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, 30th April (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.
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.
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 30th May … but, as usual, we'll be understanding if you're a little late.
To complain
ReplyDeleteI think that you have to look at the particular situation and the individual that you are going to correct. Different people demands different treatment since we all react differently on complaints.
You always have to try to maximize the benefits of your complaints, so that there is something good coming out of it in the end. It’s useless to let your own aggregations taking the overhand since complaining on someone never should be personal (at least not in a company, from a boss). Instead, you should try to plan your complaints so that the person that has done something wrong can learn something and maybe correct the mistake that she have made.
If you let your own ego control the complaint and go berserk on the worker, she will respond negatively and lose a little of her company soul. She will also spread the word among her colleagues, which can result in groups of resistance against you and your leadership. But as I said, it’s all about the particular situation.
To apologize
When you are apologizing you should be straightforward and honest. You should let the counterpart know that you understand that you have made something wrong and that you regret your behavior.
It’s important to be honest and sincere; otherwise the apology will loosen its strength and might even bite you in the tail. Because your boss wants to be certain that you won´t do the same mistake twice, and there is no way she can be sure of that if your apology is halfhearted.
The language should be informal to make your boss understand that it is you that is speaking. I think that an informal explanation of the matter and what caused the mistake is more important that the apology itself, although the apology as a ritual is important as well.
Some strategy and language tips
ReplyDeleteMy strategy when you write a apologising letter is to write the things you are apologising for and then write the things that you not agree with if there are any. If you apologising for things you don’t think is necessary you let the other person win, while it still will be disagreements between you two.
My strategy when you write a complaining letter is to be clear and straight. If you are unclear the person you write to can misunderstand your message. Just because you are clear and straight, it doesn’t mean that you are rude, you have to choose your words well, so the message is clear and you will still be professional.
My language tips are to write more formal than informal. This because I think that if you are to informal in your language the person you write to is more likely to misunderstand you and not take you seriously. To informal letters can also been taking non – serious and rude, if the person you write to is unaccustomed with that sort of language.
Letter of complaint
ReplyDeleteWhen you are complaining about bad service it is important to describe the issue in details. Firstly, we should explain the reasons of our disappointment.
Then we can write that the received service differs from our previous expectations.
In the end, it is significant to add what kind of compensation we expect from the company.
The language should be polite and at least semi-formal. It is not our aim to offend the company but to get satisfying service. The communication should be based on mutual respect, because it's highly probable that we return to this company again.
Warm-up 4
ReplyDeleteComplaining – Strategies
- Be accurate
- Keep to the point
- Don’t get emotional
- Be constructive
Language tips
- Polite
- Formal
- Good structure
- Not too long
Apologising – Strategies
- Explain the situation
- Don’t go around the bush!
- Be straight forward
- Separate the act from the person, to make it easier for you
Language tips
- Polite
- Straight at the point
- Formal
- Keep a distance between your feelings and the subject
/Ylva Dungelid
Apologising…
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, it is of crucial importance to acknowledge that a mistake has been made. In case someone attempts to decline their responsibilities, the situation will most probably get out of hand.
In my point of view, trying to make excuses will make the recipient of our letter feel that his problem is not taken into serious consideration. On the other hand, a reasonable explanation of why this matter occurred would probably be positively received and the injured party will realise that they are not being exploited and laughed at.
Finally, it would be ideal if some indications were given about possible ways to put things right. The other party will hopefully be satisfied and hence there is a high possibility that no further negative consequences will follow.
Complaining…
Writing a letter of complaint has to be well planned and based on a strategy, since all personal feelings have to be set aside in order to make a clear statement. In different circumstances, there is a risk of expressing ourselves much more strongly than we actually should.
The content and language used depend on the relationship between the sender and recipient and every potential consequence has to be taken into account in order to prevent negative results from happening.
Lastly, it’s necessary to let the other party know what we want in order our complaint to be resolved and give a reasonable timetable for actions to be taken. On the other hand, a special reference should also be made on other options we might consider in case our complaint is neglected.
In both cases (complaining and apologising) it is absolutely important to be polite and give a clear idea of what really happened without exaggerating.
Patrycja Biernat
ReplyDeleteApology Letter
Writing the apology letter you should be formal and polite. You have to remember that this letter aims to improve your relationships and in this order you should choose a words carefully so as the apology will be considerate and respectful. The next important aspect is to keep your apology letter short and to the point because no one wants to read so long letters. The significant is to offer your apology in the beginning of the letter and clearly state the problem. Writing this kind of letter you usually want to rebuild a damaged relationship so in this order you have to show that you are ready to take a responsibility for your mistakes. An effective letter of apology should be carefully planned.
Letter of complaint
When you are complaining you should be formal and polite. The important is to write the letter with a considerate, cooperative and complimentary tone, because the reader is more willing to respon positively. Also you should give the company a chance to rectify the situation amicably. But simultaneously the letter of complaint should kepp the language dispassionate and make it very clear what the company has to do to redress your grievances. In your letter you have to exactly explain what is the reason of your dissatisfaction including the relevant details, dates, requirements, etc.
Tips on making a complaint:
ReplyDelete- be aware of the cultural differences between you and the recipient,
- be diplomatic, confident and polite, but never aggressive and threatening,
- avoid misunderstandings; make sure that your letter is clearly written,
- be detailed about what happened but keep it short.
Tips on making an apology:
-apologize when necessary and do not blame everybody else,
- take full responsibility for what you have done,
- keep it short.
To complain
ReplyDeleteWhen you are about to make a complain it is important to know who you are complaining to. You don’t want to offend the other person, just clear the problems you been having and hopefully get an apology back. If you are complaining about your rental car for an example, let the person you are talking to know exactly what it was with the car that made you upset otherwise it will be hard for them to change whatever it was that you were upset about.
To apologize
When you are apologizing for example your boss have just let you know that because of a mistake in your latest report you have just lost one of your biggest clients you have to make an honest apology. Let your boss or however it is that you are giving the apology to understand that you are aware of the mistake/s you have made and that you will never let it happened again. You have to remember being polite, if you get upset the apology could be mistaken for a complain back to the person. Sometimes it is better to apology once too many then once too little
Tips & Tricks for complaining and apologizing.
ReplyDeleteComplaining
Even if you’re angry, be polite. Yelling is not nice in real life, and looks even worse in writing. Avoid too strong language and definitely no name calling! Polite, yet firm usually does the trick in a better way.
Don’t exaggerate. Try to be objective when you describe the mistake you think has been, and clearly explain the consequences this had for you.
Be clear about what you want – an apology, a replacement product, your money back. If you had expenses that you want reimbursement for – make sure you attach receipts.
Apologizing
Make sure your tone and language is polite and personal – avoid standard phrases. Show empathy.
Don’t lie. If you’ve made a mistake – be honest about it.
Before you start writing a 4-page report on why this happened and all the circumstances around it: Think for a while – will this information benefit the complaining customer at all?
If you’ve made a mistake that caused the complaining person extra costs – make sure you cover their expenses. Try to add some extra ‘goodies’ to show your good intentions.
Tell the person you want to apologize to what you will do to make sure this doesn’t happen in the future.
Complaining
ReplyDeleteSeparate your heart from your head
Describe the situation in detail
Be clear
Let them know what your action will be
Let them know what you expect them to do
Apologising
Separate your heart from your head
Acknowledge that a mistake has been made
Be humble and clear
If there is something you don’t agree with, let them know the reason why you disagree.
Let them know what your action will be
Let them know what you expect them to do (if there is something you want them to do)
Some tips for apologise
ReplyDelete• It is important that the style and language in the letter of apologise to be formal and polite.
• Offer and express the apology in the beginning of the letter.
• Furthermore, be clear to state the problem and explain what went wrong.
• Depending on circumstances’, it is important to know when to write the apology letter to the person that you are involved with. In some cases it is important with immediately apology and in others it is better to wait some time.
• Do not hesitate to say sorry! Say it to save your friendships or your business contacts.
Some tips for complaint
• Importance in writing complaint is to be polite and stay calm even if you are the person that has been damaged.
• Moreover, it is central with clear and brief letter of complaint. Mention what made you unsatisfied.
• Send the complaint letter to the competent person or division.
• Save the copy of the letter or make notes.
• Give some time for action to be taken and let the company know what you expect to be done about the problem. Things cannot be fixed during the day.
Malwina Malecka
ReplyDeleteComplaining
If we have strong proofs that someone has done something wrong to us, it’s apparently easy to complain. However, a letter of complaint should be written in such way to achieve previously intended aim. Firstly, we should think about what we want to achieve. On one hand we have to clearly show dissatisfaction and all things we don’t like about a case. We can’t let anyone to ignore us. On the other, we can’t make the other side angry.
I think that the most important is to know what we want to achieve and to have some plan how to do it. If the other side agrees to satisfy our conditions, we can try to make a benefit from our misfortune.
Apologising
The more serious damage we caused the more difficult it is to write a letter of apology. That’s why it’s important to think of something what will satisfy harmed person. It has to be adequate to the caused damage because just words probably won’t be satisfactorily.
In both cases it’s important to have a good idea of solving occurred situations. I think that it’s very helpful to write those ideas and make a plan of our work first.
First of all you have to be aware of whom you’re talking or writing to and no problem and situation are ever the same. Is it a supervisor at a big company or “just” a warehouse manager at one of your subcontractors you are in contact with? You may need to adjust your language regarding on who you’re writing to.
ReplyDeleteWhen you want to complain you have to be aware of the cultural differences because sometimes a problem occurred because of the language barriers by using a synonym that’s not that common in the other country. You also have to be polite and emphasize what you really are dissatisfied with and write it in a polite way even though you’re probably pretty angry and try not to write things that have nothing to do with the situation. When you have presented the situation and told them what you’re dissatisfied with, you have to be clear on what you expect them to do to compensate you if you’ll continue to be one of their customers or partners in the future.
When you are about to apologize, an advise is don’t take the defensive position right away. The situation is maybe not that serious yet, it can be wise to try to buy some time first and fix the problem before its too late. But f it’s too late you have to, in a polite and formal way, acknowledge that a mistake has been done and don’t blame anybody else for your mistake(s). Then you have to be clear and honest when you’re explaining why the mistake took place, what went wrong and what are you going to do about it. As long as they know that you know that you have made a mistake and that you are going to take full responsibility for it, it’s already looking a lot better.
As a French I complain very often so let’s talk about it.
ReplyDeleteWe can differentiate two main strategies to complain more or less risky regarding the situation: sympathy strategy and threaten strategy.
Before giving you a short explanation of the two strategies mentioned above, it is important to respect some principles.
It is essential to be factual, to be (sound) honest, to say precisely what you expect from them, to write your complain letter like an argumentation and contact the right person.
It will be difficult for someone to stay indifferent to a logical reasoning, even more if he understands that he will lose more not according you what you want.
The two different strategies which can also be combined represent in a way your “marketing positioning”.
All of us know very well how to get something from someone by being threatening or being sympathetic.
I would recommend to choose the sympathy strategy as much as possible and keep the threatening one for some specific occasions or if the sympathy one did not work.
With the sympathy strategy we want to make the reader feel and understand our complain like if it was his own. The reader’s empathy will make the rest and you will get what you want.
The threatening strategy used as a start is extremely dangerous because the reader can adopt a position of confrontation instead of bending under your threats. So when this strategy is used you have to bring serious arguments that will give them no chance to fight. Companies always evaluate decisions according to financial risks and risks related to brand image. You must clearly aim those key points.
The main language tips are to be extremely polite, show not passion in your words, stay exclusively concrete and organized in your explanations. Companies pay more attention and give more credibility to someone who use their codes.
Personal experience.
Two months after buying a US $ 6,000 Downhill Mountain Bike in the US I found a serious manufacturing defect on the frame. I have contacted the shop by email explaining to them my problem but they affirmed that there was not defect. They stayed deaf to my arguments in several emails. So I moved forward and contact directly the mountain bike brand. After sending the email below they answered positively to my demand and I received a brand no frame at home.
Re : Warranty manufacturing defect on a Frame Sunday World Cup 2008
Dear Sir,
I bought an Iron Horse Sunday WORLD CUP (see my previous emails and sales order below) at Randall Scott Company last July. The frame has a real manufacturing defect.
The two offsets on the seat tube (where the axle of the top link goes through), there is a length's difference of 4 mm (see pictures attached : Frame WC 1 ; Frame WC 2)
The Randall Scott customers service says that this is normal (see previous emails) and that there is no defect...
My old sunday elite 2007 has exactly the same specifications, 150 rear hub, 83mm bottom bracket. But the two offsets have the same length (see pictures attached : Frame Elite 1 ; Frame Elite 2), so if my world cup frame is correct it should mean that the 2007 Elite one has a defect!
The difference between the two offsets is so wide that the shock is twisted and the spring scratches
the metal and the paint on the frame (see picture attached : Frame WC 3)
As your Warranty statement says :
'Iron Horse Bicycle frames purchased from an authorized Iron Horse Bicycle dealer are warranted by Iron Horse to be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use as long as the bicycle is owned by the original owner'
There are more than enough evidences proving that there is a real defect.
Thank you very much in advance for taking the request here above into consideration with the shortest delay and for letting me know how I have to proceed to obtain a frame without any manufacturing defect.
Best regards
Sylvain CELAIRE
When complaining or apologizing I believe you need to be accurate, clear and use a formal lan-guage. Particular in a dialogue with other nationalities. If you´re writing a letter of complaint or apologizing, you need to express yourself so the reader doesn’t can misinterpret your message. I have some experience from training communication with Chinese businesses. Then I need to bear in mind that my mother tongue is Swedish, I’m translating my language to English, then the Chinese people will translate the message to Chinese (and remember that the Chinese language is nuanced and varies in a large extent). Then there can be no message between the lines and I can’t be nuanced in my own language from the beginning. I always start the letters with a very polite tone and language, almost exaggerating. Then I cut to the chase and then there will be no more going around the bush. “This is what I want..., do it like this…” I have learned that this way of communicating is the best way of doing it… Anyway with the Chinese businesses.
ReplyDelete