MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION-1 END TERM EXAMINATION

BY RIYA SHARMA (20PGPM041)

Stakeholders:
Professor Pradeep Sharma

 In his mid-50s, Professor Sharma is a reputed and honoured professor of Premium School of
Management.
 Easily approachable by students, he is known for his polite and student-friendly nature and acts as
both a guardian and mentor.
 His deteriorating health condition of heart disease has made him suffer of a fading memory and he
has faced the consequences at multiple occasions.
Meeta Singh

 An alumnus of the college, Meeta is sincere, ambitious, intelligent and outspoken.

 An extrovert by nature, she is well known in students’ committees.
 She is direct and straightforward however has always kept herself a little reserved and abstained
from interacting enough with her batchmates.
Manish Kumar

 A current student of the college, Manish is a research scholar and a conservative and traditional
person at the same time.
 He is also unreasonable at times. Students have distanced themselves from him in spite of his
persistent efforts to remain involved.

Situation Analysis:
 When Professor Sandeep Sharma had mistakenly sent an email containing the question paper to a
Google group of current and past students, tension arose as one alumnus, Meeta Singh responded
to the mail “suggesting” that the Professor should refrain from using the Google group to send the
question paper and thereby expressed her disappointment regarding the receipt of question which
was of no use to her.
 The response from the alumnus was in “Reply to all” mode which worsened the situation even
more as her choice of words were wrong in her mail and on top of that she mailed to the whole
group instead of mailing personally to Professor Sharma. Undoubtedly, Professor felt insulted and
also reacted to the mail in a similar fashion.
 On the part of Meeta, the tone of her email was considered to be disrespectful and rude but
Professor Pradeep also committed mistakes on his part by spelling Meeta’s name incorrectly in all
his responses and keeping the chain of mails going in the way it was initiated by Meeta, i.e. via
Reply to All.
 To add salt to the injury, Manish Kumar, a current student of the batch, who was infuriated by the
conversation between Meeta and Professor Sharma, couldn’t resist himself from writing a mail to
Meeta stating that her language was filthy and describing her conduct as ill mannered. Meeta
didn’t respond to this mail, however she forwarded the same to Professor Sharma showing how
one of his current students had made efforts to reach her just to comment on her tone in the mails.
  As a reaction to the events, Meeta decided to discontinue her association as an alumnus with the
Institute and demanded her removal from the Google Group.

Problem Analysis:

 Professor Pradeep Sharma committed a huge mistake by sending the Question Paper to the Google
Group which was supposed to be sent to the Administration responsible for conducting exams.
 Meeta Singh, in her response to this mail, didn’t check her tone and choice of words. Moreover, she
replied to the mail in “Reply to All” mode which was absolutely wrong and disrespectful as every
other recipient of the mail could then read the mails and formulate an opinion about both the
Professor and Alumnus, which already happened as they discussed among themselves how things
went wrong.
 Even though there was a heated exchange of mails from both ends, it went on as both Meeta and
Professor started pointing out their mistakes and shortcomings in the mails addressed to all the
current and past students of the college.
 Manish Kumar, who jumped between the chaos to mail privately to Meeta, also didn’t seem to
have used proper tone in his mail and was way more straightforward than required. The abrupt and
irrational behavior of Manish gave the situation a new turning point and let Meeta to severe her
connections with the college.

Decision Analysis:
 Professor Pradeep Sharma should have cross checked the recipient list of the mail before sending it
as it had confidential information which was not supposed to be circulated in this manner.
 Meeta should have responded privately to Professor and the email could have been reframed with
a proper tone and politeness. She was conceived to have little knowledge about the values and
ethics of Indian society where teachers are given huge importance and hold respectful position for
one and all. Although she didn’t mean to disrespect the Professor, her email took things to a
different direction.
 Even though Meeta realised her mistake and apologised for her conduct she should have taken into
cognizance the fact that Professor Pardeep is aging and his memory is not the same as before.
There was a mistake on his end, but not that big which couldn’t be forgiven and foregone. She
created a negative image of herself in front of everyone.
 Professor responded in a sarcastic way and made spelling mistakes; this could have been avoided.
 Both of them, after one response to each other’s mail could have stopped the conversation. But
they chose to drag it further which made things more uncomfortable and unacceptable.
 Manish Kumar could also have practiced what he was expecting from Meeta- being respectful to his
senior. He could have kept his mail a little more formal and could have refrained from reacting
rudely and igniting the matter.

Plan of Action:
 All the concerned authorities should cross check the recipient lists in the mail before sending the
mail. Mails should be sent by the IT Department or any other Department responsible for the same.
 Professors should also make sure that they are sending confidential mails to the correct recipients.
 Students, no matter current or past, should keep their tone polite and respectful while
communicating with their seniors, be it Alumnus or Professors or any other authorised person of
the Institute. This practice will be beneficial for them in the long run.
  Before reacting, everyone should make him/herself aware of the nitty-gritties of the situation and
then make wise and well thought decisions.
 If a dispute can be avoided or stopped from being continued, such an option should be considered
first.
 Students and Alumnus should not take any decision in a jiffy as it may lead to undesirable
consequences.

Key Takeaways:
 We should always keep a check on our tone while communicating, be it verbal or non-verbal.
 We should respect everyone as we are blessed with a rich cultural heritage, ethics and values of
Indian society, and we should not forget these no matter however testing the times are.
 A decision taken in hurry doesn’t always bear fruits. Whenever we decide something, we should be
ready to face the consequences and shortcomings which come along.

Use of etiquette in Business Writing

 Etiquettes are defined as the formal manners and rules that are followed in the social or
professional settings.
 Using etiquette in business writing hold importance as it reflects professionalism of employees.
Their conduct needs to be highly professional while formulating messages and emails as they are to
be interpreted and judged on that basis only. Hence, they should keep a check on their tone which
is an important etiquette in business writing.
 By practicing etiquettes in day to day written communication, seniors can set a ground rule for their
subordinates which are to be followed and can train them accordingly.
 Etiquettes create a positive impact of the business in front of clients and are hence of utmost
importance for any business setting.

Situations when low information should be avoided

 In business dealings, one should avoid information underload as it may lead to a gap in
communication and have an adverse effect on the organisation’s business and goodwill.
 While sharing confidential information among the concerned authorities, low information can lead
to miscommunication.
 When communicating about any particular project or ventures, all the employees should be made
aware of every fact relating to that project. Low information in such a scenario will not ensure best
performance and outcomes.
 Low information associates itself with a lot of risk and underlying consequences, be it a business
setting, educational institute or any Government organisation. It should be avoided in all such
occasions.

Factors that contribute to the tone of writing

 Proper usage of words
 The length of sentences which are to be framed
 Grammar used in the writing as it reflects your writing skills
  Usage of voice (active voice is generally preferred over passive voice)
 Overall readability determines the sufficiency of information and ease of interpreting what is being
conveyed.
 Repeating names of persons/places doesn’t make a piece of writing attractive. Pronouns usage
should be done whenever and wherever possible.
 Contractions like don’t instead of do not, you’re instead of you are etc. should be practiced
effectively.

Ways to improve tone in written communication

 Reading the messages before sending them can help the sender know if there are any mistakes or
wrong tone has been used as he reflects the message in his mind. If it is established that the
message is not conveyed as it was intended to be it can be changed immediately and the sender
can add better explanations.
 When it comes to sending sensitive mails, getting another pair of eyes on it is always a good
choice. What seems and sounds perfect to you, may not be the same to someone else. Hence
suggestions should be welcomed with open arms.
 Things are perceived better with a clear mind. If someone has sent a message which is rude,
annoying or disrespectful, don’t respond immediately. Take a deep breath, let your mind calm
down and then frame your response keeping the tone of the message as much rational and logical
as possible.
 Acknowledging the pain and offering profound apologies when required go a long way. If you
apologize for any misconduct on your part, you will be perceived as a wise human being. Being
compassionate towards others no matter the depth of the situation can help gain a lot of respect
and success.