Blog Assignment 4

To:  T. Leoni, Manager, Personnel Department 
From:  Donald Pryzblo, Manager, Data Processing Department 
Subject:  Payroll Checks 

After reviewing the problem of discrepancies in the payroll checks, I have come to the following conclusions:

• I failed to find errors in our department's computer files.
• I located discrepancies in the time tickets that were prepared by the clerks.
• Everything that was entered in my department coincided with the time tickets prepared by the clerks.

I think the best way to solve is this problem is to observe the clerks who are preparing their tickets.  It might be in your best interest to require the clerks to proofread and double check their work before sending it to my department.  Not only will this save my department time, but it will also eliminate any problems with the payroll checks and save the company time, money, and problems.

Although it is not my department's position to correct time tickets, we are willing to work and cooperate with the clerks to ensure that payroll checks are correctly prepared.  Thank you for your time and please consider my solution to the problems we are facing regarding payroll checks and time tickets.

Thanks again,

Donald Pryzblo, Manager

Data Processing Department

_____________________________________________________

First of all, this e-mail was written in a very harsh and accusing tone.  I think this is the main problem in this e-mail because the reader would become furious after receiving it.  In my experience, if a person writes an e-mail to someone that is accusing and negative, that person will   immediately become angry and automatically look for something to disagree with.  If you want the reader to pay attention to your message and read the e-mail for helpful solutions, you should concentrate on the positive outcomes.  You should show the reader how he or she can benefit from the solution.  

According to WAPP, e-mails should be brief and to the point.  It is a good idea to use bullets to emphasize main points or important information because the bullets will draw attention.  I started the e-mail with a topic sentence, organized the details in the middle, and I summed up the e-mail in the last sentence.  I also left a nice comment to the reader so he or she would understand that I am trying to solve the problem and not place blame on  other employees.

Also, the first version of the e-mail was a bit cluttered.  I think the reader would take in the main points if the e-mail was more organized and spaced out.  Therefore, I inserted spaces between each paragraph and made a bulleted list of conclusions.

I also changed the subject line of the e-mail from "Incorrect Payroll Checks" to "Payroll Checks."  The word incorrect added more of a negative tone to the e-mail, and the subject is the first item the reader will see when receiving the e-mail.

Blog Assignment 3

When I began browsing universities' accounting department websites, I happen to come upon the University of Phoenix website.  Here is a link to the accounting department's website:  http://www.phoenix.edu/colleges_divisions/business/accounting-programs.html  I like how they have each type of business or accounting degree they offer.  Further, you can click on each degree to see what that degree consists of as far as required classes and credit hours are concerned.  The university offers several different options to students, and they also offer a certificate program that will help you to prepare for the CPA exam.  The certificate program stood out to me when I was reading the material.  University of Phoenix stresses that you can obtain almost any degree through their school completely online.  This appeals to many students, especially those who work or have families to take care of.  It seems to me that this university's target market is nontraditional students, and I think they do a good job of appealing to that market through the wide variety of options they offer nontraditional students.  This will allow many people to obtain a college education that would not be able to attend traditional classes.

Another website I visited but did not like as well was the University of Auburn's accounting department.  http://business.auburn.edu/academicdepartments/accounting/accountingundergrad.cfm  In my opinion, there is not enough information displayed on their website for potential students.  In my Google search it listed that the university had options for specific accounting majors such as governmental, corporate, non-profit, etc.  However, I could not locate these degree programs when I browsed the website.  If I was interested in attending this school, I would have to call a counselor for more information.  Therefore, I feel like their website could use some work to make information available to potential students.

If I was going to design a website to recruit students for the accounting major, I would include as much information as possible without being too overwhelming. I would include the potential jobs and salary ranges for accounting majors, the options this field opens for you, and I would describe in detail every accounting major that was available.  In today's society, classes and majors that people can take entirely online are becoming increasingly popular.  Therefore, I would most certainly highlight and emphasize whatever online classes or majors are available.  Accounting is a unique field because there is so many job opportunities that will become available upon graduation.  I do not think most potential students recognize this, and they think that it is just math.  Therefore, I would include information about all the different fields that accounting lets you have access to.

Through the research for this assignment, I have discovered that I do not want to put too much information that will overload a potential student.  However, I need to include enough information to make the student interested in the accounting major and all that it has to offer graduates.  This information is what caught my interest when I decided to major in accounting.  I think if more people knew what all was available they would be more willing to major in accounting.  Therefore, this would be my key strategy for the website.

Blog Assignment 2

I cannot think of any articles or publications I have had to read since I began my education at Southern Miss.  However, when I was in junior college I had read the book Fish! by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen.  This book describes how a manager is forced with the obstacle of turning her uncooperative inefficient employees into a  department which is very effective, cooperative, and on top of things.  The manager ends up learning valuable lessons through everyday life at Pike's Place fish market.  She relates these everyday activities to her department, and she ends up helping the department make many great changes, and her department becomes an effective team.

This book raises issues about team work and "burnout" in the workplace.  Sometimes employees get too comfortable in the workplace, and they tend to make careless errors, and this can lead to bigger problems on the job.  The manager's department had gotten out of hand, and she was forced to turn the employees around before everyone lost their jobs.  I think the authors felt like they could convince employees to be a hard-working team and to get jobs done effectively and quickly without laziness.  The authors are successful in relating everyday tasks to how jobs should be accomplished in the workplace.

In the beginning of this book the tone is somewhat negative and derogatory because the department of employees have not been performing up to par of what management thinks they should have.  At the end of the book, the tone is positive and motivating because the manager and the employees have been very successful in turning the department around and becoming a cooperative and effective team.  Sometimes employees are comfortable just getting the job done and they tend to leave out important steps or details.  This book informs the reader that a good team is an efficient team.  In order to become efficient you must work together and perform every task to the best of your ability.  The positive tone at the end of the book somewhat makes the reader feel motivated and ready to be part of an effective team.

There are three writers in this publication, and each writer has a background in a business setting.  Each writer seems to have some knowledge of how things should go in a professional setting, and I think this helps the book to have an accurate view of the work environment and what is expected of professional employees.

I think the message of this book is important for everyone.  However, I think it is very relevant to employees in a work environment who have become "too comfortable" with their job.  Some employees tend to get lazy and careless when they have worked at the same place for a long period of time.  This book uses real-life everyday examples and compares these examples to issues in the workplace.  The author shows that if people can work together in a fish market and make great things happen, that anyone in any workplace should be able to make great things happen.  Working in a fish market is not the best job, and the employees at the fish market all cooperate and get the job done in an efficient manner.  The office employees understand this, and they each learn that it is better to work as a team and get things done in the best way possible.  This not only makes the employees happy, but it will also make the managers of the company happy.  Therefore, the company as a whole will be better off if each team works together.

Week 1 Assignment

Hi, my name is Brittany Helton.  I am currently majoring in Accounting at the University of Southern Mississippi. I plan on graduating in May 2012.  It feels like this day cannot come soon enough! I have lived in Hattiesburg for a year.  My husband and I moved here due to military relocation.  We came from a very small town so it has been a huge adjustment, but we love it here now!

I have taken several English classes throughout my education.  I have an Associate's degree in Office Systems Technology, and a large portion of the curriculum for this degree included classes that involved professional communication in written documents.  I have also worked as a secretary and a bookkeeper in an accounting firm so I have seen firsthand how English classes can help you excel in the workplace.  While I was employed at the accounting firm, I had to prepare different types of letters, memos, agendas for meetings, etc.  The majority of the letters that I produced were directed towards our clients such as collection letters or reminders.  The office I worked at was the headquarters for three other offices.  We often had to communication through the mail or e-mails to each of those offices.

Although I have had a variety of English classes, I feel that there is always room for improvement in one's communication skills.  In today's society, people have become obsessed with how quick we can get things done, and sometimes professional communication is lost in these "new and improved" methods.  I look forward to improving my English skills in this class and plan to utilize this knowledge in my career.