Overview of chapter 2
I am convinced more and more day by day that fine writing is next to fine doing, the top thing in the world.
Kierkegaard 1819
To start you thinking
Read any letters you have received from commercial or charitable organisations. Did they achieve their purpose? Was their purpose apparent? Were they clear and readable?
People find writing difficult because they do not understand some of the basic rules of producing effective documents. They begin the document without considering the writing process, their real purpose or their audience. This is despite the fact that although we have, in effect, learnt how to write since our early school years, many of us are still not confident in our ability to produce effective documents. This is a pity because, although the media may have changed, companies still rely on reports, letters and memos to transmit messages. Consequently your writing skills will affect your career. We write as representatives of our organisation and poorly written documents cost it money because poor documents can often lead to confusion, poor decisions and lost customers. Unfortunately, knowing your topic well does not guarantee that your written communication will be clear: we must be able to communicate information and ideas in a way that others will understand.
The first decision we must make is whether to write at all. Whilst written communication has the advantage of being a permanent record and can be revised before being sent it also reduces the chance of receiving prompt feedback, so before writing a document check that this is the right communication media. Ask yourself:
- Is it important to get the receiver's immediate reaction? If so, a simple conversation may be more appropriate.
- Is the message sensitive and likely to cause distress? In this case a written message may not sufficiently prepare the recipient for the news.
Having made the decision to write you need to be prepared to be thorough. At first you may find you write slowly and that you are not entirely happy either with that or with the product. However, once you have mastered good writing techniques you will find that you can reduce the time it takes to write effective business documents. This has obvious advantages! The first technique is to develop a plan or outline of what you want to write.
Whilst it may appear to take longer to produce outlines for documents, it actually reduces the time spent discarding and revising letters which have digressed from the point and in answering the questions which will inevitably come from the recipient of unclear communication (Churchman 1999). Even with a full understanding of these guidelines you still need to consider the specific purpose of each document you compose. Once you have familiarised yourself with the document structures covered in this chapter you can avoid wasting lengthy time planning each document or composing documents which do not achieve their purpose.
There are a number of forms of written business communication, each with its own purpose and style. Business letters and memoranda , for example, generally contain good or neutral news, bad news or they are written to persuade the reader to take some action or to support your point of view; they must be written in a way that reflects this purpose. Communication theorists have devised guidelines for different types of letters which address the psychological needs of the readers and ensure that you provide all the necessary information in an easily understood format. Reports can be written in a variety of ways. However, a few general principles apply.
This chapter will overview the principles of good writing and encourages you to explore the different types of written communication found in business.
Learning objectives
On completion of this chapter you should be able to:
- understand the importance of planning written communication
- identify the components of a plain English writing style
- evaluate your writing
- understand the principles of writing letters, memos and reports
- write good news, bad news and persuasive letters
- use electronic communication tools effectively
Topics
- 2.1 Overview of written communication
- 2.2 Planning
- 2.3 The components of a plain English writing style
- 2.4 Evaluating your writing
- 2.5 Letters, memoranda and reports
- 2.6 Applying written communication to business writing
In your text
Read Chapters 15, 17, 18 and 19 in your text by Dwyer, J. 2005, Communication in Business: Strategies and Skills, 3 rd edn, Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest , Australia .
