BTEC Business Unit 4 Assignment 1 Essay

An external purpose. They can be informal or formal. Written document sent through the post. Received by an individual or group. Written Non electronic but it can also be electronic using a word processor on a computer, but it can also be hand written but it has to always be sent by post or non electronically. -When a business sends a letter the letter can be kept as evidence if needed unless the recipient throws it out. -When a business sends a letter it can make the business seem more professional that and e-mail might not. -A letter can be sent anywhere in the world and to anyone that needs to read it. -It can contain detailed information such as figures. -It can be a lot easier to know a fake letter from a real one where as an email can be easy to fake. -It can take a lot of time to write and get the letter delivered to the recipient. -It is bad for the environment because its means you’re cutting down trees and will add to global warming. It would be a lot more eco-friendly to send e-mails. -The letter can be out of date by the time the recipient receives it because it takes a lot longer to deliver. -A single letter could be cheap to send but when a business needs to send hundreds of letters it can become very costly. For the most part it would be suitable to the majority of people, but a letter wouldn’t be suitable to blind people, children and people with little business knowledge who wouldn’t know a lot of the jargon. It also isn’t suitable to send an English letter to someone from a different ethnicity who cannot speak English. It wouldn’t be suitable for people with hearing impairment or if they are deaf. A possible adaption for the blind is the business could send the letter in braille or there are specialist programmes that can read letters back to you. If you were to send a letter to someone with little business knowledge they would send a simpler version with less jargon for them to understand. For children you would use a different method to try and communicate with them. An adaption for the deaf or someone who has hearing impairment you would send them the letter in a simpler vocabulary. Memo A memo is an internal form of communication and is intended for short messages between members of staff. Memos always have a title and it’s common to use simple bullet points in the main text. Written Mostly they are electronic and typed up on a word processor but they can also be non-electronic and be hand written and handed out internally throughout the business. -A memo I can be very inexpensive due to the hand circulation throughout the company and you don’t have to pay for any postage for the memo -It is convenient to read and write a memo because they are usually written in standardized form which makes them a lot easier and quicker to read and write than letters. -Memos are usually kept in office files or computers and because they store them they can be used for future references. -Memos are quick and easy to read. With the exchange of a memo everyone can interact with each other without disturbing there normal routine. -As memos are records of facts and decisions, they establish the accountability. So some businesses prefer to use memos even for small events and requests than phone calls or verbal conversations. -Memos are designed to only have one or two pages of information which makes them a difficult tool to use for discussing complex topics. -Memos are only meant to focus on a single subject, so they are not a good choice if you need to convey multiple topics to employees. -There is a formal tone to a memo which isn’t suitable for communicating sensitive information. -Memos send out the message that the decision has already been made and that you don’t get to give your opinion on the matter. Since a memo is sent out to employees of the company they would understand how to read and what everything means so you shouldn’t have to adapt any of the information to make it easier to understand, but it wouldn’t be suitable for the blind or those who are visually impaired. A possible adaption for the blind or visually impaired is to supply a specialist programme the will read the memo back to you or you could send out a braille version of the memo. If it is needed then they could also send out a simplified memo for the employees that find it difficult to understand. E-mail An E-mail is a powerful communication method for modern organisations. It is quick, easy to use and very cheap compared to letters and telephone calls. E-mails can be with the recipient within seconds and they give both parties a written copy of the message which can be used for reference. Because e-mails a digital they are extremely easy to store. An e-mail can be used internally and externally to a business depending on what you’re using it for. Written You can only send e-mails electronically -Emails do not use paper so it saves hundreds of trees being cut down and help reduce global warming. -E-mails are a lot quicker to send and receive than conventional mail and they are a lot easier to store than conventional mail because e-mails are all digital. -E-mails can be sent and received 24 hours a day 365 days a year so there is no limit to when you can send e-mails unlike conventional mail. -E-mails can hold attachments which make it easier to send larger files to people and it’s a lot cheaper and easier to view than conventional mail. -It is possible that when sending an e-mail you can accidently send viruses to the recipients and that virus will then go on to harm other files. -Many people send spam mail which makes it very difficult and time consuming to filter out all the spam from the important e-mails. -E-mails cannot be used for official business documents. They maybe lost and you cannot sign them. -Your mailbox might get flooded with emails after a certain time so you would have to clear it out from time to time. E-mails are suitable for communicating within a business and it is an easy, fast and often reliable service of communicating within a business informally or formally. E-mails are suitable for almost everyone. It could become difficult for someone who isn’t used to using e-mails and computers to get used to. This can cause complications between employees in the workplace. It can also cause problems to the blind and those who are visually impaired. If you are emailing someone from a different ethnicity it can be difficult to translate. It also wouldn’t be suitable for the people who do not A possible adaptation for the visually impaired is the zoom feature that is on most computers which will zoom in on the e-mail to make the font larger and make it easier to read, an adaptation for the blind would be a programme on the computer that will read out the e-mail for the user. Another adaption for emailing someone from a different ethnicity is a translating programme that will translate to the language of your choice. Fax A fax is an image of a document made by electronic scanning and transmitting it through the telephone system Written and non written because you can send images through the fax machine as well as written messages. You can only send faxes electronically through the telephone system -You only need a fax and a telephone line to be able to fax documents to someone. -It is a lot easier to fax a letter to someone, than trying to tell it to someone over the phone. -The recipient will have a physical paper with your signature on it if needed which you could not give to someone by phone. -With a fax machine you can quickly send documents from one building to another without the need to rely on other messaging services or other potentially costly document sending services. -Because a fax machine provides the sender with a receipt after the document has finished moving through the fax process, the user has evidence that he did actually send the document he claims to have. -Fax machines are not environmentally friendly they can require a lot of paper depending on what you are faxing. -It ties up the phone line while a document is being sent o received which means you cannot use the phone line if you are faxing. -Documents you have sent via fax are not as safe and secure as other type of communication methods. -There is a higher chance of losing faxes which could potentially be important and a lot of space is consumed for the storage of the printed faxes. -There is no guarantee that the faxed hard copy will be produced clearly, sending a clear copy doesn’t always mean a clear copy will be received. Faxes are suitable for sending single documents to another building. They’re also relatively fast and easy to send from building to building and it gives you a hard which can be used as evidence. Faxes will not be suitable for the blind or people who are visually impaired. It wouldn’t be suitable for people who don’t know much about the business your faxing them about. A possible adaptation for the blind or for people who are visually impaired is to send that fax and get them to scan it in to the computer so it can read it back to them and they can then make a reply or do what has been asked in the fax. If it has any business jargon you would send a simplified version to the people who aren’t used to being involved in all the business jargon. SMS SMS is a text messaging service component of phone, web or mobile communication systems, which allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices. Written and non written because it is also possible to send multimedia via SMS such as pictures and short videos. You can only send SMS messages electronically. -There is no time limit that you can send SMS messages they can be sent at any time and any day of the year. -The recipient of the text message doesn’t have to have their phone switched on to receive it. -SMS messages can save time rather than interrupting someone with a phone call. -The messages can be sent easily and very quickly so it takes less time to send SMS messages than it does to make a phone call. -With an SMS you can get straight to the point unlike phone calls where you can be distracted by what the other person is saying. -Text messages are also cheaper to send than phone calls so it saves the business money. -SMS messages are also very convenient and simple to send because almost everyone in business owns a mobile phone so they can send SMS messages. -Only short messages can be sent or it will cost more money to send a long message via SMS. -Needs relatively nimble fingers to be able to type on a small mobile phone keypad. -It can take some time to create a message if you are not familiar with the text speak shortcuts. -It can sometimes take a while for the message to arrive at the recipients’ phone if the network is busy. -The cost to send an SMS message internationally can be very expensive due to the network charges. -SMS messages are informal and shouldn’t be used for serious or formal messages. SMS messages are suitable for mostly everyone even the younger children because the messages are shorter and more to the point so they wouldn’t have to read it for a long period of time. It might not be very suitable for the older generation that isn’t used to using the new technology and mobile phones. It also wouldn’t be suitable for the blind or people who have visual impairment because they wouldn’t be able to read the messages. A possible adaptation for the blind or those who are visually impaired is to get an application that reads the message out loud to you. Another adaptation would be to send a simplified message to children to try and keep them concentrated on what you want them to do. Telephone / Mobile Phone Telephone calls are still very useful for fast communication, enabling quick feedback and discussion. Modern telephone facilities can allow conference facilities so that a number of people can be involved in the same conversations. Non Written. You can only make phone calls electronically. It is also possible to make phone calls off a computer which makes it very easy and convenient to make a phone call. -It’s a fast and relatively reliable form of communication and you can contact anyone anywhere as long as they have a network connection. -When using a phone you can get an instant response without the need of waiting like conventional mail. -With mobile phones it’s an easy and convenient method of communication because a lot of people carry a mobile phone with them everywhere. -It helps you easily get a hold of someone in an emergency situation because of how convenient and simple a mobile is to use. -You cannot see the persons face so you can’t tell if the person is being serious or not and you can’t see their body language. -Anyone can get your phone number and can start cold calling you, and start distracting you from what you need to be doing. -If you need to call someone in another country the cost of the call can be very expensive due to the connection charges. -You cannot keep it as evidence because there is no solid evidence of what was said unlike a letter or e-mail. -It’s more difficult to avoid misunderstandings you cannot use visual behaviour to get feedback on whether or not your message is being understood or if there are things left unsaid. Phone calls aren’t suitable for people with hearing impairment or deaf people. They also aren’t suitable for children because it would be difficult for some young children to stay concentrated for the whole of the conversation. A possible adaptation for children would be to use another method of media to try and communicate to keep them interested in the conversation. An adaptation for people with hearing impairment or people who are deaf would be a specialised programme on the pc that would type out what the other person is saying so you could read it out on the screen. Video Conferencing Video conferencing allows two or more locations to communicate by simultaneous two-way video and audio transmissions. Non Written. Video conferencing can only be done electrically they can now be done off mobile phones which make them very easy and convenient to do they’re also getting cheaper for companies to set up. -Video conferencing is environmentally friendly because there is no need to travel around to go to meetings you can do it from your own office. -You can conference from anywhere in the world from a computer for next to no cost at all. -You can have a meeting with people from many different offices and counties without anyone having to travel. -it’s more personal than a phone call because you can see their face and see how they react to some of the things you might be saying unlike the phone call where you can only hear their voice. -You can all view a document on the screen at the same time, and people can work together and add their own ideas. The document can be emailed to everyone when the conference has ended and there is no need to print things off like in a normal meeting. -Video conferencing can also be done over the internet for a relatively small cost but it wouldn’t be as good quality or the response times will not be as good as if you pay for the equipment. -Business-level conferencing facilities can be very expensive and everyone who is going to attend to the conference needs access to suitable hardware and software. – A reliable, fast data link is required; many companies hire a connection specifically to allow conferencing to take place which can also be very expensive. -Even with a fast connection there can be some delay between responses, especially if one of the people in the conference is on the other side of the planet. -If the hardware breaks for any of the participants then they cannot attend the conference / meeting. -People could be in different time zones which could mean that someone would have to stay up throughout the night just to attend the conference. -There is nothing better than a face-to-face meeting to try and get to know someone. Video conferencing may not be that suitable for the older generation who aren’t used to using all the new technology. It also wouldn’t be that suitable for children because they may not know how to use it or they may not be able to concentrate on what everyone else wants to talk about. It’s not as suitable for the deaf or for people with hearing impairments because they wouldn’t be able to hear what anyone is saying. It’s not the best for the blind or people who are visually impaired but it’s better for them than it is for the deaf. A possible adaptation for the deaf or the hearing impaired is to have someone sign everything that’s being said or have a programme on the computer type up what everyone’s saying. A possible adaptation for the elderly is to have someone teach them how to use the technology so they can then use it for themselves. An adaption for the children would be to try and use some sort of multimedia such as a DVD to teach them or even the internet because it might keep their attention better. Unit 4 Assignment 1 Below is a suggestion for the table layout needed for Assignment 1. Please remember to read the brief carefully and check the unit specification. Obviously you will need to add extra rows.