Advances in Business Communication

Structuring Arguments
Argument: a reason or set of reasons given in support of an idea, action or theory
§ A good argument should move the listener
§ Simba: “But I thought a king can do whatever he
wants?!”
§ Mufasa: “Oh, there’s more to being a king than
getting your way all the time”

Right choice of appeal

Plato and Aristotle in Raphael's 1509 fresco, The School of Athens
Aristotle postulated three argumentative appeals: logical, ethical,
and emotional

§ Logical appeal (logos)

§ strategic use of logic, claims, and evidence to convince an
audience of a certain point.
§ Ethical Appeal (ethos)
§ establishes the writer as fair, open-minded, honest, and
knowledgeable about the subject matter. Writer as
trustworthy and credible.
§ Emotional Appeal (pathos)
§ target the emotions of the reader to create a connection with
the writer.
A winning argument is underpinned by winning writing
Poll
“I hope that you will find that our new, Web-based
cash management services can reduce your working
capital requirements and save you money.”

OR
“I have introduced a new, Web-based cash
management service which will reduce your
working capital requirements; saving you money”
“Unfortunately, the engine fire you reported occurred
one day after the expiration of the warranty period.”

OR

“You’re late”
“Given the situation, we have determined that the best
course of action is to reject all current bids and to seek
others.”
OR
Your bids are terrible. We reject them
How to write well?
But first…
Why should you write well?
81% of businesspeople state that “poorly written
material wastes a lot of their time”
§ too long, poorly organized, unclear, filled with jargon,
and imprecise.
Respondents spend average of 25.5 hours per week
reading for work.
§ 1/3 of that is email

Clear Writing Vs. Fuzzy Writing

Source: https://hbr.org/2016/09/bad-writing-is-destroying-your-companys-productivity
Good prose is like a windowpane – George Orwell, “Why I write”
§ Define Rhetorical situation: Who is communicating to
whom about what, how, and why? What was the goal of
the communication in each case?
§ Identify the communication error (poor task or audience
analysis? Use of inappropriate language or style? Poor
organization or formatting of information? Other?)
§ Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.
§ Identify possible solutions or strategies that would have
prevented the problem, and what benefits would be
derived from implementing solutions or preventing the
problem.

https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/technicalwriting/chapter/casestudy-costpoorcommunication/#footnote-56-2
§ Clear, direct, active language:
§ Forces writers to think through what they really
mean and the arguments they can use to support it
§ Makes smart people stand out

A culture of clear writing makes managers more

productive.

Source: https://hbr.org/2016/09/bad-writing-is-destroying-your-companys-productivity
 The Roadmap
Say what your’re going to say

A Body Paragraphs

formula Say it

Conclusion as a reminder
Repeat what you said
§ Structure & Organize
§ Situation, Complication, Question Framework
 Having a clear Being audience
Stating your key
purpose focused Staying on topic
message clearly

Observing Considering your

Using simple
economy of delivery strategy
sentences
words

Good Writing: It begins with principles, Harvard Business Press Chapters, 6853BC-PDF-ENG (Chapter)
§ The Minto Pyramid
Principle by Barbara
Minto
1. State a condition
already agreed
upon
2. Introduce the
complication that
is prompting the
piece.
3. Resolve the
complication
Email Etiquette
§ Why bother with email etiquette?
Include a call to action in subject line
One email thread per topic
Manage recipients
Start with the main point
Summarize in your reply
Hyperlink whenever possible
Change default setting to “Reply” (not “Reply all”)
Change undo send options

Source: https://hbr.org/2021/08/how-to-write-better-emails-at-work
§ Relationship with readers – persuasion is the goal