Reading Response 2
I agree with E. Ralph Biggadike, in The Stinging Office Memo, that email nowadays is overused. It is very hard to communicate and "promote a dialogue" between other people. I believe it is very hard to tell what kind of emotion is being used and is also impersonal. The perception of the email can be misinterpreted by the reader when the selection of words were not thoughtfully designed. For some people they use the use of email as a scapegoat to avoid contact with others and situations. Some of the benefits of email is that it is very cheap, convenient, and extremely fast in networking. Although the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, I do not rely on using email regularly.
By reviewing the 10 Habits of Successful Emailers, I realized that there are some areas that I need to improve upon and to communicate more effectively. I need to address the issue of taking time to edit and revise my messages before sending them. I now realize that responding too quickly to an email can convey to strong an emotion. I always thought that it was necessary to respond in a timely fashion in order to be effective and conscientious to the emailer. An interesting point that drew my attention was that email messages should be under 500 words for most situations. This will cause the reader to focus on the most important points of the topic without dragging on uninteresting and unnecessary extraneous material.
I know we live in a world of technology, but I still desire face to face direct communication to express my feelings and emotions with whom I want to have conversations. I realize that you can not please everyone all the time and emails must be reviewed before they are sent because undoubtedly some individual will be offended. An example that recently occurred in my sorority house was a mass email sent to everyone and unknowingly one individual mispelled a word which deeply offended one of the sorority sisters. This could have been avoided if the mailer had properly used spell check.
Comments
RE: Reading Response 2
Part of email usage is that—like anything put into print—the stakes are high. A record has been made, and the author has become accountable for the content of the message. Email is interesting because it is used in personal as well as professional situations. Certainly this is true of other media, such as the telephone, but email leaves a documentary trail. We do have to be cautious before hitting "send," because a written comment can last much longer than a verbal one, so it behooves us to make sure that our text conveys our intended meaning as accurately as possible.
Reply
I agree that more people, such as myself, could afford to not use email so much and rely more on face to face or phone conversations that are more personal than email. Those personal contacts make the relationships more effective and personal to both parties. I also agree that more people could afford to see the 10 Habits or Sucessful Emailers. Those tips should be practiced by everyone and the fact that people tend not to read over what they are sending or even use spellcheck is sad. It should be one of those quick things to do before you hastily press the send button. I know that with any job where I send an email to a superior or another collegue, I like to check my messages before pressing send so that there is no confusion or mistakes where I would have to spend time later to fix those problems.
Face to Face Communication
Although I love e-mail, AIM, and facebook, I think our generation relies too heavily on e-mail. Some people don't even know how to communicate with other people in person and prefer to sit at a computer all day to interact with people. E-mails are quick and easy which is great but face to face communication is still necessary in business as well as life. One of the main misconceptions I encounter with AIM or e-mail is how people perceive my tone or emotion in my text. Often they will take something I said in a positive way and believe I'm being negative or mean. If I would have said this same thing in person, they would have seen that it wasn't a bad thing to say at all. I'm also in a sorority and totally understand mass e-mails and the problems that those e-mails can cause. Although it is a quick and easy way to communicate with 90 girls in a house, it is great advice to re-read your e-mails before you send them. I'm glad I'm not the only one who desires face to face communication!
In response to #2
I completely agree with your first paragraph. Communication (especially via email) has become informal. People do not like to get involved in a confrontation, so obviously email is one of the best ways to avoid it. Personally, I think this is a huge act of disrespect. If something needs to be discussed, make an effort to use a phone or, God forbid talk in person. But with a business atmosphere and keeping things professional, email is a great tool. Things can be brief and to the point especially where efficiency is key. This is if course keeping in mind the "netiquette" and responding in an appropriate amount of time.
E-mail overuse
I would agree that email is overused these days. It is wonderful and has helped businesses and people like never before but it has its limitations. I personally prefer talking to a person face to face or over the phone to email. In emails and instant messages things can easily misunderstood. In a class I took last semester they said that eighty percent of communications has to do with tone, inflection, and body language. All of this is lost when you use email. Even in phone communication you still get tone and inflection. Therefore I think that email is overused as a form of communication and to much information can get lost in translation.
Reply
I also found it interesting that the textbook suggested not replying to emails immediately. I always thought, as you said, that it was important to reply to emails in a timely manor. I hadn't really thought about the effects of responding too quickly. After the example you provided about a misspelled word in a mass email to your sorority, I can definitely see where checking over and revising can be very important. Emails are constantly being read in a way not intended by the sender. Even little things like misspelled words can cause quite a mess.
Reading Response Comment
I also agree that email should be used less and more face to face communication should be used. I know that email is quick and you can communicate right from your desk without picking up a phone or going directly to that person. Sometimes email can be a pain though. Email doesn't always get the job done for some people. Some people need that face to face communication to get the information correctly without processing the information differently. I am very social so I love talking to people face to face but sometimes information needs to get to someone fast and email is the best choice. I like email socially especially when you are talking to long distant friends or you need to send a quick message. Emailing in the business world is taking over, and I think that it may become a problem in the near future.
Alayna Willis
reading response week 2
I agree that technology has taken away from face-to-face communications. I also need to do more editing in my work.
comment
I agree that we have to be very circumspect when we send an email. Since it just takes a second to click "send" and release the content from my hands, I tend to include some mistakes in it many times. Since there are many situations that I have to convey my emotion or opinion favorably and emails don't serve in that way as much as I want, I think it is very important to be care about the tone as writing emails. I am realizing the importance of a face to face direct communication expriencing some misconceptions which was cause by on-line communications. Although I am wiling to and like to exprience the conviniences and surprises the rapid technology developments introduce, I basically agree that we should not overuse the on-line ways to communicate and have to adhere on personal direct communication to manage a good interpersonal relationship.