Dаllаs wаs the оwner оf a demоlition business. The City of Columbia hired Dallas to demolish an old building belonging to the City to make room for a new library. Dallas planned to plant dynamite charges around the building, detonate the dynamite, and then haul the debris away. Early on the morning of November 1, Dallas planted sticks of dynamite around the building's perimeter that was to be destroyed. At that same time, Dallas wired the sticks of dynamite to a detonator. Dallas intended to detonate the dynamite on November 1st at 10:00 pm when there would be fewer cars and pedestrians in the area. Barriers and signs had been erected but the street running past the building had not yet been closed. At 5:00 pm on November 1, suddenly and unexpectedly, one of the planted sticks of dynamite spontaneously detonated. Peter happened to be driving by the building at the time of the unexpected explosion. A heavy piece of concrete was hurled away from the building due to the explosion and onto the street in front of the building where it struck Peter’s car. When the piece of concrete hit Peter’s car, it caused damage to the car and physical injury to Peter. Discuss a cause of action by Peter against Dallas for strict liability.
Reаd оver the twо cаse study оptions, then choose the one you wаnt to answer. Option 1: Email Case Study: Make an Urgent Request Sometimes, workplace oversights occur that could seriously offend or inconvenience colleagues–especially when you have to work together to fix the problem. In this case, you’ll practice explaining an oversight and asking for coworkers’ help while repairing the harm to the relationship. Situation You and a colleague, James Stout, have been heading a major company-wide project. You’ve been tasked with soliciting, collecting, reviewing, and formatting information from every department in your company in order to create or update one of the following (choose based on what feels most relevant to your future industry/workplace/role): A training guide for new hires An internal wiki/kb that the whole company uses as a reference An annual report/investor update sharing department stats and successes Recruitment materials for job fairs Other: Propose an additional option to your instructor James took the lead on contacting and following up with the department heads, asking them to provide a detailed description of the work they do and the structure of their team(s), metrics and overviews of their projects from the past year, and their upcoming plans and goals. The week that the project is due, you get a frantic text from James. He has appendicitis and has to go on unplanned medical leave, and you’ll need to complete the project on your own. As you’re going through James’s notes, you notice that they don’t include data from one department. James’s notes for this department just say “Don’t bother contacting until new dept. head is hired.” You realize that both you and James forgot to follow up when the new department head, Natalia Majidi, started work. By design, you had budgeted four weeks for every department to compile the data for this project so that they could collaborate effectively without rushing. With the upcoming deadline, Natalia’s department will only have four days to provide the information you need. You immediately call Natalia, but the call goes straight to voicemail. You decide to email Natalia, so she will have detailed information about the situation before finding a time to consult via phone or video. Audience Natalia has 20 years of experience in the industry, and she was headhunted to fix problems caused by the previous department head. She is juggling restructuring her department, building relationships with her employees, recruiting new hires, and improving her department’s reputation in the company. You don’t know Natalia well and haven’t met her in person yet (you’ve only attended large Zoom meetings together since she was hired). Task Write to Natalia and ask her to gather the information you need. Consider “you” view and your audience’s concerns and position in the company carefully. Ensure you’ve provided sufficient and appropriate detail so she can immediately grasp the scope of your request. Apologize for the oversight and the short notice, and acknowledge that this is a big request that will take a lot of effort. Make a concrete and feasible offer of help. Tailor the case to your chosen job role/industry and fill in relevant details as appropriate. You may use details from the prompt in your message but must use your own words rather than merely repeating the language above. Note on Context: After you’ve responded to the case, add a context statement before your email explaining which project you chose and why this is the most logical option for your job role/industry. Option 2: Email Case Study: Make a Professional Complaint Sometimes at work, you must find a direct yet tactful way to notify the leader/supervisor of another department or organization about a problem and suggest a solution in order to prevent future mishaps. Situation Recently, you had a serious problem with goods or services provided by a different department or organization, such as a vendor, that you work with on a regular basis (this is not a performance issue within your department–you aren’t complaining about a colleague). You need to let the relevant leader or manager of the other department/organization know about the problem in order to prevent a recurrence. This must be related to a real-life experience and a company/group you are (or were) actually part of or a common issue in your industry/career path that you’re aware of. Audience You’re writing to the person in the other organization who has enough authority to address the problem (and hopefully prevent it in the future). Since this is a group you work with often and you like many of the people as colleagues, you want to maintain a good relationship. Task Drawing on your personal experience at work or in a student or volunteer organization, write a brief email to the relevant leader or manager at the other organization (or the supervisor of the other department), clearly explaining the problem in neutral language. Then suggest a solution to prevent the problem from recurring in the future. Be clear and direct about the problem while avoiding harsh language or blame that would damage the relationship you have with this group. Provide enough information about your proposed solution to make clear how it will prevent the problem from occurring again and make it easy for your reader to implement. Keep in mind that you are making a suggestion, not a demand, and consider what approach (in tone and content) might persuade the reader to act on your suggestion. Note on Context: After you’ve responded to the case, add a context statement before your email explaining which workplace/group and problem/complaint you chose and why. Also note whether this is based on a real situation you experienced, or one you’ve heard is common in your field. Evaluation Criteria for Final Draft Rubric will be available in the final draft assignment on Canvas; each evaluation criteria bullet is a rubric line First draft will be graded on completion (should contain all elements the assignment prompt requests and be a full draft) Subject Line—focused, specific, meaningful Salutation—appropriate to relationship with recipient Opening—includes email purpose, orients recipient with sufficient context, and uses neutral/positive tone Body: Tone—correct application of "you" view/WIIFM; formality level matches relationship with recipient; effective word choices; will not damage relationship with recipient or your professional reputation Body: Details—includes enough details to clearly explain the situation and to allow the recipient to move forward/respond; details are specific and succinct Organization—logical information flow; well-organized paragraphs that each address a single idea/topic Conclusion/Ending—relationship-building; forward-looking; includes next steps/call to action if appropriate Closing/Sign-Off—appropriate to situation and relationship with recipient Sentence Construction—smooth, clear, easy-to-read sentences Concision and Style—concise business writing, active voice, no fluff/guff/geek/weasel or overly generic language Proofreading—error-free Formatting—easy to skim and understand; block formatting Note which prompt you've chosen.
Reаd оver the twо cаse study оptions, then choose the one you wаnt to answer. Option 1: Email Case Study: Explain and Apply Insights from a Podcast: Improving Meetings In this case, you will learn how to listen critically and synthesize information into an easily sharable form. You will also learn how to design and present clear and usable information in emails. Brief reports and memos (often sent via email) are a simple way to share information with your boss and/or colleagues. Situation With 20 years in the field, your boss, Orlando Stewart, is well respected in the department and has implemented numerous effective changes that have improved your company’s offerings/services and its workplace culture. He often asks staff members to lead weekly department meetings where they share company-wide news and project updates. Many people in your department dread these meetings; they think that they are disorganized and overlong. Also, several team members aren’t effective meeting facilitators. One colleague commented to you: “they are always the worst part of the day.” At last week’s meeting, Orlando mentioned he is working on different ways to handle the meetings moving forward. As a new employee, you haven't worked with Orlando much and want to make a good impression. You saw an ad for a Ted Talk podcast episode specifically on strategies for running better meetings. You offered to listen to it and report your findings to Orlando. He agreed. Audience Orlando is very open to suggestions from colleagues, but he is also very detail-oriented and expects his employees to explain how their ideas apply to the work their team is doing. Task Listen to Adam Grant’s podcast episode, “Why Meetings Suck and How to Fix Them,” and take notes on the key recommendations and rationales for effective meetings. Compose a detailed and comprehensive email to Orlando, transforming your notes into a well-organized document that communicates what you learned and could serve as a guide when preparing for future meetings. To ensure the document is useful for Orlando, choose a real company/organization that you’ve worked for or industry you’ve worked in and tailor the recommendations/rationales to this company/organization/industry. If you don’t have any work experience, tailor the recommendations for a student organization you participate in and write to Orlando as the president of the organization. You can provide a context note to explain your choices in writing this message. Select key recommendations based on the videos and the rationale behind them to meet your reader’s needs, but edit for clarity and concision (a longwinded email wouldn’t be useful for your boss). Organize the information to meet your reader’s needs. Ensure your examples/details are clear and useful for your reader. Finally, offer a suggestion or two for how you could share what you have learned with your department colleagues. You may use details from the prompt in your message but must use your own words rather than merely repeating the language above. Use an appropriate opening and closing for this message given you are addressing your boss while also providing them information. Note on Format: Your email should be highly accessible and skimmable and use business style. To highlight information, use graphic emphasis by including clear, logical headings that communicate your main ideas (do not use the podcast section labels as your headings). Use textual features such as bold, bold-italics, varied font size, lists, white space, etc. Draw on the formatting and organizing knowledge you learned from our readings and recommendations in the Workplace Communication and Professional Research Guide, including Design Principles and Graphic Emphasis. Option 2: Email Case Study: Explain and Apply Insights from Videos: Improving PowerPoint Presentations In this case, you will learn how to design and present clear and easily sharable information in emails. Brief reports and memos (often sent via email) are a simple way to share information with your boss and/or colleagues. Situation Many people in your department create PowerPoint presentations that they give to your group and other departments. Your new boss, Gray Nakamura, has an advanced degree and led a team at your main competitor before being hired at your company a couple of months ago. He recently learned that colleagues in other parts of the company dread your department’s PowerPoint presentations. To solve this problem, he requested that you find resources on how to make effective PowerPoint presentations. Gray hopes you’ll gather information to share with other staff members and to transform your group’s slideshow reputation from tedious to impressive. This is your first job after college, and you have been with this company for about six months. You worked with Gray during a project last month. It seemed to go well and he complimented you on your work. After doing a quick search, you find a series of YouTube videos that might help: “How to Fix to Build PowerPoint Slides like a Graphic Designer” and “How to Fix a Bad PowerPoint Slide.” The presenter, Paul Moss, gives some tips about how to make effective slideshows beyond just a simple how-to guide. Audience Gray is highly interested in the principles and reasoning behind common workplace advice. You’ve heard him say, “If I’m going to ask my team to do something, I want to make sure they know why.” Task Watch Moss’s two videos and take notes on the key recommendations for effective PowerPoint slides. Compose a detailed but concise email to Gray, transforming your notes into a well-organized document that communicates what you learned and can be used later as a guide for creating effective slide decks. To ensure the document is useful for Gray, choose a real company/organization that you’ve worked for or industry you’ve worked in and tailor the recommendations/rationales to said company/organization/industry. If you don’t have any work experience, tailor the recommendations for a student organization you participate in and write to Gray as the president of the organization. You can provide a context note if those details will help explain your choices in writing this message. Select key recommendations based on the videos and the rationale behind them to meet your reader’s needs, but edit for clarity and concision (a longwinded email wouldn’t be useful for your boss). Organize the information to meet your reader’s needs. Ensure your examples/details are clear and useful for your reader. Finally, offer a suggestion or two for how you could share what you have learned with your department colleagues. You may use details from the prompt in your message but must use your own words rather than merely repeating the language above. Remember to use an appropriate opening and closing for this message given you are addressing your boss while also providing them information. Note on Format: Your email should be highly accessible and skimmable and use business style. To highlight information, use graphic emphasis by including clear, logical headings that communicate your main ideas (do not use the video title or section labels as your headings). Use textual features such as bold, bold-italics, varied font size, lists, white space, etc. Draw on the formatting and organizing knowledge you learned from our readings and recommendations in the Workplace Communication and Professional Research Guide, including Design Principles and Graphic Emphasis. Evaluation Criteria for Final Draft Rubric will be available in the final draft assignment on Canvas; each evaluation criteria bullet is a rubric line First draft will be graded on completion (should contain all elements the assignment prompt requests and be a full draft) Subject Line—focused, specific, meaningful Salutation—appropriate to relationship with recipient Opening: Tone—uses neutral/positive tone Opening: Details/Context—includes email purpose and details needed for future use; orients recipient with sufficient context Body: Tone—correct application of "you" view/WIIFM; formality level matches relationship with recipient; effective word choices; will not damage relationship with recipient or your professional reputation Body: Details—includes enough details to clearly explain the situation and to allow the recipient to move forward/respond; details are specific and succinct Body: Context—includes explanation of/reasons behind details and/or detail selection Organization—logical information flow and grouping of information; well-organized paragraphs and lists that each address a single idea/topic Conclusion/Ending—relationship-building; forward-looking; includes next steps/call to action if appropriate Closing/Sign-Off—appropriate to situation and relationship with recipient Sentence Construction—smooth, clear, easy-to-read sentences Concision and Style—concise business writing, active voice, no fluff/guff/geek/weasel or overly generic language Proofreading—error-free Formatting: Design—emphasizes key information and has high skim value; effective, logical, and parallel use of headings, lists, and/or tables; block formatting Formatting: Graphic Emphasis—effective use of bold, italics, font sizes, bullets, numbers, spacing, etc. to indicate importance of and relationships between pieces of information Note which prompt you've chosen.