Written – The
written form was easy to read through and understand. Because the email doesn’t
show if the email was marked urgent and there was no use of exclamation points,
I felt that there was a lack of urgency for the report. I would think that in
creating an email, there would be the typical use of ASAP somewhere along the
lines.
Audio – In the
voicemail, hearing the persons voice allowed me to focus only on the message
and not any physical gestures or having to read the email version, which did
not seem urgent. In the audio version the impact on the tone of voice allowed
the listener to understand the importance of the document.
F2F – In the face-to-face
version of the message, there were a few aspects of the message that made me
confused. Though Jane states that she needs the report in an urgency to
complete her work, her physical gestures seem very nonchalant as if the work is
not needed as urgent as she is stating. There are points within the video where
she shakes her head and tilts her head to the side in a sense of shrugging it
off.
The audio form
was the best form of representing the importance of Jane’s message because it
allows the listening to focus solely on what the message is. It provided
understanding of the message that reading would not provide such as tone of
voice and not have to focus on physical gestures of Jane when she was
presenting the message in a face-to-face form.
By reviewing all
three of the different forms of the message, there was a common understanding
of learning how to delegate and perform it in a manner that is respectable. As
either a project manager or a project team member, one must understand the
importance of delegating but effectively and not with disrespect. “Make the
delegation correctly. Explain the work to be done, how much effort is expected
of the person….” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008)
When communicating with people in
a face-to-face manner, I will try to be more mindful about my physical gestures
when discussing certain topics. With audio communications I realize that the
importance of tone of voice can change the perception of message for the
listener. And with email communications I would like to gain a better grasp on
using punctuation marks to create a messages “tone” and reading potential.
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M.
M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning,
scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &
Sons, Inc.
Izzi,
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting that you didn’t sense urgency in Jane’s email and I did. Great illustration of the importance of communicating in a style that the receiver is comfortable with.
I agree with you that Jane’s non-verbals were not consistent with her verbal communication in the F2F scenario. Dr. Alex Pentland, author of the book Honest Signals, calls it “fluency or consistency.” He writes “Think of Tiger Woods and his golf swing. There's a sort of fluidity about it that just says, ‘This guy's an expert.’ And people have the ability to read that. Consistency in tone or motion tells you who really knows what they're doing, or is really practiced at it, at least. And that's another sort of honest signal; it's very hard to fake” (Pentland, 2008).
Reference
Pentland, A. (2008). Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122426675804545129.html.
Izzi and Sally - Great information you both have posted. As we all know, technology has increased the rate of communication as well as avenues of communication. I worked as a fraud analyst prior to entering the classroom as a technology teacher. As a fraud analyst, and the company being a vendor, I never met or spoke to many colleagues via telephone. All of our communication was made through either email or live chat. This enabled us to communicate frequently with each other being located on the west and east coast. We still were able to maintain great rapport and worked well with each other (Cho, Trier, & Kim, 2005). Do you believe this would have adverse effects if all employees were in the same geographical region?
ReplyDeleteCho, H.-K., Trier, M., and Kim, E. (2005). The use of instant messaging in working relationship development: A case study. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(4), article 17. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/cho.html
Izzi,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great example of how people interpret communications differently. In this week's media, we learned that each stakeholder may differ in their preferred communication mode. The face-to-face interaction, to me, seemed a way to not offend the team member while still asking for the needed information. When there is a deadline approaching, F2F is the most reliable communication. You know for sure it was delivered. With a voice mail, you do not know when the individual has heard the message. You can add an exclamation point to add urgency to an email and even include a delivery and read receipt, but those methods can also be interpreted differently. To preserve the relationship, I think the F2F encounter was the least offensive and confrontational. If I were in that situation, I would follow-up the F2F meeting with an email for documentation. If I was relying on email, I think I would add an Outlook invite to have a Face-to-Face meeting the next business day. Professional relationships can be tricky and since our work depends on each other, it is especially important that we get what we want without making waves.
If you were on the receiving end of those messages, which do you think would have inspired the quickest and most professional response (that being the part of the project needed by the coworker)?
Aubrey
Even though technology change every year, Which form of communication will you use that does not consist of technology? We tend to you alot of technology to communicate and not looking at the disadvantage of the matter of technology.
ReplyDeleteLeslie
Izzy,
ReplyDeleteA good and simple analysis of the message. Email and voice mail miss the components of nonverbal cues or what we know as body language. You could really see that she wasn't annoyed in the face to face video. All too often emails get misinterpreted because it lacks tone and voice mails sometimes get construed because it lacks the persons nonverbal expressions. Thank you for the post. I enjoyed reading it.
Brandon