Our most helpful assignment

Here we are with the last blog of the semester. Out last topic is to tell about which of our assignments was most helpful. We had a variety of assignments, including this blog, a memo, a business letter, a psa, a cover letter and resume, etc. I’m sure by going through everyone else’s blogs there won’t be just one answer across the board. It’s easy to see that the answers would all apply to each person’s career path or place of employment. Someone who is looking for a job will have a different answer than someone who has been working in an office setting, and so on.

For me, when I started the semester I was looking for a job and I didn’t have much experience in previous employment. It definitely seemed like it was going to be an uphill battle. Instead I was able to use the book to guide my way through putting together a resume and luckily I was able to land a job within a couple of weeks. The resume I put together for my job search was a different one than what I put together for our actual resume assignment.

For my job search I was looking for something that would fit both my school schedule but also my family’s busy schedule. When it came time to do the actual resume assignment, we were instructed to find a job description pertaining to our major and something that we actually would want to be doing. For me that is something in Criminal Justice and more specifically a position with a police department. Because of the stipulations for the actual assignment, I was able to write something that I know will benefit me in the future when it comes time to pursue my career in the criminal justice field.

In all honesty, I did not look forward to this class before it began. I thought I had a pretty good handle on the type of professionalism and structure necessary for the different types of business communications. I wasn’t completely wrong, I basically had the base work for the various communications, but there were more important structuring and clarity issues that I was able to learn during this semester. I now am able to see the importance and need for this class for all students.  

A Difficult Position

Sometimes workplace interactions can be more hostile than intended. Being able to remain calm and react in a positive manor when tensions run high is an important asset to have in the business world. In the proposed situation, you have a boss that requests feedback from you and fellow employees, however when she receives any form of criticism she goes off on a tangent. This behavior leads to people just agreeing with all that she says to avoid these outbursts. How would you handle this situation and what would you say?

In this particular situation, as with many of the hypothetical situations we’ve encountered, I am very limited on real-world experience. So having to imagine myself in this situation, I would say that meeting with my boss in a private setting would be very important. Confronting them in front of a group could easily be taken as a personal attack and cause the situation to become more heated than necessary.

During the meeting, it is really important to keep things comfortable and not in an accusatory fashion. Really focusing in on the importance of a positive work environment.

• A positive work environment promotes a positive work ethic for all employees, which helps business.
• Constructive criticism should be used to fix any and all issues, helping things run smoothly.
• Probably most important is that constructive criticism should not be taken as a personal attack.

With any luck, your boss will be open-minded enough to understand that sometimes a collective take on a subject can lead to a better running company or more easily solved issue.

Direct v. Indirect: Adapting

As I have said before, I have never written or presented a recommendation report for anyone or anything, but this week we’ve been asked to answer a question referring to the scenario. “If you were writing a recommendation report for an audience that doesn’t know you, would you use the direct approach, focusing on the recommendation, or the indirect approach, focusing on logic? Why?”

Since I obviously have no experience with this topic I figured I would have to refer to our textbook for answers. Thill and Bovee write about direct v. indirect approaches for oral presentations on pg. 329 of Business Communications: The Essentials. From what I am getting from it, you use the direct approach for good news and a receptive audience and indirect for bad news or persuasion and when expecting resistance from the crowd.

To me, this would mean that you have to read the crowd a bit and also decide whether the message is primarily positive or negative in nature.

For example if you are recommending that a branch of a company be closed, that’s bad news, so an indirect approach should be used. Meanwhile, if you are recommending an expansion for the company or a merger (with positive benefits), the direct approach is more appropriate.

There isn’t a cookie cutter mold for how to do each different kind of presentation so, as with any form of communication, written or oral, being able to adapt to the audience is crucial. Especially when desiring a certain outcome from the presentation. 

Careers and Resumes

Just about every person I’ve known that is in college or has gone to college previously had changed their major because of uncertainty. The troublesome part is when you’ve already narrowed down your degree choice but still have uncertainty with what your actual career path will be/is once you’ve graduated.

You’ve worked hard and now it’s time to find a job that you’ll use your education for and actually enjoy going to everyday. When looking for a job there’s one thing you’ll need, a resume. If you don’t know what your career path you are wanting to go in to, it can change some of how you put your resume together.

Your resume is a tool that you can use to open doors to prospective employers where you can highlight some of your strengths and skills, as well as previous experience and achievements. All of these things can and should be part of your resume whether you know what you want to be doing in 5-10 years or not.

Maybe you’re like I was a few months ago. I knew that I was not going to find a position in my desired career area, I have too little experience and too much time before I graduate. I used chapter 13 in our textbook Business Communication Essentials, by Courtland Bovee and John Thill, to write my resume. Basically I included everything that I talked about in the last paragraph. I put my previous jobs, my education (in progress) and made sure to list my skills, even though I didn’t have a target position. I was able to get a job, and was even complimented on my resume, and when the day comes that I do have my actual career path picked out, I will use these guidelines again.

Cutting down a presentation

For a wide scope of positions, giving presentations can often be expected. When you’ve worked long and hard on a project, getting the green light to present to the company’s executives is one of the highest rewards.

But then you find out there is a strict time limit or some other limitation meaning you will now have to drastically shorten your presentation, without losing the effectiveness. What do you do?

If you’ve really done as thorough of a job as you think you have, condensing your material shouldn’t be a problem. The most important thing to remember is your audience and what point you are wanting to bring across.

If you’re presenting to a group that wants the brass tacks, no “interesting facts” or extra supporting statistics that you have already proved a point without the extra little bits… You will literally go through and cut out anything that can be taken out, anything that won’t add to the main focus of the presentation.

What about if you’re talking to a bunch of account executives? They aren’t going to want to hear about what they will see as pointless details, they want the cost, the timeline, and the expected result. Period.

By keeping your target audience and target outcome in mind, you can save yourself a lot of time and hassle. You should have confidence in your presentation no matter what fillers you have to cut out, because you’ve already worked hard and got the job done the right way.

                                   

Presentations and Public Speaking

I have already, briefly, written about the public speaking class that I took over this last summer. It basically sums up my public speaking experience in that 8-week class. During that time we were assigned many different types of speeches to present to the class. The one thing that stayed consistent throughout the entire class, no matter the speech type, was that we needed an outline or some form of notes. 

Having these notes typed up and ready to go prior to our speeches was required for the class, but it was also to get us into the habit of using them. For the most part everyone had their notes/outlines ready to go but when someone didn’t have them, it was obvious during their presentations.

They were disorganized, jumping around with no clear direction, losing their place, and more often than not, they would go way over their time limit. Because of the disorganization, it was very difficult to understand the point they were attempting to make and made the whole speech seem like a waste.

By having an outline prepared, with clear and distinct purpose and points to keep you on track and moving, you are more likely to give an effective presentation.

We also had a few instances where an outline/notes were prepared but they hadn’t practiced their speech. The entire presentation would be choppy, with the majority of the time them staring at the outline and just reading off of it.

Using a detailed outline that has been practiced until you only need it as a guide instead of a crutch is imperative to giving a good speech. 

Emotional appeals, ethical or not?

According to our book (Business Communication Essentials by Courtland Bovee and John Thill, pg 227) an emotional appeal “calls on feelings or audience sympathies”.

So, for an example, it would be like having the parents of babies that died due to drop side crib accidents tell their tragic stories in an effort to get that crib type banned. While that is an extreme case you can also use one of the examples from the book on page 228, “being separated during the day is stressful for both parents and children”.

These examples are both used to pull at the “sympathies” or emotional state of the audience, just as the definition states.

When it comes to the question of whether or not these types of emotional appeals are ethical or not there is no clear cut, yes or no answer.

I had this question asked to me in a different class that I took over the summer (public speaking), and while the classes were different I’m finding that my answer hasn’t really changed much, I just have a different text book to look at.

When it comes to these appeals (persuasive) there are to approaches, emotional and logical. Since I’ve already said what an emotional appeal is, then all that’s left is the logical. Which to me seems pretty self-explanatory, relying on logical facts for which to base your opinion/case on.

In our book it basically says that very few persuasive appeals are one or the other, instead mostly they are a combined usage of emotional and logical thinking. When used in this manner to balance and support each other, then the emotional appeals are much less likely to be seen as unethical, because they are being presented with logical facts.

I can see where in cases where only emotional appeals are used, it could become unethical for the simple reason that there are no hard, real facts there, only relying on pulling at the heart strings of the audience.

Deemphasizing bad news vs. deemphasizing unfavorable data via distorting graphs and charts: same or different?

This week I’ve been asked the question of, “Is intentionally deemphasizing bad news the same as distorting graphs and charts to deemphasize unfavorable data? Why or why not?” which isn’t exactly something that I would put much thought into, so I had to go to my trusty text book.

Chapter 8 of Bovee and Thill’s Business Communication Essentials: A Skills-Based Approach, is all about delivering negative messages. On page 198, they talk about how you don’t want to overemphasize bad news, but you also don’t want to overly deemphasize bad news.

So using this information to look at the original question asked, I see deemphasizing bad news vs. distorting graphs and charts to deemphasize unfavorable data as very different things.

Data on charts and graphs are supposed to represent facts, and if these are altered in an attempt to downplay how bad things are, then they aren’t displaying the facts in the most clear and concise way possible which could lead to misunderstanding and confusion. If I worked for a company where the higher ups used such tactics, I would feel lied to, like things were being hidden from me and in a company setting that would be very bad for business and, to put it bluntly, who would want to work for an untrustworthy company?

Deemphasizing bad news, responsibly, in a business setting is still stating the facts, possibly in a more positive light. It could also be used to keep moral up and encourage a change wherever possible to make improvements throughout the company.

So, to me, not only are these both very different but they also have different effects in a company setting. One positive and one negative.

A troublesome letter of recommendation.

I have never been in the position where I have been asked to provide a letter of recommendation for a former employee, or anyone for that matter. So for this blog assignment I will have to reference my book.

Basically I’m supposed to write as though I’ve been asked to provide a letter of recommendation for an employee for years ago, I know that they did a great job, but no specific information is readily remembered. What would I do?

In my textbook, Business Communication Essentials: A Skills-Based Approach, by John Thill and Courtland Bovee, they touch on the subject in chapter 7.

One important pointer they have for writing recommendation letters is to “consider collaborating with the former employee so that the contents of the letter meet both of your needs.” The only problem with this is that you want to give a fair and honest recommendation and if you aren’t sure on some of the specifics you may not be able to do that, which they also caution could end with you or your company being sued.

Probably the best case scenario, if you are not able to find the specific information that you feel comfortable putting in a recommendation letter, but you do know that they were a wonderful employee and would be an asset to another company, would be to offer to instead be a personal reference for the employee.

While this may not be exactly what the former employee was hoping for, it beats them ending up with nothing, and you ending up on the receiving end of a lawsuit. 

Casual not Sloppy

This isn’t my first go at a blog, this is however my first required (for a grade) blog. I find the experience to be fun and relaxing, easier going than the typical mode of communication for a class. As this is a more professional attempt at a blog I can see how the topic of grammar, spelling and mechanics of writing come up.

While blogging has a much more personal and casual style of writing associated with it, that’s no reason to completely throw out everything we’ve learned in Language Arts classes up to this point. If I were to go to a company’s blog and the writer put something along the lines of, “Wut dew u thinnnk uv R nuw lyne?” I would immediately leave the site and question the intelligence of the writer and the standards of the company. I’m pretty sure my spell check and my brain were short circuiting when I was writing that.

At the same time, I do think it is okay to “lighten up” a little bit on the rigid standards. Proofreading is still an important tool, but no need for a panic attack if you read back through a previous post and find a missed comma, an ellipses, or something along those lines. I am far from a perfect writer, but I do try to read through things before posting (or sending depending on the form of media), spell check is my best friend.

I would say the rule of thumb is: Whatever you post is a representation of not only yourself, but also the company you work for, and that responsibility is on you, the writer.

Social Media and Future Employers

We've all heard about prospective employers looking into applicants' social media sites as a determining factor. Many see this as an invasion of privacy, but I do see it as an asset for those hiring to get an idea of who a person is in a casual setting. Would they be a good match in a team setting? Could there be a security risk? etc.

I would be lying if I said I didn't use social media as a way to vet who is in my children's lives. Some may say this is creepy, but with all of the horrible things you hear on the news, it's better to be safe and slightly creepy than sorry. Every year I search Facebook for each of my boys' teachers and other people they encounter at school. Prior to sleep-overs and play-dates I'll look up their friends' parents. I've never found anything, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious.

I mainly use social media to keep up with family, friends, and former classmates from high school. I've never been the "party girl" so I've never really had to worry about photos of me being inappropriate showing up. Still, I thought I'd take a look and see just what would be seen on mine, does anything be improved and if any of it would throw up a red flag during a job search.

Since I do share a lot of photos and stories about my children, most of my Facebook profile is private, but even if it weren't, I seem rather boring. If you looked at it right now, you would see that my youngest's friends came over and played Friday night, or that we celebrated my Husband's Grandmother's 99th birthday last weekend.

As far as anything embarrassing, my friend posted a photo of us from the state fair that is over 10 years old.

Not exactly scandalous.

I really don't see anything that is cause for major changes or red flags on my personal Facebook page. However, after looking at all aspects, I will probably go through and lose a few people off of my friends list. At roughly 300 friends, it's obvious I can't be close with all of them, and many who I only know from high school can probably go.

I haven't spoken to several of these "friends" in at least 6 years and I really have no need to have their profile pictures of boozing and drug usage popping up on my page as a friend which a possible employer could easily see and possibly judge me unfavorably.

A little about myself and English 210.

I guess I'll just jump right in, my name is Carley, and I'm married and a mother of three boys. Currently I am attending Wichita State University (Go Shockers!) majoring in Criminal Justice and minoring in Psychology. For as long as I can remember both fields of study have held my interest and I am hoping to not only obtain my bachelor's degree but also my master's and use my education to find a career that I love.

As far as blogging goes, I have tried to write a personal blog before and ended up putting it on the back burner, eventually forgetting about it. With this blog being required for my English 210 class I'm hoping I will get into the habit of writing and possibly be able to continue after the class has ended.

When asked why I'm taking English 210, I would be lying if I didn't admit that, for the most part, I am taking it because it is required for my degree. That being said, I actually did have interest in taking the class outside of it being required to hopefully teach me professional writing skills that will benefit me not only in my future career but also in my current job search. Finding a job is difficult, I am finding it to be even more difficult to find something with lack of experience, which would also work with my school and my family's schedules without turning our lives upside down.

Our schedules are also part of the reason that I chose to take this class though the online option. While Wichita State has started offering a larger number of classes during the evenings, there are still scheduling issues that students choosing to use evening classes have to face. Luckily, not only are there more evening classes available, but they are also offering a wider assortment of online classes. Which for me, makes obtaining my degree a reality which otherwise could have been a long shot.