MNGT-C4001 - Management Communication, Lecture, 11.1.2023-15.2.2023
Kurssiasetusten perusteella kurssi on päättynyt 15.02.2023 Etsi kursseja: MNGT-C4001
B1: 'Bad News Message': Upload your version of the bad news message here by 23.59, on Wednesday 1st of February
In this assignment, you are required to write two short messages: 1) a bad news message (BNM) to employees within your organization, and 2) a short and concise social media post about the events.
Please upload your bad news messages (pdf) to this submission box for grading (pass/fail).
Case: Xtreme Sport Insurance (XSI)
Adapted from a case written by the Communications Management Group, Nanyang Business School, Singapore.
You
are a management trainee who has recently joined the young and dynamic
team at XSI. The HR director asks you to prepare an email for her that
she can send out to all personnel in the organization.
Situation
Xtreme
Sport Insurance Nordic is the Scandinavian HQ of Xtreme Sport
Insurance, a global insurance company specialising in comprehensive
insurance packages for companies offering adventure sports such as
paragliding, whitewater kayaking, sky diving, ice climbing and deep
diving. Good insurance cover for companies offering extreme sports to
their customers is vital and XSI prides itself on the personal,
customised, service that it offers its clients. XSI Nordic’s young and
dynamic sales personnel spend a great deal of their time travelling all
over the Nordic countries and beyond in order to ensure corporate
clients receive the best possible customer service. The specialised
nature of their products means that a highly customised approach is
essential.
The fitness centre - a much-loved perk
The company has gained a reputation for offering
employees a very attractive benefits package. This includes an on-site
fitness centre which is used regularly by about 60% of all employees.
About a third of them are fitness addicts who train every day, the other
two thirds are less frequent, but regular users. The fitness centre is
well equipped and supervised by a professional trainer. The fitness
centre is an attractive perk for the type of talent the company wishes
to attract: young, energetic and sporty.
Cutting back on expenses
Currently, XSI is
bracing itself for an expected global economic slowdown and is looking
for ways to cut non-essential costs and realign available resources to
sustain continued long-term growth. The Nordic office has been asked to
participate by finding ways to cut back on its operating expenses. XSI
Nordic management has decided that funds for the development of new
insurance products catering to the needs of extreme sport providers must
be safeguarded. Also, in-house training courses for insurance
specialists are regarded as essential for the organisation’s continued
success.
Closure of the fitness centre
After careful consideration, the senior managers of XSI
have reached the conclusion that closing the fitness centre is the
least harmful option. The money that will be saved can then be channeled
to more essential areas.
In an effort to mitigate the expected
negative response to the closure of the centre, management have made
arrangements with an exclusive health club, UltraFit, located very near
the XSI offices, to offer membership at a substantially reduced rate to
XSI employees who want to continue with their exercise routines. The
club has all the standard keep-fit equipment as well as an indoor
climbing wall, a small lap pool, massage service, sauna and steam room.
Membership fees are expensive but XC has managed to negotiate some very
attractive packages for XSI employees.
Since employees are
seldom in the office at any one time, the HR director decides to send an
email to inform the staff of the closure of the fitness centre in a
month’s time and the arrangements that have been made with UltraFit.
1) Write the email message the HR director could send out to XSI staff (internal messaging).
2) After the employees heard about loosing such an important and much-loved fringe benefit, they were very vocal in their personal social media accounts, which attracted some attention and raised concerns from external parties, such as customers and stakeholders of XSI. Now your task is to write a concise, dynamic, and assuring message, that you could post on the company social media, e.g. LinkedIn page. Try to be kind and assuring, as well as professional and brief.