Communication: an important way to successful
collaboration
Veterinary Research Institute,
Written, faxed, teleph=
one
and electronic correspondence are all a means of carrying out professional
tasks and must be governed by set rules. It must be established what a head=
of
a department has to arrange or sign and what falls under the competence of
heads of laboratories or research teams. Letters sent by post should use a
uniform letter-paper with information about the name of the workplace, which
may be supplemented below the heading or next to the signature by the name =
of
the department, reference laboratory, the name of the project etc. Letter-p=
aper
gives the telephone and fax numbers, the e-mail address and web-page of the
workplace. They should have the logo of the workplace and a striking design=
so
that, in cases where contact is frequent, the sender may be instantly
identified by merely fleeting glance at the heading. For correspondence with
foreign partners, it is appropriate to use English or multi-lingual
letter-paper. Each letter must indicate the date and reference number, under
which the matter is being dealt. A record of correspondence sent and receiv=
ed
may be kept at the directorate and at individual departments independently;=
it
must, however, be expressed in the reference number. The record must provide
essential information about the time of receipt or dispatch, about the tran=
sfer
of matters for attention (to whom and when) and about the storage of a docu=
ment
or its copy. The reference number for sent correspondence is also on the
envelope. The system of records and storage of received and sent correspond=
ence
must meet the requirements for the period of enshrinement of documents and
permit searching and access to all documents even in the absence of the
employees who dealt with them.
Each letter must, in
addition, contain the full address to which it is being sent (identical to =
the
address on the envelope). Professional correspondence should be sent to the
address of the institution, not to the name of its employee. However, if the
name of the person who is dealing with the matter is known, his name may be
included under the name of the institution (F.A.O. …..,
Attn: …..).
In official contact,
colleagues should not address each other familiarly, even if the sender and
recipient know each other well. Often a letter may become part of documenta=
tion
or is forwarded for an expert opinion or attention of the recipient‘s
superiors and its familiar form may not be appropriate. It is, however,
possible to attach a separate piece of paper with a personal message.
If an item of
correspondence is following up previous negotiations or responds to a letter
received, a suitable reference should be included to enable the recipient to
pass it onto the relevant employee or to ease its resolution. Often a sender
incorrectly "kindly asks for" instead of "asks if (the
recipient) would be so kind as to assess". Thanking in advance for the
fulfilment of a request will do no harm, thanking for a service rendered (n=
ot
for an authority fulfilling its obligations) should, however, go without
saying.
Correspondence sent by
post should be signed by the signatory in his or her own hand above their n=
ame
printed in full with title and function (e.g. institute director, departmen=
tal
manager, reference laboratory manager, researcher in charge of project etc.=
).
In recent years, the use of academic titles has come to be considered a sig=
n of
a lack of modesty, according to trends in the countries of Western Europe a=
nd
the
Paragraphs should begin
without indentation and should be separated by missing a line. Tables shoul=
d be
ordered, and text should be centred or aligned to the right using the
appropriate text editor commands, not by repeatedly pressing the space bar =
or
tab key. Common errors include two spaces between words, a space missing af=
ter
a comma, colon or a full stop. Texts should be checked using a programme for
spelling and grammatical errors. Before printing, the carefully checked text
will be aligned using the justify command. It is therefore necessary to cho=
ose
the correct margins for the page. Big spaces between words caused by a long
word at the beginning of the next line may be removed by dividing the word.=
It
is, however, appropriate to save the text before dividing words, because du=
ring
later formatting of the text the divided words may easily be moved to place=
s in
the middle of a line and have to be removed. Hyphens may be found and erased
using the appropriate functions of the text editor. A gradual search and ch=
eck
of replacement is, however, recommended because replacing all hyphens at on=
ce
may result in the disappearance of minus signs, hyphens in words and hyphen=
s at
the end of a line.
Fax messages should, a=
part
from the above requisites of a letter, also have a special heading indicati=
ng
clearly the details of the recipient for whom the fax is intended and to wh=
ich
number it is being sent), the sender (who is sending the fax and from which
number) and how many pages are being sent. Such a heading facilitates deliv=
ery
without detailed reading of the text and above all facilitates return
information in cases of illegibility or non-receipt of all pages sent.
Electronic mail (e-mai=
l)
enables the very fast and cheap exchange of information and documents. It m=
ay
be sent at the same time to several addresses (e-mail addresses are separat=
ed
with commas without spaces) or to a group of addresses. A copy may also be =
sent
to other e-mail addresses. This is appropriate, for example, for informing
co-workers or a management team of correspondence in progress. A copy of the
reply received should also be sent to all who are working on the problem. I=
t is
easy to find out from the heading of each e-mail whether the sender has alr=
eady
sent a copy to other colleagues.
Mail programmes permit=
the
automatic attachment of a signature and this option should be used. The
signature should give the name and function of the sender, the address of h=
is
workplace, the phone and fax numbers. For correspondence with foreign partn=
ers,
this should be in English, as should various automatic responses or e-mail =
confirmations
of receipt. Several signatures may be prepared; their selection is very sim=
ple.
Every e-mail should
include a subject, by which the recipient may recognise its content and ass=
ess
its urgency. Electronic letters may be stored after reading in various e-ma=
il
boxes by subject or sender. It is appropriate to use the option of asking f=
or
confirmation of delivery and that the letter has been read (displayed). The
dispatch of information indicating receipt of e-mails to your address should
not be prevented.
As with letters, it is
necessary to write an e-mail briefly and clearly and to separate paragraphs=
by
missing a line. It is not appropriate to use letters specific to particular
national alphabets in the address of the sender (the full name of the sende=
r is
often permanently placed alongside the e-mail address), since these can lea=
d to
the complete un-readability of some names. This applies to all aspects of
electronic mail. The subject and the text itself should also be written in
Czech without diacritics. If a text is being sent which may be less
comprehensible without diacritics or which is expected to undergo further
correction or work, it is more suitable to attach it as a Word file. The sa=
me
applies also for more complex formatted texts with tables or indentation and
bullet-points in paragraphs, which are not suitable for copying into e-mail=
. It
is better to send these texts as an attachment and write the e-mail itself =
very
simply. It is never, however, appropriate to send
attachments with only an empty e-mail or even without indicating the subjec=
t.
The addressee must at least be briefly informed about what is in the
attachments and who is sending them, otherwise he may discover, often after=
a
long time, that the mail was not intended for him. Lengthy attachments are =
best
compressed. Addressees using Apple computers sometimes have problems openin=
g MS
Word files and can open files saved in RICH TEXT FORMAT (*.rtf) more easily=
.
It is not recommended =
that
attachments be opened directly. It is better to copy files on to a hard-dis=
k,
check their security using a suitable anti-virus programme and only then op=
en
them. Attachments will be most easily located if they are stored into a spe=
cial
sub-address book under the name indicating the sender and date of receipt in
the format YYMMDD. Received and sent e-mails should be saved in mailboxes
without attachments, because given a larger volume of c=
orrespondence,
attachments take up too much space. You can separate an e-mail from its
attachments by sending it to your own address and erasing the original e-ma=
il
with the attachments.
Mail programmes offer =
the
option of copying messages received into the reply. This option may be
effectively used when you are writing a commentary or notes directly into a
text received. In WORD documents, notes may be differentiated using a colou=
red
font or background, in e-mail it is recommended to miss a line before the n=
ote
and after it and a note "Comment 1 / 2 / 3 by K.H." or a striking
line of symbols, e.g. *************** or @@@@@@@@@@@@@@. It is not enough to
rely on the fact that some mail programmes mark each line copied with the &=
lt;
symbol, the number of which increases with each copying. If a text is excha=
nged
four times, the original line is mark <<<<. Sometimes, however,
this marking fails and differentiating between the original and new text is
arduous or impossible. Copying the original text should not be misused, bec=
ause
it is not pleasant to receive an e-mail with ten pages of correspondence fr=
om
five people, in which the only thing of importance is only the first message
and the signature.
The e-mail inbox shoul=
d be
checked often, ideally several times a day. During a period of absence it is
appropriate to use automatic information for senders that the addressee is =
away
from the workplace and correspondence received will be dealt with on his
return. E-mails received must be responded to quickly even in cases where i=
t is
not possible to fulfil the sender‘s requirements at once. It is always
possible, however, to confirm receipt and indicate when the matter is likel=
y to
be dealt with. The simplicity of internet communication precludes the excuse
that there was no time to reply.
E-mail addresses shoul=
d be
simple and should derive as far as possible from the name of the addressee,=
and
the domain from the name of the workplace. Institutional addresses should be
created in a unified way, ideally using only the name. Only in a case of
duplicate names should initials be used for further differentiation. Christ=
ian
names or nicknames are not the best choice for e-mail addresses. It is enti=
rely
inappropriate to use one address for several workers. Their differentiation=
by
name in brackets before the actual address is not displayed when group mess=
ages
are sent and the recipient receives correspondence which cannot be passed o=
n to
the addressee. E-mail addresses should be easily locatable on the workplace
web-page. This requirement is fulfilled only by using alphabetical lists of
employees from the whole workplace and alphabetical lists of employees from=
the
department. It is not suitable to rely on search engines because the precise
name may not be available.
Inappropriate forms of
address, poor formulation of requests or poor translation may in some cases
threaten further collaboration. It is therefore appropriate to consult on t=
he
conception of the letter with more experienced workers or with a superior w=
ho
can judge the level at which the correspondence should proceed. No one shou=
ld
consider the adoption of some contacts by a superior as a lack of trust or =
loss
of prestige. In certain cases, the best formulation of a request may only be
selected after great experience. An offer of collaboration or compensation =
may
also only be made by a worker with the necessary competencies.
An exchange of informa=
tion
also proceeds through discussion in person by telephone. Personal discussion
even with close collaborators should take place at a previously agreed time=
. A
telephone call asking if a partner is free or when it would suit him to mee=
t is
sufficient. If the subject of discussion is known, or if a request for
collaboration or information will be made, it is appropriate to inform the
partner. He can thus prepare for the discussion or invite another participa=
nt.
Often a well-prepared discussion may prevent the quick refusal of a request
which need not have occurred if the person asked had had time to prepare his
position. It is especially vital to announce a visit outside your own workp=
lace.
Unannounced visits even to close colleagues and friends in the workplace are
rarely welcomed and sometimes cannot be realised. It is always better to ask
directly how long those being visited can devote to the visit. The agreed d=
ate,
time and duration of the visit must be kept to.
When telephoning, the
caller must clearly introduce himself, giving name and workplace, not to the
switchboard operator, but to the person being called or his secretary. In t=
he
same way, the recipient of a phone-call should introduce himself by name or
workplace (e.g. an operator “Medical Faculty”, a secretary
“Dean’s Office”, but the Dean with his own name). Taking a
call with the words “Hello / Yes / How may=
I
help you?” do not belong among the most suitable. When telephoning it=
is
appropriate to ask whether we are interrupting the person we are calling and
when it would be better to call back. As before personal meetings, in more
complex cases it is helpful to send the question by e-mail, fax or post, or=
at
least by phone and offer the possibility of further discussion. The method =
of
communication should be chosen by the more senior partner. The person called
should not consider it inappropriate to ask the caller to call back later if
they have a visitor or a meeting. Constantly picking up the phone disrupts a
meeting in progress and does not show politeness to the visitor.
Another form of
communication is the passing of messages. Do not rely on your memory and or=
al
arrangements. For colleagues from the same workplace it is appropriate to w=
rite
a brief memo indicating from whom, when it was picked up and who is passing=
it
on. The simplest method is pass messages through the network or by sending =
an
e-mail, as long as the sender is sure that the addressee works with the
electronic mail regularly and there is not risk that he will not open his
in-box for two weeks. A worker who missed a caller should be informed about=
the
call or visit even if the caller has said that he will telephone again or c=
ome
later. It is impossible to guess how urgent the contact is and whether it i=
s in
the interests of the person who missed the caller to prepare for the meetin=
g or
to call back himself.
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