Purpose of Writing

1. Written media have a number of advantages over oral media.

a. They allow you to plan & control your message.
b. They offer permanent & verifiable record.
c. They help you reach an audience that is geographically dispersed.
d. They minimize any distortion or vagueness.
e. They can be used to avoid immediate interactions.
f. They have minimum space for any inappropriate or vague emotional component.
2. Disadvantages:
a. They are time consuming.
b. They require skills in preparation & production.
c. They lack immediate personal influences which occur from personal touch—face to face.
3. Effective writing is clear writing. Business communication requires to be clear, simple & lucid.
4. Tips:
a. Use familiar words.
b. Use concrete words – tangible & real words.
c. Use single words or minimum words to express.
d. Saxon words to Romance- Latin words. Ex- dead body instead of corpse, talkative than loquacious.
e. Use strong words: Boom in place of period of business prosperity, slum instead of period of decline.
f. Use of active verbs: Active is more influential than passive.
Ex- The management appreciates your services. Your services are appreciated by the management.
g. Use precise words/idioms.
5. Further tips
a. Keep sentence short. 16-18 words.
b. Avoid cluttering phrases- on the occasion of --- , on .
c. Avoid roundabout constructions- It is essential that we must save some money for the rainy day. We save some
money for emergency.
d. Avoid unnecessary repetition: I think we have all modern equipment for our sports activities. I think we have
modern sports equipment.
e. Maintain unity of sentences.
f. Rules of grammar.
6. Planning Business Messages:
a. Analyze Your Situation-
i. Determine the purpose of your message whether to inform, persuade or collaborate.
ii. Identify what you want your audience to think or do.
iii. Make sure the time is right for the message.
iv. Make sure the right messenger delivers the message.
v. Identify the primary audience.
vi. Estimate your audience level of understanding.
You instead of instead of I & we.
Audience’s wishes, interests, hopes & preferences.

b. Gather information: Provide all ethical, accurate & pertinent information.

c. Select the Right Medium: Understand the advantages & disadvantages of oral, written & electronic media.

d. Organize your Information:

i. Define your main idea.
ii. Limit your scope.
iii. Choose a direct or indirect approach.
Outline content by starting with the main idea, adding major points – chronological order & illustrating with
evidence.

Q. Summarize the process for organizing business messages effectively?

Ans. To organize messages effectively, begin with recognizing the importance of good organization. Then define
the main idea by making a specific statement about the topic, Limit the scope of the message by adjusting the
space & detail you allocate to major points. To choose either a direct or indirect approach, anticipate the
audience’s reactions to the message & match the approach to both message length & message types. Finally group
the points by constructing an outline to visualize the relationship between the ideas & the supporting material.