Effective Communication
In this weeks lecture we discussed the importance of correct grammar and tone to effectively convey the purpose of the message in professional correspondance.
Kate Fitch was our guest lecturer. She gave a good example where incorrect grammar effected the message conveyed within a title.
The title was supposed to read a panda “eats shoots and leaves” however it was written “eats, shoots and leaves”. The title is meant to imply that a panda eats shoots and leaves as part of its diet.
The second sentence implied that the panda eats at a restaurant then shoots with a shotgun then leaves the restaurant. Simply adding a comma can completely change the meaning of a sentence.
We also discussed the formality involved with producing correspondance and how it does change depending on who you’re addressing. For example a student writing an email to a fellow student may address them informally “hey how are you?”. Where as a student addressing a tutor would be more formal as it is a position of authority and they are more than likely requesting something. This is part of our culture that we treat people with higher authority with more respect than we would addressing one of our peers.
In class we had to create a mock email requesting an informational interview to send to a person working in a position that we are interested in. Some of our group members were read out as an example of a competent email to a person in position of authority.
This is one example:
Subject: Request for an informational interview
Dear ………..
My name is ………… and I am a final year student at Murdoch University studying Marketing and the Media. I am emailing you to request an informational interview regarding your current position as……. . It will entail a short 10 to 15 minute interview about your duties and responsibilities at …….. . The purpose of the interview is to gain knowledge into the life of a professional for an assignment i am currently writing.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards
…………….
As you can see the above example is clear and concise with correct tone. The reader can quickly decipher the meaning of the email. The heading helps the reader to determine that it isn’t mass computer generated spam. Your comments on the above email would be greatly appreciated. Do you think this is a good email?
As potential graduates this is a vital skill for us to acquire and bring to our professional life. The guest speaker mentioned that over 90% of work communication takes place via email. This makes it greatly important for us as graduates to be proficient in writing emails.
All kinds of communication take place in our daily lives. Therefore I feel that it is essential that we draw a line between communicating informally and professionally. I’m sure many of us have read news like how students nowadays can barely spell properly because they were so used to using misspellings and abbreviations due to the influence of pop culture and the large amounts of time spent on handphone texting, instant messaging and emails. There is definitely a need to emphasise the importance of using correct grammar, spellings and even good diction - if not all the time, then at least during work - on students who will eventually graduate into working professionals.
September 24th, 2008 at 5:31 pmI second Winnie’s post in her response to this thread/blog post on Effective Communication. As professional communicators or graduating communications students (ie. graduating students), it is of no doubt important for us to draw a fine line between informal communication and professional communication (communicating with colleuges/senior staffs/clients), especially in the age of advanced digital technology.
As agreed, digital technology breeds misspelling as most of us individuals spend almost our entire day on our desktops - writing and sending emails and editing any spelling, grammatical or punctuation mistakes with the help of Microsoft Word’s spelling checker. And its very simple. All you have to do is mouse over the underlined word, right click to select the correctly spelt word without being bothered to check if the corrected word is spelt right or wrong. This habitual routine of relying on ‘digital spell-check’ simply breeds laziness and no sooner will the individual find himself struggling with all sorts of spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors. Hence, over reliance on digital spell-check may result in a serious breakdown in communication either (1) within the organization you’re working for or (2) with your client, thus resulting in major financial loss leading to serious disruptions in organizational activities.
Therefore, it is always best to rely on your Oxford dictionary whenever in need, regardless whether you are a professional communicator or graduating communication student. This will help you to recognize the correct spelling; meanings of a particular word as well as commit what you’ve learnt through checking your dictionary to memory.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:00 amHi! Wonderfully interesting and funny piece of blog. So a question for you. What strategies do you propose that we learn NOW (in this course) in the email-communication that can aid in future when on-the-job?
September 25th, 2008 at 12:05 amThanks for your post, Lifeng. We’ll all be interested to hear from our Australian-based friends on their generous tips and suggestions of what strategies we could possibly employ in our current course now. I’m dying to hear from them, especially in terms of culture and learning differences, it would be of good knowledge to know how the systems of deploying and employing strategies in Australia works, especially in these three contexts of studies, work and family.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:23 amTo Lifeng: I believe the problem with email is that because it is so easy and quick to use to communicate with others, people often neglect the rules of proper writing. At a work level, an email should be written using the same proper grammar rules you would implement in an formal letter or report. This will only help to enforce the legitimacy of the email and show professionalism on your part.
October 1st, 2008 at 5:37 pmHi Oon,
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:59 amI liked your idea and I feel your concern as well.
Language is a product of some sort of consensus of certain expressions/ideas of people tied up by some sort of common links i.e social, geographic economic, cultural…
If such commonly linked people decide to for example spell “knife” as “nife” they would be “right” or not “wrong”. Or yet if so they decide they would be “rit” and not “rong”. The ultimate role of language is to bridge ideas from source to destination.
Although it is concerning to fall out of the expected trends society has posed on us, as long as this prime objective is secured, why not use any means the other sides “understands” the same way the source intended it to be?
Why would you not understand me if I say…
I rit my koment in a wey I c axeptabl. Way du u think zis is rong? If u think it iz rong of kors:)
Just trying to create an angle here. Not so serious:)
Cheers,
Phin
Hi Wen Hui,
Australia is a home to many nationalities. As such I would say we, as Australians are in the process of defining and redefining ourselves by taking a little bit of every nationalities contributions to the bigger picture of Australian culture plus globalization.
As individuals we all have traits that make us us and these determine what we do and how do them. In this line our learning broadly differs in the way we conduct ourselves. And in the family circle it is hard to have one representative definition that typifies all Australian families; more or less families are as diverse as the nationalities they can trace themselves back to. However the air of democracy and freedom of information and expression of ideas we enjoy as a nation greatly influence the intake and consumption of knowledge and information from sources including formal education and work too.
I hope I have not caused you to raise more questions than I have attempted to answer.
Cheers,
Phin
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:01 pmLau Lifeng -
I am glad you liked our blog, we always try to throw a bit of humour in them to make them more enjoyable and easier to read!
You ask “What strategies do you propose that we learn NOW (in this course) in the email-communication that can aid in future when on-the-job?”
I believe that it is very important that we simply differentiate between what is correct professional form for writing emails and also when it is appropriate.
Of course we can use much less formal types of grammar and spelling when simply emailing friends and family however it is essential that you have the skills to be able to establish when correct grammar and punctuation must be used.
When I write a professional email I like to look at it as if I am the receiver reading the email and when i re-read it (which is essential, I always read over it at least 3 times) I ask myself if I were receiving this what would I think? Is it appropriate but to the point and does it make sense and have correct punctuation, grammar etc?
October 6th, 2008 at 1:34 pmWinnie,
Imagine a world that was all short hand…how much faster would it be…except having to decipher it all.
As much as it is important to have good writing skills I feel that in this world of internet rivalling the speed of light and emails ruling supreme I think to some degree that everything is going to slip towards the short hand way of speaking (in a personal sense anyway) so why not embrass it?
So I feel it is time to get on top of this future trend.
K wil ttyl hv a gd day nd hope 2 hear frm u sn xx CYA JK
October 13th, 2008 at 11:02 amHi Guys,
I read through all your comments. I agree with Keanan that email should be written with proper grammar and spell-checked to show professionalism on our part. This is part of our what our job requirements would entail isn’t it?
Short-hand writing has its own pros and cons. I felt that the discussion here is drifted towards when is it correct or not correct, to use formal or informal languages under different contexts.
Short-hand writing does not merely came from our usual SMSes or emails. Journalists are actually trained to write short-hand language to facilitate them in quicker note-taking when they are attending a press conference or interviewing someone. These are actually codes that are not so easy to master.
Maybe we should have a clearer definition of what constitutes short-hand writing
October 30th, 2008 at 10:46 amI guess its essential to communicate in the “right” as we move into an era of globalisation. Foreign expats, workers and tourist come and go. Without proper command of a basic language (English in our case) of communication, one becomes handicap and more so insecure.
As communication these days does not only conform to phone, letters and face to face talks, more ways are developed to get message across, faster and quicker. Mobile phones, text messages, emails, instant messaging, forums and blogs have become norms in our lives. More so, many do not realise that with the advancement in technology and especially in communication, we humans become increasingly dependent on these so call technologies and gadgets. Try to leave your mobile phone at home for 1 day. Insecure? Worried that someone may call you or text you? As we become dependent, expectations are high. We become less patient and expectations of instant replies also increase rapidly at the same time.
What I’m driving at is that through the advancement of technology, it aids us to communicate effectively but also effectively alters us as a human being.
October 31st, 2008 at 2:16 amI agree that formalities should be a rule of thumb when it comes to writing emails. This should especially be so in a professional context even if it was meant to be sent to a peer or to a subordinate (not just superiors).
With the advances in technology that enable text messaging and chatting over the internet, comes a creation of a whole new language - that of the digital world; one with abbreviations and acronyms to make communication all that “easier”. In other words, with this “chat” lingo that many are growing familiar with, messages are easily put across with lesser words and less intact sentences.
In the professional world however, I feel the use of such language deems the sender as unprofessional and informal. This ultimately portrays a lack of seriousness in the sender and this could be detrimental in aiming to achieve the purpose of the email, be it to request an audience with someone or to submit a report.
In the end, I believe that in a work environment an email should hold a professional air within it. This would hold a similar relation to choosing to submit a report in the form of a presentable printed-out stack of formal papers over submitting a report written in short-hand on a bunch of post-it notes.
October 31st, 2008 at 4:07 amI do not totally agree that writing a formal and professional e-mail makes you a professional person. We are still living in a world where everyone is not having equal standards in the English language. If an e-mail written in point form and ends with a courteous ‘thank you’ and regards is able to convey the message to the receiver more clearly than a formal e-mail, the receiver should gladly appreciate and not pick on the formality. The purpose of the e-mail is to be quick and efficient to get messages across to the receiver and should not be criticised for its format. It is more about the subjectivity and biasness of the receiver on how critical he/she wants to be on the professionalism and formality in e-mail rather than its essential information.
Thus, I feel that informal e-mails are acceptable as long as they sound polite and are clear with the necessary information. They also sort of portray a friendlier image between parties. However, if a sender is aware of how particular the receiver is about formality, the sender can choose to write a formal e-mail to avoid unnecessary displeasure. =)
October 31st, 2008 at 11:12 amEffective communication is key to avoiding conflicts whether it is by email, phone or even face to face.
Personally I feel that in an office situation, it is important to be clear and not use “short hand”. It is important to be clear on what you want to obtain. ie document and possibly how to retrieve it. Simple manners, etiquette and even friendliness would facilitate with the various tasks more efficiently
If you are working in an MNC, it is important to keep things formal because there may be cultural differences that may arise from informal emails. I believe that people do form impressions of someone from the way they write their email so it would certainly enhance one’s standing within the company if he manages to draft a proper email.
November 1st, 2008 at 12:18 am