I interpreted the email delivery of Jane's message to Mark to be well mannered buy yet serious and concise about the information she needed from him. I feel this way because, within her email, Jane expresses consideration for Mark's possible situations that has kept him busy. At the same time, she explains the importance of why she is asking him for the information. The voicemail version of this message had a tad bit different affect on me. Even though it's the same verbiage that was sent in the email, the tone of Jane's voice had a slightly different feel. At certain times her voice had an irritated tone to it. It was not a strong tone of irritation at all, but it was noticeable enough to me to have a different effect on how I perceived the message. The sincerity that I heard in her voice when she said "I really appreciate your help" made me not hold on so tight to the "not so nice" vibe I received initially.
In my opinion, the face-to-face modality was the best representation of Jane's message to Mark. The points that needed to be expressed seemed to have been done so just right. Being able to see someone as they speak allows the comparison between body language and tone. That, in turn, helps to interpret how a person intends for a message to come across.
These different modalities are an implication that how one communicates with other members of a project team is very important. It's important for several reasons but mainly because it determines how one will respond to someone's attempt to communicate. With working on a project, there will be times when completing your work depends on the completion of another person's. In the case where one person has to approach the other about it, no matter how bad the case, it's key to come to that person with total respect. Once someone sees that you have respect for them as a person and their possible situations, they are probably more likely embrace your concerns or questions. Engaging stakeholders and communicating with them is an art (Achong, 2010). So getting to know how they respond to communication types is crucial to your relationship as team members and to your survival in the project processes.
When it comes to asking others important questions or questions that may potentially cause an eyebrow to be raised, I think it would be good to rehearse it a few times and then place yourself in the other person's shoes. Doing this, I believe, is one of the best ways to decide on how to say/word something. Word it like so, then ask yourself how you would I feel or react if asked that same question in the same manner. I can see this putting things into perspective fairly quickly, and as a result, it may seem easier to proceed.
References
Achong, T. (2010). Practitioner Voices: Strategies for Working with Stakeholders. [Online video]. Retrieved January 20, 2010, from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn.
It is interesting that you said, " At certain times her voice had an irritated tone to it. It was not a strong tone of irritation at all, but it was noticeable enough to me to have a different effect on how I perceived the message." I also thought she sounded irritated. It wasn't as professional as it could have been. Then the face to face communication was much more informal and understanding. It leads me to wonder if she was being reactive or if she had asked for this report before. It is important to share the right message with people in a timely manner (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, & Sutton, 2008). We aren't told whether or not this was the first time she asked for the report. Great point about rehearsing what you say before you say it and putting yourself in the place of the other person.
ReplyDeletePortny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Hi Sheree,
ReplyDeleteI thought that you brought up some valid points. I agree with Amy about you mentioning thinking about and rehearsing what you want to say before you say it. This should be done whether you are sending an email, on the phone, or in a face to face situation. In addition to this, Dr. Stolovich in the video also brought up attitude, body language, tonality, and personality. These factors can affect how a message is perceived.
Stolovich, H. (2010). Communicating with Stakeholders.[Video]. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn.