gothams3rdrobin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gothams3rdrobin) wrote2010-02-01 09:19 pm
gothams3rdrobin) wrote2010-02-01 09:19 pm
Entry tags:
Ugh... my brain is fried!
My next assignment is due noon Wednesday and, while I've managed to meet the required word-count, I am entirely lost on how to conclude the essay for part two.
I think the problem is that I have spent the last six years having to outline things in as few words as possible. And the conclusion is usually "I hope this helps! Should you have any further questions, our Customer Service team are available on...."
Here's what I have so far...
“In what ways can a workplace discourse community give rise to distinctive uses of English?”
What is a 'Discourse Community'?
The study of 'discourse communities' is concerned with unique uses of language within specific groups of speakers. An obvious example is the workplace community, particularly those of the medical, scientific or legal professions, who have whole dictionaries dedicated to the specific terms in everyday use in their particular line of work. Anybody unfamiliar with these terms would be left completely confused and require a translation, which itself gave rise to the secular use of the term 'layman' or 'layperson':
layman (plural laymen)
1.layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy
2.by analogy, someone who is not a professional in a given field
Carmen is not a professional anthropologist, but strictly a layman.
Let me explain it to you in layman's terms.
3.a common person
4.a person who is untrained or lacks knowledge of a subject
(Source: Wiktionary – http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/layman)
However, discourse communities are not limited to the workplace as the term also includes any group of people who develop unique words, or use everyday words in a specific way unique to them in the course of a discussion. An example of such groups would be sports fans, who can talk in length on their chosen subject to the confusion of anyone outside of their 'discourse community'.
In this essay, I will be looking specifically at the unique workplace discourse community present within the Customer Service department of a large car insurance company based in Cardiff. As part of their job, the staff at the company must understand specific terminology relevant to the insurance industry, and must also have a rudimentary understanding of cars – though not to the same extent as a garage mechanic or car manufacturer, merely enough to understand what a customer is talking about.
Insurance also makes a unique use of the word 'Endorsement', as demonstrated in item five of the following definition from thefreedictionary.com:
endorsement
1. the act or an instance of endorsing
2. something that endorses, such as a signature or qualifying comment
3. approval or support
4. (Law) a record of a motoring offence on a driving licence
5. (Business / Insurance) Insurance a clause in or amendment to an insurance policy allowing for alteration of coverage
When a representative goes into the policy file in order to amend the details of the cover, for example changing the car that is being insured or adding an additional driver, they are said to be 'endorsing' the policy. This will be looked at in greater detail later on, when I discuss the codes and abbreviations used within the workplace.
Uses of English within the workplace
There are two separate ways in which English is used to communicate within my chosen workplace; verbally, both between colleagues and between representative and customer, and in writing, usually in the form of correspondence to the customer or through notes left on the database regarding action or discussion relating to a specific policy.
Verbal discourse comes in several forms, the most obvious being discussion between a representative and a customer. The customer calls the company to ask a question about their policy, and the representative needs to know how to answer in a way that the customer would comprehend. There is also communication between colleagues, particularly if one representative needs clarification on a specific issue, and the conversation is sprinkled with various appropriate terms due to the shared understanding between them. This conversation can be between people working on the same department, so the language used is very casual while still including appropriate terminology, or between people in different departments. In the latter example, there is often less of a shared understanding and the language used is more careful, though still less formal than between a representative and a customer.
Written communication plays a vital role, either in letters and emails to the customer or in the form of notes left on the policy file to record any actions or discussion that has occurred. The emails to customers are very similar to the telephone conversations in their use of language, particularly those written by a representative as a direct response to a query, as they answer the customer's question in the simplest terms possible in order to avoid misunderstanding. The diary notes are kept as brief as possible, to allow representatives to read the text quickly while speaking to the customer and know what has already been discussed. As a result, a variety of abbreviations have come into popular use as a form of shorthand. A number of these abbreviations often get used in conversation between colleagues, whether verbally or via an internal email, again as a kind of shorthand, and form the basis of the unique discourse community that has developed.
For example, a customer is referred to as a 'Policyholder', as they are the person who 'holds' the insurance policy for their vehicle. A logical abbreviation of this word is 'PH', and the context in which the abbreviation is used makes it obvious that it does not refer to anything scientific, however you would never refer to the policyholder as 'The PH' while speaking to a customer on the telephone. Similarly, any Named Drivers on the policy would not be referred to as 'The ND' within a customer's hearing. However, in situations where it is vital to quickly familiarise yourself with the details of a case, such abbreviations save a great deal of time. Having said that, there are a number of representatives working in the department who feel that abbreviations within policy notes are ineffective and choose not to use them as, to quote one employee “One man's abbreviation is another man's gobbledegook, and if we were to try and read a diary note from 1998 we wouldn't understand it!” It is true that the abbreviations in use within the company evolve through time and are reliant on the particular individual using them, as even 'PH' has variants such as 'p/h', but the majority of the ones in popular use are sufficiently self-explanatory that any new employee can quickly pick up the various meanings even if they do not choose to use them.
There are also a large number of codes in use within the workplace, which represent specific adjustments made to the policy, or system-generated letters sent to the customer, and these codes are often used in conversation between colleagues. For example, when the cover is swapped from one vehicle to another, the representative is said to have carried out a 'CV' (Change of Vehicle) endorsement to the policy. Should that representative need to discuss the change with a colleague or manager beforehand, they will often open with “The Ph wants to do a CV on the policy....”. Similarly, when they come to leave a note on the file, the diary entry will often read: “Ph req CV. Sent APC to adv ap”. Any representative going back into the file will read this and automatically translate it as “The policyholder requested a change of vehicle. The APC letter was sent to advise the additional charge that would be due.”
I mentioned the APC letter above, sent to advise of any additional charges that have resulted from a policy amendment (Additional Premium after Change), and there are several dozen others also available. The ones that specifically refer to payment issues are often used as part of the workplace lexicon, for example the Accounts team's -19 and Q61 letters which are the final reminders regarding an outstanding balance. Representatives will often be heard to say “This ph is at minus nineteen.” when discussing a policy that is about to cancel for non-payment.
Any tips folks?
I think the problem is that I have spent the last six years having to outline things in as few words as possible. And the conclusion is usually "I hope this helps! Should you have any further questions, our Customer Service team are available on...."
Here's what I have so far...
“In what ways can a workplace discourse community give rise to distinctive uses of English?”
What is a 'Discourse Community'?
The study of 'discourse communities' is concerned with unique uses of language within specific groups of speakers. An obvious example is the workplace community, particularly those of the medical, scientific or legal professions, who have whole dictionaries dedicated to the specific terms in everyday use in their particular line of work. Anybody unfamiliar with these terms would be left completely confused and require a translation, which itself gave rise to the secular use of the term 'layman' or 'layperson':
layman (plural laymen)
1.layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy
2.by analogy, someone who is not a professional in a given field
Carmen is not a professional anthropologist, but strictly a layman.
Let me explain it to you in layman's terms.
3.a common person
4.a person who is untrained or lacks knowledge of a subject
(Source: Wiktionary – http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/layman)
However, discourse communities are not limited to the workplace as the term also includes any group of people who develop unique words, or use everyday words in a specific way unique to them in the course of a discussion. An example of such groups would be sports fans, who can talk in length on their chosen subject to the confusion of anyone outside of their 'discourse community'.
In this essay, I will be looking specifically at the unique workplace discourse community present within the Customer Service department of a large car insurance company based in Cardiff. As part of their job, the staff at the company must understand specific terminology relevant to the insurance industry, and must also have a rudimentary understanding of cars – though not to the same extent as a garage mechanic or car manufacturer, merely enough to understand what a customer is talking about.
Insurance also makes a unique use of the word 'Endorsement', as demonstrated in item five of the following definition from thefreedictionary.com:
endorsement
1. the act or an instance of endorsing
2. something that endorses, such as a signature or qualifying comment
3. approval or support
4. (Law) a record of a motoring offence on a driving licence
5. (Business / Insurance) Insurance a clause in or amendment to an insurance policy allowing for alteration of coverage
When a representative goes into the policy file in order to amend the details of the cover, for example changing the car that is being insured or adding an additional driver, they are said to be 'endorsing' the policy. This will be looked at in greater detail later on, when I discuss the codes and abbreviations used within the workplace.
Uses of English within the workplace
There are two separate ways in which English is used to communicate within my chosen workplace; verbally, both between colleagues and between representative and customer, and in writing, usually in the form of correspondence to the customer or through notes left on the database regarding action or discussion relating to a specific policy.
Verbal discourse comes in several forms, the most obvious being discussion between a representative and a customer. The customer calls the company to ask a question about their policy, and the representative needs to know how to answer in a way that the customer would comprehend. There is also communication between colleagues, particularly if one representative needs clarification on a specific issue, and the conversation is sprinkled with various appropriate terms due to the shared understanding between them. This conversation can be between people working on the same department, so the language used is very casual while still including appropriate terminology, or between people in different departments. In the latter example, there is often less of a shared understanding and the language used is more careful, though still less formal than between a representative and a customer.
Written communication plays a vital role, either in letters and emails to the customer or in the form of notes left on the policy file to record any actions or discussion that has occurred. The emails to customers are very similar to the telephone conversations in their use of language, particularly those written by a representative as a direct response to a query, as they answer the customer's question in the simplest terms possible in order to avoid misunderstanding. The diary notes are kept as brief as possible, to allow representatives to read the text quickly while speaking to the customer and know what has already been discussed. As a result, a variety of abbreviations have come into popular use as a form of shorthand. A number of these abbreviations often get used in conversation between colleagues, whether verbally or via an internal email, again as a kind of shorthand, and form the basis of the unique discourse community that has developed.
For example, a customer is referred to as a 'Policyholder', as they are the person who 'holds' the insurance policy for their vehicle. A logical abbreviation of this word is 'PH', and the context in which the abbreviation is used makes it obvious that it does not refer to anything scientific, however you would never refer to the policyholder as 'The PH' while speaking to a customer on the telephone. Similarly, any Named Drivers on the policy would not be referred to as 'The ND' within a customer's hearing. However, in situations where it is vital to quickly familiarise yourself with the details of a case, such abbreviations save a great deal of time. Having said that, there are a number of representatives working in the department who feel that abbreviations within policy notes are ineffective and choose not to use them as, to quote one employee “One man's abbreviation is another man's gobbledegook, and if we were to try and read a diary note from 1998 we wouldn't understand it!” It is true that the abbreviations in use within the company evolve through time and are reliant on the particular individual using them, as even 'PH' has variants such as 'p/h', but the majority of the ones in popular use are sufficiently self-explanatory that any new employee can quickly pick up the various meanings even if they do not choose to use them.
There are also a large number of codes in use within the workplace, which represent specific adjustments made to the policy, or system-generated letters sent to the customer, and these codes are often used in conversation between colleagues. For example, when the cover is swapped from one vehicle to another, the representative is said to have carried out a 'CV' (Change of Vehicle) endorsement to the policy. Should that representative need to discuss the change with a colleague or manager beforehand, they will often open with “The Ph wants to do a CV on the policy....”. Similarly, when they come to leave a note on the file, the diary entry will often read: “Ph req CV. Sent APC to adv ap”. Any representative going back into the file will read this and automatically translate it as “The policyholder requested a change of vehicle. The APC letter was sent to advise the additional charge that would be due.”
I mentioned the APC letter above, sent to advise of any additional charges that have resulted from a policy amendment (Additional Premium after Change), and there are several dozen others also available. The ones that specifically refer to payment issues are often used as part of the workplace lexicon, for example the Accounts team's -19 and Q61 letters which are the final reminders regarding an outstanding balance. Representatives will often be heard to say “This ph is at minus nineteen.” when discussing a policy that is about to cancel for non-payment.
Any tips folks?