A meeting minute is examined and analyzed to investigate the elements employed (sentence structure, format, language use, etc.). An assignment of LEM 311: English for Administration

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LEM 311
ENGLISH FOR ADMINISTRATION
Full name : KHAIRUNNADIAH BINTI MOHD SAMUDDIN
Matric Number : 117456
Email : nadiaqhairun@gmail.com
Course Name : LEM 311 ENGLISH FOR ADMINISTRATION
Lecturer : DR. OMER HASSAN ALI MAHFOODH
Due Date : 17TH
OCTOBER 2014

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1.0 Acknowledgement
I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the people that
have given support and motivation for me in completing this assignment. First and
foremost, I would like to extend my deepest indebtedness and gratitude to my lecturer,
Dr. Omer Hassan Ali Mahfoodh. My thankfulness is addressed to him for his advice and
guidance, as well as his discerning thoughts in providing me with recommendations
regarding this assignment.
Next, I would like to express my special thanks to Community College of Tanjung
Karang for providing the information that is required to complete this paper. They not only
welcomed me for my industrial training program, but had been generous and helpful to
equip me in my data collection.
Ultimately, my sincere thanks also goes out to my beloved parents and family, as
well as fellow classmates who have been great in exchanging ideas and offering moral
support as I go along in writing the paper.

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2.0 Table of contents
Sections Page no.
1.0 Acknowledgement 2
2.0 Table of contents 3
3.0 Abstract 4
4.0 Introduction 5
5.0 Method
5.1 The type of research
5.2 Data collection
5.3 Data analysis
5.4 Ethical consideration
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6.0 Results of the analysis
6.1 Meeting minutes
6.1.1 Style
6.1.2 Types of communication network
6.1.3 Directions of communication
6.1.4 Language use
6.1.4.1 Word choice
6.1.4.2 Formality
6.1.4.3 Sentence structure
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7.0 Conclusions 14
8.0 References 15
9.0 Appendices 16

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3.0 Abstract
This paper aims to analyze several elements embedded in professional
communications used in an organization or company. These elements include style, type
of communication network, the direction and the language use. The study is carried out to
achieve some goals set by the researcher which are to find problem causing
misunderstanding in communication, criteria needed to have an effective communication
and formats used in different genres of communication. An organization is chosen as the
source of the data. The data is collected using the qualitative method of observation and
document collection. The study found out that in order to create an effective written
communication, it is essential to emphasize on the language use that fits the purpose and
audience. This paper also explains the direction and network of the communication that
circulates internally and in three directions; they are lateral, upward and downward. In a
nutshell, minutes are crucial in ensuring a fruitful communication in professional setting.

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4.0 Introduction
Communication is perceived as a transactional process between two or more
parties whereby meaning is exchanged through the intentional use of symbols (Engel,
Warshaw and Kinnear, 1994). Professional communication includes written, oral, visual
and digital communication that takes place with at least one person occupying a
professional role. In this paper, the analyzed form of communication is restricted to be
written type which is meeting minutes.
The information is gathered from an educational institution namely, Community
College of Tanjung Karang. The government-owned institute is a part of the 9th
Malaysia
Plan aiming to open up more opportunities to the local community in order to gain
knowledge and skills in line with the objectives of the establishment of Community
College in the first place. The college provides the students with various training skills
needed at all levels as well as functioning as a platform for them to further their study for
post- secondary leavers prior to the labor market or to further their studies to a higher
level. There are two departments in charge of running the place which are academic and
administration departments. The academic department‟s operation mainly revolves
around taking care of students‟ academic works that involves lecturers and the director.
Meanwhile, the administration department organizes the welfare of students and
employees. As an institute that not only deals with students but staffs as well,
communication is crucial to ensure the information is being passed on and circulated
necessarily.
The communication mentioned above is analyzed based on several aspects that
include style, participants involved, organization and template, types of communication
and so on. While communication itself has its own general objectives including to be
received, to be understood, to be accepted and to get action (Stanton, 1982, 86, 1990);
this paper also has targeted aims to be accomplished. They are, to identify the principles
needed for an effective communication, to find out the problems and reasons that cause
ambiguity resulting in misunderstanding, to see the differences of a few elements in
different types of written communication and to figure out the correct format to be applied
in each of the genres involved to produce efficient professional interactions.

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5.0 Method of the analysis
5.1 The research design
The research design is a preeminent element in a case study for the reason that it
determines the success or failure of the research. In this paper, the methodology used is the
qualitative approach. There are three ways for collecting a qualitative data, of which two have
been used in this study; they are observation and collection of documents.
5.2 Data collection
The observation is conducted based on the natural setting since the researcher was an
intern at the institute and the observation is documented to explain the people, situations, non-
verbal interaction and environment at the settings. This technique is valid to be implemented in
the paper since the communications analyzed is a meeting minutes about a project. This
particular method helps the researcher to deeply understand the elements needed. The
collection of the data is chosen from an education institute.
5.3 Data analysis
The textual data acquired from the qualitative method provides a descriptive data that
requires further analysis, interpretation and deduction to provide conclusions for the study. The
data analysis obtained from the observation based on the natural setting where the meeting was
conducted aids the researcher in determining the several aspects that should be in the
documents like minutes and reports used in this paper which however were not included in them.
Next, the document is analyzed to deduce conclusions for the case study. It is analyzed based
on several aspects like language use, style, type of communication and the participants involved.
5.4 Ethical consideration
Ethical consideration is important in protecting a company‟s or organization‟s well-being
as well as the individuals involved in the research. The researcher displays the documents in the
appendices section for reference with fake identities to protect the participants involved in the
real settings as the aims of the paper do not need the researcher to reveal the name of the
participants involved. The researcher was also permitted to use the documents for the purpose
of the case study.

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6.0 Results of the analysis
6.1 Meeting minutes
Minutes provide a useful reference on the history of a committee‟s
business, reducing the possibility of disagreement over what exactly was
discussed and decided, when and by whom (Stanton, 1982, 86 and 1990). The
particular minutes selected was recorded by the secretary of the project and
chaired by the head of the project. The minutes will be analyzed based on the
style, types of communication network, directions of communication and language
use.
6.1.1 Style
The style of the minutes can be classified as formal. Formal minutes can
be identified by examining the elaboration and organization of the elements
included. Based on the observation made by the researcher, the minutes is well
written as it follows the same structure as the meeting as well as the structure
outlined in the agenda. Starting off by taking the attendance of the meeting
members and proceeding with the agenda and decision making; the minutes is
structured in such way the real meeting was conducted. Formal items inserted in
the minutes are attendance, arrangement of agenda, discussion of the main
agenda, matters arising, decisions made and next meeting. Basic information like
date, time and place as well as approval of the minutes is also occupied in the
minutes. Voting action is mentioned under the agenda of „Programs and
Activities‟; the decision is mentioned under the eighth unit, „Decisions Made‟. The
description of the agenda discussed is elaborated and well organized
accompanied with the names of person in charge of each task given. Not only the
matters arising and actions performed were mentioned, the post meeting action
items unit is also filled with the action that needs to be executed and to whom it is
assigned to, completed with its deadline.

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6.1.2 Types of communication network
Minutes perform four essential functions that consist of constitutional,
historical, executive and progressive. Constitutional function implies that minutes
are the authoritative record of the proceedings. Historical function, on the other
hand, signifies that minutes provide a continuous historical narrative of activities.
When designs are made and action has to be taken, the minutes serve as the
blueprint and authority for action; this is the executive function. Progressive
function is when the minutes act as the basis for evolving policy. Having explained
the functions meeting minutes serve, it is claimed that meeting minutes is
classified under internal communication as the interaction occurs between
members of the same organization (Kaul, 2000). A primary goal of internal
communication is to create a shared corporate culture and organization goals
(George & Berry, 1981; McDonald, 1995; Foreman, 1997; Slissarenko, 1999;
Dolphin, 2005). It fits the main function of meeting minutes which is to be referred
by the employees involved.
6.1.3 Directions of communication
The structure of an organization should provide for communication in three
distinct directions: downward, upward and horizontal (Lunenburg & Ornstein,
2008). These three directions establish the framework within which
communication in an organization takes place. This particular communication can
be seen to be having all three directions of communication.
The minutes is classified under downward communication of which the top
level management communicates to the lower levels. The minutes is finalized
after it was approved by the head of the project. Checking and asking to correct
the drafted minutes is the directives given from superiors to a subordinate, who is
the secretary. This approach drives the employees to be more motivated when
they know that the head of the project is serious and up-to-date with the progress
of the project. The role of a chairman at a meeting needs him to preside, maintain
order and ensure that his group does a constructive job of work (Stanton, 1982,
86 and 1990); this has been implemented in the communication where he takes
full charge in deciding the item of business to be discussed, keeping people to the
point, ensuring that one person speaks at a time and reaching a decision. It is

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stated in the post meeting action items about the tasks instructed to the
employees; and not to mention the decisions made either by the authority
(invitations, participants and task division) or through majority rule (itinerary).
Having explained about why it is classified under downward communication, the
fact that the chairman can always ask his or her subordinates to check the
minutes for any further question has reinforced the categorization made by the
researcher.
The behaviorists have emphasized the establishment of upward
communication flows. In a school organization, this refers to communication that
travels from staff member to leader. This is necessary not only to determine if
staff members have understood information sent downward but also to meet the
ego needs of staff (Lunenburg, 2010). The meeting held with the employees is
found to be very useful in building upward communication (Rodriques, 1992),
hence the classification. The minutes functions as a channel for employees to
refer what has been discussed in the previous meeting to further talk about their
constructive suggestions with the higher-ups. The meetings enable the
management to ascertain the worth of their directives imparted to the workers.
Lateral communication is the type of interaction that takes place between
persons operating at the same level or working under the same executive. It is
clear that the meeting members of different units communicate with each other to
achieve certain goals. The minutes, as well, is used as reference and basis by
employees of different departments at the same level to solve arising matters and
decide on some issues. One example that can be taken into account pertaining to
explaining this direction of communication is when the employees under Emcee
work with the employees of Correspondence unit. They can always check the
staffs assigned to perform certain actions and deadline to remind each other.

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6.1.4 Language use
Language use in the meeting minutes is analyzed based on several
aspects consisting of word choice, formality and sentence structure.
6.1.4.1 Word choice
There are several factors affecting the selection of words in writing a
minutes; however only two factors will be discerned due to space constraints, they
are:
Audience
Understanding the audiences requires the writer to acknowledge
their reasons for reading, personalities, prior knowledge, desires and
motivation. Having analyzed the minutes, it is safe to claim the selection of
words in the minutes obligates all the factors stated earlier.
Firstly, the words used display clarity which is very crucial in
meeting minutes. The goal of writing minutes is to ascertain that the
readers understand the content and will be able to take further actions;
therefore, it is pointless to be using big words as an attempt to impress the
readers but fail to deliver the message through. An example from the
minutes can be used to display the clarity and simple words used: “Nadia
was requested to work hand in hand with Iqram to write the script in two
languages”, it is clear and easily understandable that Nadia is instructed to
cooperate with Iqram to produce a script in two languages.
Not only it has to be clear, it also has to be specific in order to
avoid any arising question and ambiguity. The words portrayed in the
minutes are specific: “Keshana represented Adam and Suresh who failed
to make it to the meeting for valid reasons. She reported the works the
team has executed with the correspondence lead, Izzat in promoting the
program”, this sentence proves the statement above. The minutes scriber
manages to tell in specific what was happening in the meeting with
necessary reasoning when she uses the adverb „valid‟ to explain the noun
„reason‟.

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Purpose
It is acknowledged that the main goal of providing the meeting
minutes is to have it as the basis to refer to by the meeting members. To
make it short, words used in the minutes are all accurate and easy to
understand.
6.1.4.2 Formality
The data is classified as a formal writing as there is no:
a) Colloquial words and expression
b) Abbreviated forms
c) Questions
d) Two word verbs used
A few examples will be presented to strengthen the claim stated above:
1. On 22nd
of September, Wai Zhuan and some of the trainees will
visit the place that is supposed to be the accommodation for
participants for four days and three nights to ensure it is suitable
and convenient to run all the activities planned.
2. Nadia offered her help to settle the issue of arranging the list of
participants and division of groups.
3. The meeting members voted for the best and most suitable
itinerary plan.
Table 1: Formality
6.1.4.3 Sentence structure
In general, this section will explain the use of clause in the data
analyzed. It revolves around the type of clauses used and unraveling of
the purpose. There is almost no existence of simple sentences used in the
minutes‟ agenda; this is because it is detailed and elaborated, that every
action is accompanied with the whys and hows. A lot of compound and
complex sentences are used in the minutes. Examples will include:

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Sentences Structure Purpose
1 Amalina presented the drafted itinerary
and asked for any change or suggestion
to improve the arrangement
Compound The aim is to tell that Amalina is
in charge of executing the tasks
mentioned. The immediate
understanding is expected from
the readers based on the
sentence
2 Since one of the objectives of the
program is to let international students
mix and learn more about culture
through the activities arranged, the
invitation extended requires the institute
to include at least three international
students in the list of which Izzat has
managed to do
Complex The action is explained with the
reason for performing it in the
beginning of the sentence to
avoid question raising and
ambiguity. Towards the end of
the sentence, it is denoted that
the actor (Izzat) has
successfully executed it.
Table 2: Types of sentences
Having talked about the types of sentence, the structure of
sentence in terms of passive and active is also analyzed. Compared to
passive clause, in this particular data, active clause is used more based
on a number of reasons. The most significant reason is to stress and bold
the actors of the action. This move is executed because the actors hold
certain position in the project meeting; thus they actually represent the
agenda discussed. For example, in the Emcee agenda: “Iqram reported
that he has discussed with the itinerary team to help him write the script”.
According to the example, Iqram (Emcee Lead) is placed in front of the
sentence to signify the tasks that he has done or in the progress of doing.
Passive sentence is spotted in the data as well, although not as many as
active sentence. Passive sentence is used when the writer allows the
action or the verb to be the main focus in the sentence and at the same
time not emphasizing the actors of action. The examples can be taken
from the „Decisions Made‟ unit:
Sentence Explanation
1. Permission by the head of village The actor is not emphasized because it was
understood and explained in the agenda section
that Wai Zhuan is in charge of it. The action is
given the spotlight because the writer refuses to
delay the message aiming to give immediate
understanding to the readers

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2. Participants were finalized The participants act as the main focus in the
sentence as the writer intentionally hides the
actor or agent since it was elucidated before in
the agenda section.
Table 3: Passive voice

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7.0 Conclusions
Based on the case study, it can be safely concluded that meeting minutes play a
crucial role in being one of the mediums of communication at workplace. Not only
sending the recapitulation of the meeting to each of the participants involved is important;
the language use, style and organization of the minutes are as important as well.
Talking about written communication, factors needed to create an effective
professional communication revolve around the use of language. The language use has
to abide by the limitations and purpose of having the minutes in the first place, which is to
be the basis of reference in order to avoid inefficiency. Compulsory elements in the
minutes include the attendance, meeting location and time, agenda, voting, decisions
made and post meeting action items. When the participants receive the same summary
of what took place, there can be no confusion as to who was assigned to do what since
the names are already given and assignments are spelled out in the „action items‟
section. In addition, no confusion will exist on the decisions reached and the votes taken
as they will be clearly in black and white. Acting as a matter of record, minutes can
always be referred to by those who were absent, and reviewed by those who were
present (Signband & Bell, 1969).
Having discussed about the minutes based on several aspects, it can be deduced
that meeting minutes is an effective and powerful tool in communication at workplace as
professionals when it consists of all the above mentioned elements. The study carried out
has successfully managed to fulfill the objectives. The criteria needed for an effective
professional communication (language use that fits the audience and purpose), reasons
for failure in communication (lacks of information and misuse of language) and formats
used in different genres (contextual dependent).

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8.0 References
Engel, J.F., Thomas C. , K., & Martin R. , W. (1994). Stock Image Promotional Strategy:
Managing the Marketing Communications Process . Richard D Irwin .
Kaul, A. (2000). Effective Business Communication (p. 7). PHI Learning Pvt Ltd.
Lunenburg, F., & Allan , O. (2008). Educational Administration: Concepts and Practices.
Cengage Learning.
Ragusa, A. Internal Communication Management (p. 2). Bookboon.
Rodriques, M.V. (1992). Effective Business Communication. Concept Publishing
Company.
Signband, N.B., & Arthur H.B. (1969). Communication for Management and Business (5
ed.). London, England: Scott, Foresman and Company.
Stanton, N. (1982). Communication. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

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9.0 Appendices

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