Email is the most widely used communication tool within companies today. Email has been described as a curse and a blessing. Email reaches its recipients quickly and can be sent across the globe within seconds. Companies with multiple locations find this essential in communicating. Email can also reach a large number of individuals within a matter of keystrokes. Sending a mass email reaches many recipients with one consistent message. While there are many praises of email, its drawbacks must be considered as well. Email communication can financially impact an organization. Emails sent without a clear message can lead to misinterpretations which ultimately may cost the company money. Employees often complain of receiving up to and sometimes over 100 emails a day and often many do not pertain to them. For each email the employee must read to determine its value to them or spend time reading to perceive a clear message, it reduces the employee’s productivity. Managers and coworkers who use effective email techniques can increase communication accuracy, decrease frustration and increase productivity. BYRON, K. (2008). CARRYING TOO HEAVY A LOAD? THE COMMUNICATION AND MISCOMMUNICATION OF EMOTION BY EMAIL. Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 309-327. doi:10.5465/AMR.2008.31193163 This article provides a unique examination into how the emotion written in email affects its perception. Study results were measured on emails written with positive, negative and neutral emotions. Gender and relationship status were taken into account for this study. The conclusion results suggested that misinterpretations as a result of emotion written within email is inevitable and varies largely from the intended emotion of the sender and th... ... middle of paper ... ...This article addresses the cost of email mistakes and the characteristics of an effective email. The charts provided not only indicate the cost of the mistakes but the hours lost in productivity. Accuracy, clarity, spelling, punctuation, grammar and conciseness were identified as characteristics of an effective email. While this article clearly identifies the cost of ineffective emails and the loss of productivity, it lacks solutions to improve efficient email writing. A source is referenced but lacks detail in study information. Studies within the literature researched support the thesis that the use of effective email techniques can increase communication accuracy, decrease frustration and increase productivity. Elements of a properly written email were identified. Training implementation and measurement proved to improve clarity and productivity.
However, this has greatly hindered our writing in the professional standpoint. With the ability to write simple phrases with poor grammar and quick, abbreviated words, casual writing established itself as another problem for individuals. In some instances, texting has been constantly used incorrectly where one friend told Truus that he “CANT BELIEVE U PUT APOSTROPHE IN HAIRDRESSERS”(Truss 496). During the text, he emphasized on the apostrophe in hairdressers. Although using an apostrophe is unnecessary, it is certainly important in a professional career. Even throughout the text, he did not write out you, but instead wrote it as an “U”. As a result, this short message can carry over to his writing and may appear in future resume and cover letter from habit. Even with the constant reminders to write correctly, individuals continue to write in short messages as they have grown slothful to write longer text. Even then, these habits carry over to their work and as depicted in Wiens’s company, individuals “can’t distinguish between “to” and “too” (Wiens 500). Due to an overuse of writing short texts, employers cannot distinguish simple phrases that would be otherwise taught in an elementary school class. In order to write professionally, it is important to constantly remind ourselves to write grammatically correct during any leisure activities. From there,
Beebe, Steven A., Susan J. Beebe, and Mark V. Redmond. "Verbal Messages." Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others. Boston: Allyn and Bacon/Pearson, 2009. Print.
Smith, S. (2002). Rethinking e-mail monitoring in today's workplace. Westchester County Business Journal, 41(12), p. 4. Retrieved October 19, 2004, from EBSCOhost Database.
Further on, the manager’s actions can demoralize the workforce that could put the business in danger. The use of emails and social media should be taken care of to reduce the number of cases of carelessly sent emails in the office that are keen to harm relationships. The small aspects the managers do such as complimenting and giving feedback to the employees are what define how workers will view the
Angell, David, and Brent Heslop. The Elements of E-Mail Style: Communication Effectively Via Electronic Mail. Canada: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1994.
The decision to monitor e-mail is left to the organization that provides the e-mail service to users. These organizations can range from educational institutions and private corporations, to governments and non-profit organizations. Each of these different types of organizations has a different agenda and goals, not only in general, but also for their members-and more specifically, for their members' e-mail. While educational institutions can provide e-mail facilities to their constituents for the purposes of convenience, employers almost always maintain e-mail facilities for the sole purpose of improving the on-the-job productivity of their employees.
This method can be very effective when you have a common message that would be similar across a large group of people. Often times you will see leaders using this method to communicate a company vision or common held goals within an organization. As with verbal communication you want to ensure that the message is to the point and easy to understand. One of “the problem with (written communication) email is that it can be difficult to determine the tone. If (written communication) email is essential, such as for remote workers, then be clear and concise.” (Sunday times 2014) While preparing a written message you need to consider who will be reading this? How might they interpret the information? What questions might this message bring up? Using these questions you can craft a message that will clearly deliver your intended message. During one of my recent Human Resource Campaigns I utilized a prerecorded video that was distributed to the company explaining the new benefits that we were adding. Following the above method I was able to craft a video that helped explain and answer many of the questions people had about the new
This would affect the employee’s effectiveness in his work where this would lead to other barriers like a lack of communication where this would make the employee to feel angry and frustrated because of the email that was sent. The ways the barrier can be overcome is by not sending such emails and speak to the employee face to face or by telephone where tis would make the employee to feel that they are surer what is being said instead of relying on technology to make sense on what the other employees are saying.
Teamwork and social skills are the cornerstone of functioning effectively in a business driven environment because businesses require networking and interpersonal communication skills with another individual. At times, meeting face to face is not applicable so online means of communication must be used. However, we, as human beings, are susceptible to misinterpreting information if all the details are not clearly explained. Misinterpreting information can lead to a decrease in overall productivity. As Chuck Martin declares in his article “The Importance of Face-to-Face Communication at Work”, “A global survey shows that 67 percent of senior executives and managers say their organization would be more productive if their superiors communicated more often by personal discussion. While they desire more personal discussion from their superiors, however, the top personal method of communicating for these same business leaders is e-mail, based on the survey by NFI Research.” The survey shows that even senior executives value personal communication as it can shed light on confusing scenarios and difficult obstacles. Delving deeper into the second part of the quotation, we can see a power play that is placed on the senior executives by their superiors using technology and online communication. The only way to
Communication is an essential tool used in most people’s daily lives. Humans are social creatures who need to reach out to others at home, work, church or school. Technological advancements in the twenty-first century changed the means of communication especially within the last few years. In the past, communication was either face to face, phone, or written letters. Nowadays, many use email, social media websites or instant messaging to socialize with others. The methods used to communicate in someone’s personal life are also useful in a business setting. Effective communication both written and verbal is the key to organizational success especially in a global market. Leaders and managers are charged with leading a company in solving
Writing has changed because of the efficiency that technology provides. With the invention of instant messaging, writing has started to become something new entirely. People are writing more often and faster to get a message across. Luckily, students know that the writing that they do with friends is much different than what employers are looking for in the work place (Guffey, M.E., & Loewy, D., pg. 3-29).
Communication is important in life. Companies need to communicate with other companies and customers. The managers also need to communicate with the staff. The technology provides us with many means of communication, the most important of which is e-mail.
Email (electronic mail) was one of the biggest breakthroughs in communication when the internet was commercialized. With email, it became possible to send messages and letters across the world in a matter of seconds to the recipients address. Email was used as an alternative to conventional mail or snail' mail, as the term was introduced to describe its speed. As technology improved, it became possible to attach' documents, photographs and even sound clips or songs to emails which made mail by post redundant. Emails used packet switching software whereby the email was broken down into packets' and sent via the internet to the recipient.
Ultimately, it is essential that individuals adhere to the pragmatic convention of the cooperation principle developed by Grice. As pragmatics is the study of understanding the meaning of words in relation to the context, flouting on an intentional and unintentional basis may lead to miscommunication or misunderstanding. Due to the nature of email communication, emails are vulnerable to pragmatic conventions such as the Gricean conversational maxims being flouted. Thus exposing emails to be a common denominator for misunderstandings, and a sound understanding of the pragmatic conventions may significantly cut down the number of incidents that occur.