FBC Writing Assignment

You have been hired as a communication consultant by Walbright Fulton, a local warehouse software firm. WF has hired you to coach one of their newer project managers, Daniel Smith, so he can improve his relationship with his team in Mexico. You will address your memo directly to Daniel.  
  
Daniel, a recent MBA graduate of the Walton College who hails from Paterson, NJ, was assigned a 12-month rotational project management role by WF. Daniel’s job was to help oversee a product rollout with several partner companies in Mexico. Daniel began his project in Mexico before returning to Arkansas for a few weeks. He managed his work remotely during this time. He was in Arkansas to coordinate with the home office before returning to Mexico, where he will stay until the end of the project in 2026. Almost all the engineers and staff working on the project are Mexican nationals. While all official and written work is conducted in English, Daniel is conversational in Spanish, so no language barrier between Daniel and the staff exists, as he can engage in quick, casual chats with his colleagues as needed. Daniel’s new software engineering team has been building the key features of the software and had hoped to begin QA testing by the third quarter of 2025. 
  
Daniel recently returned to Mexico to monitor the project but has experienced many communication challenges upon returning. He’s continually asked subordinates to provide him with a more detailed update on the development progress of temperature and other cold chain monitoring features. He’s received only cursory responses as to whether these products are on schedule. Daniel attempted to solicit feedback from his engineers in weekly meetings and in private, but no one responded with anything substantive. As a result, Daniel noticed that some of the features were not built to specifications and needed to be largely overhauled before QA testing can begin.  
  
Daniel is frustrated with the project’s lack of progress and would like you to provide a solution to the problems he is facing. His immediate supervisor and VP is also aware of the issues and wants the team to address these problems and communication breakdowns. WF leadership has hired you to assist Daniel in addressing these communication problems.  The questions he and WF would like help with are listed below in bold type.  

Daniel is clearly at a loss here, and your job is to write a plan of what he should do. Based on the research you conduct (see “Research” below), write a single-spaced one-page memo that answers the following questions:  

• What is the communication barrier that Daniel is facing and how do you recommend addressing it – i.e. why is no one giving Daniel any feedback?  

• • Why is x a barrier and why does your plan represent the best way of addressing x?  

• What can Daniel do to motivate the team and get them back on schedule?  

• • Why is that the best method of motivating Daniel’s staff in Mexico?  

• How should the meeting that Danield intends to hold his team in Mexico be conducted?  

• • Should Daniel hold a large, team-wide meeting of all 20 people working on the project? Should Daniel only meet with the 5 software engineers building the key features? Should Daniel hold an informal meeting/chat or a formal meeting with an agenda?  
  • Why should Daniel hold this sort of meeting; why is it the best type of meeting for Daniel to hold/most likely to help him achieve his goals?  

 

Daniel is clearly at a loss here, and your job is to write a plan of what he should do. Based on the research you conduct (see “Research” below), write a single-spaced one-page memo that answers the following questions:  

• What is the communication barrier that Daniel is facing and how do you recommend addressing it – i.e. why is no one giving Daniel any feedback?  

• • Why is x a barrier and why does your plan represent the best way of addressing x?  

• What can Daniel do to motivate the team and get them back on schedule?  

• • Why is that the best method of motivating Daniel’s staff in Mexico?  

• How should the meeting that Danield intends to hold his team in Mexico be conducted?  

• • Should Daniel hold a large, team-wide meeting of all 20 people working on the project? Should Daniel only meet with the 5 software engineers building the key features? Should Daniel hold an informal meeting/chat or a formal meeting with an agenda?  
  • Why should Daniel hold this sort of meeting; why is it the best type of meeting for Daniel to hold/most likely to help him achieve his goals? 
    

Please write in complete sentences and in clean, polished prose with very few/no grammatical errors. Please write in paragraph form, and do not simply answer the questions above in a bulleted or numbered list. WF would like 1” margins and a professional font in the 10-12-point range. If you have questions about memo formatting, please visit this site. Pay special attention to your topic sentences and make sure that you’re actually putting forth a position and making a claim instead of simply describing something.  

 You must cite four different articles/sources in APA on your references page. The references page won’t count towards the one-page requirement. When citing sources, use parenthetical citations (Publication Manual of the APA §6.11-21), not footnotes. The readings given below are in APA format, so you’re welcome to just copy and paste them. 

Please refrain from using Generative AI tools for this assignment, aside from basic outlining/planning functions and copyediting/grammar and punctuation checks. Generative AI tools, while valuable in many ways and worth exploration, can provide users with incorrect information or analysis. We encourage you instead to meet with a CRLA certified tutor at the Business Communication Lab.  Unauthorized use of these tools will be considered academic dishonesty.

We strongly recommend reading portions of Erin Meyer’s The Culture Map (2014). You can access this text through our university library at https://libraries.uark.edu/. Pages 39-41, 55-57, 119-120, 141-142, and 214-21 may be particularly useful to you.

You may incorporate quality sources you find on your own, but please follow APA guidelines for parenthetical in-text citations and reference list citations.