Inter Office Memos and Related Ethics Order Instructions: Please read below for information concerning assignment.
Support responses with examples and use APA formatting in the paper. You may access the school’s website by logging into:
Please note that when you log into the website you must click launch class, and on the next screen click syllabus to view this week’s readings (week 2) and Academic Resources to access the school’s library.
To support your work, use your course and text readings and also use outside sources. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.
Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your classmates. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Complete your participation for this assignment by Wednesday, May 25, 2016.
Interoffice Memos and the Related Ethics
You have just been appointed to head up the committee to plan the upcoming holiday party for your company, which employs around three hundred people. Susan, Mark, John, and Kathy have also been appointed to this committee. You have worked with Susan before and know that she will be a great worker. You have met Mark and Kathy, but do not know much about them. Unfortunately, you have heard that John can be difficult to work with. At any rate, you are really excited about planning this party and know that leading this committee will be a great opportunity to show your leadership skills.
Based on this scenario and your understanding of how to write internal e-mails, respond to the following:
• Create an e-mail draft you want to send to your committee members about an initial meeting to discuss the party. In the e-mail, include any information you think is appropriate to get everyone excited and on board to make this the best holiday party ever.
• As you developed this e-mail, what did you consider including in the message? Why did you feel that was important to include?
• Were there any topics that you decided would be best not to include in this message? What were they and why did you choose not to include them?
• Were you concerned about how formal or informal this e-mail needed to be? Why?
• Is It Ethical to include blind carbon copies (Bcc) in business e-mails? Give reasons for your agreement or disagreement.
• The information you have heard about John being difficult to work with has you concerned. Do you plan to communicate with him before the initial meeting? If yes, what method will you use to communicate with him? If no, why not?
Inter Office Memos and Related Ethics Sample Answer
Inter-office memos and related ethics
This paper is a discussion on inter-office memos and related ethics; discussing various issues on office communication. The discussion is centered on a company holiday party, in which I am the head of the planning committee.
Draft Email
To: Susan, Mark, John, Kathy
Subject: Company Holiday Party First Meeting
Dear colleagues,
It is my sincere hope that you are all excited about the upcoming holiday party. As head of the committee, I am delighted to be part of a wonderful team, which will ensure that this will be the best holiday party in the company’s history.
This year’s holiday party will not only give employees an opportunity to travel to a new location but it will also offer a fun-filled experience with numerous fun activities, entertainment, exotic food and giveaways like never experienced before. Whether this becomes the best party ever is entirely our discretion. In this regard, it is important that we start the planning process as soon as possible.
To kick off the planning process, I would like to invite the team for the first meeting on May 30, 2016, from 10.00 AM at the main office boardroom. The aim of the meeting is to discuss how we will plan for the party including the theme, possible destinations, and activities to include. I hope to see you all then and look forward to the fruitful collaboration. Please get back to me in case of any concerns.
Best Wishes,
Tiffany Shakespeare
Head of Committee – Company Holiday Party
Email and ethics discussion
In writing the email, it was important to include an email subject that would automatically tell the reader what the email was about. This way, it creates interest and ensures that the message is communicated. Given that the communication was about the party’s first meeting, providing a date, time and venue for the meeting were important. An introduction on what to expect about the upcoming party was also important as this gave the reader some idea on the nature of the party (Gupta, 2012).
There are topics that were intentionally excluded from the email, such as the personal and working relationship with the different team members. The email avoided indicating that I had not interacted well with some members and instead addressed them equally. This ensured that none of the team members felt inferior or unwelcome; which would otherwise affect their performance (Guffey and Loewy, 2015). By choosing not to include them, I intended to start conversations that would help me build better relationships at an individual level as opposed to using a collective email.
I was concerned on the formality and informality of the email; mostly because it was an official duty, yet the nature of the assignment could essentially be considered informal. Planning a party requires an informal attitude as it is aimed to give the employees a fun experience. I, therefore, had to write the email in a way that conveyed the importance of the planning process as well as portraying the excitement that should accompany the task (Gupta, 2012).
It is unethical to include Bcc when doing business emails. This is because, in business settings, it prevents recipients from knowing who else is involved in the communication or email subject. Using Bcc means that the recipients are not aware of who else read the message and this may influence the nature of their response or willingness to participate in the conversation (Dvorak, 2012). This raises issues where the client may not be comfortable with third parties accessing the email, mostly for private and confidential information.
Having heard that John is difficult to deal with, I would plan to engage him before the initial meeting. The best approach as provided by Guffey and Loewy (2015), would be to have a face-to-face meeting where I would get to know him better. If he is far, I would call him in advance and schedule for an informal meeting such as during lunch break.
In conclusion, writing inter-office memos require consideration of various factors that must be considered to ensure that messages are well communicated and that unethical issues are avoided.
Inter Office Memos and Related Ethics References
Dvorak, J. C. (2012). E-mail Etiquette Part II: CCing and BCCing. PC Magazine, 1. Retrieved
from eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=1a4dd06a-3610-40da-8fee-11d3094ae8b0%40sessionmgr104&hid=113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=82061523&db=bth
Guffey, M. E., & Loewy, D. (2015). Business Communication: Process and Product, 8th Ed.
Hampshire: Cengage Learning
Gupta, N. (2012). E-mail Etiquettes: Dos and Don’ts. IUP Journal Of Soft Skills, 6(1), 29-37.
Retrieved from eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1a4dd06a-3610-40da-8fee-11d3094ae8b0%40sessionmgr104&vid=8&hid=113
