Monthly Archives: October 2022

When to Capitalize

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The rules of capitalization can be overwhelming. For the purpose of business communication, however, it’s best to focus on major rules and applications.

In the following exercise, underline every word that should be capitalized. As a reference, check your textbook (Business Communication: Process and Product, 10e, section D-2n, or Essentials of Business Communication, 12e, pp. D-37–42. You may also visit Purdue University’s Writing Lab for guidance on capitalization use.

 

  1. the manager’s guest ordered a coke and a caesar salad for lunch.
  2. during my orientation i learned that our human resources department handled all personnel matters.
  3. mother and father are taking my sister on an alaskan cruise.
  4. jessica, who already holds an associate’s degree, will soon graduate from bowling green state university, where she majored in accounting.
  5. during the spring she was interviewed for a job with the federal government in washington, d.c.
  6. only the president, his chief of staff, and two senators made the trip to the middle east.
  7. our vice president and director of marketing will meet with the company president at 2 p.m.
  8. my colleague and i will be making a presentation at the 40th annual computer security conference in las vegas.
  9. all the graphic designers were excited about the new additions to adobe creative cloud.
  10. advertising campaigns aimed at hispanic markets were interrupted by hurricane katrina.
  11. the marketing chief said that she preferred her samsung galaxy to the apple iphone because it came with a prepaid subscription to verizon.
  12. My uncle and my aunt are scheduled to arrive at gate 9 of o’hare airport on american airlines flight 26.
  13. please locate the businessweek article titled “downsizing web site links.”
  14. after vacationing in the rockies during the summer, we returned to the east coast in early fall.
  15. when you come on wednesday, travel east on highway 99 and exit at forest mountain road.

WhentoCapitalizeExercise

When to Capitalize-Solutions

 

 

Should Executives Take Political and Social Stands?

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Whether leaders of companies want to or not, they are going to come head to head with the social and political issues of our day. And if those leaders take the advice of professors from Harvard Business School, they’ll tackle those topics head on.

Professors Henry McGee and Nien-he Hsieh et al. wrote a case study[i] that focused on Apple and its CEO Tim Cook, who has taken a series of bold stands that had the potential of alienating some stockholders. The first came when Apple defied law enforcement and refused to release iPhone user data in 2014. Cook took a moral stance to defend consumers’ basic right to privacy, and a year later said, “We believe that a company that has values and acts on them can really change the world,” adding that stockholders who did not agree should “get out of the stock.”

Since then, Cook has used his outsize name recognition to bring attention to various controversial issues, which in some cases has affected Apple’s operations. This is especially true in China, where Cook’s pro-privacy stance does not mesh with the communist government’s broad use of censorship. Nevertheless, he continues to act as a lightning rod to events of the day, despite controversy.

Writing in the HBS case study, Hsieh pointed out that “even if you [companies and leaders] are not taking a stand on human rights, as Cook has done, you are going to wade into these debates.” In other words, in our hyperconnected world, leaders cannot sit back and avoid hot-button issues. Besides, consumers have come to expect to hear from organizations about their positions on political as well as social matters. “It’s very hard not to get involved and take a stand. There is a growing expectation that companies will do something,” Hsieh says.

Hsieh adds that today’s customers not only expect a company to have a position on social and political issues but that taking a clear position can actually help a company’s bottom line, improve employee morale, and attract customers who feel they can trust the company.

In the same vein, McGee advises leaders to regularly communicate their ideology and values to stakeholders but be ready to adjust positions when consumers challenge an organization’s positions. After all, we all must constantly reassess our positions in life, and an organization’s leader is no exception, McGee says.

Source: Forman, A. (2022, May 26.) Apple vs. feds: Is iPhone privacy a basic human right? Working Knowledge. https://www.hbswk.hbs.edu

Discussion

  1. Do you agree that leaders of companies should inform consumers about their values? Why or why not?
  2. What risks do leaders take when voicing their positions?
  3. Are companies justified in changing their policies or positions to mollify consumers? Why or why not?

[i] McGee, H. and Hsieh, N. (2021, February.) Apple: Privacy vs. Safety (A) and (B). HBS Case Collection.

 

 

Job Titles Change—Dramatically… Average Time to Graduate: Five Years… Gen Z Prefers Less Flexible Workplace

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Job Titles Change—Dramatically

Forget Human Relations Director. Today the individual filling that slot is as likely to be labeled Chief People Officer.

While job titles have always been in flux to reflect the times, the disruptions caused by the pandemic have resulted in new designations that more reflect the experience of a position than the description of a type of productivity. Many of these changes are an effort to boost morale in a lackadaisical (and grumpy) workforce.

Employers’ response to widespread worker frustration has been to try to provide support—hence the title Chief Heart Officer, a position held by Claude Silver at VaynerMedia. In this position, Silver’s tasks run from the sublime to the mundane, from helping to organize online programs that focus on staff growth to sharing a friendly conversation about kids. She publishes a newsletter named Heartbeat and leads conversations about news events that distress the firm’s employees.

Some firms are coming up with new job titles because they have created new jobs. A Product Evangelist for a management software company says her job is to be “professionally obsessive” about the company’s product. This means that she oversees a podcast about the software, writes social media posts, boosts internal morale, and talks with customers. The Head of Dynamic Work at a cybersecurity agency helps employees obtain office-grade furniture to make working from home more comfortable. The Head of Remote at GitLab helps make virtual work more responsive to individual employees’ needs.

Source: Goldberg, E. (2022, August 4.) Head of team anywhere and other job titles for an uncertain time. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com

Average Time to Graduate: Five Years

The traditional four-year college experience may be heaving its last breath. The typical college student today requires five years to graduate, according to a report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

The delay begins building during the first year of college, when students earn 22 units instead of the 27 required to stay on track for graduation in four years. The research discovered that the average student does not sign up for the correct number of credits needed to earn a degree in four years.

The report also found that the average student earns just nine credits for every 12 attempted. However, unit completion rates vary significantly and are influenced by race, course intensity, college readiness, type of program, and type of institution.

Source: Barnes, A. (2022, August 3.) Average college student needs more than five years to graduate: report. The Hill. https://www.thehill.com

Gen Z Prefers Less Flexible Workplace

It’s true that many workers sent home during the pandemic want to continue working remotely. But don’t count Gen Z in that group.

According to research conducted by three university economists, only one quarter of workers in their twenties would choose to work remotely, compared 29 percent of 30-somethings, 33 percent of 40- to50-year-olds, and 41 percent of those over 50. The reason? Gen Z looks to work to provide for social activities.

New workers, (i.e., people in their twenties) crave community, opportunities to network, and communal spaces. The workplace offers them not only a nicer space than their often cramped first apartments, but it’s also a place to learn and be mentored.

This generational divide puts employers in an awkward position as they are trying to balance the needs of the various age groups in the workplace, the research concluded.

Ito, A. (2022, July 13.) Gen Z actually hates working from home. Insider. https://www.insider.com