University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment III

Nick Vafa
Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424
Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman
November 21, 2020
Introduction
The past couple weeks I’ve started to feel a lot closer to my classmates, and slowly the
barriers of virtual classroom learning are melting away. One of the biggest influences on this
occurring are the group breakout rooms that we have, that allow us to conversate in small groups
and exchange ideas with a lot more depth. The classroom activity that had the most impact on
this week’s pearl diving assignment was the email revision group activity, which allowed us to
apply all the conversation techniques we’ve learned to real life examples that all of us will face
in our careers. As I answer the following pearl diving assignments, a lot of stylistic choices and
language used will be pulled from the lessons I learned from not only my groupmates but also
the other class groups that presented.
Team Email
Hey Team,
Hope you’ve all had a good week; I know it’s been quite hectic with our projects piling up.
Regarding that, I wanted to take a moment and thank you all for the hours and the hard work
you’ve been putting in, I know how difficult it is to balance several projects at once.
As a result of the many coexisting projects, there’s been a slight drop in delivery quality that falls
on all of our shoulders, especially mine. For several months, our team has been averaging 2
projects a week and the results were amazing. As you all remember, this led me to decide we can
knock out 3 projects a week, which is why our schedule has been busier the past 3 weeks.
Long story short, as a leader I should have recognized that we would be spreading our resources
too thin trying to accomplish 3 projects a week instead of 2, and this resulted in us all dropping the
quality of our work by a noticeable amount. Now that I’ve recognized my wrong, I want to get us
back on the winning track.
This upcoming week will be a break. We are going to scale down to 1 project, and really focus on
what makes us a great time. We’re going to take it back to the basics, making sure our
communication is exceptional and that our technical expertise is as sharp as possible. I have faith
that all of you will take this week to not only rebuild, but also to recenter yourselves mentally.
After the break, we will be going back to 2 projects a week because that’s where our optimal
performance is. While we could make more money doing 3, the quality of work we produce is by
far the most accurate measurement of our success as a team. Moving forward, there are a couple
things I want us to focus on. Communication, client satisfaction, and collaboration.
At the end of a day we are a team, and that’s the most important thing. I encourage you all to take
some time to rest and spend time with your families, you’ve worked hard. I look forward to seeing
all of you next week, and as always please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Best,
Nick
Classroom Concept
This week’s classroom activity revolved around the idea of professional language and how
it can be adapted to different circumstances to fit the needs. I was part of the Breakroom 5 situation
which dealt with writing a letter to decline a job offer. Since this is something that neither me nor
any of my groupmates had done before, it was definitely a rewarding experience to learn what not
to do but also how to write a highly efficient letter for this specific scenario. As all of us are getting
ready to enter the job market and communicating with recruiters all the time, it’s only a matter of
time before we have to write our first letter declining a job offer. Right now, I’m in the final stages
for two different summer internship opportunities, but I haven’t thought far ahead enough
regarding how I would respond if both of them offered me a position. From this week’s classroom
experience, I learned that while it is important to clearly state that you will not be accepting the
job offer, it is considered rude and unprofessional to tell the company that their competition beats
them for several reasons. This type of behavior as seen in the example letter leads to bridges being
burned and no path to recovery. Since we are still very young and have lots of transitions left in
our careers, it’s important to keep as many doors open as possible. One thing that my groupmates
and I tried to do was indicate to the company that we would be interested in learning about future
opportunities, and to keep our application in consideration. Language like this reflects not only
respect for the company and the recruiters, but also signifies that the company’s offer was
attractive. When I do come across the situation where I must decline a job offer, I’ll be able to
formulate it in a way that opens opportunities for me, not just closes them. My groupmates and I
also discussed the importance of treating recruiters with dignity, as they are the ones advocating
and communicating for you. I learned that often recruiters are the ones who will get in touch with
you if they find an opportunity that fits your skill set, so I’m going to make sure that I’m
demonstrating my appreciation for the recruiters through the communications we have. Though it
only takes a little effort to be polite and professional when communicating with companies and
recruiters, the opportunities that may come down the road are endless.
Your boss called you an “idiot” in front of the entire team
The first thing to do in a situation like this is to pause the situation and stop it from
escalating further. If your boss calls you an “idiot”, you can assume that there is some tension in
the room and that it can only lead to further escalation. The first step here is to establish a boundary
of respect. By calmly responding to your boss “Please don’t use that type of language with me”,
you’re firmly but politely establishing a line of respect and making sure that your boss
acknowledges the breach. At this point, the conversation can either turn violent or return back to
a path of respect. If your boss apologizes and acknowledges their wrong, then the conversation has
successfully pivoted away from further escalation and violent engagement. You can continue the
team meeting as planned, and then set aside time after the team meeting to talk with your boss and
understand what happened and that resulted in them calling you an “idiot”. The post-meeting
conversation is extremely crucial because it allows for dialogue outside of the team setting where
both you and your boss can have more vulnerable conversations.
The other alternative outcome is that your boss takes your response in a negative way, and
the conversation continues to escalate. This is a very dangerous path, because now we are headed
towards a violent conversation where there is no sign of respect, and the team dynamic is hurt as
a result of the fallout. Imagine your boss says, “I’ll call you an idiot if you act like one”. At this
point, it’s clear your boss has no intention of returning the conversation to a place of respect, and
there isn’t any point in engaging further. The last thing you want to do is cause a scene in front of
your teams and then somehow end up painting yourself as the bad guy. It’s clear that your boss is
emotionally invested in a conversation that should be professional, so you need to refrain from
getting to the same level.
If the conversation occurring is ground-breaking, then excuse yourself and get notes from
a teammate later on that day. There is no point in staying in an environment that is detrimental to
your mental health if the outcome of the conversation isn’t really that important in the grand
scheme of things. If the conversation is extremely important, then you should firmly suggest taking
a break where you can talk to your boss on the side and figure out what’s going on.
Personality Test
As shown in my attached test results, my most prominent traits were Conscientiousness
and Extraversion, both tied at 90%. Openness, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism were fairly low,
with the highest being Openness at 54%. I’m definitely not surprised with my results but instead
happy, because they reinforce the ideas I have about my personality and the results that other tests
have given me. The fact that C and E were my highest traits makes a lot of sense, because I tend
to see myself as a highly organized person who thrives in social situations and opportunities where
I can form new bonds. My Big Five Personality Trait scores are very similar to both my JUNG
profile and DISC assessment results, because all three of the tests show the same base
understanding of my character, which is dominant and outgoing. Regarding the Big Five, I was a
little surprised about the Neuroticism trait, because this is something I’ve never had measured
before in a test. I’m not sure how accurate it is because there weren’t that many questions
pertaining to emotions, and I also believe that the study and classification of emotions is a lot more
subjective in comparison to determining someone’s conflict style.
Conclusion
This week has given me a lot to reflect on, not only in terms of how I communicate with
others, but also how other people communicate. For example, with the classroom email activity,
it was very eye opening to see how unprofessional some messages can be. It worries me that in
the future one of my team members communicates in that style, and an interaction like that leads
to us losing the client. However, it was reassuring to see how all of the breakout groups were
able to effectively correct the emails and then present versions that were extremely professional
and polite. Moving forward, I want to pay more attention to how my colleagues interact with
clients and how we can all improve our interactions by working on our communication skills and
level of professionalism.
Reference Page

Faulkner, Michael L., et al. Networking for College Students (and Recent Graduates): Nonstop
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Pachter, Barbara. The Essentials of Business Etiquette: How to Greet, Eat, and Tweet Your Way
to Success. McGraw-Hill Education, 2013.

Patterson, Kerry, et al. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High.
McGraw-Hill, 2011.