Correcting Ineffective Business Communication

Your instructor will now display for you a clip from the movie Office Space in which Bill Lumbergh and Milton Waddams have a highly-flawed verbal interaction – each character wants something from the other, but each one expresses himself ineffectively. Your job is first to identify what one of these characters is doing wrong, using Fig. 3.3, p. 55 of Skills for Living a Rich Life; and then to compose a professional memorandum from that character to the other which adheres to the “Important Tips for Writing Business Documents” list from Fig. 3.5, p. 60 of the course text.

1) Determine whether you are Bill or you are Milton (please circle)

2) While your instructor plays the video clip, identify errors that your character is making, using “Taking Responsibility for Co-Creating Effective Communication” (Fig. 3.3, p. 55) as a guide:

3) While your instructor replays the video clip, summarize the main points of what your character is trying to request or say to the other here:

4) Using the memorandum template on the back of this page, write an effective, professional, 2-3 paragraph memorandum which follows the “Important Tips for Writing Business Documents” from Fig. 3.5, p. 60 of the course text.

5) Trade your memorandum with your partner and, using Fig. 3.5, critique your partner’s memorandum.