University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 3

Gabe Shchuka
Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424
November 21, 2020
Composing an Email
The most important things to remember when writing an email like this are to have a good
subject line, use correct grammar and spelling, and lastly, to be concise, get straight to the point
so as to not waste anyone’s time.

Subject: Notice about team performance

Hello all,
I have noticed that the team has been demonstrating some poor performance recently. We need
to communicate better in order to work effectively as a team and increase our productivity. If
there is anything I can do to assist in improving the teams performance or facilitating
communication please let me know.
Best,
-Gabe Shchuka

Important Takeaways from Class

I think the most important concept I learned in class this week, and throughout the entire course
so far, is how to properly compose a professional and appropriate email. I don’t really have any
experience writing professional emails. I always went to office hours to talk to my professors, all
of my employers were very friendly and gave me their phone numbers in case I ever needed to
reach out to them. Any emails I have written in college have been very short and simple, nothing
that required consideration of formatting or tone. It is becoming increasingly clear to me as I
start my search for jobs and in taking this class that it will be very important that I am able to
effectively communicate via email. I knew the basic things like having correct spelling and good
grammar, but I never considered things like the tone of the email or being concise and getting
right to the point. The different examples we dissected in class covered a variety of subjects that
might be discussed over email, like asking for an extension, or accepting an invite to an
interview. In class previously we learned how to write an email that caters to the recipients
personality type, for example someone that’s a strong D wouldn’t want to feel like they were
being taken advantage of. This knowledge can be combined with the different points to
remember when writing an email that we discussed in class this week to write an email that
achieves what you want it to. The most important things I learned to consider when composing a
professional email are grammar, spelling, getting right to the point, including an appropriate
signature with your contact information if needed, using a consistent font and format, and having
a good descriptive subject line.
Crucial Conversations Scenario
One of the scenarios in chapter 10 is about how to handle harassment. One of the
proposed solutions is to view the story from the other persons perspective. Trying to rationalize
why they might say what they did can help you understand where they’re coming from and helps
you treat them like a more rational or reasonable person (Patterson, 2012). They may have just
had a bad day. Another scenario was titled “I need to calm down.” The listed solution was to step
away from the situation to let emotions settle but to also not let the situation go unresolved as
doing so, in our scenario, could make my boss think this kind of behavior is acceptable. In a later
scenario in the book it is reiterated to not have a crucial conversation while angry. Based on the
scenarios and their corresponding solutions presented in chapter 10 of Crucial Conversations I
think the best course of action would be to set the incident aside until the meeting was over so as
to avoid any actions by me or my boss that could make things worse. It is best to wait until
people are no longer emotional to have crucial conversations, like I would need to do with my
boss. Later that same day I would go to my boss and have a one on one conversation with him. I
would have it one on one because the other people in the meeting weren’t directly involved in
the scenario so they don’t need to be involved in the conversation to resolve it. I would ask my
boss why he called me an idiot and if theirs is anything I could do to change that opinion he has
of me. I personally would not ask him to apologize. I don’t feel that accomplishes anything. I
imagine that as something parents do to children and think it is very belittling to do to an adult,
let alone my boss. I also think if an apology was not given without a request, then asking for one
would only result in one that was not sincere or genuine. I would then ask him how we can avoid
a similar situation in the future. Since they are my boss I would listen to their suggestions as to
how to avoid a repeat and how their opinion of me could be changed.

Big Five Personality Test

I would say that I mostly agree with my results from the Big Five Personality Trait test.
The results don’t quite match how I see myself as closely as the Jung Personality test did but I
think it is closer to me than the DISC results. The parts of my Big Five results that I most agree
with are my score for neuroticism and openness, for which I received scores of 27% and 56%
respectively. I was pleased to see that my neuroticism score was as low as it is because I tend to
see myself as being very positive and rarely being pessimistic. My score of 56% in openness also
fits me well. I always love trying new things. I pride myself in being willing to try anything
once. I think my score fits well though because while I am very open to new experiences, I don’t
align with the second half the description of openness. I don’t tend to like art museums or any
kind of artistic or “unusual forms of self-expression.” I am a very practical and analytical person,
so I don’t typically enjoy art.
The parts of my results that I don’t agree with as much are conscientiousness,
extraversion, and agreeableness. I think my score of 46% for conscientiousness is a bit too high.
I am not good at taking initiative and starting my work. I will almost always, as the Big Five
results put it, do what is fun now rather than doing what is not fun but will pay off in the future. I
often find myself waiting until the last possible minute to start my assignments, so I think my
conscientiousness score should be lower. My extraversion and agreeableness scores should be
higher in my opinion. I think of myself as very outgoing and personable. I feel that I am very
extroverted. I am really good at making new friends and I always end up talking to people
around me. I am happiest when I am hanging out with friends and I am more than happy to put
energy into my relationships with other. I am very goal oriented as well so I always feel good
when I complete a task, which is yet another point in the extraversion description that I think fits
my personality. Based on the traits listed for extraversion in the results I think my score of 56%
should be slightly higher for that category. I also think my score for agreeableness should be
higher. My score in that category was 58% which was my highest overall, although I think it
should be a bit higher. I think my personality matches the description for agreeableness very
closely. I find myself sometimes putting the needs of other before my own, especially when
those people are very close friends or family. I am also very trusting and forgiving, sometimes
even too forgiving. I will occasionally forgive people too quickly, so much so that I forgive them
before they even realize I am upset at them, which results in nothing being resolved, even when I
may still have hard feelings. I don’t think I have any conflictual or hostile relationships, which
further supports the idea that my agreeableness score should be higher, as those are traits of
people with lower agreeableness scores. The only aspect of agreeableness I think doesn’t fit me
is getting joy out of helping others. Whenever I help others it is because I think it is the right
thing to do, not because doing so will bring me joy.
I think this personality test was more accurate than the DISC test but less accurate than
the Jung personality test. This test had a number of questions between the other two tests, which
I think is the reason for its accuracy also being between the other two. More questions mean
more data points for the test to build a view of the person taking the test and helps refine the
results more. This test also covered different topics than the other two tests. I think that variety in
what is being assessed is why it is important to take multiple personality tests. One test can only
tell you so much about your personality type. If you take different tests you can learn about
whether you are introverted or extroverted, what type of conflict management techniques you
favor, whether you are a strong D or a strong I, how well you function on a team, and so much
more. No single personality test can assess all of the different aspect of a person and their
personality, so it is important for people to take multiple different tests to gain a thorough
understanding of themself.
 Sources
Patterson, Kerry. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. McGraw-Hill

Professional Publishing 2011. Print.