STUDY GUIDE

Module 1: Workplace Communication

Technical Skills
- are the abilities and knowledge needed to perform specific tasks;
- they are practical, and often relate to mechanical, information technology, mathematical,
or scientific tasks

Soft Skills
- the personal attributes, personality traits, inherent social cues, and communication abilities
needed for success on the job;
- characterize how a person interacts in his or her relationships with others
(interpersonal/people skills)

- communication done in the workplace

- the exchange of information that helps people interact with technology and solve complex
problems
- the message usually involves a technical subject with a specific purpose and audience

**The subject is usually technical, written carefully for a specific audience. The organization is
predictable and apparent, the style is concise, and the tone is objective and businesslike. Special
features may include visual elements to enhance the message.

A. Subject
- technical, factual
- fulfills the special needs of a specific reader

**Technical Writing - writing to share information or to have someone perform an action

B. Audience
- carefully considered, targeted
- the technical writer expects that the reader possesses some knowledge of the topic and its
specialized vocabulary; he also wants the reader to do something after reading
C. Organization
- predictable, apparent (easy to understand)
- technical documents use headings to help the readers perceive the organization at a single
glance; "the organization should allow the eyes to travel quickly to the information needed"

D. Style
- concise, direct, specialized vocabulary
- the way an author uses words and sentences gives the audience an idea of the type of
document they're reading

**Jargon, the highly specialized language of a particular discipline or technical field, is used.

E. Tone
- objective or businesslike
- the way the words make the person feel; describes the emotional character of a document

F. Special Features
- visual elements

Font size and style - boldfaced? italicized? underlined?

Numbered and/or bulleted lists - what kind of bullets?
Columns - one, two, three, or more?
Color
Graphs and Tables
Letterhead and Logo - size? location? middle, upper left? upper right? or side?
Photos and drawings - subject? style? black and white or color?
Sidebars - what information to highlight? where to place?
Clip Art - what purpose? to add humor, to set a tone, or to celebrate a season?

Desktop publishing software - used in the creation of documents using page layout skills on a
personal computer

Prepared by:

Vanrom Kip P. Follosco

Language Instructor, HSC
FEU Institute of Technology

**This guide is not “all-in” approach for the lesson’s contents. For a more comprehensive review and content
learning on the module, please refer to the video courseware and the PPT materials in CANVAS.
STUDY GUIDE
Module 2: Audience Analysis for Workplace Communication

- people who are reading the material in order to do something or learn something
- also known as “end-users”

Audience Analysis - assessing the audience to make sure the information provided to them is at
the appropriate level

Downward - from SUPERIOR to SUBORDINATE

Upward - from SUBORDINATE to SUPERIOR (i.e., lower hierarchical level to higher level)
Lateral / Sideward - from SUBORDINATE to another SUBORDINATE (i.e., working at the
same level)
Diagonal / Crosswise - among persons at different levels who have no direct reporting
relationships
Inward - from EXTERNAL AUDIENCE/AGENCIES to the ORGANIZATION
Outward - from WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION to an EXTERNAL AUDIENCE

A. According to Scope
Internal Audience - members of the same workplace
External Audience - people outside of the organization

B. According to Knowledge Level

Layperson - a general reader without expert knowledge but with an interest in a subject
Technician - a person with skilled knowledge in an area who implements the ideas or plans
of the expert; operate equipment, repair machinery, and train others; they read manuals,
schematics, blueprints, and technical reports
Expert - an authority in a particular field who is highly skilled and professional, perhaps
with an advanced degree; designs equipment, conducts research, and creates new products
Manager - a person who organizes personnel and is responsible for the day-to-day
operations as well as long-range planning

C. According to Point of View

Specific Audience - single person or a group whose point of view is the same
Multiple Audience - readers whose points of view differ
D. According to Order of Importance
Primary Audience/Target Audience - the audience for which the message is written; the
audience to which the writer is writing by using language this reader will understand
Secondary Audience - individuals outside the immediate circle of people who will be
needing the information directly

Demographics - information such as the age, sex, income, and educational level of your group
**In communicating in the workplace, one rule dominates: The needs and wants of your audience
dictate every decision you make as a writer/speaker.
1. Knowledge Level - experience, age, expertise
2. Role - the function or job that someone performs at work
3. Interest
4. Cultural Background - the special beliefs, customs, and values specific to a group of people or
to a particular region
5. Personality

Purpose - a specific end or outcome to be obtained; what a writer wants a reader to do after reading
a document
**The purpose is TO INFORM, TO INSTRUCT, TO PERSUADE, or a combination

Scope - the extent of treatment, activity, or influence, that is, what is and is not included
Medium - a means by which information is conveyed (e.g., a television commercial)

** The format of your medium deals with the details of the document arrangement: the type of
document, its length, the preferred style manual, and its organization.
**Tone - can range from formal (as in a business letter to a client) to semiformal (as in a memo
announcing a change in company dress policy) to informal (as in a quick email to colleagues
announcing the upcoming company picnic).

Prepared by:

Vanrom Kip P. Follosco

Language Instructor, HSC
FEU Institute of Technology

**This guide is not an “all-in” approach for the lesson’s contents. For a more comprehensive review and content
learning on the module, please refer to the video courseware and the PPT materials in CANVAS.
STUDY GUIDE
Module 3: Positive Professional Image and Branding

Being a professional means dressing smartly at work, doing a good job, bearing moral
ascendancy, and acquiring the proper degree required in the position or other certifications
to advance his level of work.

Attributes:
- Specialized Knowledge
- Competence
- Honesty and Integrity
- Respect
- Accountability
- Self-regulation
- Good image

Advantages of Possessing a Professional Image

- Selection for participation on project teams
- Inclusion in social settings with clients
- Selection to present project presentations
- Promotions to positions of greater responsibility
- May contribute to a high-performance rating
- Overall competitiveness in numerous situations

- a set of qualities and characteristics that represent perceptions of your competence and
character as judged by both influencers and peers
- the image you project in both a professional (classroom) and non-professional (grocery
store) environment
- what I will remember about you, since you are the message
- a lasting first impression - you begin making an impression before you even speak

**Behavior and appearance make up our professional image.

FIVE ASPECTS:
1. What you write
- Perfect your writing skills.
- Manage your online image.
- Check your voicemail: professional, not "What's Up?" or "Hey!”
 - Watch your email/texting: professional address, content, grammar, spelling - even with
Smart Phones that check and correct information as you type it needs to be professional.

2. What you say

- Conduct yourself in an ethical manner.
- Respect the organization and its rules.
- Never say bad things about your colleagues or your employer or your university.
- Practice your introduction and handshake.
- Remember that you are the message and the product.

3. What you do
- Avoid negativity.
- Listen and learn.
- Seek out opportunities to be visible - volunteer, take a risk.
- Follow through - accomplish what you say you will do.
- Be unique, irresistible, and enthusiastic.
- Shine! Use your strengths.
- Smile!

4. How you look

- First impression is always visual
- Sloppy dress = sloppy work; inappropriate appearance = questionable behavior
- Good grooming - neat, clean, pressed (yes, use an iron)
- Think of the competition
- Dress for the industry or position you are aspiring to attain; better to be more
formal than under-dressed
- Develop a signature style? - a color, tie/scarf pattern, piece of jewelry
- Don't distract from your message...that you are a qualified candidate!

5. Who you know

- Surround yourself with successful and helpful people; this may mean leaving old friends
behind.
- Talk to everyone; it is not WHO you know but who knows YOU.
- Project the image of a confident communicator.
- Keep in mind that you are remembered and judged by who you spend time together with.

Professional Habits - acquired pattern of behavior when you are at work

Productivity - measure of output from a production process per unit of input
Professional Branding - communicates the essence of who you are in the workplace
 Bad Habits at the Workplace
- Procrastination
- Lying
- Negativity
- Tardiness
- Poor email communication
- Social media addiction
- Bad body language habits

Different Problems with the Way Professionals Deal with Time

1. Lack of Time
- when an individual thinks that there is not enough time to do the work assigned to him/her

2. Lack of Focus
- when an individual cannot concentrate solely on the task given to him or her

3. Being Disorganized
- a person unable to plan one's activities efficiently

4. Procrastination
- avoidance of doing a task which needs to be accomplished

5. Dependence
a state where someone is heavily reliant on someone or something else

TYPES:
Strategic Planning systematic process of determining goals to be achieved in the foreseeable
future.

Long-Term Planning involves monitoring and evaluating activities

Short-Term Planning within the long-term planning; for the day-to-day operations

Technical Planning includes defining the scope of the technical effort required to develop, field,
and sustain the system, as well as providing critical quantitative inputs to program planning and
life-cycle cost estimates.
1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the End in Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win/Win
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

Content by: Prepared by:

Carmencita C. Suarez Vanrom Kip P. Follosco

Language Instructor, HSC Language Instructor, HSC
FEU Institute of Technology FEU Institute of Technology

**This guide is not an “all-in” approach for the lesson’s contents. For a more comprehensive review and content
learning on the module, please refer to the video courseware and the PPT materials in CANVAS.
STUDY GUIDE
Module 4: Professional Email Communication

When is email the appropriate form of communication to use?

- You need to get in touch with a person who is hard to reach via telephone, does not come
to campus regularly, or is NOT located in the same part of the country or world.
- The information you want to share is not time-sensitive.
- You need to send someone an electronic file.
- You need to distribute information to a large number of people quickly.
- You need a written record of the communication (i.e., proof).

When is e-mail NOT an appropriate form of communication to use?

- Your message is long and complicated or requires additional discussion that would best be
accomplished face-to-face.
- Information is highly confidential.
- Your message is emotionally charged or the tone of the message could be easily
misconstrued.

Analyzing the Audience

- Who is your audience?
- How often does your audience use e-mail to communicate?
- How comfortable is your audience with using electronic communication—for example,
when in their lifetime did they begin using e-mail (childhood or adulthood)?
- What is your audience’s relationship to you—for example, is the reader your teacher? Your
boss? A friend? A stranger?
- How well do you know them? How would you talk to them in a social situation?
- What do you want your audience to think or assume about you? What kind of impression
do you want to make?

To & From
Date
Subject
Cc / Bcc

Other Parts/Features:
Forward
Reply
Signature Block
FORMAT for Writing Emails
- Subject of your Official Email
- Greetings
- Introduce yourself.
- State the purpose.
- Write the main message.
- Conclude formally (or appropriately).
- Sign off with your full name.

Netiquette - a combination of the words network and etiquette, and is defined as a set of rules for
acceptable online behavior

Professional Behavior on the Job

- Sending nonbusiness-related emails, jokes, forwards, or chain letters
- Visiting questionable websites not related to job responsibilities
- Beware of phishing.
- Checking your spam.

Subject: Field
- can determine if your email will even be opened;
- Include a clear, direct subject line.

Guidelines in Writing the Subject:

- Write in title case (capitalize the first letter of content words)
- It should not be written like a sentence (thus, no period).
- It should contain the highlighted information from your email body.
- Observe parallel structures.

Level of Formality
- One should always communicate as if your email is on your company letterhead
- Use a professional email address.

Addressing
- Assume the highest level of courtesy.
- Use professional salutations.
- Do not take premature liberties in the relationship

CC / Cc / cc
- traditionally carbon copy; alternatively, courtesy copy
- represents a copy of an email sent to another addressee
When to USE When NOT to USE
Keeping someone “in the loop” Copying up
Introducing new people Forgoing consent
Representing a team Wanting a response
Showing that you do not need a response Expecting an extended discussion

BCC / Bcc / bcc

- blind carbon copy;
- functions like a cc, but the person’s email address won’t be displayed to the other people
on the email chain

When to USE When NOT to USE

Mass messaging Copying up
Maintaining privacy Including an inappropriate eavesdropper
Sparing someone from a lengthy thread Operating without transparency

Reply to All:
- Use this button with discretion
- Think twice before hitting 'reply all.'

Formatting
- No more formatting or embedded images
- Note: The recipient may not have their email program configured to display your
formatting the way it appears on your system.

Attachments
- Assuming your potential customers have the software you do to open any file you may
arbitrarily send
- Notes: Use exclamation points sparingly.
- Have business courtesy.

Do not Use Previous Email for New Correspondence

Down Edit Your Replies

Common Courtesy
- intros and sign offs are a staple of professional technical communications

Signature Files
- Include a signature block.

Respond Promptly
Know that people from different cultures speak and write differently.

Other Points:
- Email provides little control over who the final audience will be
- Any workplace communication, including email, is subject to ethical and legal
considerations.
- The copyright applies to email messages.
- Refrain from paragraph indentions.
- Emails aren’t only for in-house purposes.
- The introductory part of your message should answer the question: "Why am I writing
this?”
- Leave a space between paragraphs.
- Keep your paragraph 7-8 lines (ideal maximum) or shorter.
- Refrain from using colored fonts/text styles.
- Refrain from using ALL CAPS.

Prepared by:

Vanrom Kip P. Follosco

Language Instructor, HSC
FEU Institute of Technology

**This guide is not an “all-in” approach for the lesson’s contents. For a more comprehensive review and content
learning on the module, please refer to the video courseware and the PPT materials in CANVAS.
STUDY GUIDE
Module 5: Workplace Memorandum

- abbreviated: Memo(s) | pl. memoranda / memorandums

- Latin: memorandum est, "It must be remembered (that)..."
- a technical correspondence that gives directives, provides instructions, relays information,
and makes requests
- used for in-house purpose only (circulates among colleagues, subordinates, and superiors)

Determining the Purpose:

- To inform the audience?
- To persuade people to support a new plan?
- To motivate them to take action?
- To announce bad news?

Memos vs Emails
- Emails are less formal than memos.
- Emails can function as memos (with the proper format).
- Memos can be turned into PDF files and attached to emails.
- Emails may be ignored when received in crowded inbox.
- Organizations have different preferences whether a memo is hard-copy or digital

- word MEMO or MEMORANDUM

- Heading [Recipient, Sender (and sender's initials), Date, Subject]
- Body
- Distribution Notation

1. MEMO or MEMORANDUM
- centered at the top of the page or flush to the left margin

2. HEADING
TO line - Key all names on one line or in a list
TO line - Use distribution list when sending a memo to a large number of people.
TO line - Hierarchical order and Alphabetical order of ordering recipient names

FROM line - your name or a group's name

**Always write your initials or sign your full name after the keyed name
DATELINE
International format - 20 April 2020
Traditional format - April 20, 2020

SUBJECT line
Re/re - Latin 'res'; in the matter of (used typically as the first word in the heading of an official
document or to introduce a reference in an official letter); about or concerning;
- reflects the main idea discussed in the body;
- should be specific;
- NOT a COMPLETE SENTENCE (but a phrase or clause, similar to news headings)

BODY
- should focus only on one topic
- short introduction, main issue, suggestion/follow up statement (generally one to four
paragraphs long)

DISTRIBUTION NOTATION

DIRECT Approach - begins with the "bottom line" in the first sentence (as well as in the subject
line) and then presents the details or analysis to support your case

INDIRECT Approach - lays out the details of the case over several sentences before delivering
the “bottom line” later in the paragraph

Transmittal Memo
- accompanies a package of materials, such as a long report, a manuscript, or a proposal;
- to signal that the information is being sent from one place to another (providing a paper
trail), to introduce the material, and to describe what is enclosed;
- may be as simple as a sentence or a paragraph with a bulleted list describing the contents
of the package

Summary or Follow-up Memo

- provides a written record of a meeting or conversation, or just a recap of a topic discussed
that was not resolved at the time
- ensures that each recipient has the same understanding of what was decided

Routine Miscellaneous Memo

- covers a virtually infinite variety of topics
Other Guidelines:
Do not overuse or misuse memos.
Use memos for in-house purposes only.
Focus on one topic.
Be brief but sufficiently informative.
Be sure the tone of your memo is polite and respectful.
Avoid sounding too formal or too informal for the topic or audience.
Use the appropriate organizational sequence (direct or indirect).
Follow the standard format illustrated.
Use white space, headings, and bullets, as needed.
Use tables, charts, and other visuals to display quantitative information and
to achieve emphasis, as needed.
Check spelling, grammar, and style.
Be sure to initial your memo.
Determine whether to use paper or email to send your memo.
Distribute to the right people.

Prepared by:

Vanrom Kip P. Follosco

Language Instructor, HSC
FEU Institute of Technology

**This guide is not an “all-in” approach for the lesson’s contents. For a more comprehensive review and content
learning on the module, please refer to the video courseware and the PPT materials in CANVAS.