E-mail: I felt that the e-mail was firm, only because at the end, there was no thank you or respectfully added before the name of the sender. The last sentence had an exclamation point that sends me the message the sender is not very happy. This is why I only use an exclamation point with a smiley face afterward. An exclamation point can be defined as, “An exclamation point, exclamation mark, or bang (!) Is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume…” (Exclamation Mark)
Best Message: Voicemail: The message sounded very businesslike – I think that she spoke like a true professional, conveying the urgency of the matter in her voice. She did not sound mad or unhappy at all. She was very clear and concise. She thanked the recipient is a business manner. The tone of her voice was even-keel; she did not emphasize any words. If for some reason the recipient did not catch something that the woman said, he can replay the message at his leisure at anytime.
Face-to-face: The message was spoken, as a friend would talk to a friend. I noticed some hesitation in her voice at times too. Her voice was not strong; she spoke softly most of the time. There was no urgency in her voice, she sounded and acted like whenever the recipient could get around to doing it.
She had her arm propped up on the cubicle; she was not facing the recipient directly in front of his desk. Perhaps, the timing was not right for the lady to communicate with the recipient, he could have been busy doing something at that time – we cannot tell this, we only see the lady. I know that if I am doing something and someone is talking to me, most likely, I did not hear the conversation. The woman never received a confirmation that the message was indeed heard.
Information I learned:
“93% of communication conveyed comes from body language, not words” (Stolovitch, 2010)
Clear and concise to communicate effectively.
“Spirit and attitude count as effectively communicating.” (Stolovitch, 2010)
“The personality of the recipient has alot do with how the message is conveyed.” (Stolovitch, 2010)
"Document oral communication." (Stolovitch, 2010)
"Make sure that the timing is right when communcating important information." (Stolovich, 2010) For example: You don't want to say something important when someone is typing a report for unrelated subject matter.
References:
Exclamation Mark (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved November 15, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclamation_mark
Stolovitch, D. (Actor). (2010). Communicating with Stakeholders [Video].
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Hello Janet,
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the exclamation point you referred to. However, if there was one there, I would have also taken the message the way you did. On the contrary, I didn't find the voice mail to be as effective as you did. The caller seemed to be reading a script to me. The face-to-face message was just ... As you said, there was no sense of urgency. She appeared to be just conversating with a good friend. As you quoted, 93% of communication conveyed comes from body language, not words". Nothing about her body language said this is business and I really need you to follow through.
Hello Rasheeda,
ReplyDeleteI feel that the e-mail could of worked, if:
1. There was no exclamation point.
2. The sender include an acknowledgement that the reader read the e-mail.
One of my Main Campus colleagues sends out an e-mail, asking if I received her e-mail. She has this selected as one of her e-mail options, which is automatically included in every e-mail that she sends out. But this is not a 100% guarantee, as I check, "no," and it lets me read the e-mail regardless.
I agree with you about the face-to-face encounter. I have a habit that if I am not interested in a conversation or if someone is going on and on about a topic, I mostly nod and say the occasional uh-huh. If someone does not get my eye contact or hear a concise reply, it is very unlikely that I heard their request.
ReplyDeleteYour interpretations compared to my interpretations demonstrates that people perceive communication in different ways. Although I completely agree with your thoughts on the face to face communication, we have differing views regarding the voicemail and email communications (I thought email to be more effective and voicemail less so). My boss always says “perception is everything”, and although I am not fond of him saying it, he has a valid point. In my post I mentioned that people will perceive communication in different ways, and it is important that whenever possible, we review our communication to ascertain if it could be perceived by another in a way unintended.
ReplyDeleteAlso, great points regarding what you learned!
We all definitely look at communication differently, but I think that there are some common compopnents that go along with it that we all must adhere to and that is not necessarily the way things went in this case study case.
ReplyDelete