Assignment Instructions: Routine Inquiry

Assignment Guidelines: Routine Inquiry

Readings:

Lesikar’s Chapter 7, pages 143 – 155
Sample Routine Inquiries, pages 148 – 149
Sample Memorandum format, pages 125 – 1261

Instructions:

You have a few topic options for this assignment, but please understand that you must choose one of the topics listed here. If you do not choose one of the listed topic options, the assignment will need to be rewritten and a grading delay will occur.

No matter which topic you choose, you will write a Routine Inquiry designed to glean information that you need via relevant, specific questions. You should include a full Memorandum heading as though you were sending the document to your chosen professional. This business professional can be a family friend, acquaintance, a person you work(ed) with, someone from whom you need information for work purposes, or simply someone you admire in the professional world.

To obtain the information you need, you will create a Routine Inquiry that includes a set of questions you hope to have answered. You should format your Routine Inquiry in business Memorandum format (see example below as well as pages 125 – 126 of your textbook).

Your inquiry should include an introduction of yourself and why you are writing the inquiry. You’ll also need at least 4-5 good questions that will help you determine what your next steps would be. These questions will, of course, vary depending on which topic you select. With this in mind, please use the guidelines underneath each topic choice below to inform your writing choices. Audience and purpose are key elements of this assignment.

Assignment Notes:

Create this Routine Inquiry in Memorandum format as a Word document.
Your submission should be 1 or 2 pages. Remember, the focus is on being clear with your needs and questions rather than filling space to meet a specified assignment length.
You will upload your finished document to the appropriate upload area as a .doc or .docx file.

The topic options are described below. Choose one of the following topics:

Option #1: Online Meeting Software

You are a manager for a local restaurant chain with five locations within the city. Each month, the management team has a luncheon meeting in which they discuss any issues that have arisen, the financial health of the business, progress on current initiatives, any ideas for creating new business, and various other topics.
You think these meetings are a great idea, but you wonder if they are really worth the time and expense involved.
Having recently attended a meeting of the Restaurant Managers Association (RMA), you learned that many of your peers are conducting this business meetings online. one online meeting technology you kept hearing about was ____________ (WebEx, GoToMeeting, or some other relevant online meeting provider – you choose the specific product). You decide to research the product’s website, view the demo, and study the fact sheet about the product. You determine that this product might be a great alternative to holding these monthly meetings on-site.
To gather more facts before approaching your supervisors, you decide to consult a person2 you met at the RMA meeting. This person seemed to know a lot about online conferencing and the particular product you’re interested in.
Think very carefully about what you’d like to learn; for instance, you would not want to ask any questions that can be readily found on the product’s website. Your target reader is a business professional who has no personal interest in the topic, so plan your document accordingly and create a Routine Inquiry that includes good questions for this topic.

Option #2: Venue for Company Retreat

The CEO of the small company where you work wants to schedule a relax-and-recharge retreat for company employees. You have been given the task of finding a suitable venue for this retreat. Your company is located just outside of Washington, D.C., and the CEO wants to hold the retreat in the Shenandoah Valley are of Virginia, which is about 90 miles from the city. The CEO specified that the retreat should be more like a getaway than a business meeting, so a cabin is preferred over a hotel. The retreat is for the 20 company employees only; families are not invited.
After some research, you believe you have found the ideal place: a large, isolated cabin overlooking the valley. You learn about the property from the website. Here are the specs listed on the website: The cabin will sleep 20 and is equipped with a large kitchen, a deck with 20 chairs, a large-screen TV, and a game room. The cost is $50 per person per day, except on weekends and holidays, when the rate is increased.
But you need to know more. You have tried calling and emailing the venue with no luck. You therefore decide to send a Routine Inquiry to the venue’s owner3 in an attempt to get the information you need,
Evaluate the information provided above and determine what other factors you would need to know before booking your company’s retreat at this venue.

Option #3: Career Exploration

As a part of your career exploration, you recently discovered that a mentoring organization exists that provides advice to people who are considering career paths. This organization is called Mentors, Inc. You have been considering a particular career, and you want more information about it from an experienced professional. Thus, you have decided to interview a business professional from Mentor’s, Inc., to learn more.
Write a Routine Inquiry in which you ask your questions. Find out the main elements you want to know about this field of employment in a way that shows consideration for the reader and demonstrates your won serious interest in the type of job that the mentor does.4 If you were to contact a career mentor, think about the types of questions you might ask: specifics about the field, advice for how to enter the field, skills needed to succeed, etc., are all things you might include in your inquiry.

Sample Format

Please see the following document in addition to the information in your textbook for an idea of how you should format this assignment.