Warm-Up 4 doesn't give you any marks (!), but it is, perhaps, a way for you to see the collective wisdom of the group about two key areas in the In-Tray exam: complaining and apologising. Since you don't get any marks for it, you don't have to do it either - but I'm sure that your contributions will be gratefully received by everyone else, if you do!
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, 27th April (via the Module 4 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 60 marks, you've passed, and when the total exceeds 80 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 3rd June … but, as usual, we'll be understanding if you're a little late.
You have to be clear about the message to receive results when complaining, however I recommend not to use strong adverbs. Keep it clean to avoid someone taking offence.
ReplyDeleteWhen apologizing to someone, come clean and do not blame the circumstances. I believe that you have a greater chance of being excused if you confess your mistakes. Honesty often do the trick!
Be clear with what you would like to say in an e-mail. Do not leave the subject row blank or write something that might be perceived as confusing by the receiver.
Do always keep an e-mail as short as possible. People do not want to spend more time on
e-mails than necessary, especially not in business. With long e-mails you will risk making your receiver annoyed and might be left with an answer you did not hope for or no answer at all.
Sheyla Gallardo
ReplyDeleteComplaining:
• Issue. To start with, a complaint letter should explain what the matter is, where and when the problem happened, and the person in duty.
• How to set out the problem. It is essential not to be emotional; you should be objective and the tone should not be aggressive. Moreover, it is also very important to be specific and clear enough in order to avoid a letter back asking for more details.
• Establish a solution. In addition, you could propose a solution, but avoid getting into legal actions if the issue can be solved other way. For instance, you could request for an apology and a reward.
Finding an observation you can put them on warning would be an excellent tactic to force the company in question to solve the problem. However, it is not indispensable.
• Conclusion. You should thank the reader for the time and include some contact number or e-mail address. Furthermore, a complaint letter should conclude telling what you are looking forward in order to make everything works out.
Apologizing:
• Apologize. Start saying how sorry you are, but keep it short and to the point.
• Explanation. You must show sincere and credible, so make it clear, concise, and logical. The tone should be considerate and respectful.
• Find a solution. Give a possible solution or reward. In spite of focusing on the damage you have caused, write about a possible way of rectifying the situation and take full responsibility.
• To conclude. Say again you are sorry. A convincing way of apologizing is to establish some preventive measures in order to ensure that this kind of situation will not happen again. Finally, sign the letter with some expression like “sincerely” and your name.