Week 3 – Assignment Instead of a Memo – Communicating Important Information in the Workplace

For this paper, imagine you are an executive in a company that is implementing a new, ongoing training requirement for your employees. Rather than draft a memo to inform employees about this new program, you will come up with a way to deliver this information that is more personal, positive, and supportive. Here are the details that you need to communicate: 

• There are required quarterly trainings that all employees will participate in.
• In the other eight months of the year, all employees must complete one training credit per month from a selection of full- and half-credit training options. Full-credit trainings should take about four hours to complete, and half-credit trainings should take about 2 hours.
• This new policy takes effect in the next quarter, and the first training covers the training program itself.
• A website listing available trainings will be available at the beginning of the upcoming quarter. (You can use the URL abccorp.com/trainings in your paper if you like, but this is not a working link.)
• Interested employees can propose trainings that they will design and present, for which they can also receive training credit. A full credit is given for the initial design and presentation, and a half-credit will be given each additional time the training is presented. Employee-designed trainings may not be offered more than once per quarter. The link to propose a training is at the bottom of the training catalog website.

Your options for delivering this information include, but are not limited to

• Videos
• Infographics
• Interactives
• Web pages
• Live presentation with slide deck

You can use a combination of the elements above, as well as other ideas you come up with. The delivery plan you come up with should also include a way for employees to ask questions and share feedback that you should identify and explain in your paper.

In your paper,

• Explain two or three elements in a “campaign” to communicate this information.
• Describe your concepts as thoroughly as possible. Use a heading for each element and describe each separately.
• Justify the elements in your plan in terms of why you chose them and why they will yield better outcomes than a memo would.
• Support your justifications with evidence from class readings or other resources you find. Remember that your general goal here is to consider communication that uses technology to share information in ways that feel more personal than a text-based memo. You may include illustrations as well if this will help explain your plan or its elements more fully.
• Describe how employees will be able to ask questions and share feedback about the training.

You are not required to describe or identify any specific trainings aside from the initial one (that is, the training on the training program itself), but if you wish to do so, you may. Similarly, you are not required to describe the trainings website, but may do so if you wish. For example, you might include blurbs about several trainings in a poster or provide information such as, “look for the blue register now banner on the website,” in a poster or infographic. Here’s what you are not doing in this paper:

• Duplicating or copying/pasting the scenario (the explanation of the training program provided above) in your paper. Your paper should only explain your plan for communicating these details to employees in a way that seems more personal and engaging than a memo.
• Developing your message or campaign elements. Next week, you will have the opportunity to develop a prototype of an element you describe in this paper.

The Instead of a Memo – Communicating Important Information in the Workplace paper

• must be 500 to 750 words in length (not including title and references) and formatted according to APA StyleLinks to an external site. as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft WordLinks to an external site. resource.
• must include a separate title page with the following in title case:
  • title of paper in bold font
    • Space should appear between the title and the rest of the information on the title page.
  • student’s name
  • name of institution (The University of Arizona Global Campus)
  • course name and number
  • instructor’s name
  • due date
• must utilize academic voice.
  • See the Academic VoiceLinks to an external site. resource for additional guidance.
• must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph.
  • Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & ConclusionsLinks to an external site. and Writing a Thesis StatementLinks to an external site., refer to the Writing Center resources.
• must use at least 1 credible source for each element proposed in addition to the course text.
  • The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible SourcesLinks to an external site. table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source.
  • To assist you in completing the research required for this assignment, view the Quick and Easy Library ResearchLinks to an external site. tutorial, which introduces the University of Arizona Global Campus Library and the research process, and provides some library search tips.
• must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your PaperLinks to an external site. guide.
• must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center.
  • See the APA: Formatting Your References ListLinks to an external site. resource in the Writing Center for specifications.