BUSN20017 Effective Business Communications

Your project team has just been reprimanded by your boss for missing a deadline.Your colleagues left the meeting grumbling about being criticised in public after working nights and weekends, and you fear that morale has slipped.You can craft an inspirational message to soothe the bruised egos and get the team’s energy turned around in a positive direction. However, writing such a message could be risky, because world-weary teammates might just brush it off as happy talk and resent you for trying to be a cheerleader.

Alternately, you could suggest that your colleagues lighten up and stay focused on the ultimate goal of the project. However, you already know that telling grumpy people to cheer up is a surefire way to make most of them even grumpier. Instead, you opt for a quick bit of gentle sarcasm, designed to help release the negative emotions in a collegial way. When you get back to your desk, you write the following instant message: Well, let’s pick up the pieces of our shattered lives and move on ;?) The over the top phrasing is a subtle way to remind everyone that the criticism wasn’t all THAT traumatic, and the winking emoticon tells everyone to lighten up without actually saying so. The apparent sarcasm connect with people who are marinating in their negative emotions, but it is really a pep talk disguised as sarcasm.

Then you worry that the emoticon will seem unprofessional, so you replace it with a simple period.Well, let’s pick up the pieces of our shattered lives and move on. Oops. That one minor change to make the message more professional turned it into a statement of resigned sadness. You search your keyboard for an acceptable symbol that might help:
Well, let’s pick up the pieces of our shattered lives and move on!
Great, now you have managed to sound bitter and demanding at the same time.
1. Given the difficulty of communicating emotional nuance in lean media such as instant messaging (IM) and email, are emoticons really all that bad.
2. As a manager, what reaction would you have to job applicants where emoticons are used in the email message accompanying the job application.

The concept of emoticons have been applied for many years at workplace scenarios to express different aspects of emotions. Typically, emoticons are visual representations that demonstrate emotions of a particular writer. Basing the concept of emoticons on instant messaging and email at workplace, we realize that emoticons offer information about how an interpretation of utterance should be made rather than primarily indicating emotions of writers in authentic workplace emails (Kayi-Aydar, 2013). Emoticons are very important and they operate as contextualization cues. Their main purpose is to organize interpersonal relations where written interactions such as instant messaging and emails are applicable.

               Basically, emoticons are very important in serving three main communication functions. To start with, emoticons are applied when making signature. In that case, they serve as markers of positive attitude towards the message uttered in instant messaging and emails. Secondly, emoticons may express utterances than may be interpreted as humorous. In that case, emoticons will express jokes or irony markers (Lee, 2016). Lastly, emoticons may represent hedges when applied to demonstrate expressive speech acts. Emoticons are applied to offer thanks and greetings. In that case, they serve as strengtheners. From the case on office workplace, there has been application of directives such as corrections and requests. In that case, emoticons serves as softeners.

             Examination of emoticons can be analyzed from instant messaging and in authentic workplace emails. Emoticons have been applied by different companies as tools of communication via emails and instant messaging. Three frameworks such as politeness theory, discourse analysis and speech acts have be applied to determine situations where emoticons are applicable, nature of utterances followed by emoticons and communication functions served by emoticons. Ideally, the work emoticon has been extracted from two words. That is, emotion and icon (Christopher, Jonathan & Moore, 2017). In that connection, emoticon represent graphic visual expression which demonstrate the nature of utterance in written form. Emoticons are generated by computer generated communication tools such as ASCII symbols (;?)) and graphic symbols such as pictograms.

              Emoticons are not that bad because they have been applied in communication process consisting of instant messaging and emails. They have been applied as semiotic resource in communication relating to written forms such as email to as to modify speech acts systematically (Poole, 2011). In that case, emoticons have developed many functions in communication process as demonstrated by discourse analysis model. These methods have applied emoticons to conduct research based on computer mediated communication. This makes emoticons to serve as main communication platform in authentic workplace emails. Thus, emoticons act as multifunctional semiotic resource to email writers. These writers can apply concepts of social relationship and discourse analytical methods to contextualize and interpret messages generated from emails and instant messaging.

              Emoticons have been used in emails as indicators of emotional state of email writers. From research conducted on emoticons, both males and females have different usage of emoticons when uttering information via emails (Christopher, Jonathan & Moore, 2017). In summary, emoticons are not that bad in communication process since their impact on pragmatic functions and in message interpretation have created different motives such as markers positive attitude, markers of jokes and irony as well as in hedges. Emoticons have been applied as softeners in communication in making requests, corrections, rejections and complaints. They have also been applied as strengtheners in making admissions, promises, appraisals, wishes, greetings and thanks.  

1. As a manager, what reaction would you have to job applicants where emoticons are used in the email message accompanying the job application?

                Emoticons have been applied for many decades in communication process involve written messages such as emails. In workplace set up, many job applicants use email message to communicate their utterances in order to be considered for a job position. A manager who receives email messages from job applicants will be in a position to determine and interpret different emails from different writers. The reaction of the manager will be based on communicative functions of emoticons. Therefore, the manager will analyze three communication functions of emoticons as uttered in the emails. Emoticons will express three communicative functions such as marker of positive attitude, marker of irony and hedges by softening or strengthening expressions.

               The manager will react differently based on communicative function of emoticons. First, the manager will react with anticipation to emails containing emoticons as markers of positive attitude (Marylene, 2014). These emails will contain signatures which demonstrate positive attitude towards the manager. Thus, the manager will react instantly to the message of the sender since the email is identifiable with sender’s name. In this scenario, the emoticons used by the sender of the email serves as a marker of facial expression that the sender demonstrate to the written conversation. This makes emoticons in the email to possess an iconic function and aspects that signal the identity of the sender and demonstrate positive attitude towards the manager (Flowerdew, 2014). In that case, the managers will consider the applicant who use emoticon as marker of positive attitude for the job position.

             There are some messages where emoticons have been applied as markers of jokes or irony. In that case, the utterance made in the email message is interpreted as humorous context. Thus, the information provided by the job applicant in the email message seems redundant and irrelevant within the context of job application. The reaction of the manager to such an applicant is instant dismissal for job application. Emoticons use graphic signs to demonstrate emotional state of different job applicants. Typically, they compensate for facial expression, gestures, intonation and body movement that lack in email message.

This implies that, the manager will apply what different job applicants have demonstrated in the emails. He will be able to determine which group to shortlist for job interview based on emoticons used (Fairclough, 2010). Those applicants who use emoticons to express positive attitude will be considered first for job position. Those applicants who use emoticons to express humoristic utterance in their emails will be discarded and dismissed for a job position. Thus, the manager need to be in a position to interpret emoticons used in the email so as to isolate jokers from serious job seekers.

References

Books

Fairclough, N. (2010). Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. Routledge.

Flowerdew, J. (2014). Discourse in Content: Contemporary Applied Linguistics Volume 3. Bloomsbury Academic.

Marylene, G. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Work Engagement, Motivation and Self-Determination Theory. OUP USA.

Journal articles.

Christopher, N.C., Jonathan, C., & Moore, S.H. (2017). Introduction. Exploring Discourse in content and in Action. Pgs. 1-13. Doi. 10.1057/978-1-137-31506-9_1.

Christopher, N.C., Jonathan, C., & Moore, S.H. (2017). Research and Practice in Applied Linguistics: Exploring Discourse in Context and in Action. International Journal of Society, Culture & Language. Pgs. 120-123.

Kayi-Aydar, H. (2013). Exploring Classroom Discourse: Language in Action. ELT Journal. Pgs. 268-270. Doi. 10.1093/elt/cct004.

Lee, S.S. (2016). Critical analysis of the educational community discussion: Focusing on the conceptualization. Journal of Educational Innovation Research, 26(1), 45-69.

Poole, B. (2011). Exploring Classroom Discourse: Language in Action. System Journal. Pgs. 573-575. Doi. 10.1016/j.system.2011.10.004.