theguardian.com/law/shortcuts/2015/jan/28/typo-

how-one-mistake-killed-a-family-business-taylor-and-sons ↵

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