Three Step Writing Process

TAfter studying this chapter, you will be able to “People have just gone ahead and experimented. There are some very interesting models emerging. ” —Ben Edwards Manager of Investor Communications, IBM www. ibm. com 1 Describe the three-step writing process 2 List four questions that can help you test the purpose of your message 3 Describe the importance of analyzing your audience and identify the six factors you should consider when developing an audience profile 4 Discuss gathering information for simple messages and identify three attributes of quality information List factors to consider when choosing the most appropriate medium for your message 6 Explain why good organization is important to both you and your audience 7 Summarize the process for organizing business messages effectively After launching a breakthrough podcasting series called “IBM and the Future of .

. . ” as a way of letting IBM experts share knowledge on a wide range of topics with customers and investors, the company made podcasting tools available to all its employees, then sat back to see how they might take advantage of this exciting new medium.

Not surprisingly for a company full of bright, creative people, IBM staffers began distributing a wide variety of messages via podcast. One gained an instant following by podcasting about the daily challenges and rewards of being a mobile information worker. Another saved hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in telephone charges simply by replacing a massive weekly teleconference with podcasts. No matter what the technology, innovators such as IBM are constantly looking for new ways to reach their audiences with effective messages.

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1 Understanding the Three-Step Writing Process

Choosing the medium is one of the most important steps in planning your business messages, and as IBM demonstrates, the options seem to multiply all the time. Whether you’re creating simple e-mails and instant messages or complex reports and presentations that may require weeks of planning and writing, your goal is to create messages that have a clear purpose, meet the needs of your audience, and communicate efficiently. For every 52 FIGURE 3. 1 The Three-Step Writing Process This three-step process will help you create more effective messages in any medium.

As you get more practice with the process, it will become easier and more automatic. Planning Analyze the Situation Define your purpose and develop an audience profile. Writing Adapt to Your Audience Be sensitive to audience needs with a “you” attitude, politeness, positive emphasis, and bias-free language. Build a strong relationship with your audience by establishing your credibility and projecting your company’s image. Control your style with a conversational tone, plain English, and appropriate voice. Completing Revise the Message Evaluate content and review readability, then edit and rewrite for conciseness and clarity.

Gather Information Determine audience needs and obtain the information necessary to satisfy those needs. Produce the Message Use effective design elements and suitable layout for a clean, professional appearance. Select the Right Medium Choose the best medium for delivering your message. Proofread the Message Review for errors in layout, spelling, and mechanics. Compose the Message Choose strong words that will help you create effective sentences and coherent paragraphs. Organize the Information Define your main idea, limit your scope, select a direct or an indirect approach, and outline your content.

Distribute the Message Deliver your message using the chosen medium; make sure all documents and all relevant files are distributed successfully. 1 2 3 message you send, you can reduce the time and energy it takes to achieve this goal by following a clear and proven three-step process (see Figure 3. 1): ¦ ¦ ¦ Planning business messages. To plan any message, first analyze the situation by defining your purpose and developing a profile of your audience. With that in mind, you can gather information that will meet your audience’s needs.

Next, select the right medium (oral, written, or electronic) to deliver your message. With those three factors in place, you’re ready to organize the information by defining your main idea, limiting your scope, selecting an approach, and outlining your content. Planning messages is the focus of this chapter. Writing business messages. Once you’ve planned your message, adapt to your audience with sensitivity, relationship skills, and style. Then you’re ready to compose your message by choosing strong words, creating effective sentences, and developing coherent paragraphs.

Writing business messages is discussed in Chapter 4. Completing business messages. After writing your first draft, revise your message to make sure it is clear, concise, and correct. Next produce your message, giving it an attractive, professional appearance. Proofread the final product for typos, spelling errors, and other mechanical problems. Finally, distribute your message using the best combination of personal and technological tools. Completing business messages is discussed in Chapter 5. The three-step writing process consists of planning, writing, and completing your messages.

Throughout this book, you’ll see the three steps in this process applied to a wide variety of business messages: basic tasks for short messages (Chapters 6 through 9), additional tasks for longer messages (Chapter 10 and 11), special tasks for oral presentations (Chapter 12), and distinct tasks for employment messages (Chapter 14). The more you use the three-step writing process, the easier and faster it will become. You’ll also get better at allotting your time for each step. As a general rule, try using roughly half your time for planning, a quarter of your time for writing, and the remaining quarter for completing the project.

Even for small writing projects, resist the temptation to skip the planning step. For instance, spending even just a minute or two to think As a starting point, try to use half your time for planning, one quarter for writing, and one quarter for completing your messages. 53 54 2: The Three-Step Writing Process through the purpose of an e-mail message can help you write much faster because you’ll know in advance what you want to say. And leave plenty of time to complete your documents, too; you don’t want to compromise the quality of a good message by shortchanging the important steps of revising, producing, proofreading, and distributing. Analyzing Your Situation A successful message starts with a clear purpose that connects the sender’s needs with the audience’s needs. Identifying your purpose and your audience is usually a straightforward task for simple, routine messages; however, this task can be more demanding in more complex situations. For instance, if you need to communicate about a shipping problem between your Beijing and Los Angeles factories, your purpose might be simply to alert upper management to the situation, or it might involve asking the two factory managers to explore and solve the problem.

These two scenarios have different purposes and different audiences; therefore, they yield dramatically different messages. If you launch directly into writing without clarifying both your purpose and your audience, you’ll waste time and energy, and you’ll probably generate a less effective message. Defining Your Purpose Business messages have both a general and a specific purpose. After defining your purpose, verify that the message will be worth the time and effort required to create, send, and receive it. All business messages have a general purpose: to inform, to persuade, or to collaborate with your audience.

This purpose helps define the overall approach you’ll need to take, from gathering information to organizing your message. Within the scope of that general purpose, each message also has a specific purpose, which identifies what you hope to accomplish with your message. State your specific purpose as precisely as possible, even identifying which audience members should respond, how they should respond, and when. Once you have defined your specific purpose, make sure it merits the time and effort required for you to prepare and send the message. Ask these four questions: ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Will anything change as a result of your message?

Make sure you don’t contribute to information overload by sending messages that won’t change anything. Complaining about things that you have no influence over is a good example of a message that probably shouldn’t be sent. Is your purpose realistic? If your purpose involves a radical shift in action or attitude, proceed carefully. Consider proposing a first step so that your message acts as the beginning of a learning process. Is the time right? People who are busy or distracted when they receive your message are less likely to pay attention to it. Is your purpose acceptable to your organization?

Your company’s business objectives and policies, and even laws that apply to your particular industry, may dictate whether a given purpose is acceptable. Once you are satisfied that you have a clear and meaningful purpose and that now is a smart time to proceed, your next step is to understand the members of your audience and their needs. Developing an Audience Profile Before an audience takes the time to read or hear your message, they need to be interested in what you’re saying. They need to see what’s in it for them—which of their needs will be met or problems will be solved by listening to your advice or doing what you ask.

The more 3: Planning Business Messages 55 FIGURE 3. 2 Using Audience Analysis to Plan a Message For simple, routine messages, you usually don’t need to analyze your audience in depth. However, for complex messages or messages for indifferent or hostile audiences, take the time to study their information needs and potential reactions to your message. Audience Analysis Notes Project: A report recommending that we close down the on-site exercise facility and subsidize private memberships at local health clubs.
• Primary audience: Nicole Perazzo, vice president of operations, and her supervisory team. Size and geographic distribution: Nine managers total; Nicole and five of her staff are here on site; three other supervisors are based in Hong Kong.
• Composition: All have experience in operations management, but several are new to the company.
• Level of understanding: All will no doubt understand the financial considerations, but the newer managers might not understand the importance of the on-site exercise facility to many of our employees.
• Expectations and preferences. They’re expecting a firm recommendation, backed up with well-thought-out financial rationale and suggestions for communicating the bad news to employees.

For a decision of this magnitude, a formal report is appropriate; e-mail distribution is expected.
• Probable reaction. From one-on-one discussions, I know that several of the managers receiving this report are active users of the on-site facility and won’t welcome the suggestion that we should shut it down. However, some nonexercisers generally think it’s a luxury the company can’t afford. Audience reactions will range from highly positive to highly negative; the report should focus on overcoming the highly negative reactions since they’re the ones I need to convince. ou know about your audience, their needs, and their expectations, the more effectively you’ll be able to communicate with them. For an example of the kind of information you need to compile in an audience analysis, see the planning sheet shown in Figure 3. 2. To conduct an audience analysis: ¦ Ask yourself some key questions about your audience: ¦ Who are they? ¦ How many people do you need to reach? ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Identify your primary audience. For some messages, certain audience members might be more important than others. Don’t ignore the needs of less influential members, but make sure you address the concerns of the key decision makers.

Determine audience size and geographic distribution. A message aimed at 10,000 people spread around the globe might require a different approach than one aimed at a dozen people down the hall. Determine audience composition. Look for both similarities and differences in culture, language, age, education, organizational rank and status, attitudes, experience, motivations, and any other factors that might affect the success of your message. Gauge audience members’ level of understanding. If audience members share your general background, they’ll probably understand your material without difficulty.

If not, your message will need an element of education, and deciding how much information to include can be a challenge. Try to include only enough information to accomplish the specific purpose of your message. If the members of your audience have various levels of understanding, gear your coverage to your primary audience (the key decision makers). Understand audience expectations and preferences. Will members of your audience expect complete details or just a summary of the main points? Do they want an e-mail ¦ How much do they already know about the subject? ¦ What is their probable reaction o your message? If audience members have different levels of understanding of the topic, aim your message at the most influential decision makers. 56 2: The Three-Step Writing Process A gradual approach and plenty of evidence are required to win over a skeptical audience. ¦ or will they expect a formal memo? In general, the higher up the organization your message goes, the fewer details people want to see, simply because they have less time to read them. Forecast probable audience reaction. As you’ll read later in the chapter, audience reaction affects message organization.

If you expect a favorable response, you can state conclusions and recommendations up front and offer minimal supporting evidence. If you expect skepticism, you’ll probably want to introduce conclusions gradually, with more proof along the way. Gathering Information With a clear picture of your audience, your next step is to assemble the information that you will include in your message. For simple messages, you may already have all the information at hand, but more complex messages can require considerable research and analysis before you’re ready to begin writing.

Chapter 10 explores formal techniques for finding, evaluating, and processing information, but you can often use a variety of informal techniques to gather insights and focus your research efforts: ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Consider other viewpoints. Putting yourself in someone else’s position helps you consider what that person might be thinking, feeling, or planning. Read reports and other company documents. Your company’s files may be a rich source of the information you need for a particular memo or e-mail message. Seek out annual reports, financial statements, news releases, memos, marketing reports, and customer surveys for helpful information.

Find out whether your company has a knowledge management system, a centralized database that collects the experiences and insights of employees throughout the organization. Talk with supervisors, colleagues, or customers. Fellow workers and customers may have information you need, or they may know what your audience will be interested in. Ask your audience for input. If you’re unsure of what audience members need from your message, ask them. Admitting you don’t know but want to meet their needs will impress an audience more than guessing and getting it wrong.

Uncovering Audience Needs If you’re given a vague request, ask questions to clarify it before you plan a response. Include any additional information that might be helpful, even though the requester didn’t specifically ask for it. In many situations, your audience’s information needs are readily apparent, such as when a consumer sends an e-mail asking a specific question. In other cases, your audience might be unable to articulate exactly what is needed. If someone makes a vague or broad request, ask questions to narrow the focus.

If your boss says, “Find out everything you can about Interscope Records,” ask which aspect of the company and its business is most important. Asking a question or two often forces the person to think through the request and define more precisely what is required. Also, try to think of information needs that your audience may not even be aware of. Suppose your company has just hired a new employee from out of town, and you’ve been assigned to coordinate this person’s relocation. At a minimum, you would write a welcoming letter describing your company’s procedures for relocating employees.

With a little extra thought, however, you might include some information about the city: perhaps a guide to residential areas, a map or two, brochures about cultural activities, or information on schools and transportation. In some cases, you may be able to tell your audience something they consider important but wouldn’t have thought to ask. Although adding information of this sort lengthens your message, it can also create goodwill. Providing Required Information Test the completeness of your document by making sure it answers all the important questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Once you’ve defined your audience’s information needs, your next step is to satisfy those needs completely. Use the journalistic approach to make sure your information answers who, what, when, where, why, and how. In addition to delivering the right quantity of 3: Planning Business Messages 57 required information, you are responsible for verifying the quality of that information. Ask yourself these three questions: ¦ ¦ ¦ Is the information accurate? Inaccuracies can cause a host of problems, from embarrassment and lost productivity to serious safety and legal issues.

Be sure to review any mathematical or financial calculations. Check all dates and schedules, and examine your own assumptions and conclusions to be certain they are valid. Is the information ethical? By working hard to ensure the accuracy of the information you gather, you’ll also avoid many ethical problems in your messages. However, messages can also be unethical if important information is omitted or obscured. Is the information pertinent? Remember that some points will be more important to your audience than others.

Moreover, by focusing on the information that concerns your audience the most, you increase your chances of sending an effective message. Selecting the Right Medium Selecting the best medium for your message can make the difference between effective and ineffective communication. 3 A medium is the form through which you choose to communicate your message. You may choose to talk with someone face-to-face, write a letter, send an e-mail message, or record a podcast—with today’s ever-expanding technology, you often have a variety of media options from which to choose.

In fact, media categories have become increasingly blurred in recent years with so many options that include multimedia formats. For the sake of discussion, you can think of media as traditionally being either oral or written, and electronic media extend the reach of both. Each type of medium has advantages and disadvantages. Oral Media Primary oral media include face-to-face conversations, interviews, speeches, in-person presentations, and meetings. Being able to see, hear, and react to each other can benefit communicators, giving oral media several advantages: ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦

They provide immediate feedback. They allow a certain ease of interaction. They involve rich nonverbal cues (both physical gestures and vocal inflections). They help you express the emotion behind your message. Oral communication is best when you need to encourage interaction, express emotions, or monitor emotional responses. Traditional oral media are useful for getting people to ask questions, make comments, and work together to reach a consensus or decision. However, if you don’t want or need all that interaction, then oral media can have several disadvantages: ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦

They restrict participation to those physically present. Unless recorded, they provide no permanent, verifiable record of the communication. They can reduce the communicator’s control over the message, if people interrupt or ask unanticipated questions. They often rule out the chance to revise or edit your spoken words. Oral media limit participation to those who are present, reduce your control over the message, and make it difficult to revise or edit your message. Written Media Written messages take many forms, from traditional memos to glossy reports that rival magazines in production quality.

Memos are used for the routine, day-to-day exchange of information within an organization. E-mail continues to replace traditional paper memos in many circumstances, although writers who want more formality or permanence can still opt for paper memos. Letters are written messages sent to recipients outside the organization, so in addition to conveying a particular message, they perform an important 58 2: The Three-Step Writing Process public relations function in fostering good working relationships. Reports may be distributed to insiders or outsiders, depending on their purpose and subject.

They come in many formats, including preprinted forms, letters, memos, and manuscripts, in lengths from a few pages to several hundred. Written media have a number of advantages over oral media: Written media increase your control, help you reach dispersed audiences, and minimize distortion. ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ They allow you to plan and control your message. They offer a permanent, verifiable record. They help you reach an audience that is geographically dispersed. They minimize the distortion that can accompany oral messages.

They can be used to avoid immediate interactions, including emotional confrontations when communicating controversial messages. Disadvantages of written media include the following: The disadvantages of written media include difficulty of feedback, lack of nonverbal cues, and the time and skill sometimes required to prepare written messages. ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Many are not conducive to speedy feedback. They lack the rich nonverbal cues provided by oral media. They often take more time and more resources to create and distribute. Elaborate printed documents can require special skills in preparation and production.

Electronic Media Electronic media span a diverse and expanding range of technologies, from e-mail and IM to blogs and podcasts. The growth of electronic communication options is both a blessing and a curse. You have more tools than ever to choose from, but you need to choose the right tools for each message. Although no hard rules dictate which tool to use in each case, here are a few pointers that will help you determine when to select electronic over more traditional forms:4 ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Telephone calls are still the lifeblood of many organizations, for both internal and external communication.

But even the humble telephone has joined the Internet age, thanks to the emerging capability to place phone calls over the Internet. Known by the technical term VoIP (which stands for Voice over IP, the Internet Protocol), Internetbased phone service promises to offer cheaper long-distance service for businesses worldwide, and companies such as Skype even offer free basic phone service between computers. 5 Through the use of webcams, video phone service is now an inexpensive option for one-to-one phone calls, teleconferences, and online meetings.

Voice mail can replace short memos and phone calls when an immediate response isn’t crucial. However, voice mail is a poor choice for lengthy, complex messages, since the information is more difficult for receivers to process. Teleconferencing, videoconferencing, and online meetings are best for informational meetings and are less effective for highly interactive meetings such as negotiation. DVDs (and to a declining extent, videotapes) are effective for sending audiovisual messages to a large number of people.

With the growing availability of high-speed Internet service, many video messages once delivered on tape or disk are now delivered online. Electronic documents include both word processor files and Adobe’s widely popular Portable Document Format (PDF). Computer users can view PDFs on screen with free reader software, and PDFs are more secure and less vulnerable to viruses than word processor files. Faxes have been replaced by e-mail and PDF files in many cases, but they still play an important role in many companies.

Internet-based fax services, such as eFax (www. efax. com), lower the cost by eliminating the need for a dedicated fax line and fax machine. 3: Planning Business Messages 59 ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ E-mail offers speed, low cost, portability, and convenience. It’s best for brief, noncomplex information that is time sensitive. With such a quick turnaround time, e-mail tends to be more conversational than traditional media, but not as conversational as instant messaging. Instant messaging (IM) allows real-time, one-on-one and small-group text conversations via personal computer.

At technology giant IBM, for instance, employees send more than 5 million instant messages a month. 6 IM is more versatile than a phone call and quicker than e-mail, and newer IM systems offer file attachments, streaming audio and video, and other enhancements. Text messaging, a phone-based medium that has long been popular with consumers in Asia and Europe, is finally catching on in the United States. 7 Although it lacks many of the capabilities of IM, text messaging does give businesses an easy way to transmit simple messages between mobile workers.

Websites and blogs have become vital communication platforms for many businesses. A well-designed website can tailor the same information for numerous readers by steering each audience group to specific sections on a website. Blogs have become common in business in recent years as communicators search for fast, informal ways to reach customers and other audiences. Video blogs (vlogs) and mobile blogs (moblogs) extend the blogging concept in intriguing new ways. 8 Blog content is often distributed through RSS (Really Simple Syndication), which automatically sends new content to subscribers.

Podcasts are one of the newest and most exciting media choices for business communicators. Both audio and video podcasts give you a means to reach customers and colleagues with a human touch that isn’t always easy to replicate in text-only media. You’ll read more about e-mail, IM, blogs, and podcasting in Chapter 6. As you can see, electronic messages offer considerable advantages: ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ They deliver messages with great speed. They reach audiences physically separated from you. They reach a dispersed audience personally. They offer he persuasive power of multimedia formats. They can increase accessibility and openness in an organization. In general, use electronic media to deliver messages quickly, to reach widely dispersed audiences, and to take advantage of rich multimedia formats. For all their good points, electronic media are not problem-free. Consider some of these disadvantages: ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ They can inadvertently create tension and conflict. Electronic messages can give the illusion of anonymity, so people sometimes say things online that they would never say in person or in a traditional document.

Blogs have been a particularly controversial medium in this respect, with several companies firing employees for their blog postings. Many companies are still wrestling with the phenomenon of employee blogs, as they try to find the appropriate balance between protecting confidential information and corporate reputations and respecting the free-speech rights of their employees. 9 They are easy to overuse. The ability to send or forward messages to multiple recipients has become a major cause of information overload.

They expose companies to data security threats and malicious software. Connecting computers to the Internet exposes companies to a host of potential security problems, including computer viruses, information theft, and spyware (malicious software that sneaks onto personal computers to capture credit card numbers and other confidential information). They often lack privacy. More than a few businesspeople have discovered to their embarrassment that IMs, e-mails, and voice mails can wind up in places they never envisioned.

In addition, employers can legally monitor electronic messages, and these messages can be subpoenaed for court cases. Electronic media can suffer from a lack of privacy and can reduce productivity when people send too many low-value messages. 60 2: The Three-Step Writing Process ¦ They can seriously drain employee productivity. Employees can be easily distracted by the constant streams of e-mail, IM, voice mail, conference calls, and faxes or the temptation to surf nonbusiness-related websites during working hours.

Factors to Consider When Choosing Media When choosing a medium for your message, select the medium that balances your needs and your audience’s needs (see Figure 3. 3). Just as critical, however, is considering how your message is affected by important factors such as the following: The more complicated the message, the richer the medium required. ¦ ¦ ¦ Media richness. Richness is a medium’s ability to (1) convey a message through more than one informational cue (visual, verbal, vocal), (2) facilitate feedback, and (3) establish personal focus.

The richest medium is face-to-face communication; it’s personal, it provides immediate feedback (verbal and nonverbal), and it conveys the emotion behind a message. 10 Multimedia presentations and multimedia webpages are also quite rich. At the other extreme are the leanest media—those that communicate in the simplest ways, provide no opportunity for audience feedback, and aren’t personalized, such as memos, posters, and podcasts. Generally speaking, use the richest media to send more complex messages and to help communicate emotion.

Use leaner media to send simple, routine messages. Message formality. Your media choice governs the style and tone of your message. For instance, IM and e-mail can be considered inappropriate for formal messages. Media limitations. Every medium has limitations. For example, although face-to-face communication is a rich medium, it’s one of the most restrictive because you and your FIGURE 3. 3 Choosing the Most Appropriate Medium With so many media choices at your disposal today, make sure you choose the most efficient and most effective medium for every message.

Use Written Media When
• You don’t need or want immediate feedback
• You don’t want or need immediate interaction with the audience
• Your message is complex
• You need a permanent, verifiable record
• Your audience is large and geographically dispersed
• You need to ensure that the message cannot be altered after you send it
• Your message has limited emotional content
• The situation calls for more formality Use Oral Media When
• You want immediate feedback from the audience
• Your message is straightforward and easy to accept
• You don’t need a permanent record
• You can gather your audience conveniently and economically
• You want to encourage interaction to solve a problem or reach a group decision
• You want to read the audience’s body language or hear the tone of their response
• Your message has an emotional content

Use Electronic Media When
• You need to deliver a message quickly
• You’re physically separated from your audience
• You want to give the audience an opportunity to edit the message (such as editing a word processing document)
• Your message can benefit from multiple media, such as audio and video
• You want to take advantage of electronic media 3: Planning Business Messages 61 ¦ ¦ ¦ audience must be in the same place at the same time. 11 Similarly, instant messaging is perfect for communicating short, simple messages, but it is ineffective for sending complex ones. Sender intentions. Your choice of medium also influences audience perceptions of your intentions. For instance, to emphasize formality, use a more formal medium, such as a memo or a letter. Or, to let people know that you welcome feedback, meet face-toface, make a phone call, or use IM. 12 Audience preferences. Make sure to consider which media your audience expects or prefers. 3 For example, the United States, Canada, and Germany emphasize written messages, whereas Japan emphasizes oral messages—perhaps because its high-context culture carries so much of the message in nonverbal cues and “between the lines” interpretation. 14 Urgency and cost. Various media have different costs and time requirements, so you often need to balance urgency and expense. Newer media options such as blogs and podcasting make it easier to deliver messages quickly at low cost. Your intentions heavily influence your choice of medium. When choosing the appropriate medium, don’t forget to consider your audience’s expectations. Time and cost also affect medium selection.

Once you select the best medium for your purpose, situation, and audience, you are ready to start thinking about the organization of your message. Organizing Your Message Misinterpreted messages waste time, lead to poor decision making, and shatter business relationships. So you can see how valuable clear writing and good organization can be. 15 Successful communicators rely on good organization to make their messages meaningful. 16 What exactly makes a particular organization “good”? Although the definition of good organization varies from country to country, in the United States and Canada it generally means creating a linear message that proceeds point by point (see Figure 3. 4). What does good organization do for you? First and foremost, it saves you time.

Your draft goes more quickly because you’re not putting ideas in the wrong places or composing material you don’t need. In addition, you can use your organizational plan to get some advance input from your audience, making sure you’re on the right track before spending hours working on your draft. And, if your project is large and complex, you can even use your organization plan to divide the writing job among coworkers. In addition to helping you, good organization helps your audience: ¦ Good message organization helps you by reducing the time and energy needed to create messages and by making your messages more effective. ¦ ¦ Good organization helps your audience understand your message.

By making your main point clear at the outset, and by stating your needs precisely, your well-organized message will satisfy your audience’s need for information. Good organization helps your audience accept your message. Even when your message is logical, you need to select and organize your points in a diplomatic way. Softening refusals and leaving a good impression enhances credibility and adds authority to your messages. Good organization saves your audience time. Audience members receive only the information they need, and because that information is relevant, brief, and logically placed, your audience can follow your thought pattern without a struggle. Good organization helps your audiences by helping them understand and accept your message in less time.

You can achieve good organization by clearly defining your main idea, limiting the scope of your message, grouping supporting points, and establishing their sequence by selecting either a direct or an indirect approach. To organize a message, ¦ Define your main idea ¦ Limit the scope ¦ Choose the direct or indirect approach Defining Your Main Idea The broad subject, or topic, of every business message is condensed to one idea, whether it’s soliciting the executive committee for a larger budget or apologizing to a client for an incident of poor customer service. Your entire message supports, explains, or demonstrates your main idea—a specific statement about the topic of your message. ¦ Group your points

The topic is the broad subject; the main idea makes a statement about the topic. 62 2: The Three-Step Writing Process FIGURE 3. 4 Improving the Organization of a Message The poorly written draft displays weak organization, while the organization is much improved in the revised version. Before you begin to write, think about what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it. Poor Fails to explain the purpose of the letter and immediately gets bogged down in irrelevant details Waits until the second paragraph to even introduce the main idea Fails to provide specific information about the problem Fails to specify what she wants the reader to do oved Impr

Opens with her request and immediately follows that with relevant details Provides details in the body so that the reader can understand why Saunders thinks a problem exists Provides a detailed history of the problem so that the reader clearly understands her frustration Emphasizes (in a calm, respectful way) that GNC won’t be buying anything else until this problem is resolved Requests a specific action from the reader Pointers for Good Organization
• Get to the point right away, and make the subject and purpose clear.
• Include only information that is related to the subject and purpose.
• Group related ideas and present them in a logical order.
• Include all the information your audience needs. : Planning Business Messages 63 Defining your main idea is more difficult when you’re trying to persuade someone or convey disappointing information. Your main idea may be obvious when you’re preparing a brief message with simple facts that have little emotional impact on your audience. If you’re responding to a request for information, your main idea may be simply, “Here is what you wanted. ” However, defining your main idea is more complicated when you’re trying to persuade someone or when you have disappointing information to convey. In these situations, try to define a main idea that will establish a good relationship between you and your audience.

In longer documents and presentations, you often need to unify a mass of material, so you’ll need to define a main idea that encompasses all the individual points you want to make. Sometimes you won’t even be sure what your main idea is until you sort through the information. For tough assignments like these, consider a variety of techniques to generate creative ideas: ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Brainstorming. Working alone or with others, generate as many ideas and questions as you can, without stopping to criticize or organize. After you capture all these pieces, look for patterns and connections to help identify the main idea and the groups of supporting ideas. Journalistic approach.

The journalistic approach asks who, what, when, where, why, and how questions to distill major ideas from piles of unorganized information. Question-and-answer chain. Start with a key question, from the audience’s perspective, and work back toward your message. In most cases, you’ll find that each answer generates new questions, until you identify the information that needs to be in your message. Storyteller’s tour. Some writers find it easier to talk through a communication challenge before they try to write. Describe what you intend to write and capture it on tape or disk. Then listen to your talk, identify ways to tighten and clarify the message, and repeat the process until you distill the main idea down to a single, concise message. Limiting Your Scope

The scope of your message is the range of information you present, the overall length, and the level of detail—all of which need to correspond to your main idea. Many business documents have a preset length limit, either from a boss’s instructions, a technological limit, or a time frame such as individual speaker slots during a seminar. Even if you don’t have a preset limit, it’s vital to limit yourself to the scope needed to convey your message—and no more. Whatever the length of your message, limit the number of major support points to half a dozen or so—and if you can get your idea across with fewer points, all the better. Listing 20 or 30 support points might feel as if you’re being thorough, but your audience will view such detail as rambling and mind-numbing.

Instead, look for ways to group supporting points under major headings, such as finance, customers, competitors, employees, or whatever is appropriate for your subject. You may need to refine your major support points so that you have a smaller number with greater impact. If your message is brief (say, a 4-minute speech or a 1-page letter), plan on only 1 minute or one paragraph each for the introduction, conclusion, and major points. Because the amount of evidence you can present is limited, your main idea will have to be both easy to understand and easy to accept. However, if your message is long (say, 60 minutes or 20 pages), you can develop the major points in considerable detail.

You can spend about 10 minutes or 10 paragraphs (more than 3 pages of double-spaced, typewritten text) on each of your key points, and you’ll still have room for your introduction and conclusion. Choosing Between Direct and Indirect Approaches After you’ve defined your ideas, you’re ready to decide on the sequence you will use to present your points. You have two basic options: ¦ Direct approach (deductive). When you know your audience will be receptive to your message, start with the main idea (such as a recommendation, a conclusion, or a request), and follow that with your supporting evidence. 64 2: The Three-Step Writing Process FIGURE 3. 5 Choosing Between the Direct and Indirect Approaches Think about the way your audience is likely to respond before choosing your approach. ed d er es te d ed re s tra as p le er as nt Ea g Pl e In Di N U Direct approach Audience Reaction Message Opening Message Body Eager/interested/ pleased/neutral Start with the main idea, the request, or the good news. Provide necessary details. Displeased Indirect approach Uninterested/unwilling Start with a statement or question that captures attention. Arouse the audience’s interest in the subject. Build the audience’s desire to comply. Request action. Start with a neutral statement that acts as a transition to the reasons for the bad news. Give reasons to justify a negative answer. State or imply the bad news, and make a positive suggestion. Close cordially. Message Close

Close with a cordial comment, a reference to the good news, or a statement about the specific action desired. ¦ Indirect approach (inductive). When your audience will be skeptical about or even resistant to your message, start with the evidence first and build your case before presenting the main idea. Use a direct approach if the audience’s reaction is likely to be positive and the indirect approach if it is likely to be negative. To choose between these two alternatives, analyze your audience’s likely reaction to your purpose and message. Bear in mind, however, that each message is unique. No simple formula will solve all your communication problems.

For example, although an indirect approach may be best when you’re sending bad news to outsiders, if you’re writing a memo to an associate, you may want to get directly to the point, even if your message is unpleasant. The direct approach might also be a good choice for long messages, regardless of your audience’s attitude—because delaying the main idea could cause confusion and frustration. Figure 3. 5 summarizes how your approach may differ depending on the likely audience reaction. The type of message also influences the choice of a direct or indirect approach. In the coming chapters, you’ll get specific advice on choosing the best approach for a variety of different communication challenges. Outlining Your Content

Once you have chosen the right approach, it’s time to figure out the most logical and effective way to provide your supporting details. Even if you’ve resisted creating outlines in your school assignments over the years, try to get into the habit when you’re preparing business documents and presentations. You’ll save time, get better results, and do a better job of navigating through complicated business situations. Whether you use a specialized outlining and idea-mapping software, use the outlining features provided with word-processing software, or simply jot down three or four points on paper, making a plan and sticking to it will help you cover the important details.

You’re no doubt familiar with the basic outline formats that identify each point with a number or letter and that indent certain points to show which ones are of equal status. U nw eu te ni illi ng te l 3: Planning Business Messages 65 FIGURE 3. 6 Two Common Outline Forms Your company may have a tradition of using a particular outline form for formal reports and other documents. If not, either of these two approaches will work for most any writing project. ALPHANUMERIC OUTLINE I. First Major Point A. First subpoint B. Second subpoint 1. Evidence 2. Evidence a. Detail b. Detail 3. Evidence C. Third subpoint II. Second Major Point A. First subpoint 1. Evidence 2. Evidence B. Second subpoint DECIMAL OUTLINE I. First Major Point 1. 1 First subpoint 1. 2 Second subpoint 1. 2. 1 Evidence 1. 2. 2 Evidence 1. 2. 2. 1 Detail 1. 2. 2. 2 Detail 1. 2. 3 Evidence 1. 3 Third subpoint 2. 0 Second Major Point 2. 1 First subpoint 2. 1. 1 Evidence 2. 1. 2 Evidence 2. 2 Second subpoint A good outline divides a topic into at least two parts, restricts each subdivision to one category, and ensures that each subdivision is separate and distinct (see Figure 3. 6). Whichever outlining or organizing scheme you use, start your message with the main idea, follow that with major supporting points, and then illustrate these points with evidence: ¦ ¦ ¦ Start with the main idea.

The main idea helps you establish the goals and general strategy of the message, and it summarizes two things: (1) what you want your audience to do or think and (2) why they should do so. Everything in your message either supports the main idea or explains its implications. State the major points. Now it’s time to support your main idea with the major points that clarify and explain your ideas in more concrete terms. If your purpose is to inform, your major points might be based on something physical or financial, for instance. When you’re describing a process, the major points are almost inevitably steps in the process. When you’re describing an object, the major points correspond to the components of the object.

When you’re giving a historical account, major points represent events in the chronological chain. If your purpose is to persuade or to collaborate, select major points that develop a line of reasoning or a logical argument that proves your central message and motivates your audience to act. Illustrate with evidence. After you’ve defined the main idea and identified supporting points, you’re ready to illustrate each point with specific evidence that helps audience members understand and remember the more abstract concepts you’re presenting. Provide enough evidence to make your message convincing, but don’t overload the audience with too many minor support points.

Up to a point, the more evidence you provide, the more conclusive your case will be. If your subject is complex and unfamiliar, or if your audience is skeptical, you’ll need a lot of facts and figures to demonstrate your points. On the other hand, if your subject is routine and your audience is positively inclined, you can be more sparing with the evidence. You want to provide enough support to be convincing but not so much that your message becomes boring or difficult to read. Reviewing Key Points This chapter introduces the three-step writing process: planning, writing, and completing business messages. It discusses how the process works and how to schedule your time for each step.

The majority of this chapter covers the first step of the three-step writing 66 2: The Three-Step Writing Process Improve This Letter To practice correcting drafts of actual documents, visit your online course or the access-code-protected portion of the Companion Website. Click “Document Makeovers,” then click Chapter 3. You will find a letter that contains problems and errors relating to what you’ve learned in this chapter about planning and organizing business messages. Use the Final Draft decision tool to create an improved version of this letter. Check the document for audience focus, the right choice of medium, and the proper choice of direct or indirect approach. process, which includes four planning tasks.

The first of these is analyzing your situation, which includes defining both a general and a specific purpose and developing a profile of your audience by identifying the primary audience, determining audience size, determining audience composition, gauging your audience’s level of understanding, projecting your audience’s expectations and preferences, and estimating your audience’s probable reaction. The second task is gathering necessary information by exploring audience needs then collecting information that will meet those needs. The third task is selecting the right medium; the chapter offered an overview of oral, written, and electronic media. The fourth and final task is how to organize your message by defining the main idea, limiting the scope, grouping your points, choosing the direct or indirect approach, then crafting an outline. The next chapter focuses on the second step of the writing process: writing business messages.

There you’ll explore two major tasks, adapting to your audience by being sensitive to their needs and building a strong relationship with them and then composing your messages. You will learn about controlling your style and tone, selecting the best words, creating effective sentences, and developing coherent paragraphs. Test Your Knowledge 1. What are the three steps in the writing process? 2. What two types of purposes do all business messages have? 3: Planning Business Messages 67 3. What do you need to know in order to develop an audience profile? 4. When including information in your message, what three conditions must you satisfy? 5. What are the main advantages of oral media? Of written media? Apply Your Knowledge 1.

Some writers argue that planning messages wastes time because they inevitably change their plans as they go along. How would you respond to this argument? Briefly explain. 2. As a member of the public relations department, which medium (or media) would you recommend using to inform the local community that your toxic-waste cleanup program has been successful? Justify your choice. 3. Would you use a direct or an indirect approach to ask employees to work overtime to meet an important deadline? Please explain. 4. Considering how fast, easy, inexpensive, they are, should e-mail, instant messages, blogs, and podcasts completely replace meetings and other face-to-face communication in your company? Why or why not? 68 : The Three-Step Writing Process 5. Ethical Choices The company president has asked you to draft a memo for her signature to the board of directors, informing them that sales in the new line of gourmet fruit jams have far exceeded anyone’s expectations. As a member of the purchasing department, you happen to know that sales of moderately priced jams have declined quite a bit (many customers have switched to the more expensive jams). You were not directed to add that tidbit of information. Should you write the memo and limit your information to the expensive gourmet jams? Or should you include the information about the decline in moderately priced jams? Please explain.