This week we were tasked with evaluating three ways of saying the same thing using different modalities. With reviewing and observation of the communication pieces from “The Art of Effective Communication.” Each modality, written text (email), audio (voicemail), and face-to-face (video) allowed me to interpret the messages differently in some respects.
The email text version of the message was formal and made use of email communication etiquette; where you address the recipient by name in the salutation and end with a sign off. However, her urgency was not concise apart from her needing to meet her deadline. She should have been clear and direct on what date or time she needed the data to complete her work and meet her deadline. Jane’s tone was passive and empathetic, there was no need to empathize with Mark and his current agenda, he is responsible to get Jane what she needs so that the project can stay on target. Dr. Stolovitch, stated that communication should be clear, concise and focused, to help everyone stay on target. Jane’s email was not focused on the concise need in which she was contacting him. She was “tip toeing” around what she really needed.
The audio version-voicemail was very similar to the email. The voice tone was soft and did not project emphasis on the concise nature or urgency needed. I felt that had she projected her voice with urgency and if she was concise with the nature of what was needed and the deadline that needed be met. I would not have stated “please get back to me when you can.” In this situation, I would have stated the purpose of the call first and added the specific date and or time of my deadline and stated I anticipate your return call sometime today in a pleasant but matter of fact way due to the urgency of meeting the deadline set.
The face-to-face (audio) was the best of the three. This gave me the opportunity to read her body language as I listened to her. I still feel that there was a lack of urgency however she was much clearer with her request of the data report. Her approach appeared to ease any tension that could have been interpreted via voicemail or email. I think it was her facial expressions. She didn’t want to be in the position to ask and almost appeared as if she felt bad about it, but needed the data report to get moving on her own work to meet her specific deadline.
After observing all three modalities, I felt the face-to-face example to be communicated most effectively. In the other two forms the messages can be interpreted differently by many. Some individuals may feel that the messaging was ineffective while other may feel the messaging was appropriate. With the written form, the tone of the message can be completely misleading, depending on the recipient, their mood, or personality. Dr. Stolovitch (Laureate Education, n.d.a.) specifically states that written communications should begin with a clear purpose, state the situation, include possible solutions, a specify response and avoid ambiguity, “communication that is clear, concise, and focused helps everyone stay on target and get the job done.”
I feel that clear, concise communication is best done through email where it can be documented with the purpose stated, progress check-ups can be done by phone as a follow up but should also be documented and important requests need to be done live Face-to-Face either in real life setting or via video conferencing. I also feel that established rules of participation should have been set in the beginning so that all parties involved on the projects could have been included using chain of command to further document if responsibilities are being met.
Reference:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Communicating with stakeholders [Video
file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Practitioner voices: Strategies for working
with stakeholders [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Laureate Education, Inc. (n.d.) The art of effective communication. Course module. Retrieved
from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6145/03/mm/aoc/index.html
Open forum in Instructional Design 
Hi Elanna,
I enjoyed reading your blog post. It was interesting to note that as with several other members of the class, you also found the voicemail friendly and warm. I seem to be the only one so far that found it the “coldest” and off-putting of the delivery media. I guess this really does go to show that as Dr. Stolovitch (n.d.) states, the personality of the recipient affects how a message is received.
You also make good points about establishing communication plans at the start of the project. This should include how various types of communication are delivered (Nolan, 2017). It is important that team members are aware of which types of conversations should be documented. I found this example interesting because it is not quite clear if this would be considered a formal, or informal, conversation. In theory this is about getting project deliverables on the project schedule, which would be a fairly formal topic in my mind. But these things should already be documented within the project management system in a formal manner, and this conversation might just be a more informal follow-up reminder. This should not be the only communication the recipient is receiving regarding this deliverable. Many projects do run quite informally I’m sure, but are more likely to result in forcing frustrated people to make the type of request for a deliverable seen in this case study.
Robin
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Communicating with stakeholders [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Nolan, P. (2017, March 17). Effective and efficient project management communication. Linkedin [Web site]. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/effective-efficient-project-management-communication-nolan-pmp–1
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Hi Robin,
Thank you for your comments. I would agree, it is my personality and preference. I am direct and I like transparency. It’s not for everyone but, I feel it goes hand and hand with being clear and concise. I didn’t get that from this case study. It all seemed just a little passive.
Elanna
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Hi Elanna,
I agree that she did not seem to have a sense of urgency in her messaging. A clear purpose of her message as well as a specific date and time is necessary for him to know how time sensitive it is. Dr. Stolovitch also encourages his students to “include possible solutions” in written communication. In this case, Jane could’ve included in her messaging to let her know if he would like assistance in completing the forms request of him to complete to expedite the process. This is one way to provide a possible solution to the need of these documents.
Reference:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Communicating with stakeholders [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
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As I read through your post and the excellent prose, my mind began to wonder, and it dawned on me that the receiver did not respond to either modality. So, what do we do if the person did not provide the data because the communications went wrong? An unknown producer put together a funny piece that explores solutions (fionap82, 2012). Enjoy!
References
fionap82 (Producer). (2012). Communications-What could possibly go wrong?? [Video file]. Available from https://youtu.be/3FfaPhCKZew
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Elanna-
I agree that face-to-face communication is the most effective. Bonnie Nardi and Steve Wittaker (2002) assert that “…face-to-face communication persists in the workplace because it is the surest way to establish and nurture the human relationships underlying business relationships.” (p.2). I constantly worry that my emails and voicemail messages don’t convey what I intend when I communicate. Sometimes this leaves me with a “hanging e-mail” that I come back to during the day (especially if the recipient is someone that I do not know well) or causes me to quickly hang up when I get a machine because I haven’t prepared what I want to say. I agree that email does afford us the opportunity to document lapses in performance. I hate to think that a paper trail is needed, but in some cases there is just no other way.
-Luke
Nardi, B. A., & Whittaker, S. (2002). The place of face-to-face communication in distributed work. Distributed work, 83-110.
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