You publish your Warm-Up 4s as comments to this blog post.
The In-Tray Exam is based on the idea that you work for a temporary agency (like Manpower) and have been sent in to cover the work of one of the people employed by one of the companies on this course. An in-tray is the plastic or metal tray on your desk into which all the paperwork you have to deal with is placed. When you've dealt with it, it's transferred to your 'out-tray' to be sent off or filed.
The exam itself will be posted on the course web site on Friday, 20th November (via the Business Pages section of the site). It's a .pdf document which you can either download or read directly from the screen. When you read it, you'll notice that there are four writing tasks to complete, but you're given three complete sets of tasks to choose between, one for each of the companies in the course materials.
You don't have to stick to the same company for all four tasks - you can switch from one company to another, or you can stay with the same company all the way through.
You submit your In-Tray Exam to David Richardson as a Word document by e-mail. (If you're using Microsoft Works, rather than Word or an equivalent, remember to save the document as an .rtf - Rich Text Format - document, or David won't be able to open it).
When the exam's been received, David will print it on paper, mark it manually, write a mark and commentary for each task, and, finally, add your In-Tray Exam marks to the marks you've received for your Warm-Ups and Send-Ins. When the total exceeds 50 marks, you've passed, and when the total exceeds 70 marks, you've got a 'VG'. Your marks are reported on LADOK, the Swedish national university computer, more or less the same day the exam's marked (our administrative staff have their hands full with merger business right now, but I've asked them to prioritise this course).
When everything's finished, David puts your exam, the commentary and a statement of your total marks into an envelope and posts it to whatever address we have for you (if you've recently moved, or haven't given us your address, please let us know your current address as soon as possible). He'll also send you a mail straightaway with your final result and the form you need to send it in order to get a course certificate to put on your wall! (If you also need an Academic Transcript, showing that you've studied this course, please get in touch and we'll organise one of those too. )
At the end of the final mail is a link to the on-line course evaluation. This is totally anonymous - and, besides, you've already got your mark, so you can say what you like! Feedback from you is very valuable to us (even if you don't get any direct benefit from it!) and all of us on the course team greatly appreciate hearing what you've thought of the course.
Good luck with the exam! The due date is 13th December (Lucia Day) … but, as usual, we'll be understanding if you're a little late.
Complaining strategies:
ReplyDelete• Keep to facts.
• Do not involve feelings.
• Do not exaggerate.
• State your claims, but be reasonable.
• Be polite.
Apologising strategies:
• Apologise very thoroughly.
• No evasions.
• Propose a solution.
Do not (don´t:-)) use short forms and avoid colloquial language.
The week before this course started, I wrote an e-mail of complaint to a colleague (not close) in the US. My patience was exhausted and I was really angry. As the Business Writing Course proceeded, I realized that the tone in my e-mail had not been appropriate and I began worrying and wondering how my message had been conceived over there.
Luckily my US colleague took action as requested and things were sorted out. I even think there are no hard feelings despite the style of my e-mail!
Nowadays I keep the advice from this course in mind whenever I write in English.
Pernilla Bengtsson
Regarding complaints I believe it is important to be clear, objective and to avoid expressing strong emotions. I think it is also of great importance to clearly express the type of action needed to restore confidence and/or repair the damage.
ReplyDeleteRegarding apologies one important aspect is to take the responsibility for what has occured. Trying to blame someone else only make things worse if it is obvious that you caused the situation.
My opponion is that a politely written letter is preferable in all situations, whether it comes to your neighbour leaving fluff in the tumbler-drier or more serious incidents. Treating other people with respect will hopefully increase the chances of getting the same treatment back.
Hanna Ulmfelt
Three tips for apologising
ReplyDelete1. Acknowledging the mistake.
Here is a difference if you use us or me and it all depends on how personal you want the apology to be. If you would like to steer the attention away from who did the mistake use a construction that starts with “It” or “There”.
2. Do not make excuses.
Try to explain what happened whiteout blaming the mistake on someone else or something that you could not control.
3. Offer a solution.
Suggestion a solution and if there is possible a compensation for the difficulty you might caused.
Three tips for complaining.
1. Make up a strategy.
What is your point with complaining? What are the hard facts that really made you not satisfied with the goods or services?
2. Use a diplomatic language.
You will make people listen to you if you use a diplomatic language that explain the mistake and how it affected you and your business, in a strict practical way.
3. Offer a solution.
This maybe sound strange, that you should do the same as when you apposing but this will make clear what kind of compensation you are after. This should of course be realistic requirements so you want seems like unreasonable person.
Of course there are differences between different countries in how you can make apologises and complains, if you take Sweden and Russia as example countries there are some aspects you have to take in to consideration. For example the power distance is much higher in Russia then in Sweden. That means you will find the distance between an authoritarian person and a person with less authority large. So if there is a mistake made by an authorial person you should take that in consideration when complaining, maybe use a very diplomatic language.
I would like to tell you how I learned that it is best to use a professional language and keep to the subject even in e-mails to close co-workers. In the beginning of my carrier at IKEA I was working in a Business-IT project as administrator. My tasks were everything from ordering fruit to our office, to taking the minutes in the steering group meetings. Our office was located in the same building as the store and the security was very high. I had problems to get the fruit delivery through the personal entrance.
ReplyDeleteOne of my co-workers and I were always joking in the e-mails and we wrote pretty stupid things to each other. This time I was as usual joking and told him that I only had one problem and that was the Security Manager not letting the delivery firm pass the personal entrance.
Big mistake! My work mate who had a manager position in my group forwarded my mail to the Security Manager. Of course the Security Manager became very angry. That time I chose to not send an apology by mail, I had to talk to her face to face. It worked out good but I learned a lesson; to really think about what I write in an e-mail.
Think about when apologizing:
• Be honest
• Do not defend yourself with irrelevant facts
• Do not blame someone else
• Show respect
• Use a proper language
Think about when complaining:
• Keep to facts
• Use a diplomatic language
• Do not exaggerate
Mia Westman
strategies for complaining:
ReplyDelete1) stick to one strategy, do you like some money back or anything else?
2) use formal languge
3) keep to facts, evidence?
4) not too long
strategies for apologising:
1) be honest, do not blame anyone else or an other circumstances
2) get back to them
3) ask about feedback
4) formal language
language tips:
1) look up synonyms, to get more choices for a specific word.
2) use a great dictionary (on the internet)
3) advise from collegues, ask them to read through your report etc.
4) a good report or text takes time to praper.
/Kristina Fredlund
Sorry, I have missed the date for warm-up 4. I will post it coming weekend/Annica Dahlberg
ReplyDelete