Question

Asynchronous Communication – What Could go Wrong?

Describe a time when an email was sent and it that was not received well. As an alternative approach,

describe a time when you received an email and misunderstood its intent. If neither scenario has ever happened to you, describe one in which someone you know experienced one of these situations.

Describe what happened as a result of the misunderstood email.

Explain how this communication may have been made clearer and thus avoided any misunderstandings or problems. Include your evaluation of whether email was the most appropriate means to communicate the message.

Describe the important things to consider when communicating with people using email or other asynchronous methods as a sender and as a recipient.

Answer 1

The miscommunication in an asynchronous communication method such as a mail can have serious consequences if there is no meeting of minds between the sender and the recipient, as the later is unable to decode the intent of the former.

One such incident is of time when the difference between the level of understanding of English language of a departmental head and a supervisor led to a blunder. The head was an Englishman who was known to use jargons and write articulate English. The supervisor was an Asian who shas basic working knowledge of the language. One day the company invited an internationally reputed lean specialist to the factory and he wanted all employees of level foreman and above to attend the workshop. He emailed the supervisor, writing

" I want none of the foreman to be devoid of the benefits of such workshop and therefore please ensure that none of them fails to attend it"

The supervisor quickly read the mail and asked all formen under his command to report at 13 PM, a time when the event would be over. Next day, the head was red hot when he did not find even a single attendee out of foremen in the workshop. On asking the supervisor said that he received a mail to ask every foreman not to attend the workshop. This incident remained a laughning stock for a long time.

The email is undoubtedly one of the easiest and most convenient way of communicating, but here, the language should have been clear and concise to enable even a layman to understand. The head did not use simple words while the supervisor could not uncode a simple message. Efforts from both ends could have averted the outcome.

The things to consider while using email effectively,

(i) The message should be in clear English language, easy to understand to everyone. It must not include jargons and complex sentecnes.

(ii) The message should be to the point and clearly distinguishable.

(iii) The message should be short.

(iv) The message should be requested for a receipt. The recipient should be encouraged to respond for more clarifications.