Real-Life Communication
It's that time of year again: the beginning of the school semester
at the college where you work as secretary to the financial administrator.
Every year at this time, people propose project ideas to your boss, hoping
that he will approve them and then allocate some of the college's money to
fund them.
However, there are so many proposals to read that your boss
asks you to screen them first, and then fill out a decision items form to
provide him with your suggested response for each proposal.
"I cannot
stress enough that a secretary must have good writing skills in order to do
the job well," says secretary Marilyn Halsall. "Writing skills are not only
important for taking minutes at meetings and drafting letters, they are also
necessary for filling out issue papers and decision items -- which we often
do to summarize issues and present suggested responses."
One of the
proposals requiring you to fill out a decision items form comes from LearnMore,
a consulting agency that wants to conduct a professional development seminar
to help the professors at your college improve their teaching techniques.
You
read their proposal and it looks promising, but before you can write your
report and suggested response you need to do some research.
First,
you call the administrators at colleges where this agency organized previous
seminars. Second, you speak with the appropriate people from your own college
and gather their thoughts on the matter.
You discover Sheridan College
and Louisiana State University each hosted a seminar by LearnMore, and administrators
from both schools say the seminars were well-organized and productive. Your
colleagues also think it's a good idea.
Third, you look at the estimated
total cost of the seminar to see if your college could afford to put it on.
If so, ask yourself if the potential benefits of the seminar outweigh the
costs.
The estimated cost of the seminar is $10,000. Your budget for
professional development for next year is $15,000, so your college can afford
it.
Last, you check possible dates and locations to see if and when
your college could host such a seminar. LearnMore would like to hold it next
Saturday, which is acceptable to your college's schedule.
After gathering
this information, write your report.