Unit 13

Effective Communication
To Meet,
Write or Phone
A How would you carry out the
following activities? Would you
Find this unit in the following modules: arrange a meeting, write a letter,
s -ANAGEMENT,EADERSHIP email or make a phone call?
s 4ELEPHONING
s "USINESS#ORRESPONDENCE
1 Exchanging ideas with
s -EETINGS employees and gathering input
s "USINESS#OMMUNICATION
2 Setting out terms and
"USINESS'RAMMAR conditions of employment
s 'ERUNDS
3 Conducting an employee
performance review
I,AB30).#OURSE
s 4ELEPHONING)))
4 Giving notification of impending
redundancies in the workforce

5 Requesting urgent information in

order to address an immediate
problem

6 Distributing general company

news to internal staff

7 Tendering a formal resignation

B Write a business situation of

your own for each of these forms
of communication. Refer to the
examples in Exercise A and use
gerunds in your answers.

1 Meeting

2 Letter

3 Email

Grammar Focus 4 Phone call

s'ERUNDS

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Effective Communication "USINESS&OCUS
s 3PEAKINGUNITs7RITINGUNIT

D What was the purpose of each meeting?

C Complete these two extracts from meetings Why were the issues dealt with in a
using the correct form of the words in the box. meeting rather than in writing or by
telephone? Discuss and answer in pairs.
payroll bonus supplier redundant
integrate reference material Meeting 1

Meeting 1
Claudia: The directors have asked us to agree
cuts of €60,000 across our departments
over the next financial year. To get the
ball rolling, I propose reduced (1)
for the finance department, meaning a
saving of €20,000. How does that sound
to you? Meeting 2

Paolo: That’s a good start. For our part, we

have been thinking about (2)
the admin department with the IT
department. Once the two are merged, the
position of admin assistant would become
(3) ____________ since the role could
be covered by the IT assistant. It’s an
unfortunate solution, but it would save us
€20,000 a year. What are your thoughts
on this Nick?
E Find phrases from the extracts in
Nick: It’s tough at the moment with the cost of
Exercise C that go under the headings
raw (4) soaring, but I’ll look
into sourcing from cheaper (5) in the table below.
to cover the remaining €20,000. Let’s
meet again next week and I’ll have some Asking for Softening the
definite figures for you. Are we all in opinions blow of bad news
agreement?

Meeting 2
Paolo: I’m afraid we have some bad news. As
you know, we’ve had to merge the admin
department with the IT department,
meaning there’s simply no way we can
justify keeping two assistants on the
(6) . I regret to inform you
that we will have to make you redundant.
Mari: To be honest with you, I could see what
was happening, but hoped it wouldn’t
come to this.
Paolo: Let me just reassure you that this
decision in no way reflects the quality of
the work you have done here and I’m
more than happy to provide you with a
glowing (7) .

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 Unit 13 To Meet, Write or Phone

F Listen to two people talking about written communication in business. What

are the two speakers describing? What points do they make? Write notes in
the table below.

Speaker 1 Speaker 2
What are they
describing?
Notes

G Below is the letter that Paolo wrote to Mari after their meeting (Exercise C).
Put the sections in the correct order.

a I would like to thank you once again g Potters and Jones

for your contribution to Potters and 14 Park Road
Jones and reiterate that I am happy London
to assist you with references. I would W6 3JT
also like to express my gratitude for
your professional response to the
situation and wish you all the best for h As agreed, the terms of your
the future. redundancy are as follows:
s0OTTERSAND*ONESWILLPAY
you a redundancy
b Re: Termination of employment settlement of £5,000.
s&INALEXPENSECLAIMSMUST
c June 14, 2009 be received by June 25,
2009.
s9OURLEAVINGDATEIS*UNE
d If you wish to appeal, you must 30, 2009.
respond to this letter within one week.

e Yours sincerely i Dear Ms Peters

Paolo Di Franco
Paolo Di Franco
j Mari Peters
Head of Administration & IT
66 North Street
London
f Further to our meeting of June 13, I W13 4PR
regretfully confirm that your employment
with us will be terminated with effect
from June 30, 2009. This follows the 1 2 3 4 5
integration of the Administration
g
department with the IT department and
in no way reflects your performance at
6 7 8 9 10
work, which has been exemplary.

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s 3PEAKINGUNITs7RITINGUNIT

H Telephoning is an alternative to meeting or writing. Read the following opinions from business
people on using the telephone. Discuss them in pairs and add two opinions of your own.

‘Emails are great but they do seem a bit cold and distant sometimes.
When I want to add a personal touch, I prefer to call somebody.’

‘The only problem I find with the phone is that

you have no written record of decisions you ‘I sometimes worry about understanding and
make. In this situation, I always follow up a call making myself understood on the phone. It’s
with an email to confirm what we agreed.’ much harder than in meetings because you
can’t see the other person’s body language.’

I What phrases do you use on the telephone? 2 How do you find out what the caller wants?
Discuss the questions below with a partner.

How do you introduce yourself on the phone?

Hello X, this is X here / speaking. 3 How do you ask the person on the phone to
wait for a moment or two?
1 How do you check that you are not
interrupting the person you have called?

4 How do you end a phone call?

J Listen to two phone conversations. When you hear a phrase that fits one
of the questions in Exercise I, write it in the space provided.

K Work in pairs. Read your role-play card and

B
prepare what you are going to say. Use phrases
from Exercises E and I where appropriate. You are the manager and your
employee (Student A) will call you
A about the schedule for the engineering
project. You know that there is some
You are overseeing an engineering leeway in the budget but you cannot
project. Unfortunately the schedule has afford to let the delivery date slip.
slipped and you must either delay the Decide together how best to proceed.
delivery date or overspend your budget
to get it ready on time. Call your manager
(Student B) to break the bad news.

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