Task:
The letter (illustrated below) was originally written by an American supervisor to her Asian secretary. It had caused some controversy because the Asian secretary, who had a college degree, thought it was very rude and insulting. What happened later was that the boss-employee relationship deteriorated to such an extent that the secretary finally resigned.
Write a memo: a) critiquing the letter in terms of content, expressions, style, rhetorical strategy, etc. using the knowledge about intercultural communication and b) offering suggestions as to how to revise the letter to make it "culturally sound."
NOVEMBER 14, 1995
YAKUTA,
Here is a brief summary of the new procedures we’ll implement (as we discussed this morning). Please read through this note carefully and let me know if this agrees with your memory of our discussion.
1. We’ll institute a phone log. On it you’ll write a brief description of all incoming phone calls, including those on Voice Mail. Unless there is a problem caller, this need not be detailed: a simple “wanted program info” or “wanted to know then payment is due”. If it is a problem caller - - e.g. someone angry about our service, please route those calls to me. In addition, if the caller makes comments about programs, you should pass those comments along to the proper person, in addition to writing the comment more in detail on the sheet. If you don0t know who, ask me.
2. For problems, assemble all the needed information, jot a brief note describing the problem, and then give it to me. I’ll figure something out and then let you put the contact in the Memsys record so you’ll know the problem was solved. (Example: payment was not credited to install plan, problem fixed, letter in Mary’s file.). After you have written the contact, return the letter to me so I can file it.
3. In order to clear up problems, let’s meet every Monday morning to determine what needs to be done and determine priority. Also, this is when we’ll go over the problems from the past week.
4. If you think I’ve ask you to do something different from what I’ve instructed before, you should bring the matter to my attention.
5. You’ll discuss problems with me immediately instead of letting them get bigger.
Let me know if you don’t understand any of the above.
Thanks
Maty.