MAIL MERGE

13.1 INTRODUCTION

The Mail Merge feature has been described here. In Ms-Word Mail Merge option is an important and every way for office
set up. Many times we required sending the same content of a letter to different individuals. By using Mail Merge you can
send the same letter to a number of persons without typing the content of the letter again and again.

13.2 OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson you should be able to:

 understand the concept of Mail Merge

 create a main document
 create a data source
 link the main document with the data source
 merge print a document

13.3 WHAT IS MAIL MERGE?

In any working environment, there are situations when a similar type of letter or document is to be sent to many persons
who reside at different locations. The letters may contain the address of each recipient, in addition to the standard
information contained in the letter. One way of doing this is to print the letters by changing the address each time in the
document after printing such letter. But this would mean lot of effort and time and also results in bad organisation.

Such problems are taken care of by the Mail Merge facility. In word processing, Mail Merge is the process of transferring
selected information from one document to another document.

13.4 CONCEPT OF MAIL MERGING AND ITS COMPONENTS

 Mail Merge is the facility which requires the following three information
 General body of the letter called main document
 Header Row, the record structure or the name of the fields, which will identify the data

Data for all the individuals, for whom the letters are to be generated also called data source

Mail Merge option of Word reads this data and physically merges it with Main document to generate letters for all the
persons or for all records in the data file.

Fig. 13.1

(a) Main Document

In Mail Merge, Main Document is the common letter, which contains the common information for each of the merged
document. It also contains the field names, which contain the instructions for carrying out the merge.

(b) Data Source

Data Source is also called the Data File. It stores information to be brought into the Main document. The data file table
contains a column for each category of information, or data field, in the data file. The Header Row is the first row of the
table. It contains field names, which indicate the type of information in each column. For example list of names and
addresses.

Each field name must be unique and must begin with an alphabet/letter.

(c) Form Letter

Form letter is the resultant document of the mail merge operations, which contains the copy of the main document along
with each piece of information stored in the data file.

Top

IN-TEXT QUESTIONS 13.1

1. What do you mean by Mail Merge?

2. What are the three information required for Mail Merge?
3. Define Form Letter.

Top

13.5 MAIL MERGE OPTION OF WORD

Thus by now it is clear that for Mail Merge document, you need to

 Create the main document

 Create data source
 Merge the data with document

All these operations can be performed by Mail Merge option of WORD. In order to invoke the Mail Merge option, choose
the Mail Merge option of the Tools menu. The following Mail Merge Helper box will appear as shown in Fig. 13.2.
 Fig. 13.2 Mail Merge Helper

Mail Merge helper guides you through the steps of mail merging a document. There are three main options available in
the box.

(a) Creating the Main Document

The first step in the mail merge is to create the main document. For this, choose ‘Create’ button of ‘Main Document’
option in Mail Merge Helper box. The following menu will be displayed

Form Letter...

Mailing Labels...

Envelopes...

Catalog...
Restore to Normal Word document

Now choose ‘Form Letters’ option from this menu as the type of main document. The following box will appear as shown
in the Fig. 13.3.

13.3 Main Document

Choose the Active Window button from the above box. Type the main document and again invoke the Mail Merge
Helper.

(b) Creating Data Source

Choose the ‘Get Data’ button from the Mail Merge Helper box. For creating data source, select Create Data Source. The
following dialog box will appear as shown in the Fig. 13.4.
 Fig. 13.4 Structure of Data File

The field names are already available in the Header row, which are default fields for an address list. Any field that is not
required can be removed, and any new field can be added. For removing a field, highlight that particular field and click on
the ‘Remove field Name’ button. For adding a new field, type the name of the field in the Field Name box and then click
on the ‘Add Field Name’ button.

Click on the OK button and save your data structure as well as the data source.

Click on the ‘Edit Data Source’ button from the box to enter records in the data file. A Data Form dialog box will be
displayed .

(c) Opening the Data Source

You can also use a data source already created. You can open it by clicking the ‘Get Data’ option in the Mail Merge
Helper and then selecting ‘Open Data Source’ A dialog box will appear with a list of data source file names. Select the
name of the data source to open it.

(d) Merging the Text with Data

After creating the main document and data source, the third step is to merge the main document with the data source. For
this, invoke the Mail Merge Helper again and choose the ‘Merge’ button. The following dialog box will appear

Select ‘New Document’ from the ‘Merge To’ drop-down list and click on ‘Merge’ button. The form letters are generated
and stored in the document which may be previewed for final adjustment in the main document, before printing the for
letters.

13.6 MERGE PRINTING

You can directly print the Form Letters without previewing them. Select the Printer option, then the form letters are
directly printed on the printer.

13.7 CONDITIONAL MERGING

You can also mail merge the document with a condition. There are two options available in the Merge dialog box as
shown in the Fig. 13.7, i.e., ‘Merge’ and ‘Query Options’ options. Using Query Option’ you can define the selection
criteria so that at the time of merging only those records are selected which meet the defined selection criteria.

I am looking for a way to do an e-mail merge using Outlook 2011 (or even Entourage 2008) on the Mac. It is extremely
easy to do this through the Windows version of Outlook, but I can’t seem to make heads or tails of how to do it (easily)
through Outlook 2011 on the Mac. Any ideas?

The first step to creating a successful form-letter is understanding that Outlook has nothing to do with designing the thing.
Rather, you create mail merge documents within Microsoft Word. And you do it this way in Word 2011.

Choose Tools -> Mail Merge Manager. A small Mail Merge Manager window will appear. This window contains six
steps, all of which you march through in order to create your document.

To begin, create a new blank document. Click Create New in the first step and you’ll see that you have the option to create
a form letter, label, envelope, or catalog. For our purposes we’ll choose Form Letters.

In the second step click on Get List and choose the source for the data that will be inserted into your form letter—names,
addresses, and phone numbers, for example. Your options include New Data Source, Open Data Source, Office Address
Book (the one found in Outlook), Apple Address Book (Apple’s Address Book application), and FileMaker Pro. For our
purposes, choose Apple Address Book.
Word's Mail Merge Manager

Now start constructing your form letter, leaving spaces where you want to merge your data. Return to the Mail Merge
Manager window and click the third step. Here you’ll find common data types including first name, last name, address,
phone number, and e-mail address. Drag the appropriate data types to their proper place in your form letter.

In step four you determine which of your recipients are merged into the letter. Click Options and a Query Options window
appears. In this specific case you choose groups of Address Book recipients. Once you’ve selected the groups you want to
include, click OK.

If you like, you can preview your form letter to make sure it’s constructed properly. You do this in step five by clicking on
the View Merged Data icon and clicking the right or left arrow buttons to move through the forms. As you click, new
records are injected into your document.

Finally, in step six you produce your merged e-mail messages. You have three options: Merge to Printer, Merge to New
Document, and Generate E-mail Message. That last option is the one you want. Click it and in the Mail Recipient window
that appears enter a subject for your message in the Subject field and click Mail Merge to Outbox. Word should now
generate customized versions of your message and place them in Outlook’s Outbox. If it doesn’t, open Apple’s Mail,
choose Preferences, click the General tab, and ensure that Microsoft Outlook is configured as the default e-mail reader.

Centralization Versus Decentralization

By Annick M. Brennen, 2002

The concepts of centralization and decentralization are important ones to consider as they ultimately affect the
effectiveness of schools in educating the children of a nation. Centralization refers to the condition whereby
the administrative authority for education is vested, not in the local community, but in a central body. This
central body has complete power over all resources: money, information, people, technology. It decides the
content of curriculum, controls the budget, is responsible for employment, the building of educational
facilities, discipline policies, etc.

Decentralization, on the other hand, refers to the extent to which authority has been passed down to the
individual school. Site-based management is an example of decentralization in which individual schools can
make their own decisions related to finances and curriculum. However, the locus of power remains with the
central body. Advocates of decentralization believe it will result in higher student performance; more efficient
use of resources; increased skills and satisfaction for school administrators and teachers; and greater
community and business involvement in and support for schools.

In The Bahamas, public education is under the total control of a central administration headed by the Minister.
Having experienced first hand the problems associated with such a system, I believe that a degree of
decentralization would empower the individual schools to adapt to changes in their external environment and
be more responsive to the needs of pupils and the community. My position rests on the following arguments
(some of them advanced by Dr. Thomas, 1998):

1. It is virtually impossible to manage large and complex organizations from the top. Inflated
bureaucracies are extremely slow to respond to local needs and are not very adaptable.
2. Centralization does not fit the current trends of participatory management, empowerment, and shared
decision-making. Decentralization provides local administrators with greater autonomy, thus giving
scope for creativity, resourcefulness, and personal enhancement particularly in the area of problem
solving.
3. Decentralization provides for persons at the scene of the action to become involved in the decision-
making process. This allows for greater flexibility, and makes it possible for better decisions to be made
because persons at the scene of the action are more closely related to the problem.
4. When individual schools are given the opportunity to make decisions, a higher degree of morale and
commitment to the organizational goals and objectives are fostered. If the principal through
decentralization is given the authority to generate and disburse funds, great gains could be realized.
The staff, then, would exert more effort since it would be a means by which their strategic plans for
curricula and program development could be implemented.
5. Decentralization also promotes the professional development of principals. Everyone has the innate
tendency towards self-actualization. Therefore, being responsible for the development of school goals
and objectives and their implementation would encourage principals to seek various means for
achieving professional growth while maximizing their potentials.
6. Decentralization demands the establishment of accountability and evaluation mechanisms. This in
itself would ensure that individual schools operate at a high level of efficiency and effectiveness in
promoting student achievement.
7. Decentralization promotes greater parental and community involvement. Community members and
parents can provide valuable insight about how schools can be improved to better educate the children
in the community. Parents having a greater stake in the educational process, would have a better
understanding of the problems facing schools, and would tend to increase their support.
8. Reform is never initiated by central administration. It usually originates at the bottom and finds its way
to the top because of the pressure exerted by those who are affected by unreasonable and ineffective
policies.

While I believe that a certain degree of decentralization is needed, I also believe that total decentralization
would not achieve cohesiveness among schools. I agree with Michael Fullan who posits that neither
centralization or decentralization works by themselves. Both top-down and bottom-up strategies are
necessary. Centralization errs on the side of over control, while decentralization errs toward chaos. He argues
that site-based management fails in the long-run because not enough attention is paid to the center and vice-
versa. School and district development must be coordinated. Personnel moves, transfers, selection and
promotion criteria, policy requirements, budget decisions, including staff development resource all take their
toll on schools if the relationship is not coordinated. The center and local units need each other. Schools will
get nowhere by swinging from one dominance to another. What is required is a different two-way relationship
of pressure, support, and continuous negotiation.

Contact Annick: annickbrennen at gmail dot com

A GD is a methodology used by an organization to gauge whether the candidate has certain personality traits and/or skills
that it desires in its members. In this methodology, the group of candidates is given a topic or a situation, given a few
minutes to think about the same, and then asked to discuss the it among themselves for 15-20 minutes. Freshersworld.com
brings you an elaborate section for GD as you had ever seen anywhere else.

Some of the personality traits the GD is trying to gauge may include :-

Ability to work in a team

Communication skills
Reasoning ability
Leadership skills
Initiative
Assertiveness
Flexibility
Creativity
Ability to think on ones feet

Why GDs:-

The reason why institutes put you through a Group discussion and an interview, after testing your technical and
conceptual skills in an exam, is to get to know you as a person and gauge how well you will fit in their institute. The
Group discussion tests how you function as a part of a team. As a manager, you will always be working in teams, as a
member or as a leader. Therefore how you interact in a team becomes an important criterion for your selection. Managers
have to work in a team and get best results out of teamwork. That is the reason why management institutes include GD as
a component of the selection procedure.

Company's Perspective:-

Companies conduct group discussion after the written test so as to check on your interactive skills and how good you are
at communicating with other people. The GD is to check how you behave, participate and contribute in a group, how
much importance do you give to the group objective as well as your own, how well do you listen to viewpoints of others
and how open-minded are you in accepting views contrary to your own. The aspects which make up a GD are verbal
communication, non-verbal behavior, conformation to norms, decision-making ability and cooperation. You should try to
be as true as possible to these aspects.

Nowadays Group Discussion is being extensively used along with personal interviews for the final selection of candidates.
It plays a main role in selecting the best among the best. Having scored high marks, students who get selected for a
higher/another course or employment are placed on a par - on equal footing - based on their age, qualification and
experience. It becomes necessary to conduct further screening for choosing a few among many. It is here, the Group
Discussion plays an important part. It helps in choosing the socially suitable candidate among the academically superior
achievers. It is one of the best tools to study the behavioral and attitudinal responses of the participants.

Rightly speaking, Group Discussion is more a technique than a conventional test. In fact it is one of the most important
and popular techniques being used in a number of personality tests. It is a technique or a method used for screening
candidates as well as testing their potential. It is also designed as a situation test wherein a sample of a candidate's group
worthiness and potential as a worker comes out quite explicitly

Features Of Group Discussion

1.Group Discussion, as the name itself indicates, is a group activity carried out by participating individuals. It is an
exchange of ideas among the individuals of a group on a specific topic.

2 It is used as reliable, testing device - mainly as a tool to assess all the candidates in a group at one go -in order to select
the best in comparative perspective.
3.Group Discussion is an informal discussion in which participants of the same educational standard discuss a topic of
current interest.

4.It is also known as leaderless discussion. It means its aim is to find out the natural leadership level of the candidates.
Strictly speaking, no one from the group or outside will be officially designated as leader or president or chairman or
anything of the sort. Even the examiner or supervisor who launches the discussion will retire to the background. No one
will participate or intervene in the deliberations of the group.

NATURE AND SCOPE

Answer this question.

Why you are now being tested after successfully passing out the written examination and perhaps the interview too?.

You have successfully completed the written examination which tests the knowledge of different subjects as well other
capabilities like writing skill, numerical and cognitive ability, test of reasoning , general knowledge etc., Exactly like you,
other participants who have come to the final round of selection after thorough screening are of the same qualification.
Their age-group, educational qualifications, academic achievements and background experiences are generally quite
similar and all of you are of the same level.

It is necessary that you should understand the nature of the G D technique as well as its rationale and purpose. It is very
important to know what personality traits the examiners would focus on. If you want to attain success in this challenge
test, you should analyze its ingredients and grasp its techniques.

As all the participants in a Group Discussion are rivals, there is bound to be competition and clash of interests among
them. Everyone in the group would be keen to top in the discussion, resulting in a good deal of rivalry and maneuvering
for situations of advantage. Thus in the group discussion- in this free for all- you have to manage others and get the
cooperation of the group by continuously relating to situations as they keep developing and changing. The dynamics of
the group will stimulate each candidate to reveal his/her inherent natural leadership qualities in a spontaneous manner. But
only those who remain alert by adapting himself / herself to the changing situations as they emerge, and only those who
utilize the opportunities with enterprise, imagination and tact come out successfully.

Under these circumstances, the conduct and behavior of each candidate will bring to the surface his or her natural
leadership, social, dynamic and organizing abilities in a spontaneous manner. Group Discussion is essentially a verbal-
oriented performance and you have to talk your way out. With one's gift of the gab or power of expression. GD also
requires the verbal display of the knowledge of the candidate. The more your ideas and the more your knowledge of the
subject, the more interested, enthusiastic and confident you would become and the more fluent and forceful would be your
speech and contribution to the discussion.

WHAT IS TESTED IN-GROUP DISCUSSION?

The rationale of the GD technique rests on the principle that leadership qualities with knowledge and power of expression
are essential to achieve the results or objectives in all group endeavors. The leadership quality of one can nowhere be
more clearly revealed than in a group discussion. For instance, see the difference between GD and other forms of testing.

There is a considerable difference between public speaking and GD. In public speaking, the audience merely judges and
passes a verdict on the speaker. Nobody in the audience competes with you. They listen to what the speaker says but do
not compete with the speaker. They listen to what the speaker says, but do not discuss the subject with equal rights as does
the speaker.

The same is the case with an interview. In an interview, a candidate has to deal with the interviewer who asks questions to
which the interviewed responds. He will be given ample opportunities as the interviewer is interested in the answers. In a
debate or lecture, the candidate is given sometime to think and marshal his ideas and the chairman or the presiding officer
will ensure that no one intervenes. The interview focuses on personality traits wherein the interviewers ask well directed
questions to assess the overall personality of a candidate.

Yet these tests by themselves are insufficient, as they do not test the group worthiness of a candidate, a quality that is an
important component for success in all vocations.

WHAT ARE THE DESIRABLE ATTITUDES IN GD?

The participants should adopt two important attitudes which alone will facilitate a productive and satisfying outcome in
any Group Discussion:

1.All participants in the group must accept responsibility for the smooth conduct of the group activities. This orientation
means that each member takes on leadership responsibilities even though he is not entrusted any such a role. Instead of
passively waiting for someone else to do what has to be done, everyone must actively seek and accept responsibility. In an
effective group discussion, there are no absolute followers but different levels and kinds of leaderships and these
leaderships keep fluctuating.

2.Another important attitude is open-mindedness -the willingness of the candidate to consider a broad range of ideas and
suggestions from others. He must be flexible and must be open to change. Instead of taking rigid stands on issues, the
flexible member tries to adapt to the best interests of the group. This requires objectivity- in order to make unbiased,
impartial judgments. This does not mean that you completely suppress your subjective and emotional reactions. You try to
balance them with objective observations. This requires maintaining a proper perspective, that is, either becoming too
involved in problems to maintain objectivity nor remaining too distant and uninvolved to be fully unaware of their nature.
Finally the participant with the orientation of equality should not nourish notions of superiority and must realize that the
fellow participants are equal to him/her in all aspects. You also get an opportunity of noticing and comparing the verbal
ability, depth of knowledge, extent of ideas, logical reasoning and the convincing capacity of others and this should enable
you to prepare yourself to match with them.

HOW IS THE PERFORMANCE JUDGED?

Selection is done based on the impact created by each candidate on the group. Who does get selected?

One who expresses his ideas well.

One who has sound arguments, and shows keenness and interest.

One who has sufficient knowledge of his subject and convinces the group by his argumentative presentation.

One who has a logical and systematic approach.

Above all, it is the one who has the tendency to cooperate and who does the coordination and is liked by the group.

There are certain attitudes which act negatively and they spoil the chances of selection. Constantly objecting others
and speaking pessimistically will block the smooth flow of discussion. A totally negative attitude prevents progress
and people who are always complaining and always dissatisfied will not be found suitable. Equally unsuitable are
those who insult and criticize others betraying jealousy or animosity. The aggressive attitude is usually disapproved.
Another avoidable attitude is telling irrelevant stories and personal experiences. Motivated by a need for attention,
some participants interject comments that call attention to their achievements and successes. They are boastful while
trying to appear not tobe so. 1) You have just been invited to go out with just a few friends.

I feel terrified
I am not all that excited about it, but I will probably go
I love going out with friends
2) It is Thursday night.

I have no idea what I will be doing Saturday night.

I have a pretty good idea what I will be doing Saturday.
I know exactly what I will be doing on Saturday.

3) It is 9:30pm on Saturday. Your cellphone rings and you do not recognize the telephone number.

I immediately answer it, it might be that guy/gal I have been talking to

I don't answer it and wait for them to leave a message. I'll call back if it is important.
I don't answer it, but I'll call them back only if I know who it is.
I answer it out of consideration only.

4) At work, where are you most bored?

In a meeting.
At your desk.

5) How easy is it to get to know the real you?

Very easy.
Easy, once I get to know the other person.
Difficult, my friends don't even know the real me.

6) You have just entered a crowded room, and trip just a few seconds after entering.

I am very embarassed.
You get back up and joke about your "new feet"
You hope nobody saw you and you quickly walk out of the room.

7) Small talk...

Helps get the conversation going.

Is awkward.
Chimes in the ending of useful conversation.

8) You find out that your "friend" made something up about you to cover up something they did.
 I confront the "friend" and ask they apologize
I tell others the "friend" made that crap up.
I start making things up about that "friend."
I say nothing, and that "friend" is no longer a friend to me.

9) Do your peers (not friends) see you as...

Cold and calculating.

Warm and caring.
The hottest action in town.

10) In school...

I loved it when the teacher said I did a great job.

I got embarrassed when the teacher said I did a great job.
I got yelled at by the teacher to settle down.

Extrovertedness: 70%

The Introvert-Extrovert Test

says that I'm Balanced

What does it mean?

You are fairly balanced in your introvert-extrovert personallity. You like going out, but like to have time to
yourself as well. You typically have a few great friends, and many that you can hang around with.

Extroverts:
-have motives and actions that are directed outward.
-are more prone to action than contemplation.
-are typically very friendly to unknown people.
-feel empowered in social situations.

Introverts:
-have motives and actions that are directed inward.
-tend to be preoccupied with their own thoughts and feelings.
-minimize their contact with other people.