Communication Strategies- The Direct and Indirect Approach
Option 1: A Message to a Customer Informing Him That His Order Is on Back-Order and Will Arrive Three Weeks Late
Direct Approach
Greetings Mr. Smith,
I regret to inform you that your order will be three weeks late. It will not get to you by Christmas as earlier anticipated. The delay is a result of logistical issues that have recently come up. The shipping container is currently stuck at the port after the Suez Canal was blocked (Talmazan, 2021). The current delay has continued for two days now. The canal accommodates at least 50 ships transporting containers daily (Pittelli, 2021). A three-day delay translates to at least 150 ship containers that are yet to pass through the canal. Since we do not know when the issue will be sorted, the company opted to estimate a 3-week delay for all deliveries that were scheduled for the Christmas season. The company apologizes for any inconvenience that may arise from this unexpected delay. We will keep you updated on the progress through email daily. We appreciate your business.
Indirect Approach
Greetings Mr. Smith,
We are glad you successfully placed an order with the company and expect delivery during the Christmas season. We would like to notify you of the recent blockage at the Suez Canal. At least 50 ships pass through the canal daily (Turak, 2021). This flow of traffic allows the timely delivery of goods and enables companies to conduct business successfully (Rawlinson, 2021). The blockage has lasted for two days now. The port officials are still working on a resolution. The current estimate for the resolution the officers provided is 2 days. The shipping containers will take at least three weeks to recover from the delay. Therefore, your package could be delayed by three weeks from today, December 15th, 2021. We apologize for the unexpected delay and any inconvenience caused. We intend to keep you up to date on the delivery of your package. Thank you.
References
Pittelli, L. (2021). The Suez Canal Ship Is Freed, But Headaches Will Linger for Months. Industry Week.
Rawlinson, K. (2021). The ship that blocked the Suez Canal docks in the UK – four months late. Guardian.
Talmazan, Y. (2021). Suez Canal is open again, but the impact of the Ever Given saga will be felt for some time. NBC News.
Turak, N. (2021). Suez Canal blockage could cause problems for the globe: Here’s what you need to know. CNBC.
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Question 
The Direct and Indirect Approach
Choose one of the following prompts.
Write two brief messages for the chosen prompt. First, use the direct approach. Then, revise your message to demonstrate the indirect approach.
Communication Strategies- The Direct and Indirect Approach
This is a message to a customer informing him that his order is on backorder and will arrive three weeks late. It’s December 15, and he was expecting the package to arrive by Christmas.
A message to your boss notifying him that you have to extend your paid time off because you missed your flight and cannot attend an important business meeting on Monday morning.
A message to your team of 10 employees notifying them that there will be no year-end bonuses because you did not meet your department goals.
A message to all employees informing them that to avoid layoffs each employee will need to forfeit one week’s paid vacation.