2. Review
■ Last week we covered the following topics:
■ Traditional and modern workplace communication technologies
■ The benefits of traditional and modern communication technologies
■ Contexts in which each type of communication technology might be most
useful
■ The characteristics of professional modern and traditional workplace
technology communication methods
■ Formulating effective business correspondence using new and traditional
media
3. Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to;
Understand the professional standard for
structuring and using e-mails and memos in the
workplace
Explain the usefulness of instant messaging and
texting as well as their shortcomings
Describe the usefulness of blogs in the business
environment
Identify the requisite sections of emails and
memos and employ knowledge to create sample
documents
4. Guffey & Loewy (2016) outline the following characteristics
of new and traditional communication methodologies:
Emails
■ Perceived Limitations:
■ Takes too much time
■ Increases stress
■ Leaves dangerous traceable trail for
years
■ Many are poorly written and confusing
■ Email overload
■ Eliminates distinction between home
and work life
5. Did You Know?
1. It is said that typical
business-people spend at
least 2 hours a day writing
and replying to emails.
2. The average worker
receives 11,680
emails per year
6. When is an E-Mail Appropriate?
■ For short informal messages that request information
and answer queries
■ For messages to multiple receivers
■ For messages that are archived
■ For cover document when sending longer attachments
7. NOTE
■ Emails are not Appropriate for all
communication Contexts. Face to
face conversations or telephone calls
are more appropriate for explaining
complex situations or to smooth over
a disagreement
8. Writing Professional Emails
Include the following:
Subject line- a condensed summary of the main idea. This is the most important part of
the email. It should be presented using both upper- and lower-case letters
Include a greeting. For co-workers, a friendly greeting such as ‘good morning Stephen is
appropriate. For more formal messages, messages to your employer or to outsiders, use
a title and surname
Opening- state the main idea immediately but in expanded form
Body-Explain and justify the main idea using headings and bulleted lists.
Closing- Include
Action information
Dates or deadlines
9. Writing
Professional
Emails
Cont’d
Include:
A summary of the message and complimentary
close
Other considerations
Do not type in all caps or in all lower-case
letters
Double space between paragraphs
Include your full contact information in the
signature block
10. Some E-Mail Protocols:
■ Do not use if another channel such as IM or a phone call will work better
■ Send only content you would publish on your office door
■ Write compelling subject lines
■ When replying to emails, change subject line if the topic changes
■ Respond to e-mails within 24 hours
■ Practice e-mail etiquette by;
■ Obtaining approval before forwarding
■ Use a friendly tone
■ Resist humour and sarcasm
■ Edit for readability, typos or unwanted auto corrections
11. Activity
■ Look back at the e-mail you created with your
group last week.
■ What revisions should you make? Revise and
exchange with another group.
12. Interoffice Memos
Use Memos for:
Internal messages that are too long for email
Messages that require a permanent record
Messages that demand formality
Updating employees who have no email access
13. Memos like e-mails include guide
words like:
■ Date
■ To
■ From
■ Subject
■ Both should be organized with headings, bulleted lists and
enumerated items as necessary
14. Formatting Memos
■ Use 1-inch top and bottom margins
■ Set left and right margins at 1-1.25 inches
■ Include a company name and the word MEMO
or Memorandum as the heading. Leave 2 blank
lines after the heading
■ Set one tab to align entries evenly after
subject
■ Leave 1 or 2 blank lines after the subject lines
■ Type ingle space and double space between
paragraphs
■ If memo is 2 pages, use a second page heading
with the page number, addressee’s name, page
number and date
■ Place bulleted or numbered lists flush left, or
indent them 0.5 inches
15. Instant Messaging -IM,
and Texting
■ IM or texting is used for
exchanging brief messages in
real time.
■ It requires SMS -short message
service from a cell phone service
provider, or VoIp -voice over
internet protocol service.
Examples of these apps include
Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp
and WeChat.
16. If your company allows instant or text messaging
for company communication, observe the following
protocols:
■ Follow company policies, code of conduct and ethics guidelines
■ Do not disclose sensitive financial, company or customer data
■ Do not forward or link to inappropriate photos, video and art
■ Separate business contacts from family and friends
■ Keep your presence status up to date and mark yourself unavailable if you are
■ Use good grammar and correct spelling
17. Texting Etiquette
■ Do not text when you would not class-ex
at a restaurant or in a meeting
■ Do not text in a face-to-face meeting
■ Ensure that you are texting to the
correct phone number
■ Should you receive a message in error,
alert the sender
■ Do not send confidential, private or
potentially embarrassing tests
■ Identify yourself when texting a new
contact who does not have your phone
number
■ Do not use texts to notify others of
urgent matters, call them instead
18. How Companies use Blogs
■ Blogs are used by organization as part of a social media strategy to create
engagement, resulting in customer attention. Uses include;
■ Customer relations
■ Public relations
■ Crisis communication
■ Internal communication Recruiting
■ Market research
■ Importantly, blogs can be used to keep teams separated by distance on track. They
also keep employees connected by providing updates on projects or other interest
areas to employees.
■ Blogs create a sense of community and stimulate employee participation
19. Creating Blogs
■ Craft a catchy but concise title
■ Write an engaging opening
paragraph
■ Provide relevant details in the
body
■ Add visuals for audience appeal
■ Include a call to action
■ Proofread and edit before
posting
■ Respond to posts respectfully
20. WIKIS
Wikis employ the use of collaborative
software that allow multiple users to
access and modify documents
Wikis have 4 main uses in Business
21. The Global Wiki
■ Allows information sharing among team
members who are separated by distance
■ Allows information to flow from head
office to satellite offices
■ Remote team members can provide edits
and input
22. The Wiki Knowledge base
■ Used to collect and disseminate information to
large audiences, thus creating a database for
knowledge management
23. Wikis for Meetings
■ Facilitate feedback from employees
■ Can replace meetings while keeping
projects moving
24. Wikis for project management
Provides easy access and an
interactive environment
All participants have the same
information readily available
25. Activity-Group
■ Do quick research to identify how the
following media are used in
companies or organizations.
■ prepare a 5-minute presentation to
the class. You must provide examples
of 2 companies who use 2 of each
media:
■ Podcasts or Webcasts
■ Social Networks-
■ Face-book
■ Twitter
■ What are some potential risks
associated with social network use
for companies?
26. Lesson Review
■ In this lesson we:
■ Gained an understanding of the
professional standard for
structuring and using e-mails
and memos in the workplace
■ Explained the usefulness of
instant messaging and texting as
well as their shortcomings
■ Described the usefulness of
blogs in the business
environment
■ Identified the requisite sections
of emails and memos and make
corrections as necessary to
sample documents
27. Looking Ahead:
■ Next week, take samples of each of the following types of
business letters to class for discussion. You may take
samples from the internet. Each group member should
source one letter.
■ A letter of Application
■ A memo
■ A request letter
■ A complaint letter
28. References :
■ Guffey, M., & Loewy, D. (2016) Essentials of
Business Communication (10th ed).
Cengage.
