Chapter 10Total Quality CommunicationPersonal Communication ToolsThe appearance of a letter, memo, or report plays a significant role in communicating the message. We have already discussed the symbol interpretations that are attached to the form of a message. When preparing communication tools, the preparer generally has greater control over the appearance of letters, memos and portable document format (pdf) than as e-mail or HTML of WEB pages. And, the advancing capabilities of word processors have relieved us of many concerns of design of these documents. More than one word processor published today provides a toolbox of templates that not only automatically style a letter, but also provides guidance to the content and organization for specific functions to be performed by the communication. In general, document preparation is concerned with three basic elements:
Layout Layout refers to the placement of elements on the page. These elements include text, graphics, white space, margins, headers and footers. These elements are placed into a "grid" selected from a number of options. It could be a single column, two-column, or three-column grid. The grid is used to ensure consistent look among pages of multi-paged documents. Text and graphics are elements that most people intuitively interpret as components of a page layout. However, many people never really grasp the importance of less well known design elements such as white space, text spacing, and margins. White space is the name applied to space in the layout surrounding elements considered to be very important components. The mere fact that a layout element is surrounded by white space leads viewers of that document to perceive the element as more important. White space application around a block of text or a graphic sets it apart from the rest of the document. This segregation calls particular attention to the element. An added feature of white space is the tendency for appropriate use of white space to result in more easily readable documents. Research has found that blocks of type with no white space become very tedious to the eye and result in reduced comprehension Text spacing, both vertical and horizontal, is an important design issue. One of the methods that readers use to determine the word symbols of written language is recognition of word patterns of letter ascenders and decenders. As letters in words spread with greater spacing between the letters, these patterns for easy recognition begin to deteriorate. In word processing documents and page layout programs, control over the horizontal spacing of letters in words is called kerning. The control of vertical spacing between lines of text is called leading. These terms are holdovers from the days when type for printing was set using lead type characters. Sometimes leading is called single- or double-spacing. These terms are carryovers from the days of typewriters when the only control over leading was to put one carriage return (single space) or two carriage returns (double space) between text lines. Double spacing became popular because the added white space between lines made it easier for the uni-spaced letters of the typewriter to be interpreted by the reader. In today's computer generated text, double spacing is unnecessary with proportional type in most documents. The decision to increase leading between lines is probably related more to aesthetics rather than readability. Another convention that became popular during typewriter document preparation was the double space bar following a period and before beginning a new sentence. Again, this convention was adopted during a period when uni-spaced type made all text monotonal Proportional spacing in computer-generated text no longer needs the extra space to define a new sentence. Margins are often overlooked as a layout design issue. Most people when producing a document are disappointed when the document extends four or five lines onto a second page. Rather than editing the text to shorten it, most people will change margin settings to lengthen lines or reduce type font size to take up less space. Although both of these methods work, they have their tradeoffs in reader comprehension effectiveness. In the case of resetting the margins, the risk is to produce a "gray page," that appears to be a large mass of gray on a page running from near the paper's edge to near the other edge. This gray page has been found in research to contribute to fatigue in a reader's eyes. And, as fatigue increases, reading comprehension goes down. We'll address the issues of changing the type font in a few paragraphs. Before leaving margins, one issue that must be addressed is the use of justification. Again, the advances in computer technology have given us control over type conventions such as left justified (all type lines up against the left margin), center justified (all type lines up centered on the centerline of the column), right justified (all type lines up on the right margin), or both (fully justified). Early word processors defaulted on fully justified margins because the resulting page layout of a symmetrical block appeared neat and precise. Most people creating text blocks still believe that full justification produces a clean and professional looking document. The problem created by both margins justified is subtle. The monotony of the line length and the appearance of the gray block have been found to tire the reader's eye. And as noted earlier, tiring of the reader's eye results in reduced comprehension. If communication effectiveness and efficiency is your goal, then justify left and don't worry about the raggedly spaced ends of the line. The variation apparently helps the reader stay focused on reading the text. Type Type can be the subject of a book all by itself, not because so many typefaces are available to use but because the psychology of type use is extensive. Selecting an inappropriate type font to use in your document may send contradictory messages to your reader without your realizing it. The thousands of type fonts that have been created and licensed into general use fall into three categories: serif fonts, sans-serif fonts, and specialty fonts. Serif type is the type that has little "feeties" on the ends of the letter strokes. These are typefaces that are best used for body copy. The typeface used for this page, for example, is a serif font. Sans-serif fonts were originally designed as headline or display type. This means they were designed to be displayed in large sizes and in short lines. Body text using a sans-serif type looks neat and crisp to the writer or designer. But, research has found that all sans-serif type as the text body tires the reader's eyes and, again, results in reduced comprehension. Specialty fonts include scripts, dingbats, and art characteristics (for example: letters are made by positioning the human body or bodies). Specialty fonts were and are fonts reserved for display headlines. Never use a specialty type, even script, as body text. It is practically unreadable except to the reader who really wants to struggle to get information. An additional issue with type is application of a style. Basic style conventions include bold, italic, bold italic, underlining, small caps, all caps, superscript and subscript, condensed, and extended. Each of the modifications to the font has specific uses and symbol interpretations by readers. Bold type indicates emphasis somewhat like shouting. Italic suggests a set-apart idea. Italic is used similarly to quotation marks in the days of typewriter production. Titles are typically displayed in italic. Bold italic is something word processors will let you do, but why in the world you would want to is a mystery. You may want to use a style such as bold italic (for example at the very top of this page) in headings or some other place where the use is isolated and the boldness helps the item to stand out more clearly. Underlining is a convention adopted in the typewriter days to replace italics, which couldn't be created on a standard typewriter. In today's world of word processing, little or no need exists for underlining. SMALL CAPS is best used as a headline or display type as should ALL CAPS. Neither should ever be used for body copy. Condensed and extended are automatic kerning. The style takes space from between letters or adds space between letters. The intent is to make words or sentences fit into specific spaces on lines. The problem with condensing or extending is to distort the word patterns or to place individual letters too close together or too far apart. Some type fonts have specially designed condensed or expanded versions of the font. These fonts comprise letters that have been modified in design to remain more readable in the condensed or expanded state. As a last word on styles, once you have decided on what you want style to do in your document, ensure you use them consistently. All headings, emphasis, subheads and the like should conform to the same style rules throughout your document.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Theoretically, the above line should represent the maximum length of a line of this typeface and size to achieve maximum readability. Media As mentioned in previous chapters, the specific medium you use sends messages to receivers in addition to or contrary to the message you encode. Some media are interpreted by receivers as more credible as information sources. Some are seen as more informal and less urgent than others. In addition, media exert physical influence on readability efficiency and effectiveness. Colors of print or paper and background images are examples of the issues involved. Research into legibility, the concept of detection of word symbols, has found that the maximum legibility of printed words on paper is black letters on a yellow background. The contrast in this combination apparently makes the letters very easy to identify. But, no one is likely to use yellow paper to take advantage of this high legibility. Yellow paper seems to be too "clownish." However, the growing presence of Web pages finds many that do use this combination since electronic format makes production using this combination much easier. For most written communication in business, the standard for legibility remains white paper with black or very dark blue print. Again, the high contrast makes the letters more legible. However, variations on white such as ivory or gray with dark print are almost as legible and serve as a statement about the sender of the communication. Colors as we introduced in Chapter 3 are interpreted as symbolic messages. Blues carry a meaning of coolness. Reds or pinks connote hot, fiery moods. Tans or ivory symbolize frankness. Grays mean professionalism. Weight, caliper and finish of paper also sends a message. Paper is designated by the weight in pounds for a 500 sheets of 17" X 22.5", the standard size for paper manufacture. Most paper supply stores sell paper already cut to user size such as 8" X 11.5", the standard letter size paper in the U.S. Other parts of the world are standardized on a different size, such as Europe's A-4 which is 210cm X 297cm (by the way, this is one of the ISO standards for paper size, an issue the U.S. will face in the future). The caliper is the thickness of the paper measured in mils (thousandths of an inch). Finish describes the surface of the paper and can range from bond paper (like used in a copier) to coated stock (has some surface preparation such as enameling), and either matte finish (dull in appearance) or some degree of glossiness (reflective in appearance). Papers of heavier weight, higher caliper, and quality finish are perceived to be more quality communications, to a point. Paper can get too heavy or too thick and the quality perception evaporates. Lastly, what the paper is made of also is a component of quality. One ingredient of paper is something other than wood chips. Paper is made more flexible and less likely to deteriorate by the amount of rag or cotton content in the formula. As the rag or cotton percentage goes up in the formula, generally, the better is the quality of the paper, to a point. A 100% rag content paper, in some formulas, will be like trying to write on a cloth napkin. Also, acid is used in some processes of paper production. The more acid left in the paper after production, the faster the paper decomposes. An acid-free paper is archival quality meaning that it can be stored for decades, if not centuries, with little or no deterioration of the paper. MemosThe memorandum, or memo, is, perhaps, the most widely used form of written communication in organizations. Typically, memos are used for information distribution internal to an organization, but the format may be used for special purposes to external audiences. In some organizations, the sheer number of memos circulating creates a background problem for any one message to successfully communicate to intended audiences. Some large organizations use memos to distribute all information, even information that has no real purpose in its distribution. The result is a desensitization of receivers for the significance of information in memos. Over time, the usual response to the arrival of a memo is less than enthusiastic because of the symbol interpretation developed among many that a memo carries no real useful information. As an example, research performed at a large hospital in North Texas found, among other things, that employees received so many memos daily and that so many carried irrelevant or useless information for the reader, that all memos were deemed a waste of time. The result was that when important information was distributed using a memo, the information was received by only a small number of the intended audience. Even when the information does attract attention of the audience, the second barrier to effective communication using the memo appeared. Since someone takes the time to create a memo and to distribute it, a mistaken impression suggests that the vehicle could be used to transmit a number of message topics. A single memo might have three of four topics. These separate topics tend to be confused by a reader simply because the information was contained in the same communication. It is no reflection on the reader's ability to understand. It is simply a matter that the topics all arrived at the same time in the same physical communication providing no opportunity for the reader to separate the ideas as distinct. Memos can be found in a wide range of formality. At one end of the formal/informal continuum is illustrated by the handwritten memo on a small sized piece of memo paper headed "From the Desk Of....." The other end of the continuum is the memo written by lower level employees for dissemination to top administrators. These memos, such as reports of recommendations or responses to inquiries, tend to be very formal in appearance and in word selection. Such is the psychology of the fear held by many lower level employees that such high levels of formality are required to transmit a symbol interpretation to the top administrators. These cases represent the extremes on the continuum of memo production. However, a majority of memos in an organization will fall somewhere in between. Format Memos usually have a header to identify the person to whom the memo is being sent and the person sending the memo. As much as possible, these two bits of information should be individuals, not faceless groups. In other words, preparing a memo for transmission from a team working on recommendations for some kind of change in the organization to the executive committee, who must consider and potentially adopt the proposal, should be addressed to one member of the decision committee (president, chair, or who ever) and signed and initialed by one member of the preparation team (chair, unlucky loser at coin tossing, or who ever). This creates the psychologically positive feel that the memo is from one person to one person. This kind of relationship helps to ensure the level of comprehension of information is high. The date is included in the header to establish both an effective date and submitted date for the information. A subject line is usually included to provide a quick reference regarding the content of the memo. It's this subject line which becomes one of the most problematic elements of the memo's success in communicating. The subject line is sometimes thought to be a cut and dried factual statement of describing the contents of the memo. The thought generally is that the audience will see the subject line and make a determination that reading the memo is important. Where this concept begins to fall apart is in creating a subject line that addresses the interest relationship of the audience. For example, in that hospital mentioned a few paragraphs back, the research was initiated because the hospital administrator had distributed a memo that resulted in only about a third of the department heads and unit directors in attendance at a required meeting. The required meeting was being held to discuss the specifics of an employee opinion survey that was to be mailed to the homes of each employee. The administrator wanted to prepare the supervisors for the questions that were certainly to be asked by employees who received this kind of inquiry at home. The memo was sent with the subject line, "Employee Opinion Survey." Department heads, who had be desensitized to the content of memos, saw this subject line and determined that the memo held no real information useful to them. It went into the trash or into the stack for later review (a stack that is seldom returned to). The result is that most of the department heads never got to the paragraph in the memo that announced the meeting. In this case, the subject line should have read, "meeting of all department heads on Friday." The meeting was the important information, not the content of the meeting. The first paragraph of the memo is important as a contributor to the degree of comprehension that occurs. As mentioned in the letter of transmittal discussion in Chapter 8, this paragraph should be written from the "you" viewpoint. "You" is the person to whom the memo is sent. The first paragraph that begins with the writer's viewpoint is more often than not seen negatively, especially if the memo is sent high in the organizational hierarchy. In addition, the first paragraph that begins with the word "I" might as well not be sent for all its effectiveness in the receiver's comprehension. Just make it a rule that you will reduce the number of times the word "I" appears in your memos. You may not be able to eliminate them all, but reducing them to the minimum will aid in the psychological impact of your memo. The bottom line on memos and the subject line or first paragraph. Always write subject lines from the interest viewpoint of the audience, not the interest viewpoint of the person sending the memo. This rule is appropriate even for top management who believe that their memos should be avidly read regardless. LetterMuch of what can be said about letters has already been said in the discussion about memos or the discussion about the letter of transmittal in Chapter 8. Of course, the format of the letter conforms to what you have likely seen in any formal letter you have received. The letter will typically have a header, usually printed in color as the organization's stationery (notice the spelling, stationary means "standing in one place," stationery means "writing paper"). The effective date is at the top. It can be centered, against the left margin, or against the right margin. Its position is usually dictated by the layout of the letter itself. The options for layout will be introduced later. The second element of the formal letter is the inside address. In the formal letter, this means addressing to a single individual including his or her title of respect. The inside address continues with the audience's address including organization name, street address (or P.O. Box) and city, state and zip code. The third element is the salutation. This is the person to whom you are sending the letter using his or her title of respect and last name. It is followed by a colon. If you are unaware of the status of a female addressee and whether Mrs. or Ms. is appropriate, then use Ms. as the opening. In general, you're likely to be better off using Ms. in all cases to avoid some social faux pas. Some women use their surnames professionally rather than husbands' surnames. To say Mrs. Smith (when she is married to Bob Jones), as you address Ms. Smith (professional name) may cause negative reaction among some people. Some writers will include a fourth element of the opening. A subject line or reference line is included in a formal letter. Whether or not a subject line is appropriate is probably a matter of personal taste, as long as it is handled well. Again, It should be from the "you" view, and never used as the announcement of bad news. The reader will never get to the detailed justification for the bad news in the letter's body. The content of the letter follows the conventions described in Chapter 8 and the letter of transmittal. Of particular concern is the opening paragraph. Once again, the opening paragraph should be from the "you" view and referencing previous contact about the letter's topic, if possible. When the length of the letter spills on to a second page, a second page header is appropriate. This could take form of a single line across the top of the page containing the addressee's name, the date of the letter and the page number. These elements could be arranged across the page, or vertically. Closing follows the last information paragraph in the body. The closing could be Sincerely, Truly, Cordially, Respectfully, or other acceptable words. The word selected for the closing should be appropriate to the relationship between the letter writer and the addressee. The signature on the letter includes the full name of the person sending the letter and title, if appropriate. A formal letter is always signed by one person, even if the contents represent the work of many people. Layout A formal letter can use any one of several layouts. But, the two most often used are the standard layout and the block layout. The standard layout uses indents on paragraphs and placement of the date and closing near the right margins. The block layout uses no indents and places all elements of the letter against the left margin. Paragraphs are separated by a line. Other layout options are hybrids of these two formats. E-mail has become a widely used communication tool for both internal and external communication. It provides a high degree of spontaneity with the need for physical proximity. In most organizations with computer networks installed, an e-mail is a quick and easy way to make urgent contact or to disseminate ideas to colleagues. E-mail is one the early uses for the Internet and remains the largest percentage of used bandwidth on domestic backbones. E-mail has been around long enough to have followed its predecessors who were given the title of "the 'in' communication medium," such as semaphore, telegraph, telephone, or CB radio, with its own vocabulary and communication shortcuts. Before beginning wide spread use of e-mail, you should become familiar with the conventions that have been adopted as symbols in the e-mail community. For example, typing and e-mail in all capital letters connotes "yelling." While some people may use the all caps text because they think it is more readable (which it isn't), or they hit the "caps lock" key on their keyboards by accident, the receiver encountering an all caps message will likely consider it rude and may ignore the message entirely.
A close kin of e-mail is newsgroups. These are archives of e-mail messages from people that are organized by topic. Much valuable information can be acquired by reading and participating in newsgroups, although the newsgroup reader needs to be careful about the validity and reliability of information discussed. Since nobody serves as an editor or reviewer, the information found in newsgroups tends to be suspect until the reader establishes the credibility of the newsgroups or the information's source. Lastly, conference boards or bulletin boards provide an opportunity for people, restricted or unrestricted, to leave e-mail-like messages or respond to those left by others. In this way, a bulletin board or conference board is very similar to a newsgroup. Students taking this course or others should check with their instructors to determine if conference boards are supplemental to the course. These proprietary boards create opportunities for contact by students outside the classroom or even the campus of the university. Because conference boards are accessible by any Internet browser and access is not bound by time, they can be used to carry on conversations among students or employees when they might not otherwise be able to interact. MeetingsAmong the pervasive activities in organizations are meetings. They are at once the most useful and the most wasteful organizational activities. Meetings range from small two-person meetings to huge convention-sized meetings with hundreds in attendance. In general, most people will be concerned with the success of meetings at the departmental or task team levels. These meetings typically include personnel from the same organizational unit or representatives from several units. When properly designed and implemented, meetings in this category can be effective communication tools. At their worst, they become targets ridicule in comic strips like Sally Forth and Dilbert. Among the major sins of meetings in organizations is a tendency to call them without proper preparation. Some managers call meetings out of a sense of need to exert organizational power. Or, some managers call meetings in times of perceived crisis because they don't know what else to do. Lastly, some meetings are scheduled as a part of "employee empowerment." These meetings are set because a manager was exposed to some form of participative management style concept or read about such scheduled Òquality circlesÓ and install them in an effort to make the organization more effective. What most people do not realize is that meetings can be successful if they are planned. Even impromptu meetings called on the spur of the moment can be successful. But, success of any meeting depends on the participants knowing what their roles and responsibilities are. This is where many people encounter difficulty with meetings. Many believe the responsibility for a successful meeting belongs to the person who called the meeting. Participants will occupy chairs in the meeting room, then sit like huge amoebae prepared to absorb selected snippets of information. In fact, most successful meetings are a collaborative effort. The collaboration ranges from active listening, a skill in its own right, to helping reinforce information dissemination by offering additional information, asking clarifying questions, or serving to keep the meeting moving forward by ensuring the discussion stays on topic. The goal is to ensure that every person involved in the meeting comes away with the feeling that something was accomplished. Regardless of whether you are the convener of the meeting or an attendee, a little preparation contributes to the success of the meeting for you and for others. Using the Know-Knows of Meeting Planning can help a participant prepare for a successful meeting.
The Know-Knows of Meeting Planning can be classified into two categories: those for all members and those for the meeting presider.
Parliamentary Procedure More than a hundred published rules of order Documented Centuries-Old Customs Ruling Legislative Bodies Robert's Rules of Order-1876 Why is an Understanding Important?
Philosophy of Rules of Order
Basic Definitions
Handling a Motion
Order of Precedence Main Motion
Useful Misc. Motions
Subsidiary Motion
Incidental Motions
Privileged Questions
Remember
The Know-Knows of Meeting Participation
Practice Exam When you have completed reading this chapter, you may elect to take a practice exam on-line. You may take the practice exam as many times as you wish. Each time, the test will be compared to the answer key. You then have the option to review the results or not. You may wish to try the exam again before seeing the results of the comparison. ©1997 2000 David L. Sturges and Michael Minor These pages were created on November 1, 1999, and last modified on August 29, 2001on a PowerBook G3-266 using Dreamweaver 3.0. Questions or comments should be directed to the WebJŽfe. |
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