Chapter 01

1
P A R T
The Building Blocks

of Effective Messages
chapter one
Business Communication, Management,

and Success
c ha pte r t wo
Building Goodwill
c h a p t e r t h re e
Adapting Your Message to Your Audience

chapte r four
Making Your Writing Easy to Read

chapter five
Planning, Composing, and Revising

chapter six
Designing Documents, Slides, and Screens
C H A P T E R
1
Business Communication,
Management, and Success
Communication Ability Promotability
Ill Never Have to Write Because . . .
The Managerial Functions of Communication
The Importance of Listening, Speaking, and

Interpersonal Communication
The Documents That Writers in Organizations Write
The Cost of Correspondence

Costs of Poor Correspondence
Wasted Time
Wasted Efforts
Lost Goodwill
Writing E-Mail Messages

Understanding and Analyzing Business
Communication Situations
How to Solve Business Communication Problems
Benefits of Improving Correspondence

Criteria for Effective Messages
Trends in Business and Administrative Communication
Focus on Quality and Customers Needs

Entrepreneurship and Outsourcing
Teams
Diversity
Globalization
Legal and Ethical Concerns
Balancing Work and Family
The End of the Job
Rapid Rate of Change
Technology
Answer the Six Questions for Analysis.

Organize Your Information to Fit Your Audiences,
Your Purposes, and the Situation.
Make Your Document Visually Inviting.
Revise Your Draft to Create a Friendly, Businesslike,
Positive Style.
Edit Your Draft for Standard English; Double-Check
Names and Numbers.
Use the Response You Get to Plan Future Messages.
Summary of Key Points
AN INSIDE PERSPECTIVE
Business Communication, Management, and Success

Peter Schube
Chief Operating Officer, The Jim Henson Company
The Jim Henson Company is recognized around the world as a leader in
puppetry, groundbreaking computer animation, and film and television
production. Mr. Schube oversees all of the Companys operations, and pursues
new opportunities and strategic partnerships in all areas of the Companys
business.
www.henson.com
onventional wisdom says that effective com- opportunity. But distance and time zones arent the
munication is the key to success in business. only obstacles; our workshop in New York City that
For once, the conventional wisdom is cor- makes Sesame Streets Muppets is just across town
rect, especially now that instant information flow from where the show is produced. Proximity isnt a
has become the norm. The ability of individuals substitute for timely and effective communication;
within an organization to communicate with each mistakes made 20 minutes away can be as disruptive
other and, in turn, of the entire organization to com- and costly as those made halfway around the world.
municate its message to customers, is vital. Often,
Internal communication can be vital as well, as
good things happen when you communicate; unfor- we learned when our company was put up for sale
tunately, the opposite is also true when you dont.
a few years ago. The sale process, conducted in a
While the business of The Jim Henson Company tortuous public auction, dragged on for 18 months.
may itself be unique, the same
People were dispirited, and
rules hold true for us. All day
openly feared for their jobs.
Effective
communication
is
the
key
long, in three offices, on two
Yet by keeping employees incontinents, we focus on the to success in business.
formed as much as possible,
business of creativity. We promanagement made it possible
duce television shows and feafor the group to refocus once a
ture films, we license others to make products and sale finally took place (the five children of the late
toys, we have a Creature Shop that crafts special ef- Jim Henson reacquired the company in 2003).
fects. But all of it comes to a halt if people dont comJim Henson himself used to talk all the time about
municate with each other. Imagine what would the communicative power of his art, and how powerful
happen if the writers of a television series shooting in a tool it could be. I dont believe its a coincidence
Australia forget to tell our Licensing Group in Los that Jim chose a device, in puppets, that on their
Angeles that theyve made a last minute change to the own are inanimate and nonexpressive. His chosen
name, or the color, or even the look of a central char- medium put a premium on communication, and
acter from that show. Before you know it, tool-and-die thanks to his skill and craft and genius, really, the
molds in a factory in the Far East will have been cut, world was made a better place. Thats successful busiand cut wrong, resulting in lost investment and lost ness communication.
Part 1
No
Substitute for
Proofreading*
Computer
software
can make writing easier,
but theres still no substitute for
careful writing. Before you let your
spell checker and grammar
checker do your editing, consider
these results from a University of
Pittsburgh study. Researchers
had graduate students proofread
a business letter with or without
their spell checker. When the students with the highest verbal SAT
scores proofread on their own,
they made, on average, 5 errors.
Students with lower verbal SATs
made an average of 12.3 errors.
Using the spell checker
helped, right? On the contrary,
when students turned on this
tool, they made more mistakes.
The students with the highest
verbal SAT scores averaged 16
errors, and those with lower
scores averaged 17 errors.
Considering that typos are a
major turnoff to prospective employers and customers, it makes
sense to practice your proofreading skills.
*Based on Jay Greene, Spell-Cheque
Nation, BusinessWeek, May 5, 2003,
downloaded from Infotrac at http://
web1.infotrac.galegroup.com.
The Building Blocks of Effective Messages
Business depends on communication. People must communicate to plan products; hire, train, and motivate workers; coordinate manufacturing and delivery; persuade customers to buy; and bill them for the sale. Indeed, for many
businesses and nonprofit and government organizations, the product is information or services rather than something tangible. Information and services
are created and delivered by communication. In every organization, communication is the way people get their points across and get work done.
Communication takes many forms: face-to-face or phone conversations, informal meetings, e-mail messages, letters, memos, and reports. All of these
methods are forms of verbal communication, or communication that uses
words. Nonverbal communication does not use words. Pictures, computer
graphics, and company logos are nonverbal. Interpersonal nonverbal signals
include smiles, who sits where at a meeting, the size of an office, and how long
someone keeps a visitor waiting.
Communication Ability Promotability

Even in your first job, youll communicate. Youll read information; youll listen to instructions; youll ask questions; you may solve problems with other
workers in teams. In a manufacturing company, hourly workers travel to a potential customer to make oral sales presentations. In an insurance company,
clerks answer customers letters. Even entry-level jobs require high-level
skills in reasoning, mathematics, and communicating. As a result, communication ability consistently ranks first among the qualities that employers look for
in college graduates.1
The advantage of communication skills became acutely important in this
decade, after the booming economy of the 1990s and the expansion of Internet
technology gave way to a more sober business environment. Robert O. Best,
Chief Information Officer of UNUMProvident, an insurance corporation, cautions, You used to be able to get away with being a technical nerd. . . . Those
days are over.2 As more people compete for fewer jobs, the ones who will
build successful careers are those who can communicate well with customers
and colleaguesusing words to teach, motivate, and build positive business
relationships. Training specialists Brad Humphrey and Jeff Stokes identify
communication skills as being among the most important for modern supervisors.3 Supervisors must be able to communicate effectively with workers, customers, and management, as well as to clearly document their work groups
performance. Likewise, for those who wish to make a career change, career
counselor Andrew Posner advises that they need skills that can be readily
transferred to new job requirements. These transferable skills, Posner says,
include the ability to analyze, write, persuade, and manage.4
Because writing skills are so important, good writers earn more. Linguist
Stephen Reder has found that among people with two- or four-year degrees,
workers in the top 20% of writing ability earn, on average, more than three
times as much as workers whose writing falls into the worst 20%.5
Ill Never Have to Write Because . . .

Some students think that a secretary will do their writing, that they can use
form letters if they do have to write, that only technical skills matter, or that
theyll call rather than write. Each of these claims is fundamentally flawed.
Claim 1:
Secretaries will do all my writing.
Reality:
Because of automation and restructuring, job responsibilities in offices have

changed. Today, secretaries and administrative assistants are likely to handle
Chapter 1
complex tasks such as training, research, and database management for

several managers. Managers are likely to take care of their own writing, data
entry, and phone calls.6
Claim 2:
Ill use form letters or templates when I need to write.
Reality:
A form letter is a prewritten, fill-in-the-blank letter designed to fit standard

situations. Using a form letter is OK if its a good letter. But form letters cover
only routine situations. The higher you rise, the more frequently youll face situations that arent routine, that demand creative solutions.
Claim 3:
Im being hired as an accountant, not a writer.
Reality:
Almost every entry-level professional or managerial job requires you to write

e-mail messages, speak to small groups, and write e-mail and paper documents. People who do these things well are likely to be promoted beyond the
entry level.
Claim 4:
Ill just pick up the phone.
Reality:
Important phone calls require follow-up letters, memos, or e-mail messages.

People in organizations put things in writing to make themselves visible, to create a record, to convey complex data, to make things convenient for the reader,
to save money, and to convey their own messages more effectively. If it isnt in
writing, says a manager at one company, it didnt happen. Writing is an essential way to make yourself visible, to let your accomplishments be known.
The Managerial Functions of Communication

According to Henry Mintzberg, managers have three basic jobs: to collect and
convey information, to make decisions, and to promote interpersonal unity.7
Every one of those jobs is carried out through communication. Managers collect relevant information from conversations, the grapevine, phone calls,
memos, reports, databases, and the Internet. They convey information and decisions to other people inside or outside the organization through meetings,
speeches, press releases, videos, memos, letters, e-mail messages, and reports.
Managers motivate organizational members in speeches, memos, conversations at lunch and over coffee, bulletin boards, and through management by
walking around.
Effective managers are able to use a wide variety of media and strategies to
communicate. They know how to interpret comments from informal channels
such as the company grapevine; they can speak effectively in small groups and
in formal presentations; they write well.
Communicationoral, nonverbal, and writtengoes to both internal and
external audiences. Internal audiences (Figure 1.1) are other people in the
same organization: subordinates, superiors, peers. External audiences (Figure 1.2) are people outside the organization: customers, suppliers, unions,
stockholders, potential employees, government agencies, the press, and the
general public.
The Importance of Listening, Speaking, and Interpersonal

Communication
Informal listening, speaking, and working in groups are just as important as
writing formal documents and giving formal oral presentations. As a newcomer in an organization, youll need to listen to others both to find out what
youre supposed to do and to learn about the organizations values and culture. Informal chitchat, both about yesterdays game and about whats happening at work, connects you to the grapevine, an informal source of company
5
Legal
Implications
of Business
Writing*
Letters and memos
create legal obligations for organizations.
When a lawsuit is filed against
an organization, the lawyers for
the plaintiffs have the right to
subpoena documents written by
employees of the organization.
These documents may then be
used as evidence that an employer fired an employee without
adequate notice or that a company knew about a safety defect
but did nothing to correct it.
Organizations whose actions
are irresponsible or negligent
deserve to be condemned by
their own words. But a careless
writer can create obligations
that the writer does not intend
and that the organization does
not mean to assume.
Careful writers and speakers
think about the larger social
context in which their words may
be read. What might those
words mean to other people in
your field? What might they
mean to a judge and jury?
*Based on Elizabeth A. McCord,
The Business Writer, the Law, and
Routine Business Communication: A
Legal and Rhetorical Analysis, Journal of Business and Technical Communication 5, no. 3 (April 1991),
17399.
Part 1
The Payoff
from Listening*
Figure 1.1
The Internal Audiences of the Sales ManagerWest

President
In business settings,
listening skills are more than
courteous; they also provide
value to the organization. Managers who listen carefully are
enabling others to share ideas
and knowledge. Smart managers invite feedback and then
listen actively.
Executive coach Marshall Goldsmith tells about a dinner he attended with two consultants who
were planning a business venture.
One of the two kept proposing
ideas, and the other repeatedly interrupted him to suggest improvements. Goldsmith observed that
their dialogue resembled a competition to see who would win with
the most brilliant ideas. However,
the second consultant was so
busy interrupting the first that he
was failing to elicit his colleagues
full ideas. Goldsmith says that
when people compete in conversation this way, They may have
improved the idea by 5%, [but]
theyve reduced the employees
commitment to executing it by
30%, because theyve taken away
the persons ownership of the
idea. By this arithmetic, the
greater payoff to the organization
comes from listening carefully,
without interruptions.
*Based on Listen Up, Leaders: Let
Workers Do the Talking, HRMagazine,
October 2003, downloaded from Infotrac at http://web1.infotrac.galegroup.
com; and Marshall Goldsmith,
Adding Valuebut at What Cost?
Fast Company, August 2003, downloaded from Infotrac at http://web1.
infotrac.galegroup.com.
To superiors
VP
production
VP
marketing
Sales
manager
East
To peers
VP
sales
VP
finance
VP
human
resources
Sales
manager
Midwest
Sales
manager
West
Sales
manager
International
District
1
manager
District
2
manager
District
3
manager
To subordinates
Sales
rep
Figure 1.2
Sales
rep
Sales
rep
Sales
rep
Sales
rep
The Corporations External Audiences

Subsidiaries
Unions
Customers
Clients
Suppliers
Vendors
Stockholders
Investors
Lenders
Distributors
Wholesalers
Franchisees
Retailers
Agents
The
corporation
Employment
agencies
The general public

Potential employees
Potential customers
Potential stockholders
Professional services
(auditors, legal, etc.)
Legislators
Government
agencies,
regulators,
offices
The courts
Foreign
Special
governments
interest
Trade associations The media
and offices
groups
Competitors
Other businesses
and industries
Source: Daphne A. Jameson
Chapter 1
At Networking For Professionals High Speed Networking, busy professionals learn how
to fatten their rolodexes fast. At this event professionals conduct a series of mini meetings,
5 minutes each with a different professional. In each meeting both parties describe their business and brainstorm by sharing contacts and information. This event provides the structure
for all attendees to effectively Work a Room.
information. You may be asked to speak to small groups, either inside or outside your organization.8 Networking with others in your office and in town
and working with others in workgroups will be crucial to your success.
These skills remain important as you climb the corporate ladder. A study of
15 executives who were considered good performers found that they spent
three-fourths of their time informally interacting with other people. Through
questions, joking, and informal conversation, these executives advanced their
objectives. Such interactions are even more critical to success in light of the drive
to make organizations more efficient and customer-focused. Managers today often report to more than one bossfor example, the leader of their function (such
as sales or finance) and the leader of their project or customer group. At consulting firm A. T. Kearney, consultants around the world report to a director of their
area of specialty and the head of their geographic region. Their communication
must not only flow in several directions but cross cultural barriers as well.9
The Documents That Writers in Organizations Write

People in organizations produce a large variety of documents. Figures 1.3 and
1.4 list a few of the specific documents produced at Ryerson Tull. The company,
which fabricates and sells steel, aluminum, other metals, and plastics to a wide
variety of industrial clients, has processing centers and sales offices across the
United States and Canada.
All of the documents in Figures 1.3 and 1.4 have one or more of the three basic purposes of organizational writing: to inform, to request or persuade, and
to build goodwill. When you inform, you explain something or tell readers
something. When you request or persuade, you want the reader to act. The
word request suggests that the action will be easy or routine; persuade suggests
that you will have to motivate and convince the reader to act. When you build
Part 1
Figure 1.3
Internal Documents Produced in One Organization
Document
Description of document
Purpose(s) of document
Transmittal
Memo accompanying document, telling

why its being forwarded to the receiver
Inform; persuade reader to read

document; build image and goodwill
Monthly or quarterly report
Report summarizing profitability,

productivity, and problems during
period. Used to plan activity for next
month or quarter
Inform; build image and goodwill (report

is accurate, complete; writer
understands company)
Policy and procedure

bulletin
Statement of company policies and

instructions (e.g., how to enter orders,
how to run fire drills)
Inform; build image and goodwill

(procedures are reasonable)
Request to deviate from

policy and procedure
bulletin
Persuasive memo arguing that another

approach is better for a specific
situation than the standard approach
Persuade; build image and goodwill

(request is reasonable; writer seeks
good of company)
Performance appraisal
Evaluation of an employees
performance, with recommended
areas for improvement or
recommendation for promotion
Inform; persuade employee to improve
Memo of congratulations
Congratulations to employees who have

won awards, been promoted, or
earned community recognition
Build goodwill
Figure 1.4
External Documents Produced in One Organization
Document
Description of document
Purpose(s) of document
Quotation
Letter giving price for a specific product,

fabrication, or service
Inform; build goodwill (price is reasonable)
Claims adjustment
Letter granting or denying customer

request to be given credit for defective
goods
Inform; build goodwill
Job description
Description of qualifications and duties of

each job. Used for performance
appraisals, setting salaries, and hiring
Inform; persuade good candidates to apply;

build goodwill (job duties match level, pay)
10-K report
Report filed with the Securities and

Exchange Commission detailing financial
information
Inform
Annual report
Report to stockholders summarizing

financial information for year
Inform; persuade stockholders to retain stock

and others to buy; build goodwill (company
is a good corporate citizen)
Thank-you letter
Letter to suppliers, customers, or other

people who have helped individuals or
the company
Build goodwill
goodwill, you create a good image of yourself and of your organizationthe

kind of image that makes people want to do business with you.
Most messages have multiple purposes. When you answer a question,
youre informing, but you also want to build goodwill by suggesting that
youre competent and perceptive and that your answer is correct and complete. In a claims adjustment, whether your answer is yes or no, you want to
suggest that the readers claim has been given careful consideration and that
the decision is fair, businesslike, and justified.
Chapter 1
Two of the documents listed in Figure 1.4 package the same information in different ways for different audiences. The 10-K report filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) and the annual report distributed to stockholders
contain essentially the same information, but differing purposes and differing
audiences create two distinct documents. The 10-K report is informative, designed merely to show that the company is complying with SEC regulations. The
annual report, in contrast, has multiple purposes and audiences. Its primary purpose is to convince stockholders that the company is a good investment and a
good corporate citizen. Annual reports will also be read by employees, stockbrokers, potential stockholders, and job applicants, so the firm creates a report
that is persuasive and builds goodwill as well as presenting information.
The Cost of Correspondence

Writing costs money. Besides the cost of paper, computers, and software, there
is the major expense: employees time. A consultant who surveyed employees
in seven industries found that to prepare a one-page letter, most of them spent
54 minutes planning, composing, and revising the letter. According to the most
recent figures from the U.S. Labor Department, employers paid an average of
$24.59 per hour per employee for wages and benefits. At that rate, an employer
would pay $22.13 for an employees time spent writing a typical letter.10 One
company in Minneapolis sends out 3,000 original letters a dayworth more
than $66,000 at the average rate. A first-class stamp on each letter would add
another thousand dollars to the companys daily expenses.
In many organizations, all external documents must be approved before
they go out. A document may cycle from writer to superior to writer to another
superior to writer again 3 or 4 or even 11 times before it is finally approved. The
cycling process increases the cost of correspondence.
Longer documents can involve large teams of people and take months to
write. An engineering firm that relies on military contracts for its business calculates that it spends $500,000 to put together an average proposal and $1 million to write a large proposal.11
Good communication is worth every minute it takes and every penny it costs.
The consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide conducted research showing
greater returns to shareholders in companies with the most effective programs
for communicating with their employees. Those companies also enjoyed lower
employee turnover and a 30 percent increase in their stocks market value.12
KeyBank, based in Brooklyn, Ohio, realized the payoff of good communication
when it was preparing a reference system for its call center employees. A consultant helped the employees trim the directions for each procedure and use
easier-to-understand language. By measuring how long employees took to handle customer calls with the old procedures and then with the new ones, the financial institution determined that employees could solve customers problems
faster with the new procedures, saving hours of time worth at least $64,000 per
year.13
Costs of Poor Correspondence

When writing isnt as good as it could be, you and your organization pay a
price in wasted time, wasted efforts, and lost goodwill.
Wasted Time
Bad writing takes longer to read. Studies show that up to 97% of our reading
time is taken not in moving our eyes across the page but in trying to understand what were reading. How quickly we can do this is determined by the
10
Part 1
The Cost Was
Classified*
Fuzzy building instructions

have
added hundreds of thousands of dollars to building costs.
And a single hyphen omitted by a
supervisor at a government-run
nuclear installation may hold the
cost record for punctuation goofs.
He ordered rods of radioactive
material cut into 10 foot long
lengths; he got 10 pieces, each a
foot long, instead of the 10-foot
lengths required. The loss was so
great it was classified [as secret
by the federal government].
*Quoted from William E. Blundell,
Confused, Overstuffed Corporate
Writing Often Costs Firms Much
Timeand Money, The Wall Street
Journal, August 21, 1980, 21.
difficulty of the subject matter and by the documents organization and writing style.
Second, bad writing may need to be rewritten. Many managers find that a
disproportionate amount of their time is taken trying to explain to subordinates how to revise a document.
Third, ineffective writing may obscure ideas so that discussions and decisions are needlessly drawn out. People inside an organization may disagree on
the best course, and the various publics with which organizations communicate may have different interests and values. But if a proposal is clear, at least
everyone will be talking about the same proposed changes, so that differences
can be recognized and resolved more quickly.
Fourth, unclear or incomplete messages may require the reader to ask for
more information. A reader who has to supplement the memo with questions interrupts the writer. If the writer is out of the office when the reader stops by or
calls, even more time is wasted, for the reader cant act until the answer arrives.
Wasted Efforts
Ineffective messages dont get results. A reader who has to guess what the
writer means may guess wrong. A reader who finds a letter or memo unconvincing or insulting simply wont do what the message asks.
One company sent out past-due bills with the following language:
Per our conversation, enclosed are two copies of the above-mentioned invoice. Please
review and advise. Sincerely, . . .
The company wanted money, not advice, but it didnt say so. The company had
to write third and fourth reminders. It waited for its money, lost interest on it
and kept writing letters. Another story of ineffective communication is told by
Yvonne Alexander, a writing consultant. Alexander says an HMO once lost a
claim in court because the judge found its policy to be written so badly that
no one could understand it.14
Lost Goodwill
Whatever the literal content of the words, every letter, memo, or report serves
either to build or to undermine the image the reader has of the writer.
Part of building a good image is taking the time to write correctly. Even organizations that have adopted casual dress still expect writing to appear professional and to be free from typos and grammatical errors.
Messages can also create a poor image because of poor audience analysis
and inappropriate style. The form letter printed in Figure 1.5 failed because it
was stuffy and selfish. Four different customers called to complain about it.
When you think how often you are annoyed by somethinga TV commercial,
a rude clerkbut how rarely you call or write the company to complain, you
can imagine the ill will this letter generated.
As the comments in red show, several things are wrong with the letter in Figure 1.5.
1.
2.
3.
The language is stiff and legalistic. Note the sexist Gentlemen: and
obselete Please be advised, herein, and expedite.
The tone is selfish. The letter is written from the writers point of view;
there are no benefits for the reader. (The writer says there are, but without
a shred of evidence, the claim isnt convincing.)
The main point is buried in the middle of the long first paragraph. The
middle is the least emphatic part of a paragraph.
Chapter 1
Figure 1.5
11
A Form Letter That Annoyed Customers
Nelson
Manufacturing
600 N. Main Street

Indianapolis, IN 46204
Where are date,

Inside address?
t adding these!
No excuse for no
Gentlemen:
Sexist!
Stuffy
317-281-3000
fax 317-281-3001
e
emphasizes th ader
re
e
th
t
no
,
writer
main
wrong
word
(also
stuffy)
Please be advised that upon reviewing your credit file with us, we find the information
point
herein outdated. In an effort to expedite the handling of your future orders with us, and to
is
buried
allow us to open an appropriate line of credit for your company, we ask that you send an
updated list of vendor references. Any other additional financial information that you can
supply would be to both of our benefits.
Prove it!
May we hear from you soon?
What
information?
Sincerely,
4.
5.
The request is vague. How many references does the supplier want? Are
only vendor references OK, or would other credit references, like banks,
work too? Is the name of the reference enough, or is it necessary also to
specify the line of credit, the average balance, the current balance, the years
credit has been established, or other information? What additional financial information does the supplier want? Annual reports? Bank balance?
Tax returns? The request sounds like an invasion of privacy, not a reasonable business practice.
Words are misused (herein for therein), suggesting either an ignorant writer
or one who doesnt care enough about the subject and the reader to use the
right word.
Benefits of Improving Correspondence

Better writing helps you to
Save time. Reduce reading time, since comprehension is easier. Eliminate

the time now taken to rewrite badly written materials. Reduce the time
taken asking writers What did you mean?
Make your efforts more effective. Increase the number of requests that
are answered positively and promptlyon the first request. Present your
pointsto other people in your organization; to clients, customers, and
suppliers; to government agencies; to the publicmore forcefully.
Communicate your points more clearly. Reduce the misunderstandings
that occur when the reader has to supply missing or unclear information.
Make the issues clear, so that disagreements can surface and be resolved
more quickly.
Build goodwill. Build a positive image of your organization. Build an image of yourself as a knowledgeable, intelligent, capable person.
12
Part 1
Effective
E-Mail*
Criteria for Effective Messages

Good business and administrative writing meets five basic criteria: its clear,
complete, and correct; it saves the readers time; and it builds goodwill.
Writers of e-mail must

meet the general criteria for effective communication, but e-mail
poses some additional challenges. Because it is so easy to
type and transmit, it tempts people to vent emotions or dash off
carelessly worded ideas. Such
messages can set off a spiral of
conflict or confusion, as recipients
act on their misimpressions
perhaps even forwarding an illprepared message to others.
To avoid these problems, treat
e-mail messages with as much
care you would any written communication. Besides proofreading each message, consider
whether your ideas are fully expressed. If you are tempted to
vent frustration online, ask yourself if you would feel comfortable delivering the message
face-to-face; if not, delete it.
Another consequence of the
ease and low cost of e-mail is
that many employees are
flooded with messages. To help
them, compose subject lines
that clearly indicate your topic;
when replying, change the subject line to the topic of your reply.
Also observe how often people
reply to your messages. Do they
seem to prefer short messages
throughout the day or less frequent, more formal messages?
Finally, remember that organizational e-mail is the companys,
and most companies monitor Internet use to some extent. Avoid
using e-mail for any message you
would feel uncomfortable showing your supervisor or colleagues.
*Based on Michelle Conlin, Watch
What You Put in That Office E-mail,
BusinessWeek, September 30, 2002;
Mary Munter, Priscilla S. Rogers, and
Jane Rymer, Business E-Mail: Guidelines for Users, Business Communication Quarterly, March 2003; and E-Mail
and Web Monitoring Are Now a Way of
Life on the Job, HR Focus, December
2003, all downloaded from Infotrac at
http://web1.infotrac.galegroup.com.
1.
Its clear. The meaning the reader gets is the meaning the writer intended. The reader doesnt have to guess.
2. Its complete. All of the readers questions are answered. The reader has
enough information to evaluate the message and act on it.
3. Its correct. All of the information in the message is accurate. The message is free from errors in punctuation, spelling, grammar, word order, and
sentence structure.
4. It saves the readers time. The style, organization, and visual impact of
the message help the reader to read, understand, and act on the information as quickly as possible.
5. It builds goodwill. The message presents a positive image of the writer
and his or her organization. It treats the reader as a person, not a number.
It cements a good relationship between the writer and the reader.
Whether a message meets these five criteria depends on the interactions
among the writer, the audience, the purposes of the message, and the situation. No single set of words will work in all possible situations.
Trends in Business and Administrative

Communication
Both business and business communication are changing. Ten trends in business, government, and nonprofit organizations affect business and administrative communication: a focus on quality and customers needs, entrepreneurship
and outsourcing, teams, diversity, globalization, legal and ethical concerns,
balancing work and family, the end of the job, the rapid rate of change, and
technology.
Focus on Quality and Customers Needs

After declining during the late 1990s, customer satisfaction among American
consumers has been generally on the rise. This trend has a real payoff for businesses; higher levels of the American Customer Satisfaction Index are associated with stronger sales.15 James Rosenfield, an expert in direct marketing,
provides some numbers that help explain the relationship between satisfaction
and sales:
Unhappy customers in industrialized countries historically tell 15 people about their
experiences. [On the Internet] with one keystroke, you can now tell 150 or 1,500 or
15,000!16
Superior customer service pays. Bank customers who described themselves

as most satisfied were much more profitable for the company than were customers who were merely satisfied. Espresso Connection, a chain of drivethrough coffee bars based in Everett, Washington, increased per-store profits by
50% by beefing up training to include how to provide good service: Never close
the window on a customer after a purchase even its raining. On sunny days,
dont hide behind sunglasses. In Concord, Massachusetts, Debra Stark has
built a $2.5 million gourmet health food store by slather[ing] attention on customers. She even employs a registered nurse to ensure that the herbal remedies
customers buy wont interfere with other medicines they may be taking.17
Chapter 1
Bob Kellaher, a manager of customer service operations at the New Haven Post Office, collects a last-minute tax return. Kellaher dresses as Uncle Sam every year and stands outside
the post office collecting tax forms and mail. Since tax season is a particularly stressful
time for individuals filing tax returns, even government organizations such as the U.S.
Post Office can benefit from efforts to foster customer satisfaction.
Offering superior customer service doesnt always mean spending extra

money. Southwest Airlines customer service agent Sharron Mangone convinced
an entire gate area to join in a biggest hole in the sock contest while they
waited for their plane. The Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel offers 24-hour-a-day
check-in, a benefit for all guests but particularly those who arrive after all-night
international flights. The major expense: replacing noisy vacuum cleaners with
quiet handheld ones so that some maids can start (and leave) work earlier. Online florist Proflowers.coms CEO Bill Strauss realized that customers most often called to ask Have the flowers been delivered? So he sends confirmation
e-mails to customers when flowers are ordered, shipped, and signed forand
saves money in the process.18
Communication is at the center of the focus on quality and customers
needs. Brainstorming and group problem solving are essential to develop more
efficient ways to do things. Then the good ideas have to be communicated
throughout the company. Innovators need to be recognized. And only by listening to what customers sayand listening to the silences that may accompany their actionscan an organization know what its customers really want.
Entrepreneurship and Outsourcing

Since 1980, the number of businesses in the United States has risen faster than
the civilian labor force. Estimates of the number of entrepreneurs vary widely.
Free Agent Nation author Daniel H. Pink claims the number of free agents who
work only for themselves rose from 25 million in 1998 to 33 million in 2000. The
US Census Bureau, in contrast, counted 15 million individual proprietorships
(self-employed workers without employees) in 2002.19 Whatever the number,
entrepreneurship is so popular that many business schools now offer courses,
internships, or whole programs in starting and running a business.
13
14
Part 1
When Beth Blake came up empty-handed in her search for a bridesmaid dress, she and designer friend Sophie Simmons teamed up to create one instead. The results of their bridal
project created such a stir at the wedding that they decided to launch their own business.
Their company, Thread, offers fashionable bridesmaid dresses that can be worn beyond
the wedding. The five-year-old company that was started with $100,000 now boasts millions in revenue, a celebrity clientele, and three boutiques.
For links to Web sites providing information about starting your own
company, see the BAC Web site.
Some established companies are trying to match the success and
growth rate of start-ups by nurturing an entrepreneurial spirit within their organizations. Innovators who work within organizations are sometimes called
intrapreneurs. A classic article in the Harvard Business Review made famous the
examples of 3M (where researchers can spend 15 percent of their time on ideas
that dont need management approval), Thermo Electron (where managers can
spin out promising new businesses), and Xerox (where employees write business proposals competing for corporate funds to develop new technologies).20
Some businesses have been forced to become entrepreneurial because of
outsourcing. Outsourcing means going outside the company for products and
services that once were made by the companys employees. Companies can
outsource manufacturing (Flextronics designs and builds the routers Cisco
sells), customer service (ScriptSave answers questions about prescription drug
benefits for members of health insurance companies), and accounting (Virtual
Growth provides accounting services for companies with 1215 employees).
Outsourcing is often a winwin solution: the company saves money, and the
outsourcer makes a profit. Virtual Growth grossed $12 billion in its first four
years.21
Chapter 1
Entrepreneurs have to handle all the communication in the organization:

hiring, training, motivating, and evaluating employees; responding to customer complaints; drafting surveys; writing business plans; and making presentations to venture capitalists.
Outsourcing makes communication more difficultand more important
than it was when jobs were done in-house. Its harder to ask questions, since
people are no longer down the hall. And its easier for problems to turn into
major ones. Some companies now are creating a chief resource officer to
monitor contracts with vendors so that lines of communication will be clear.
Teams
More and more companies are getting work done through teams. Teamwork
brings together peoples varying strengths and talents to solve problems and
make decisions. Often, teams are cross-functional (drawing from different
jobs or functions) or cross-cultural (including people from different nations or
cultural groups served by the company). Teams, including cross-functional
teams, helped Sarasota Memorial Hospital resolve major problems with customer and employee satisfaction. For example, team members from the emergency room recorded every step in the process from pulling into the parking
lot through decisions about patient care, and then they eliminated unnecessary steps. The ER team worked with the laboratory staff to improve the
process of getting test results. At Michelin, the French tire maker, teams bring
together people from the United States and Europe. According to the companys chemical purchasing manager for Europe, the exchange between the
two continents helps employees on both sides of the Atlantic understand each
others perspectives and needs.22
The prevalence of teams puts a premium on learning to identify and solve
problems, to share leadership, to work with other people rather than merely
delegating work to other people, to resolve conflicts constructively, and to motivate everyone to do his or her best job. To learn more about working in teams,
see Chapter 12 .
Diversity
Teams put a premium on being able to work with other peopleeven if they
come from different backgrounds.
Women, people of color, and immigrants have always been part of the US
workforce. But for most of our countrys history, they were relegated to clerical, domestic, or menial jobs. Even when men from working-class families began to get college degrees in large numbers after World War II, and large
numbers of women and minorities entered the professions in the 1960s and
1970s, only a few made it into management. Now, US businesses realize that
barriers to promotion hurt the bottom line as well as individuals. Success depends on using the brains and commitment as well as the hands and muscles
of every worker.
In the last decade, we have also become aware of other sources of diversity
beyond those of gender and race: age, religion, class, regional differences, sexual orientation, physical disabilities. Helping each worker reach his or her potential requires more flexibility from managers as well as more knowledge
about intercultural communication. And its crucial to help workers from different backgrounds understand each otherespecially when continuing layoffs make many workers fear that increased opportunities for someone else
will come only at a cost to themselves.
15
Should
Companies
Care?*
As the world has

become more virulently capitalist, it has also become more concerned about the
environment, child labor, and human rights. . . .
A substantial number [of consumers] now base buying decisions on who made their Nike
shoes or what McDonalds does
with its paper waste. The trend
is hardly universalplenty of
people still just want the lowest
pricebut its utterly clear.
Youve seen it yourself, probably
in your own family. . . .
Employees [also] care. One
trend in business is that employees, especially the best young
employees, want a sense of purpose in their work. . . . They want
to know that what they do at
work is good and right in some
large sense. . . .
Consumers care and employees care. That means equity
markets care. And that means
CEOs care.
*Quoted from Geoffrey Colvin,
Should Companies Care? Fortune,
June 11, 2001, 60.
16
Part 1
IBM Scientists
Learn
Language
of Business*
When scientists and
businesspeople try to communicate, they can encounter differences that seem as great as
those between people from different parts of the world; but at
IBM, meeting that challenge has
become an essential part of the
companys survival. The company made a name for itself as a
producer of mainframe computers, but today nearly half of its
sales and a large chunk of its
profits come from tech-related
servicesand to provide services, you have to be able to
communicate with your clients.
Part of IBMs strategy is to encourage its scientists to find
ways their discoveries can help
businesses solve real-world
problems. That means the scientists must be able to talk to
businesses about their challenges and about ways IBM can
helpin language that businesspeople can understand.
For example, computer scientist Andrew Tomkins specializes
in developing software that analyzes text and recognizes patterns of meaning. Tomkins has
programmed a supercomputer
to analyze the billions of pages
on the World Wide Web, a
process that can be useful for
identifying trends in ideas. IBM
Global Services arranged for
Tomkins to visit customers and
discuss possible applications of
this technology. For a man
steeped in the culture of academia, preparing presentations for
business executives must have
felt somewhat like writing in a
foreign language.
*Based on Brent Schlender, How
Big Blue Is Turning Geeks into Gold,
Fortune, June 9, 2003, downloaded
from Infotrac at http://web1.infotrac.
galegroup.com.
Diversity allows businesses to draw ideas from many traditions. At Xerox, co-workers
pass the rock in a Native American talking circle. Only the person holding the stone can
speak, forcing everyone to learn to listen.
Treating readers with respect has always been a principle of good business
and administrative communication. The emphasis on diversity simply makes
it an economic mandate as well. To learn more about diversity and the
workforce, read Chapter 11 , and see the BAC Web site.
Globalization
In the global economy, importing and exporting are just the start. More and
more companies have offices and factories around the world. To sell $200 million worth of appliances in India, Whirlpool adapts appliances to local markets
and uses local contractors who speak Indias 18 languages to deliver appliances by truck, bicycle, and even oxcart. Citibank is also active in India, financing 10,000 truckers, most with fewer than 30 trucks. Diebold owns and
manages automated teller machines (ATMs) in China, France, and Brazil. In
Latin America, consumers use banks to pay everything from utility bills to
taxes, and Diebolds ATMs handle these services.23
For Web sites on doing international business, see the BAC Web site.
All the challenges of communicating in one culture and country increase exponentially when people communicate across cultures and
countries. Succeeding in a global market requires intercultural competence,
the ability to communicate sensitively with people from other cultures and
countries, based on an understanding of cultural differences. To learn more
about international communication, see Chapter 11 .
Legal and Ethical Concerns

Legal fees cost US businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars. The price of
many simple items, such as ladders, is inflated greatly by the built-in reserve
to protect the manufacturer against lawsuits. Companies are finding that clear,
Chapter 1
Offices and Cubicles

Some employers install
video cameras to monitor
workers. The permissibility
of these cameras depends
upon the intrusiveness of
the surveillance and the
purpose it serves, weighed
against the employees
expectation of privacy.
While no simple standard
exists, peering into work
areas is generally more
acceptable than peeping in
locker rooms.
Desks and File Cabinets

Desk drawers and file cabinets are company property,
where employees have little
right to privacy. Work- ers
have no legal recourse if the
boss decides to have a look,
unless a search is performed only to obtain personal information that is
unrelated to the conduct of
business.
17
Activist
Entrepreneurs*
Knowledge
Your boss may own part of
your brain. Under the Economic Espionage Act of
1996, employees risk jail
time for disclosing confidential intellectual property
outside the company. Creative ideas may also be categorized as intellectual
property. Employers can lay
claim to innovations developed by workers on or off
the job.
Body
Employers increasingly cite
health-care costs to justify
genetic testing. One US
Circuit Court has ruled that
conducting such tests without a public employees
knowledge is a privacy
violation. But in general,
workers have no right to
genetic privacy and no
federal protection from
random drug tests.
Computer
While in transit, email generally cannot be intercepted
except for business purposes. But once an email
message is stored on a hard
drive, server, or backup tape,
employers can read it for any
reason. In addition to email,
employers can search any
files stored on office PCs.
New software can log Web
site visits and take snapshots
of images on your screen.
Telephone
Federal wiretap laws generally prohibit the interception of
wire communications, but
broad exceptions exist for
employers. Bosses can listen
to phone calls or voicemail
messages for any reasonable
business purpose such as
quality control without
notifying their workers.
Nearly 74 percent of employers use some form of electronic surveillance of employee activity. Monitoring software sales have grown with corporations spending an estimated
$561 million on Internet filtering and monitoring software.
open communication can reduce lawsuits by giving all the parties a chance to
shape policies and by clarifying exactly what is and isnt being proposed.
For more information about legal issues and links to pages discussing
the value of clear legal writing, see the BAC Web site.
Ethical concerns dont carry the same clear dollar cost as legal fees. But
when the Internet stock bubble burst at the beginning of this decade, the plunging stock prices and an overall economic slowdown were accompanied by a
wave of news stories about unethical and illegal corporate practices. As investors and consumers heard the accusations of accounting fraud at WorldCom,
HealthSouth Corporation, Enron, and Adelphia Communications, many felt
distrustful of businesses in general. At other companies, including ImClone and
Tyco International, executives were accused of enriching themselves at their
companies expense. Such breaches of financial ethics at the top of a company
have tainted, and even destroyed, entire organizations. The public outcry motivated Congress to pass the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, requiring corporations to engage in much more careful control and reporting of their financial activities.24
The public distrust and government regulation that followed the recent
scandals have renewed attention to corporate ethics. Some organizations have
simply met Sarbanes-Oxley requirements, such as evaluating their internal
controls and disclosing off-balance-sheet transactions (purchases and sales
that dont affect the listing of assets and liabilities in the companys financial
reports). But many have gone further. A survey by KPMG, one of the Big Four
accounting firms, found that corporations are more aggressively taking action
to investigate and report fraud by their employees. MCI (the former WorldCom) appointed a chief ethics officer to make sure the company walks the high
road as it recovers from bankruptcy. Such efforts may be bearing fruit. In a national survey, the Ethics Resource Center found that employees in 2003 were
more likely to report fraud than they had been in previous years, yet fewer of
them had observed any misconduct.25
A new generation of activist entrepreneurs is working to create

socially
responsible
businesses. Unlike the first generation (Ben & Jerrys, The Body
Shop), these entrepreneurs
dont see business and profits as
dirty words. In fact, says Nick
Gleason, CEO of CitySoft, an urban Web developer, I came to
believe that the lack of new
wealth creation was really the
root of urban problems.
Their products and services are
good for people: nonsexist, nonviolent toys (Wild Planet Toys),
revitalized communities and
neighborhoods (Village Real Estate Services), coffee (Sustainable Harvest).
They care about employees
and suppliers. Wild Planets
open-book management gives
all employees access to all company financial data except how
much stock each employee
owns. Sustainable Harvest buys
its beans from small family
farms, guaranteeing the growers
a base price whatever the world
market price may be. Instead of
standard 152-pound bags of
beans, the company uses 50pound boxes (made of recycled
materials) to make lifting easier
for growers and roasters.
These entrepreneurs dont
claim to be perfect. Daniel
Grossman, CEO of Wild Planet,
refuses to describe his company
as socially responsible because hes aware that not every
aspect of the company meets
the social responsibility test.
All I can say is that we strive to
be. Were public about it, and we
assess our performance.
*Based on Thea Singer, Can Business Still Save the World? Inc., April
2001, 5871.
18
Figure 1.6
Part 1
Ethical Issues in Business Communication
Manner of conveying
the message
Language, Graphics,
and Document Design
Is the message audience-friendly?
Does it respect the audience?
Do the words balance the
organizations right to present its
best case with its responsibility to
present its message honestly?
Do graphics help the audience
understand? Or are graphics
used to distract or confuse?
Does the design of the document
make reading easy? Does
document design attempt to
make readers skip key points?
Tactics Used to Shape
Response
Qualities of the message
Larger organizational
context of the message
Is the message an ethical one that

treats all parties fairly and is
sensitive to all stakeholders?
How does the organization treat its

employees? How do employees
treat each other?
Have interested parties been able

to provide input into the decision
or message?
How sensitive is the organization

to stakeholders such as the
people who live near its factories,
stores, or offices and to the
general public?
Does the audience get all the

information it needs to make a
good decision?
Is information communicated in a
timely way, or is information
withheld to reduce the audiences
power?
Is information communicated in a
schema the audience can grasp,
or are data dumped without any
context?
Are the arguments logical?

Are the emotional appeals used
fairly? Do they supplement logic
rather than substituting for it?
Does the organization support

employees efforts to be honest,
fair, and ethical?
Do the organizations actions in
making products, buying supplies,
and marketing goods and services
stand up to ethical scrutiny?
Is the organization a good
corporate citizen, helpful rather
than harmful to the community in
which it exists?
Are the organizations products or
services a good use of scarce
resources?
Does the organizational pattern

lead the audience without undue
manipulation?
Are the tactics honest? That is, do
they avoid deceiving the audience?
www.ethicsinaction.com/
recipients/index.html
The Ethics in Action
Awards recognize
businesses and
individuals in British Columbia
who are doing the right thing.
For links to Web sites showing how some companies work to maintain
high ethical standards, see the BAC Web site.
As Figure 1.6 suggests, language, graphics, and document design
basic parts of any business documentcan be ethical or manipulative. Persuasion and gaining complianceactivities at the heart of business and
organizational lifecan be done with respect or contempt for customers, coworkers, and subordinates.
Ethical concerns start with telling the truth and offering good value for
money. Organizations must be concerned about broader ethical issues as well:
being good environmental citizens, offering a good workplace for their employees, contributing to the needs of the communities in which they operate.
Balancing Work and Family

The Wall Street Journal now runs a regular column on Work and Family. The
Montgomery Work/Life Alliance reports that 78% of workers cited balancing
work/life issues as their first priority. Companies are trying to respond. More
than 60% of Fortune 500 companies offer flextime, telecommuting, or some
other kind of flexible option. To make itself more family-friendly, Ernst &
Young tells people not to check their e-mail on weekends or vacations, limits
consultants travel, and tries to redesign work loads so people wont burn
out.26 And some employees are lucky enough to have managers who think be-
Chapter 1
yond policies to recognize that balancing various demands on ones time is

simply part of life. When Liz Ryan was an executive with Ucentrix Systems,
she was also the mother of a baby. She needed to attend an important meeting
in Salt Lake City, so she arranged for someone to travel with her and help care
for the baby. Ryans boss, the Ucentrix chief executive officer, saw no reason to
question the expense; Ryans presence in Salt Lake City was a business necessity, so the cost to make her travel possible was a necessary cost.27
Of course, the economics of many business trips would not justify the cost
of a traveling companion. Each situation presents a unique combination of personal demands (young children and ailing parents, weddings and Little
League games), so achieving balance is an ongoing, creative process of decision
making and negotiationefforts that benefit from strong communication
skills. At times, employees find ways other than physical presence to demonstrate their commitment to and enthusiasm for organizational goals. They may
have to resolve conflicts with other workers who have different family situations or who raised children years ago when fewer companies were familyfriendly. The downside of this trend is that sometimes work and family life are
not so much balanced as blurred. Many employees study training videos and
CDs, write e-mail, and participate in conference calls on what used to be personal time. Lori D. Lewis, Hewlett-Packards Worldwide Reseller Channel
Manager for Disk Drives, reports that she has approved prices on a cellular
phone on the ski slopes.28 This flexibility is necessary in an age of downsizing
and doing business in many time zones, but it means that she, like many managers, is essentially on call all the time.
For links to Web sites on balancing work and family life, see the BAC
Web site.
The End of the Job

In traditional jobs, people did what they were told to do. Now, they do whatever needs to be done, based on the needs of customers, colleagues, and anyone else who depends on their work. At Sarasota Memorial Hospital, food
service workers do more than bring food to patients; they open containers, resolve problems with meals, help patients read their menus, and adjust orders
to meet patients preferences. This attentiveness not only serves the patients;
it is part of a team-spirited approach to patient care that in this case frees
nurses to do other work.29 The experience at Sarasota Memorial is backed up
by research suggesting that the most effective workers dont see work as assigned tasks. Instead, they define their own goals based on the needs of customers and clients.30
With flatter organizations, workers are doing a much wider variety of tasks.
Todays secretaries, as mentioned earlier, are likely to be researching, planning
meetings, and keeping records of the departments expenses. Even as more
bank customers use ATMs for deposits and withdrawals, banks keep tellers on
hand to help with more complicated problems and to cross-sell financial products. The diabetes management program offered to health insurers by American Healthways relies on nurses with communication skills. The nurses
regularly contact individuals identified as being at risk for diabetes, helping
them design a care program and following up to make sure they are monitoring their symptoms and following the program guidelines.31
Your parents may have worked for the same company all their lives. You
may do that, too, but you have to be prepared to job-huntnot only when you
finish your degree but also throughout your career. That means continuing to
learnkeeping up with new technologies, new economic and political realities, new ways of interacting with people.
19
20
Part 1
Someones
Monitoring
Your E-Mail*
E-monitors scan for

keywords and note when
something questionable is sent
or viewed. Says Rob Spence of
Irelands Baltimore Technologies,
If I want to screen every outgoing e-mail that has the word rsum,. . . I can do that.
Your home computer may not
be private, either. In 2000, a federal judged ruled that a company had the right to copy the
entire hard drive of the home
computer of an employee suspected of organizing a sick-out.
*Paragraph 1 quoted from Ann
Therese Palmer, Workers, Surf at
Your Own Risk, BusinessWeek, 2001,
14. Paragraph 2 based on Dana
Hawkins, Data on Home Computers
Not Necessarily Your Own, U.S.
News & World Report, February 28,
2000, 85.
Rapid Rate of Change

The flexibility required for the modern job market is just one area in which
change is defining the workplace. Jobs that are routine can readily be done in
other countries at lower cost. Many US jobs have already been subject to such
offshoring, and more are sure to follow. The work that remains in the United
States is more likely to be complex work requiring innovation, flexibility, and
adaptation to new learning.32
As any employee who has watched his or her job go overseas can testify,
changeeven change for the betteris stressful. Many people, especially those
who have felt battered by changes in the workplace, fear that more change will
further erode their positions. Even when change promises improvements, people have to work to learn new skills, new habits, and new attitudes. To reduce
the stress of change, scholars suggest reducing the number of major, radical
changes and relying more on frequent, small, incremental changes.33
Rapid change means that no college course or executive MBA program can
teach you everything you need to know for the rest of your working life. Youll
need to remain open to new ideas. And youll need to view situations and options critically, so that you can evaluate new conditions to see whether they demand a new response. But the skills you learn can stand you in good stead for
the rest of your life: critical thinking, computer savvy, problem solving, and the
ability to write, to speak, and to work well with other people.
Technology
Technology is so pervasive that almost all office employees need to be able to
navigate the Web and to use word processing, e-mail, spreadsheet, database,
and presentation software. Most colleges have short courses to help students
master the fine points of these programs; take these courses or play around
with the software to become proficient.
Technology plays a large role in the changing face of business communication. Tools such
as intranets, extranets, faxes, and e-mail have contributed to the efficiency of workplace
communication. Meeting rooms are frequently equipped with laptops, pagers, and videoconferencing equipment, making it possible for people to have meetings across continents
and time zones.
Chapter 1
Technology provides new opportunities and saves companies money. Online ticket sales have brought in new patrons and record receipts for the New
York City Ballet and the San Francisco Opera. Air-conditioner manufacturer
Carrier gets most of its customer service calls when its hot outside. By opening up its service contract to online bidding, Carrier found a call center that
also had a seasonal businessbut was busy in cold weather. Carrier also uses
the Web to confirm international sales, cutting confirmation time from six days
to six minutes.34
IntranetsWeb pages just for employeesgive everyone in an organization access to information. Ace Hardware started its message board to cut the
cost of mailing out weekly newsletters to franchise owners and answering
their phone questions. But an added benefit is that dealers share ideas with
each other. Tom Green, an Ace dealer in Pittsburg, California, wrote up his
success in giving away a few cans of paint to attract corporate customers.
Other dealers copied his idea, with equal success. A dealer in Fitchburg,
Massachusetts, won new business from a major hotel and convention center,
while a dealer in Bulkhead, Arizona, won a multimillion-dollar supply contract. Energy giant Royal Dutch/Shell Group saved $200 million in 2000
alone from the ideas exchanged on its message boards. And it earned $5 million in new revenue when an engineering team in Africa was able to get the
solution to a problem from teams in Europe and Asia that had already faced
similar situations.35
ExtranetsWeb pages for customers or supplierssave time and money
and improve quality. Two hours after dropping off a load of cranberries, growers can log on to Ocean Sprays extranet to find out how much they earned
and how their berries compare to those of other growers. The information
helps growers make decisions about harvesting the rest of the crop. Growers
benefit by earning more money; Ocean Spray gets higher quality and cuts
waste by 25%.36
Modems, faxes, and videophones allow employees to work at home rather
than commute to a central office. Fax, e-mail, pagers, and text typewriter
(TTY) telephones enable deaf and other hearing-impaired employees to fill a
variety of jobs. Fax and e-mail make it easy to communicate across oceans and
time zones. Teleconferencing makes it possible for people on different continents to have a meetingcomplete with visual aidswithout leaving their
hometowns.
Technological change carries costs. Technology makes it easier for companies to monitor employeeseven when theyre out of the office. While technology creates new jobs, it eliminates old ones, requiring employees to retrain.
Acquiring technology and helping workers master it requires an enormous
capital investment. Learning to use new-generation software and improved
hardware takes time and may be especially frustrating for people who were
perfectly happy with the old software. And the very ease of storing information and sending messages means that managers have more information and
more messages to process. Information overload occurs when messages arrive
faster than the human receiver can handle them. In the information age, time
management depends in part on being able to identify which messages are important so that one isnt buried in trivia.
The technology of office communication also affects the way people interpret messages. Readers expect all documents to be well designed and error
freeeven though not everyone has access to a laser printer or even to a computer. E-mail and faxes lead people to expect instant responses, even though
thinking and writing still take time.
21
Online
Acronyms*
E-mail writers often use

the following abbreviations. The quick pace of instant
messaging has made these
even more popular.
BTW
By the way.
CU
See you.
CWOT
Complete waste of
time.
F2F
Face to face.
FAQ
Frequently asked
questions.
GMTA
Great minds think

alike.
IAE
In any event.
IMHO
In my humble
opinion.
IOW
In other words.
NRN
No reply necessary.
OTOH
On the other hand.
ROTFL
Rolling on the floor

laughing.
TTYL(8R)
Talk to you later.
*List excerpted from AOL Computer

Center, The Big List of Shorthand,
downloaded at www.aol.com, May 25,
2004.
22
Part 1
Writing E-Mail Messages

When you start a new job, you may have a short grace period before you have
to write paper documents. But most employers will expect you to hit the
ground running with e-mail. Its likely that youll respond toand perhaps
initiatee-mail messages during your very first week at work.
E-mail communities develop their own norms. If possible, lurk a few days
read the messages without writing anything yourselfbefore you enter the
conversation.
Follow these guidelines to be a good netizen:
Never send angry messages by e-mail. If you have a conflict with someone,
work it out face-to-face, not electronically.
Use full caps to emphasize only a single word or two. Putting the whole
message in caps is considered as rude as shouting.
Send people only messages they need. Send copies to your boss or CEO
only if he or she has asked you to.
When you respond to a message, include only the essential part of the original message so that the reader understands your posting. Delete the rest. If
the quoted material is long, put your response first, then the original material.
As you write e-mail messages, keep these guidelines in mind:
Although e-mail feels informal, it is not private, as a conversation might be.

Your employer may legally check your messages. And a message sent to
one person can be printed out or forwarded to others without your knowledge or consent. Dont be indiscreet on e-mail.
All the principles of good business writing still apply. Use you-attitude and
positive emphasis ( Chapter 2). Use reader benefits ( Chapter 3) when
theyre appropriate. Use the pattern of organization that fits the purpose of
the message ( see Chapters 7, 8, and 9).
Because e-mail feels like talking, some writers give less attention to
spelling, grammar, and proofreading. Many e-mail programs have spell
checkers; use them. Check your message for grammatical correctness and
to be sure that youve included all the necessary information.
Reread and proofread your message before sending it out.
E-mail messages have to interest the reader in the subject line and first paragraph. If the message is longer than one screen, the first screen must interest
the reader enough to make him or her continue. E-mail messages to people
who report directly to you are easy, because people will read anything from
their supervisors. But writing to people who are not in a direct reporting relationship or to people outside your unit or organization takes more care.
Understanding and Analyzing Business

Communication Situations
The best communicators are conscious of the context in which they communicate; theyre aware of options.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Whats at staketo whom? Think not only about your own needs but
also about the concerns your boss and your readers will have. Your message
will be most effective if you think of the entire organizational contextand
the larger context of shareholders, customers, and regulators. When the
stakes are high, youll need to take into account peoples feelings as well as
objective facts.
Chapter 1
Should you send a message? Sometimes, especially when youre new on

the job, silence is the most tactful response. But be alert for opportunities to
learn, to influence, to make your case. You can use communication to build
your career.
What channel should you use? Paper documents and presentations are
formal and give you considerable control over the message. E-mail, phone
calls, and stopping by someones office are less formal. Oral channels are
better for group decision making, allow misunderstandings to be cleared
up more quickly, and seem more personal. Sometimes you may need more
than one message, in more than one channel.
What should you say? Content for a message may not be obvious. How
detailed should you be? Should you repeat information that the audience
already knows? The answers will depend on the kind of document, your
purposes, audiences, and the corporate culture. And youll have to figure
these things out for yourself, without detailed instructions.
How should you say it? How you arrange your ideaswhat comes first,
second, and lastand the words you use shape the audiences response to
what you say.
How to Solve Business Communication Problems

When youre faced with a business communication problem, you need to develop a solution that will both solve the organizational problem and meet the
psychological needs of the people involved. The strategies in this section will
help you solve the problems in this book. Almost all of these strategies can also
be applied to problems you encounter on the job.
Understand the situation. What are the facts? What can you infer from
the information youre given? What additional information might be helpful? Where could you get it?
Use the six questions for analysis in Figure 1.7 to analyze your audience,
your purposes, and the situation. Try to imagine yourself in the situation,
just as you might use the script of a play to imagine what kind of people the
characters are. The fuller an image you can create, the better.
Brainstorm solutions. In all but the very simplest problems, there are several possible solutions. The first one you think of may not be best. Consciously develop several solutions. Then measure them against your
audience and purposes: Which solution is likely to work best?
If you want to add or change information, get permission first. You can
add facts or information to the problems in this book only if the information (1) is realistic, (2) is consistent with the way real organizations work,
and (3) does not change the point of the problem. If you have any questions
about ideas you want to use, ask your instructor. He or she can tell you before
you write the message.
Sometimes you may want to use a condition that is neither specified in
the problem nor true in the real world. For example, you may want to assume youre sending a letter in April even though youre really writing it in
October. Change facts only with your instructors approval.
When you use this book to create messages on the job, you cant change
facts. That is, if its October, you cant pretend that its April just because it
may be easier to think of reader benefits for that time of year. But it may be
possible to change habits that your company has fallen into, especially if
they no longer serve a purpose. Check with your supervisor to make sure
that your departure from company practice is acceptable.
23
Succeeding
Against the
Odds*
I
developed
my communication skills as a
technique of survival. I was born
in poverty and spent two years
on the welfare rolls, and I
learned early that I had to communicate or die. And so I talked
my way out of povertyI communicated my way to the top. . . .
I read and re-read books on
self-improvement, success and
communication. The most important lesson I learned from these
books is what I call other focusing. This means, among other
things, that if we want to communicate with employees, managers, and even competitors we
must ask ourselves not what we
want but what they want.
This rule made me a millionaire. For the only way I got to
where I am today was by persuading thousands of blacks
and whites, some of whom were
very prejudiced, that the only
way they could get what they
wanted was by helping me get
what I wanted. All the law and
prophecy of communication theory can be found in that formula.
*John H. Johnson, owner and publisher of Ebony magazine, quoted in
Gloria Gordon, EXCEL Award Winner John H. Johnson Communicates
Success, IABC Communication
World 6, no. 6 (May 1989): 1819.
24
Part 1
Figure 1.7
Questions for Analysis
1. Who is (are) your audience(s)? What characteristics are relevant to this particular message? If you are writing or
speaking to more than one person, how do the people in your audience differ?
2. What are your purposes in writing?
3. What information must your message include?
4. How can you build support for your position? What reasons or reader benefits will your reader find convincing?
5. What objection(s) can you expect your reader(s) to have? What negative elements of your message must you deemphasize or overcome?
6. What aspects of the total situation may affect reader response? The economy? The time of year? Morale in the
organization? The relationship between the reader and writer? Any special circumstances?
Just a Deadline.
No Directions*
School
assignments are spelled out,
sometimes even in writing. In the
workplace, workers are less likely
to get details about what a document should include. The transition can be disorienting. One
intern reported, I was less prepared than I thought. . . . I was so
used to professors basically
telling you what they want from
you that I expected to be, if not
taught, then told, what exactly it
was that they wanted these
brochures to accomplish. . . .
They have not taken the time to
discuss itthey just put things on
my desk with only a short note
telling me when they needed it
done. No directions or comments
were included.
*Interns quotation from Chris M. Anson and L. Lee Forsberg, Moving
Beyond the Academic Community,
Written Communication 7, no. 3 (April
1990): 211.
Use this process to create good messages37:

Answer the six questions for analysis in Figure 1.7.
Organize your information to fit your audiences, your purposes, and the
situation.
Make your document visually inviting.
Revise your draft to create a friendly, businesslike, positive style.
Edit your draft for standard English; double-check names and numbers.
Use the response you get to plan future messages.
Answer the Six Questions for Analysis.

The six questions in Figure 1.7 help you analyze your audience(s), purpose(s),
and the organizational context.
1.
Who is (are) your audience(s)? What characteristics are relevant to this

particular message? If you are writing or speaking to more than one person, how do the people in your audience differ?
How much does your audience know about your topic? How will they
respond to your message? Some characteristics of your readers will be irrelevant; focus on ones that matter for this message. Whenever you write to
several people or to a group (like a memo to all employees), try to identify
the economic, cultural, or situational differences that may affect how various subgroups may respond to what you have to say.
What must this message do to solve the organizational problem? What
must it do to meet your own needs? What do you want your readers to do?
To think or feel? List all your purposes, major and minor. Specify exactly
what you want your reader to know or think or do. Specify exactly what
kind of image of yourself and of your organization you want to project.
Even in a simple message, you may have several related purposes: to announce a new policy, to make readers aware of the policys provisions and
requirements, and to have them feel that the policy is a good one, that the
organization cares about its employees, and that you are a competent
writer and manager.
Make a list of the points that must be included; check your draft to make
sure you include them all. If youre not sure whether a particular fact must
be included, ask your instructor or your boss.
To include information without emphasizing it, put it in the middle of a
paragraph or document and present it as briefly as possible.
25
How can you build support for your position? What reasons or reader
benefits will your reader find convincing?
Brainstorm to develop reasons for your decision, the logic behind your
argument, and possible benefits to readers if they do as you ask. Reasons
and reader benefits do not have to be monetary. Making the readers job
easier or more pleasant is a good reader benefit. In an informative or persuasive message, identify at least five reader benefits. In your message, use
those that you can develop most easily and most effectively.
Be sure the benefits are adapted to your reader. Many people do not
identify closely with their companies; the fact that the company benefits
from a policy will help the reader only if the saving or profit is passed directly on to the employees. Instead, savings and profits are often eaten up
by returns to stockholders, bonuses to executives, and investments in
plants and equipment or in research and development.
5. What objection(s) can you expect your reader(s) to have? What negative
elements of your message must you de-emphasize or overcome?
Some negative elements can only be de-emphasized. Others can be
overcome. Be creative: Is there any advantage associated with (even
though not caused by) the negative? Can you rephrase or redefine the negative to make the reader see it differently?
6. What aspects of the total situation may affect reader response? The economy? The time of year? Morale in the organization? The relationship between the reader and writer? Any special circumstances?
Readers may like you or resent you. You may be younger or older than
the people youre writing to. The organization may be prosperous or going
through hard times; it may have just been reorganized or may be stable. All
these different situations will affect what you say and how you say it.
Think about the news, the economy, the weather. Think about the general business and regulatory climate, especially as it affects the organization specified in the problem. Use the real world as much as possible.
Think about interest rates, business conditions, and the economy. Is the industry in which the problem is set doing well? Is the government agency
in which the problem is set enjoying general support? Think about the time
of year. If its fall when you write, is your business in a seasonal slowdown
after a busy summer? Gearing up for the Christmas shopping rush? Or going along at a steady pace unaffected by seasons?
To answer these questions, draw on your experience, your courses, and
your common sense. Read The Wall Street Journal or look at a companys
Web site. Sometimes you may even want to phone a local business person
to get information. For instance, if you needed more information to think
of reader benefits for a problem set in a bank, you could call a local banker
to find out what services it offers customers and what its rates are for loans.
www.dicksteinshapiro.com/
PuzzleArchive.asp_
Q_Puzzle_E_68_
A_Menu_E_
Advertisements
Chapter 1
4.
Organize Your Information to Fit Your Audiences,

Your Purposes, and the Situation.
Youll learn several different psychological patterns of organization later in this
book. For now, remember these three basic principles:
1.
2.
3.
Put good news first.

In general, put the main point or question first. In the subject line or first
paragraph, make it clear that youre writing about something that is important to the reader.
Disregard point 2 and approach the subject indirectly when you must persuade a reluctant reader.
Creative problem solving will

help you find good solutions.
This site features puzzles to
challenge your creativity. In this
puzzle, each capital letter is the
first letter of a word in a wellknown expression. Click the
link below the puzzle for the
complete solution.
26
Part 1
SRAs Savvy
Communicator
Make Your Document Visually Inviting.

A well-designed document is easier to read and builds goodwill. To make a
document visually attractive
One person who

meets the demands of the modern business environment and
puts together communications
that inspire and persuade is
Ann W. Denison, Human Resource Director at SRA International. Denison combines concern
for meeting employees needs
with wisdom about how to sell
ideas to business executives.
Several years ago, Dennison
and work/life director Kay Curling
determined that a full-time nurse
at the companys Fairfax, Virginia,
headquarters would cut unnecessary medical expenses while
serving employee needs. The
two women presented the idea to
top management. Knowing the
needs of business, Denison
promised to track the costs and
benefits. After six months, she returned to the chief operating officer and showed that the savings
(for example, less absenteeism
for doctor visits and fast resolution of insurance claims by the
nurse) were five times the nurses
salary.
Denisons commitment to employees is particularly significant
because so many of them have
dangerous assignments. SRA
has employees in Iraq under military contracts, and six were
wounded during the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon in September 2001. Denison and her
staff ensured that those six received the necessary emotional
and medical support. Regarding
employees she has helped,
Denison comments, It helps in
recruiting, but its not the key
thing. . . . These employees will
do anything for the company because the company has helped
them at this time of crisis.
*Based on Steve Bates, A Blend of
Both Worlds, HRMagazine, March
2004, downloaded from Infotrac at
http://web1.infotrac.galegroup.com.
Use subject lines to orient the reader quickly.

Use headings to group related ideas.
Use lists and indented sections to emphasize subpoints and examples.
Number points that must be followed in sequence.
Use short paragraphsusually six typed lines or fewer.
If you plan these design elements before you begin composing, youll save time
and the final document will probably be better.
The best physical form for a document depends on how it will be used. For
example, a document that will be updated frequently needs to be in a loose-leaf
binder so the reader can easily throw away old pages and insert new ones.
Revise Your Draft to Create a Friendly, Businesslike,

Positive Style.
In addition to being an organizational member or a consumer, your reader has
feelings just as you do. Writing that keeps the reader in mind uses youattitude. Read your message as if you were in your readers shoes. How would
you feel if you received it?
Good business and administrative writing is both friendly and businesslike.
If youre too stiff, you put extra distance between your reader and yourself. If
you try to be too chummy, youll sound unprofessional. When you write to
strangers, use simple, everyday words and make your message as personal
and friendly as possible. When you write to friends, remember that your message will be filed and read by people youve never even heard of: avoid slang,
clichs, and in jokes.
Sometimes you must mention limitations, drawbacks, or other negative elements, but dont dwell on them. People will respond better to you and your
organization if you seem confident. Expect success, not failure. If you dont believe that what youre writing about is a good idea, why should they?
You emphasize the positive when you
Put positive information first, give it more space, or set it off visually in an
indented list.
Eliminate negative words whenever possible.
Focus on what is possible, not what is impossible.
Edit Your Draft for Standard English; Double-Check

Names and Numbers.
Business people care about correctness in spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
If your grasp of mechanics is fuzzy, if standard English is not your native dialect, or if English is not your native language, youll need to memorize rules
and perhaps find a good book or a tutor to help you. Even software spelling
and grammar checkers require the writer to make decisions. If you know how
to write correctly but rarely take the time to do so, now is the time to begin to
edit and proofread to eliminate careless errors. Correctness in usage, punctuation, and grammar is covered in Appendix B .
Always proofread your document before you send it out. Double-check the
readers name, any numbers, and the first and last paragraphs.
Chapter 1
27
Use the Response You Get to Plan Future Messages.

Evaluate the feedback, or response, you get. The real test of any message is
Did you get what you wanted, when you wanted it? If the answer is no, then
the message has failedeven if the grammar is perfect, the words elegant, the
approach creative, the document stunningly attractive. If the message fails,
you need to find out why.
Analyze your successes, too. You know youve succeeded when you get the
results you want, both in terms of objective, concrete actions and in terms of
image and goodwill. You want to know why your message worked. Often,
youll find that the principles in this book explain the results you get. If your
results are different, why? There has to be a reason, and if you can find what it
is, youll be more successful more often.
Summary of Key Points
Communication helps organizations and the people in them achieve their

goals. The ability to write and speak well becomes increasingly important
as you rise in an organization.
People put things in writing to create a record, to convey complex data, to
make things convenient for the reader, to save money, and to convey their
own messages more effectively.
Internal documents go to people inside the organization. External documents go to audiences outside: clients, customers, suppliers, stockholders,
the government, the media, and the general public.
The three basic purposes of business and administrative communication
are to inform, to request or persuade, and to build goodwill. Most messages have more than one purpose.
Writing a one-page business letter costs more than $20. Poor writing costs
even more since it wastes time, wastes effort, and jeopardizes goodwill.
Good business and administrative writing meets five basic criteria: its clear,
complete, and correct; it saves the readers time; and it builds goodwill.
To evaluate a specific document, we must know the interactions among the
writer, the reader(s), the purposes of the message, and the situation. No single set of words will work for all readers in all situations.
Ten trends affecting business and administrative communication are a focus on quality and customers needs, entrepreneurship and outsourcing,
teams, diversity, international competition and opportunities, legal and
ethical concerns, balancing work and family, the end of the job, the rapid
rate of change, and technology.
To understand business communication situations, ask the following
questions:
Whats at staketo whom?
Should you send a message?
What channel should you use?
What should you say?
How should you say it?
The following process helps create effective messages:
Answer the six numbered questions for analysis below.
Organize your information to fit your audiences, your purposes, and the
situation.
Make your document visually inviting.
They Needed
to Proofread
One woman
mailed out a cover letter for
a $750,000 contract asking
the reader to take a
moment not to read and sign
this contract.
One man mailed a letter to a

male friend with the
salutation, Dear Ms.
Weeks.
In 1990, just hours before

the graduation ceremony,
the head of the U.S. Naval
Academy discovered that
the 1,600 diplomas
conferred degrees from the
U.S. Navel Academy.
28
Part 1
Revise your draft to create a friendly, businesslike, positive style.

Edit your draft for standard English; double-check names and numbers.
Use the response you get to plan future messages.
Use these six questions to analyze business communication problems:
1. Who is (are) your audience(s)? What characteristics are relevant to this
particular message? If you are writing or speaking to more than one
person, how do the people in your audience differ?
4. How can you build support for your position? What reasons or reader
benefits will your reader find convincing?
5. What objection(s) can you expect your reader(s) to have? What negative
elements of your message must you de-emphasize or overcome?
6. What aspects of the total situation may affect reader response? The
economy? The time of year? Morale in the organization? The relationship between the reader and writer? Any special circumstances?
A solution to a business communication problem must both solve the organizational problem and meet the needs of the writer or speaker, the organization, and the audience.
CHAPTER
Exercises and Problems
Getting Started
1.1
Letters for DiscussionLandscape Plants
Your nursery sells plants not only in your store but also
by mail order. Today youve received a letter from Pat
Sykes, complaining that the plants (in a $572 order) did
not arrive in a satisfactory condition. All of them were
dry and wilted. One came out by the roots when I took it
out of the box. Please send me a replacement shipment
immediately.
1.
The following letters are possible approaches to answering this complaint. How well does each message
meet the needs of the reader, the writer, and the organization? Is the message clear, complete, and correct? Does
it save the readers time? Does it build goodwill?
Dear Sir:
I checked to see what could have caused the defective shipment you received. After
ruling out problems in transit, I discovered that your order was packed by a new worker
who didnt understand the need to water plants thoroughly before they are shipped.
We have fired the worker, so you can be assured that this will not happen again.
Although it will cost our company several hundred dollars, we will send you a replacement shipment.
Let me know if the new shipment arrives safely. We trust that you will not complain again.
Chapter 1
2.
Dear Pat:
Sorry we screwed up that order. Sending plants across country is a risky business.
Some of them just cant take the strain. (Some days I cant take the strain myself!) Well
send you some more plants sometime next week and well credit your account for
$372.
3.
Dear Mr. Smith:

Im sorry you arent happy with your plants, but it isnt our fault. The box clearly says,
Open and water immediately. If you had done that, the plants would have been fine.
And anybody who is going to buy plants should know that a little care is needed. If you
pull by the leaves, you will pull the roots out. Since you dont know how to handle
plants, Im sending you a copy of our brochure, How to Care for Your Plants. Please
read it carefully so that you will know how to avoid disappointment in the future.
We look forward to your future orders.
4.
Dear Ms. Sykes:

Your letter of the 5th has come to the attention of the undersigned.
According to your letter, your invoice #47420 arrived in an unsatisfactory condition.
Please be advised that it is our policy to make adjustments as per the Terms and Conditions listed on the reverse side of our Acknowledgment of Order. If you will read that
document, you will find the following:
. . . if you intend to assert any claim against us on this account, you shall make an exception on your receipt to the carrier and shall, within 30 days after the receipt of any such
goods, furnish us detailed written information as to any damage.
Your letter of the 5th does not describe the alleged damage in sufficient detail. Furthermore, the delivery receipt contains no indication of any exception. If you expect to receive
an adjustment, you must comply with our terms and see that the necessary documents
reach the undersigned by the close of the business day on the 20th of the month.
5.
Dear Pat Sykes:

Youll get a replacement shipment of the perennials you ordered next week.
Your plants are watered carefully before shipment and packed in specially designed
cardboard containers. But if the weather is unusually warm, or if the truck is delayed,
small root balls may dry out. Perhaps this happened with your plants. Plants with small
root balls are easier to transplant, so they do better in your yard.
The violas, digitalis, aquilegias, and hostas you ordered are long-blooming perennials
that will get even prettier each year. Enjoy your garden!
29
30
1.2
Part 1
Online Messages for DiscussionResponding to Rumors
The Acme Corporation has been planning to acquire Best

Products, and Acme employees are worried about how
the acquisition will affect them. Ed Zeplin, Acmes human resource manager, has been visiting the message
boards on job search sites like Vault.com and sees a dramatic rise in the number of messages posted by people
claiming to be Acme employees. Many of the messages
1.
are spreading rumors about layoffs, and most of the rumors are false.
The following messages are possible responses that Ed
can post to the message boards. How well does each message meet the needs of the reader, the writer, and the organization? Is the message clear, complete, and correct?
Does it save the readers time? Does it build goodwill?
It Will Be Great!
Author: L. Ed Zeplin, HR
Date: Tuesday, May 23
I am happy to tell you that the HR news is good. Two months ago, the CEO told me
about the merger, and I have been preparing a human resource plan ever since.
I want you to know about this because morale has been bad, and it shouldnt be. You
really should wait for the official announcements, and youll see that the staffing needs
will remain strong. My department has been under a lot of pressure, but if youll be patient, well explain everythingthe staffing, the compensation.
Our plan should be ready by Monday, and then if you have any questions, just contact
your HR rep.
2.
HR Staffing
Author: HR Boss
The rumors are false. Just ask anyone in HR. There will be no layoffs.
3.
Dont Believe the Rumors

Author: lezeplin@acme.com
Acme has 475 employees, and Best Products has 132 employees. Our human resource plan for next year calls for 625 employees. If you do the math, you can see that
there will be no layoffs. Rather, we will be hiring 20 employees. Of course, as we consolidate operations with Best, there will be some redeployments. However, our plan indicates that we will be able to retain our current staff. All employees are valued at
Acme, as our current benefits package testifies.
Our HR plan is based on the best analytic techniques and a business forecast by a top
consulting firm. If youre an employee, you should review our business plan, at the Our
Goals page on Acmes intranet. Everyone should read Acmes mission statement on
our home page, www.acme.com/homepage.html.
Chapter 1
4.
31
Layoff Rumors Do Acme a Disservice

Author: Zeplin in HR
Date: Tuesday, 23 May
If you come here to get your company information, you arent getting the straight story.
The people posting to this discussion board are spreading false rumors, not the truth.
If you want to know the truth about Acme, ask the people who have access to the information.
As HR manager, I can assure you we wont be laying off employees after the merger
with Best Products. Im the one who approves the staffing plan, so I should know. If
people would ask me, instead of reading the negative, whining lies at this site, they
would know the facts, too.
If people really cared about job security, they would be meeting and exceeding their
work goals, rather than wasting their time in rumor-mongering on message boards.
Hard work: thats the key to success!
5.
The True Story about Lay-Offs

Author: lezeplin@acme.com
Date: Tuesday, 23 May
Whenever there is a merger or acquisition, rumors fly. Its human nature to turn to rumors when a situation seems uncertain. The case of Acme acquiring Best Products is
no exception, so Im not surprised to see rumors about layoffs posted on this message
board.
Have no fear! I am working closely with our CEO and with the CEO and human resource manager at Best Products, and we all agree that our current staff is a valuable
asset to Acme, to Best, and to our combined companies in the future. We have no
plans to lay off any of our valued people. I will continue monitoring this message board
and will post messages as I am able to disclose more details about our staffing plans.
In the meantime, employees should watch for official information in the company
newsletter and on our intranet.
We care about our people! If employees ever have questions about our plans and policies, they should contact me directly.
L. Ed Zeplin, HR Manager
1.3
Discussing Strengths
Introduce yourself to a small group of other students.

Identify three of your strengths that might interest an em-
ployer. These can be experience, knowledge, or personality traits (like enthusiasm).
32
Part 1
Communicating at Work
1.4
Understanding the Role of Communication in Your Organization
Interview your supervisor to learn about the kinds and

purposes of communication in your organization. Your
questions could include the following:
What channels of communication (e.g., memos,
e-mail, presentations) are most important in this
organization?
What documents or presentations do you create? Are
they designed to inform, to persuade, to build
goodwillor to do all three?
What documents or presentations do you receive?
Are they designed to inform, to persuade, to build
goodwillor to do all three?
Who are your most important audiences within the
organization?
Who are our most important external audiences?

What are the challenges of communicating in this
organization?
What kinds of documents and presentations does
the organization prefer?
As Your Instructor Directs,

a. Share your results with a small group of students.
b. Present your results in a memo to your instructor.
c. Join with a group of students to make a group presentation to the class.
d. Post your results online to the class.
Memo Assignments
1.5
Introducing Yourself to Your Instructor
Write a memo (at least 112 pages long) introducing yourself to your instructor. Include the following topics:
Background: Where did you grow up? What have
you done in terms of school, extracurricular
activities, jobs, and family life?
Interests: What are you interested in? What do you
like to do? What do you like to think about and talk
about?
Achievements: What achievements have given you
the greatest personal satisfaction? List at least five.
Include things that gave you a real sense of
accomplishment and pride, whether or not theyre
the sort of thing youd list on a rsum.
1.6
Goals: What do you hope to accomplish this term?

Where would you like to be professionally and
personally five years from now?
Use complete memo format with appropriate headings.
(See Appendix A for examples of memo format.) Use a
conversational writing style; check your draft to polish
the style and edit for mechanical and grammatical correctness. A good memo will enable your instructor to see
you as an individual. Use specific details to make your
memo vivid and interesting. Remember that one of your
purposes is to interest your reader!
Introducing Yourself to Your Collaborative Writing Group
Write a memo (at least 112 pages long) introducing yourself to the other students in your collaborative writing
group. Include the following topics:
Background: What is your major? What special areas
of knowledge do you have? What have you done in
terms of school, extracurricular activities, jobs, and
family life?
Previous experience in groups: What groups have
you worked in before? Are you usually a leader,
a follower, or a bit of both? Are you interested in
a quality product? In maintaining harmony in the
group? In working efficiently? What do you like most

about working in groups? What do you like least?
Work and composing style: Do you like to talk out
ideas while theyre in a rough stage or work them out
on paper before you discuss them? Would you rather
have a complete outline before you start writing or
just a general idea? Do you want to have a detailed
schedule of everything that has to be done and who
will do it, or would you rather go with the flow?
Do you work best under pressure, or do you want to
have assignments ready well before the due date?
Chapter 1
Areas of expertise: What can you contribute to the

group in terms of knowledge and skills? Are you good
at brainstorming ideas? Researching? Designing
charts? Writing? Editing? Word processing? Managing
the flow of work? Maintaining group cohesion?
Goals for collaborative assignments: What do you
hope to accomplish this term? Where does this
course fit into your priorities?
1.7
33

conversational writing style; edit your final draft for mechanical and grammatical correctness. A good memo will
enable others in your group to see you as an individual.
Use details to make your memo vivid and interesting. Remember that one of your purposes is to make your readers look forward to working with you!
Describing Your Experiences in and Goals for Writing
Write a memo (at least 112 pages long) to your instructor

describing the experiences youve had writing and what
youd like to learn about writing during this course.
Answer several of the following questions:
What memories do you have of writing? What made
writing fun or frightening in the past?
What have you been taught about writing? List the
topics, rules, and advice you remember.
What kinds of writing have you done in school?
How long have the papers been?
How has your school writing been evaluated? Did
the instructor mark or comment on mechanics and
grammar? Style? Organization? Logic? Content?
Audience analysis and adaptation? Have you gotten
extended comments on your papers? Have
instructors in different classes had the same
standards, or have you changed aspects of your
writing for different classes?
What voluntary writing have you donejournals,

poems, stories, essays? Has this writing been just for
you, or has some of it been shared or published?
Have you ever written on a job or in a student or
volunteer organization? Have you ever typed other
peoples writing? What have these experiences led
you to think about real-world writing?
What do you see as your current strengths and
weaknesses in writing skills? What skills do you
think youll need in the future? What kinds of
writing do you expect to do after you graduate?
conversational writing style; edit your final draft for mechanical and grammatical correctness.

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1

The Building Blocks

Business Communication, Management,

Adapting Your Message to Your Audience

Making Your Writing Easy to Read

Planning, Composing, and Revising

Designing Documents, Slides, and Screens

The Importance of Listening, Speaking, and

The Cost of Correspondence

Writing E-Mail Messages

Benefits of Improving Correspondence

Trends in Business and Administrative Communication

Focus on Quality and Customers Needs

Answer the Six Questions for Analysis.

Summary of Key Points

Business Communication, Management, and Success

The Building Blocks of Effective Messages

Communication Ability Promotability

Ill Never Have to Write Because . . .

Secretaries will do all my writing.

Because of automation and restructuring, job responsibilities in offices have

Business Communication, Management, and Success

complex tasks such as training, research, and database management for

Ill use form letters or templates when I need to write.

A form letter is a prewritten, fill-in-the-blank letter designed to fit standard

Im being hired as an accountant, not a writer.

Almost every entry-level professional or managerial job requires you to write

Ill just pick up the phone.

Important phone calls require follow-up letters, memos, or e-mail messages.

The Managerial Functions of Communication

The Importance of Listening, Speaking, and Interpersonal

The Building Blocks of Effective Messages

The Internal Audiences of the Sales ManagerWest

The Corporations External Audiences

The general public

Business Communication, Management, and Success

The Documents That Writers in Organizations Write

The Building Blocks of Effective Messages

Internal Documents Produced in One Organization

Memo accompanying document, telling

Inform; persuade reader to read

Monthly or quarterly report

Report summarizing profitability,

Inform; build image and goodwill (report

Policy and procedure

Statement of company policies and

Inform; build image and goodwill

Request to deviate from

Persuasive memo arguing that another

Persuade; build image and goodwill

Inform; persuade employee to improve

Congratulations to employees who have

External Documents Produced in One Organization

Letter giving price for a specific product,

Inform; build goodwill (price is reasonable)

Letter granting or denying customer

Inform; build goodwill

Description of qualifications and duties of