Project Proposal

Lisa Waters
EDTEC 544
Project Proposal


Effective Communication via E-mail in today’s professional world

In today’s busy high tech professional world there is a lack of professionalism that is developing in today’s e-mail communications. More often than not you have people of all ages, all skill levels and varying degrees of computer literacy trying to effectively communicate essential information to one another. Although this challenge has caused many to seek out ways of improving their e-mail communication skills, this form of communication has caused many misunderstandings among colleagues and has caused a decline in productivity, numerous HR issues, and very minor office quarrels. Therefore designing a basic “how to” training course on how to effectively communicate via e-mail would try to standardize the communication styles within an organization and would create some basic e-mail edicate and standards for communication.

The instruction would introduce basic Microsoft Outlook skills to the employees, which would include basic instruction on how to send, reply, forward e-mails, etc. In addition it would begin to introduce some basic dos and don’ts of e-mail usage. Once the students are able to create, reply and send e-mails the instruction will then focus on proper edicate when creating and responding to various types of e-mails in a professional manner.

The population of learners would be a specific pool of employees that hold specific positions within a financial institution. The class would be provided to any employee that has to directly or indirectly communicate via e-mail on a regular basis with the public and with internal employees. This would be about 90% of the employees. The employees are between the ages of 18 and 65, with the average age range being between the ages of 20 and 35. With such a range in age there are a few issues that cause a communication barrier amongst employees. The younger generations may tend to use language, slang, or acronyms, such as LOL, that some times the older generations do not understand. In addition the older generations may not feel as comfortable using e-mail or may not be as proficient in e-mail usage that they may choose not to read or communicate at all through e-mail which can frustrate other employees. In addition all of the participants would be fluent in English, and some will be bilingual. Bilingual communication will not be addressed in this training class.

By educating employees on how to utilize their e-mail and how to effectively communicate via e-mail, we should cut down on miscommunications and communication break downs in the work place, which will improve company moral and also improve productivity. When the employees are communicating in a fashion that they are all able to understand then we are able to get more information across in a quicker more effective fashion.