Writing Business Messages Chapter 4 Writing Business Messages Chapter 4 discusses the “you” attitude and understanding your audience’s needs, maintaining “netiquette,” maintaining bias-free language, establishing your credibility, protecting your company’s image and controlling your tone and style, understanding active and passive voice, choosing powerful words, understanding the four primary types of sentences, writing the topic sentence, support sentence, and using transitions, and using technology to improve your writing. 4-1

Learning Objectives After studying this chapter, you will be able to: Identify the four aspects of being sensitive to audience needs when writing business messages. Explain how establishing your credibility and projecting your company’s image are vital aspects of building strong relationships with your audience. Explain how to achieve a tone that is conversational but businesslike; explain the value of using plain language, and define active and passive voice. Describe how to select words that are not only correct but also effective. Define the four types of sentences and explain how sentence style affects emphasis within a message. Define the three key elements of a paragraph and list five ways to develop coherent paragraphs. Identify the most common software features that help you craft messages more efficiently. After studying this chapter, you will be able to: Identify the four aspects of being sensitive to audience needs when writing business messages. Explain how establishing your credibility and projecting your company’s image are vital aspects of building strong relationships with your audience. Explain how to achieve a tone that is conversational but businesslike, explain the value of using plain language, and define active and passive voice. Describe how to select words that are not only correct but also effective. Define the four types of sentences and explain how sentence style affects emphasis within a message. Define the three key elements of a paragraph and list five ways to develop coherent paragraphs. Identify the most common software features that help you craft messages more efficiently

Being Sensitive to Your Audience’s Needs What’s In It For Me? “WIIFM” Martin Shovel and other successful communicators will tell you that audiences tend to greet incoming messages with a selfish question: “What’s in this for me?” If your target readers or listeners don’t think a message applies to them, or they don’t think you are being sensitive to their needs, they won’t pay attention. You can improve your audience sensitivity by adopting the “you” attitude, maintaining good standards of etiquette, emphasizing the positive, and using bias-free language. Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Adopting the “You” Attitude I, me, mine, we, us, ours You are already becoming familiar with the audience-centered approach, trying to see a subject through your audience’s eyes. Now you want to project this approach in your messages by adopting the “you” attitude—that is, by speaking and writing in terms of your audience’s wishes, interests, hopes, and preferences. On a simple level, you can adopt the “you” attitude by replacing terms that refer to yourself and your company with terms that refer to your audience. In other words, use you and your instead of I, me, mine, we, us, and ours. You, your

Maintaining Standards Emphasizing the Positive of Etiquette Emphasizing the Positive Good etiquette shows respect for your audience and helps foster a more successful environment for communication by minimizing negative emotional reaction. Some situations naturally require more diplomacy than others. If you know your audience well, a less formal approach might be more appropriate. However, when you are communicating with people who outrank you or with people outside your organization, an added measure of courtesy is usually needed. Written communication and most forms of electronic media generally require more tact than oral communication. When you’re speaking, you can soften your words by your tone of voice and facial expressions. Plus, you can adjust your approach according to the feedback you get. You will encounter situations throughout your career in which you need to convey unwanted news. However, sensitive communicators understand the difference between delivering negative news and being negative. Never try to hide the negative news, but look for positive points that will foster a good relationship with your audience.

Using Bias-Free Language Gender bias Racial and ethnic bias Age bias Disability bias Religious bias Political bias Using Bias-Free Language Bias-free language avoids words and phrases that unfairly and even unethically categorize or stigmatize people in ways related to gender, race, ethnicity, age, disability, or other personal characteristics. Contrary to what some might think, biased language is not simply about “labels.” To a significant degree, language reflects the way people think and what they believe, and biased language may well perpetuate the underlying stereotypes and prejudices that it represents. We talked about this in week 1. To establish a good relationship with your audience, you must also appear to be fair. Good communicators make every effort to change biased language. Bias can take a variety of forms: Gender bias. Racial and ethnic bias. Age bias. Can you think of any other types of bias, or recall any of the other areas we covered? Disability Religion Political

Establishing Your Credibility Honesty Objectivity Awareness of audience needs Credentials (knowledge and expertise) Endorsements Performance Confidence Sincerity Audience responses to your messages depend heavily on your credibility, which is a measure of your believability and is based on how reliable you are and how much trust you evoke in others. With audiences who don’t know you and trust you already, you need to establish credibility before they’ll accept your messages. On the other hand, when you do establish credibility, communication becomes much easier because you no longer have to spend time and energy convincing people that you are a trustworthy source of information and ideas. To build, maintain, or repair your credibility, emphasize the following characteristics: Honesty. Objectivity. Awareness of audience needs. Credentials, knowledge, and expertise. Endorsements. Performance. Confidence. Sincerity. Be aware that credibility can take days, months, even years to establish—and it can be wiped out in an instant. An occasional mistake or letdown may be forgiven, but major lapses in honesty or integrity can destroy your reputation.

Projecting Your Company’s Image As part of this responsibility, the interests and preferred communication style of your company must take precedence over your own views and personal communication style. When you communicate with anyone outside your organization, it is more than a conversation between two individuals. You represent your company and therefore play a vital role in helping the company build and maintain positive relationships with all of its stakeholders. Most successful companies work hard to foster a specific public image, and your external communication efforts need to project that image. As part of this responsibility, the interests and preferred communication style of your company must take precedence over your own views and personal communication style.

Controlling Your Style and Tone Your communication style involves the choices you make to express yourself: the words you select, the manner in which you use those words in sentences, and the way you build paragraphs from individual sentences. Your style creates a certain tone, or overall impression, in your messages. The right tone depends on the nature of your message and your relationship with the reader. 4-10

Selecting Active or Passive Voice Active voice: The subject performs the action and the object receives the action. Passive voice: The subject receives the action. Active voice: Makes your writing more direct, livelier and easier to read. Passive voice: Can be cumbersome, lengthy and vague. The choice of active or passive voice also affects the tone of your message. In a sentence written in the active voice, the subject performs the action and the object receives the action: “Jodi sent the email message.” In a sentence written in the passive voice, the subject receives the action: “The email message was sent by Jodi.” As you can see, the passive voice combines the helping verb to be with a form of the verb that is usually similar to the past tense. Using the active voice often makes your writing more direct, livelier, and easier to read. Passive voice is not wrong grammatically, but it can be cumbersome, lengthy, and vague. In most cases, the active voice is the better choice.

Composing Your Message: Choosing Powerful Words Potentially Weak Words and Phrases Increase or decrease Accelerate, escalate, augment Cut back, dwindle Good or bad Admirable, beneficial, flawless Deficient, inadequate, substandard Cliches and Buzzwords Writing on the wall Prediction Think outside the box Be creative Fall through the cracks Be overlooked After you have decided how to adapt to your audience, you’re ready to begin composing your message. As you write your first draft, let your creativity flow. Don’t try to draft and edit at the same time or worry about getting everything perfect. You may find it helpful to hone your craft by viewing your writing at three levels: strong words, effective sentences, and coherent paragraphs. Avoid and/or replace potentially weak words and phrases. Avoid cliches and buzzwords.

Choosing from the Four Types of Sentences COMPOUND COMPOUND-COMPLEX COMPLEX SIMPLE SENTENCE Profits increased 35 percent last year. COMPOUND SENTENCE Profits increased 35 percent last year, and the sales and marketing team received a bonus. COMPLEX SENTENCE Although you may have been surprised to learn this, profits increased 35 percent last year. COMPOUND-COMPLEX SENTENCE Profits increased 35 percent last year, so although the company faces long-term challenges, the sales and marketing team agree that short-term prospects look positive. SIMPLE Sentences come in four basic varieties: 1 - simple, 2 - compound, 3 - complex, and 4 - compound-complex. 1a - A simple sentence has one main clause (a single subject and a single predicate), although it may be expanded by nouns and pronouns serving as objects of the action and by modifying phrases. 2a - A compound sentence has two main clauses that express two or more independent but related thoughts of equal importance, usually joined by and, but, or or. In effect, a compound sentence is a merger of two or more simple sentences that are related. 3a - A complex sentence expresses one main thought (the independent clause) and one or more subordinate thoughts (dependent clauses) related to it, often separated by a comma. The subordinate thought could not stand alone. 4a - A compound-complex sentence has two main clauses, at least one of which contains a subordinate clause. To make your writing as effective as possible, strive for variety and balance using all four sentence types.

Understanding the Elements of a Paragraph Paragraphs organize sentences related to the same general topic. Readers expect every paragraph to be unified—focusing on a single topic—and coherent—presenting ideas in a logically connected way. By carefully arranging the elements of each paragraph, you help your readers grasp the main idea of your document and understand how the specific pieces of support material back up that idea. Paragraphs vary widely in length and form, but most contain three basic elements: a topic sentence, support sentences that develop the topic, and transitional words and phrases. Most effective paragraphs deal with a single topic, and the sentence that introduces that topic is called the topic sentence. This sentence, is usually the first one in the paragraph. Topic Sentence

Paragraph Structure Topic Sentence Support Sentences Transitions The topic sentence gives readers a summary of the general idea that will be covered in the rest of the paragraph. In most paragraphs, the topic sentence needs to be explained, justified, or extended with one or more support sentences. These sentences must be related to the topic and provide examples, evidence, and clarification. Transitions connect ideas by showing how one thought is related to another. They also help alert the reader to what lies ahead so that shifts and changes don’t cause confusion. In addition to helping readers understand the connections you’re trying to make, transitions give your writing a smooth, even flow.

Developing Paragraphs Illustration Cause and effect Comparison or contrast Problem and solution Classification You have a variety of options for developing paragraphs, each of which can convey a specific type of idea. Five of the most common approaches are illustration, cause and effect, comparison or contrast, problem and solution, and classification.

Using Technology to Compose and Shape Your Messages Before and during writing: Style sheets, style sets, themes, boilerplate, document components File merge and mail merge features Endnotes, footnotes, indexes, table of contents After writing and before sending: Autocorrection and autocompletion Thesaurus (is there a better word?) Spell checker Grammar checker Be sure to take advantage of all the software tools at your disposal to write more efficiently and effectively. The features, functions, and names vary from system to system and version to version, but you’ll encounter some combination of the following capabilities: Style sheets, style sets, themes, boilerplate and document components. File merge and mail merge. Endnotes, footnotes, indexes, and tables of contents. Autocorrection and autocompletion. Spell checker Grammar checker Thesaurus

Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress Identify the four aspects of being sensitive to audience needs when writing business messages. Explain how establishing your credibility and projecting your company’s image are vital aspects of building strong relationships with your audience. Explain how to achieve a tone that is conversational but businesslike, explain the value of using plain language, and define active and passive voice. Describe how to select words that are not only correct but also effective. Define the four types of sentences and explain how sentence style affects emphasis within a message. Define the three key elements of a paragraph and list five ways to develop coherent paragraphs. Check your progress: Identify the four aspects of being sensitive to audience needs when writing business messages. Adopt the YOU attitude, maintain good standards of etiquette, emphasize the positive and use bias-free language. Explain how establishing your credibility and projecting your company’s image are vital aspects of building strong relationships with your audience. Credibility: communication becomes easier because you no longer have to spend time and energy convincing peple you are a trustworthy source of information and ideas. Company image: Interests and preferred communication style of your company must take precedence over your own views and personal communication style. Explain how to achieve a tone that is conversational but businesslike, explain the value of using plain language, and define active and passive voice. Tone: Read each situation and figure out the appropriate tone to use; Plain language: Presents information in a simple, unadorned style that allows your audience to easily grasp your meaning – language that recipients can read, understand and act upon the first time they read it. Active/Passive voice: Active – the subject performs the action and the object receives the action; Passive – the subject receives the action. Is PASSIVE voice wrong? No, but usually active voice is the better choice. Describe how to select words that are not only correct but also effective. Choose strong words, familiar words, avoid cliches and use buzzwords carefully. Define the four types of sentences and explain how sentence style affects emphasis within a message. Simple, compound, complex, compound-complex. Definitions are on slide 13 or pages 89 – 91. Define the three key elements of a paragraph and list five ways to develop coherent paragraphs. Topic sentence; supporting sentences; transition sentence. Developing coherent paragraphs: Illustration, comparison or contrast, cause and effect, classification, and problem and solution. Identify the most common software features that help you craft messages more efficiently. Style sheets, templates, themes; mail merge, indexes, table of contents. Auto correct and auto completion, spell checker, grammar checker, thesaurus. Identify common software features that help you craft messages more efficiently.