AN OVERVIEW OF EMAIL AND ITS USAGE IN THE WORKPLACE:
How Documentation, Deadlines, and Planning Affect Professionals
Contributors: Christian Bone, Haley Howard, Jessica Hartnett, Caleb Shepherd Recipient: Incoming Professionals Date: Sunday, April 10, 2016
introduction In the last decade or two, modern society has fully embraced the internet and it now pervades nearly every aspect of our daily lives. This trend, in addition to the wide scale proliferation of technology such as smartphones and more traditional PCs, has radically altered the ways that writing is utilized in the workplace. Technology has made the ability to communicate nearly instantaneous, and this is reflected in the way that companies and their employees now routinely conduct business. Like technology, the business world moves quickly, and those who get left behind become obsolete. Information is the currency of commerce, and knowing how to communicate this information effectively is essential to avoiding irrelevance. This can be of great concern to many newly-graduated professionals entering the workforce for the first time, who have not had a chance to gain this necessary knowledge through experience. This is in large part due to the fact that many of the writing skills that students develop over the course of their college career, by and large, are only applicable to academic writing. Writing in the workplace requires entirely different skills than what most graduates have become accustomed to and, in most cases, must be learned on-the-job through trial and error. Their ignorance
concerning effective workplace communication is a great challenge and means that newly-graduated professionals begin their career at an immense disadvantage. Over the course of the last few months, the four authors of this paper took part in a research project with the goal of studying some of the different kinds of writing an average professional might be expected to produce on a daily basis. In order to accomplish this goal, each of us worked with a currently-employed professional in order to gather information concerning the kinds of writing they perform in their career. After conducting interviews with all of our subjects and analyzing many examples of writing our subjects had previously produced on the job, our team has been able to identify several prominent features that repeat across the various professions we researched. The usage of email, in particular, was cited by all of our subjects as comprising the majority of the rhetoric in the workplace, if not the entirety. Our hope with this paper is to assist individuals just starting out in their careers better understand the norms, culture, and expectations of the business world as reflected by the usage of email in the workplace.
challenge of email workload “I would say 70% of my job is dealing with emails...” Todd Johnson - Delivery Team Leader at Dow Corning
“Mostly emails, I do some forms and stuff like that, but that’s about it.” Michael Plunkett - UGA Technology Specialist at UofL
“–there’s a lot of emailing! There’s a lot of emailing.” Lindsey Ronay - A&S Director of Communication and Special Events at UofL
“A lot of emails and a lot of text messages, more so emails, though.” Robby Foust - Orthopedic Sales at Zimmer Boimet Orthosolutions
In this section, we’ll analyze the following topics: Clarity of Communication
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2 Documentation and Record-Keeping
The Social Aspect of Email
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Clarity of Communication The need to be clear and concise in one’s writing was heavily stressed by all of our subjects. So much so that Caleb’s research subject, Michael Plunkett, Senior Technology Specialist at The University of Louisville, even has a picture hanging in his office that illustrates what can happen when there is a breakdown in the communication chain as you can see in Figure 1 on the next page. For Michael, coming across clearly is especially essential. As a Technology
Specialist Senior, he spends much of his time answering questions and explaining processes to less experienced computer users. It is absolutely vital that he be able to efficiently communicate confusing technical instructions in a way that can be easily and correctly understood by users of any background. A notable trait present across all of the emails we gathered from our subjects was their brevity. Only two or three of the eight
examples could be considered to contain a paragraph or more. Instead they were composed mostly of short sentences or fragments, bulleted lists, and in one case, a computer screenshot. This observation seems to line up with what we have been told by our subjects. Namely, that clearly communicating a message is their biggest concern when drafting a piece of writing to be used in the workplace. By stripping away everything but the core message, the author is able to focus the recipient’s attention and
minimize the possibility of misinterpretation. Michael Plunkett goes a step further and represents visually in one picture what would have taken much longer to express in text in addition to being much harder to decipher.
Another interview subject, Robby Foust who works in Orthopedic Sales at Zimmer Biomet Orthosolutions, left no room for interpretation when he stated, “It’s super important to always be clear and concise.” In this interview, he shared two separate instances when a scheduled surgery almost failed due to miscommunication. As a result of these instances, Robby said that he has learned to, “check and double check,” the details, often sending an email or a text message as confirmation, just in case. This is a perfect example of how the possibility of miscommunication and its consequences leads to the necessity of our next topic, documentation and record-keeping.
Figure 1: Picture from Michael Plunkett’s Office
Documentation and Record-Keeping
Companies can range in size from small handful of people to many thousands of employees and as the number of people involved increases, so too does the possibility of something being miscommunicated, often with potentially disastrous consequences. It stands to reason then that professionals in all disciplines would take steps to ensure that everyone involved in a given project was on the same page. Lindsey Ronay told Jessica, “...typically, after a meeting … I try to recap the meeting in an email, so that everybody’s clear on what everybody’s supposed to be doing.” Although precautions such as these may seem unnecessary, they help to ensure that everyone understands what needs to be done and what is needed from them in order to accomplish the group’s goals.
Of equal importance is the need to maintain a record in order to identify the point where something went wrong. This is important, not only so professionals can learn from mistakes, but also so that in the event of unethical or illegal activities having been performed, the source can be uncovered. The opposite is also true, many professionals, such as doctors and accountants, maintain paper trails in order to prove their innocence in the event of an accusation. Lindsey explained, “We want to make sure we put things in writing so that we know, and they know, and everyone knows that we’ve actually said it and done it.” In order to protect themselves and their interests, professionals and businesses both need the ability to prove that they did what they were supposed to. Without a paper trail, one can’t say for sure who’s at fault in any given situation.
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We want to make sure we put things in writing so that we know, and they know, and everyone knows that we’ve actually said it and done it.
The social aspect of email
It came as a bit of a surprise to all of us to learn how much the delivery of an email came to influence its overall message. Perhaps even more so than the actual content, the way in which it was presented had a major impact on how the message was ultimately interpreted. Chief among the factors that helped determine how the email is shaped was the identity of the receiving party. Depending on the relationship of the recipient, the tone, format, and stylistic choices the writer made use of would change accordingly. Todd Johnson called attention to this specifically in his interview with Christian, “... you still
have to remember who your audience is. If you’re talking to an executive, you’re going to format that letter a lot different than you’re going to format something to your coworker…” The relationship between leadership and an employee is only one such example. Others include the relationship between employees and customers, one employee to another, or an employee from one company and an employee from another. Robby Foust confirms this when he states, “Every once in awhile [my emails] may be formal if I am setting up a first time sales meeting, but most of my emails are backand-forth to my office over and over again.”
Professional writers rarely act completely independently. Rather, they operate as part of a larger organization that has developed its own unique writing procedures. Wardle (2004) seems to support this when discussing how newcomers must be able to imagine their own work, and writing, as being an important part of a larger enterprise. Together these disparate elements collectively form a culture that possesses “...a shared body of verbal signs.” (Faigley, 1985) that defines the organization as a distinct speech and/or discourse community. Within the community, a member is expected to, “…know what is worth communicating, how it can be communicated, what other members of the community are likely to know and believe to be true about certain subjects, how other members can be persuaded, and so on.” (Faigley, 1985). It is not uncommon for a writer to be a member of several different discourse communities In such a situation, the writer needs to be comfortable shifting between the separate styles according to the situation.
Lindsey Ronay surprised us when she brought up the use of emoticons. She warned that in most business situations they would still remain inappropriate, but in writing sent between two familiar parties they can greatly assist a writer in conveying an emotional tone. “Emails and texts can sometimes come across…wrong. Too stern.,” Lindsey warned. Many writers fail to keep in mind that the message of any type of communication is determined by more than just the literal meanings of words. In our daily lives, we unconsciously communicate an enormous amount of information using facial expressions, body position, inflection, and stress, just to name a few. This human element is often lost in the transition from speech to text and can often result in the recipient inferring an aggressive or accusatory tone where there wasn’t one, this is especially true for email. The emotional ambiguity of the written word combined with the brevity and directness of most emails results in a medium vulnerable to misinterpretation. This can be directly observed in other similar forms of communication, such as texting and instant messaging, where the use of emoticons has become ubiquitous.
“Emails and texts
can sometimes come across... wrong. Too stern.
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Application As one can see, there is quite a bit more that goes into the construction of an email than first meets the eye. Now that some of the major trends have been identified, the next challenge becomes how one should apply this knowledge. In the next few paragraphs, we shall address exactly that by providing suggestions and real-life examples gathered from our research subjects.
Clarity of Communication
Perhaps the single, most important trait of a professional email is its clarity. An excellent example of this is an email written by Lindsey Ronay, in which she specifically states that the previous email she received was not clear enough for her to understand. She goes on to request more information from her correspondent in a methodical fashion, as you can see in Figure 2. Using short, direct questions, she quickly and efficiently communicates what she needs in order to move forward. Towards the middle of the email, she briefly mentions that she has too much information to send to the other party, even in a bulleted list. It is this last part that we would like to focus on next.
The use of lists is an excellent way to simplify a complicated message and direct a reader’s attention towards the most important information. This technique can be observed across many of the emails that we studied. Robby Foust made use of one in a request for job-related items, Michael Plunkett used a list to provide instructions to computer users, and Lindsey Brown utilized it on two separate occasions, once in the form of a bulleted list and another as a numbered one. The example of the numbered list, in particular, is highly effective at relaying her message. Details can become lost in a wall of text; the more easily a reader can identify the relevant details, the more likely they are to remember them. This helps to avoid a situation where one party makes multiple requests of another party and the receiving party only fulfills a portion of the requests, prompting more emails to be sent or possibly results in more severe ramifications.
Figure 2: Lindsey Ronay Sample Email
Figure 3: Lindsey Ronay Email - Numbered List
Based on the examples outlined above, we would suggest that incoming professionals focus on eliminating sources of confusion for their reader. This primarily takes the form of removing any extraneous content from their message until only the core message remains. It is so very important to clearly communicate your ideas and also focus on the manner in which you do so. Additionally, one should pay close attention to how their emails are organized, ensuring that it is easy to navigate and that essential details are easily identified. The rhetoric and organization of an email or any form of business writing can determine how well it is communicated from person to person in different areas of a business or different company. (Ornatowski, 1992) The use of lists and other visual aides, such as charts or graphics, that help to more intuitively accomplish this are encouraged as well.
Documentation and Record-Keeping As we touched on earlier, the process of documentation serves a dual purpose. Firstly, to help guarantee that everyone remains on the same page and secondly, to protect oneself from blame, lawsuits, or other accusations. Although the need for such precautions should seem obvious, the actual implementation is far less so. Earlier, we mentioned how one of our interviewees told us that she attempts to summarize the major talking points of every meeting and email everyone involved. This
act accomplishes both goals simultaneously by providing an opportunity for anybody who might have been confused to correct their misconception and by producing a record of what was discussed, who was present, who was responsible for what, and so on. This trait was continued across many of the other emails that we collected. Some contained portions where previous discussions were restated, some existed solely to inform the audience of some problem and what should be done or was already being done
to fix it, and some were requests for information or permission. All of them, however, were written in such a way so as to display that some effort was made on the part of the author to take appropriate action. They provided proof that the author had followed directions or sought guidance from a superior or informed the proper people if an issue arose and that the author had not acted irresponsibly. It may seem unnatural, but we suggest that incoming professionals take extra effort to
catalog important discussions in writing immediately after they occur by utilizing follow up emails and restating the major points. This helps to ensure that all involved parties agree on what was said. We also suggest bringing any potential issues that one may encounter to the attention of those in charge, both to hopefully obtain a means to fix it, and also to make sure that you are not held responsible for the issue should it become a much greater problem further down the road.
The social aspect of email
The tone of the emails that one prepares in their day to day work will vary wildly depending on the type of job, audience, and the unique culture of their workplace. This fact makes it incredibly difficult, if not outright impossible, to provide any kind of definite advice that would apply equally across all professions. Despite this difficulty, there are a few universals that one can be sure will be relevant in almost all situations.
to address a problem that had occurred was misinterpreted by one of the employees as Todd pointing fingers. Situations like this arise because of a misuse of tone relative to the communicating parties; situations in which the appropriate tone is not always clear.
Todd’s anecdote also happens to be an excellent example of another concern professionals should keep in mind when writing emails. Specifically, the weakness of In the majority of cases, an employee will have to adapt the tone of their emails to their text at conveying emotional information. In the example above, the employee inferred intended audience. Generally, it is expected that an employee will probably adopt a from Todd’s email a passive aggressive attitude and mistakenly assumed that Todd more formal tone when writing to someone was implying that the employees were in an authority position, such as a manager or CEO, and use a more informal tone when at fault. Written text does not come with writing to coworkers. If the employee directly all of the little subconscious markers that broadcast our emotional state to others in deals with customers, it is safe to assume normal conversation, and so can come across that one would utilize a more formal tone as cold, stern, or even rude. with them as well. Something to note that is not often thought about, is the change in tone that someone in a leadership position With all of this in mind, we recommend that must take when writing to those that they incoming professionals observe the local are in charge of. Todd Johnson is a team culture of their workplace and, depending on their intended audience, adapt the tone leader at Dow Corning and he shared with of their emails accordingly. Special attention Christian some of his experiences dealing with this subject. “You have to be very careful should be paid if one should find themselves in a leadership position, as the tone may how you word things.” Todd said. “One need to evolve case-to-case. In addition, misworded sentence could cause a team to go into turmoil. So, you have to be very, the emotional subtext of an email should always be kept in mind. Although it may be very careful on how you word things when you’re in a leadership role.” Todd goes on impossible to fully control for, authors should strive to make sure their emails come across to describe a situation in which a particular choice of wording in an email he had written as pleasant while still being professional.
“ONe misworded
sentence could cause a team to go into turmoil.
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Conclusion In this increasingly connected age, it is more important than ever to be able to effectively communicate in the workplace. Bernhardt (1993) touches on this point in his article, stating that the more we work with computer-based texts, the more that the distinction between reading and writing will fade and become a single concept. Thanks to technological advances, email has mostly supplanted other forms of writing and dominates the business world. As a result, a new set of writing skills and traits must be developed if one hopes to succeed in their career. Over the course of this paper, we have analyzed three of the most important aspects of constructing effective emails and developed our own suggestions in order to assist incoming professionals. According to Driskill (1989), difficulties were experienced by companies whose cultures repressed communication about their problems, prevented naming of individuals who were the source of trouble, and resisted cooperative problem solving and the expression of emotion. With that in mind, it is our belief that if incoming professionals remain mindful of the need for clarity in their emails, the importance of documenting communication, and take into account the social aspect of their writing, that they and their company will benefit immensely from the reduction of the frequency of miscommunication, an increase in efficiency, the reduction of workplace conflict, and the protections afforded by a paper trail.
Works cited Bernhardt, Stephen A. (1993). The Shape of Text to Come: The Texture of Print on Screens. In Tim Peeples (Ed.), Professional Writing and Rhetoric (pp.5). National Council of Teachers of English. Driskill, L. (1989). Understanding the Writing Context in Organizations. Retrieved February 25, 2016. Faigley, Lester. “Nonacademic Writing: The Social Perspective.� Writing in Nonacademic Settings, ed. Lee Odell and Dixie Goswami, 1985, pp. 231248. Copyright 1985 by the Guilford Press. Ornatowski, C. M. (1992). Between efficiency and politics rhetoric and ethics in technical writing. Technical Communication Quarterly, 1(1), 91-103. doi:10.1080/10572259209359493 Wardle, E. (2004). Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces. Enculturation, (5.2). Retrieved February 25, 2016 from http:// www.enculturation.net/5_2/wardle.html
images Inicio, Imazonia Marketing [Emailing Imazonia]. (2016). Retrieved April 4, 2016, from http://emailing.imazonia.com/ Kelly, D. (2013, March). Keeping Track [Record Keeping Beyond Injury and Illness]. Retrieved April 4, 2016, from http://www.ecmag.com/section/ safety/keeping-track
Source Documents Reference for all of our source documents from Project 3
Figure 1: Picture from Michael Plunkett’s Office
Figure 2: Lindsey Ronay Sample Email
Source Documents Figure 3: Lindsey Ronay Email - Numbered List