Business Communication Ch 3 Notes

What are contextual factors? Contextual factors are situation, organization’s procedures, and
audience

What is a genre and register? A genre and register are a form of writing and level of formality
required

Can you further explain a genre? Genres are agreed upon forms of writing for specific
situations; usually have specific formats and structures; defferent genres are suited to different
writing contexts (ex: the resume, with its distinctive formatiting, categories of information, and
conciseness, was an answer applicats’ and employers’ needs in the job search and hiring
process

What is a formal register? A formal register are complete sentences, technical or academic
vocabulary, and no slang or contractions; (ex: a board of directors’ or annual general meeting
typically calls for a formal register; Unprecedented growth of 27 per cent realized in the fourth
quarter. By any measure, this was a spectacular finish to the fiscal year.

What is a casual register? A casual register is greater intimacy and reduced social distance
between participants; conversational, full of colloquialisms and slang (ex: hey talk about
revenue. 27 per cent in Q4. Were smoking this year! Way to go!”

What are discourse communities? Discourse communities are communicators who share a goal
or interest in adopting a way of participating in a public discussion

What are the characteristics of discourse community? The characteristics of discourse

community are communal interest and a common public goal, a forum of means for
participation and intercommunication between members (ex: meetings, emails, texts, and blog
postings), exchange of information and feedback, genre development (based on group
expectations about the appropriateness of topics and how elements of the genre are placed
and what function they serve), specialized terminology (ex:community specific abbreviations,
acronyms, and in jokes), expertise (a good ration of experts to novices ensures members can
become experts on content and discourse

What are rhetorical situations? Rhetorical situations are the circumstances in which individuals
communicate

What are the five overlapping steps of the writing process? The five steps of the writing process
is prewriting, organizing and outling, drafting, revising, and editing and proofreading

Why are the 5 steps to writing process important? The 5 steps to the writing process are
important because making this 5 step process part of your regular writing routine can simplify
communication tasks and reduce the time it takes to complete them. Steps are generally
thought of as recursive rater that as part of a locked in system. That is, writers are free to
return to and repeat an earlier stage at any point

What is prewriting? Prewriting is assessing the purpose, audience, and most appropriate
channel for the communication

What is organizing and outlining? Organizing and outlining is mapping our the most strategic
and logical arrangement of ideas and details

What is drafting? Drafting is writing the actual message by choosing the precise wording, the
style, and the organization that delivers information most strategically.

What is revising? Revising is the process of reading over and reassessing your draft with a
critical elye to ensure information, wording, sentences,paragraph structures, audience, focus,
organization, and layour or design make sense and come together to form a clear, concise, and
readable message that is right for the context and accomplishes your goal. After this stage, your
draft will begin to resemble the final product

What is editing and proofreading? A last chance for improving the look and sound (or “tone”) of
your draft theses steps usually involve more than just getting rid of mistakes in spelling,
punctuation, and mechanics. In this stage, you evaluate your revised draft from your readers’
point of view making sure that it is complete, coherent, accurate, consistent, concise, well
organized, properly formatted and professional in its appearance

Why plan your message? You usually have only one chance to get your message across.
Planning and preparation are forms of risk prevention – your best insurance against
miscommunication

What factors are important in message planning? The factors in message planning is concise,
purpose driven and audience focused

What is concise? Only freelance journalists are by the word – business communnicators
practice world economy and understand that making a document or presentation longer will
not necessarily improve it. A message should consist of only the number of words needed to
present ideas clearly and courteously

What is purpose driven? Effective business communication is carried out to fufill a specific
perpose, whether it be to convey information or to solve a problem

What is prewriting? Prewriting is the process of gathering ideas and establishing the purpose,
scope, audience, channel and other details for a message. Prewriting will help you adapt your
message to the situation and tailot it to readers’ needs
What factors aid in prewriting? Identifying the purpose, estimate the scope of your subject,
consider the audience’s needs, choose the most effective design or layout, select a
communication channel, collect information, develop supporting points, and craft a story

What is purpose? The purpose is your reason for communicating and the objectives your
message is meant to achieve. Most business communication has only one or two broad
purposes: to inform (the most common purpose) or to persuade

How can you give your writing purpose? Consider what you want your receivers to gain from
your message and what their purposes for reading or listening may be (ex: to receive
instruction or notice or to evaluate). Ask yourself how will they use the information? And Is
there a particular (ex: a general response, a specific action, a change in attitude, approval for an
initiative, or a decision) you are seeking from your audience.

Why do people communicate at work? People communicate to mitigate loss or repair

reputation, to request or provide information, to create a record, to announce changes or
achievements, to explain a policy or procedure, to give instruction and to persuade or
encourage action

What is scope? Scope is a document’s breadth and depth of detail

How do you get the right scope? To get the right scope find balance between number of ideas
and details, follow instruction and company or industry standards for detail, length, format,
visual elements, confine message to information you can legally, ethically access and disclose,
keep message scalability in mind, and use overview or preview statements, headings, to help
readers navigate

Why is understanding the scope of your message important? Understanding the scope of your
message can help you weed out irrelevances that can bor receivers and bury impotant
information. Too little detail, on the other hand, can make for a trivial or pointless message

How can technology change the scope of your message? Changing technological environments
have shifted standards for the scope of certain types of documents and deliverables. For
example, content marketers must now consider mobile email approaches, such as scalable or
responsive design, to best deliver impactful content with mobile friendly layouts

What is the audience? The audience are the receivers and decoders of a message

How do you perform audience analysis? Ausience analysis is performed by asking yourself
questions about the audience such as what are their responsibilities and position? Attitudes,
interests, and questions? What is your experience/relationship with them? How much do they
already know? What is their likely response? Are they international? How will they use the
document?
Why is audience analysis important? Audience analysis is essential because it informs other
decisions you make as you create your document, including your choice of channel, design,
content, word choice, and tone. To help, imagine you readers sitting across from as you write.
Knowing how to reach and hold a specific audience is vital for today’s organizations on many
different levels, including marketing. The question isn’t just who an audience is but where they
are and how to listen to them.

What is a medium or channel? A medium or channel is a physical means of transmission

What are the factors to consider in a medium or channel? Factors include accuracy, speed, cost,
need for permanent record, detail and importance of message, privacy, channel constraints,
size, location of audience, level of formality, immediacy of feedback, richness of medium, and
preferences of organization

What are the channels of communication? The channels include a report or proposal, letter on
company stationery, memos, email, an organizations intranet, telephone call, a voicemail
message, social media, messaging and chatting, face to face meeting, face to face conversation,
video conferencing and chatting, blogging, podcasting, and visuals

What is a report or proposal? A report or proposal is used for delivering extensive data
internally or externally

What is a letter on company stationery? A letter on company stationery is used from initial
contacts with customers, suppliers, and outside associates or when you need a written record
of subsequent correspondence with them

What is a memo? A memo is used for interal communication when you need a written record to
issue reminders, outline policies, explain procedures, or gather information

What is an email? An email is used for less formal communication replacing letters and memos
when you need fast delivery and response (ex: to ask for feedback, solicit opinions, start
discussions, or collect data) and/or you need to send a digital file; useful for communicating
with large, decentralized groups; not appropriate for sending private or emotionally charged
information

What is an organization’s intranet? An organization’s intranet is used from sharing important

documents and information that employees will need to reference repeatedly (ex: letter
templates, HR policies) but are not intended for the public

What is a telephone call? A telephone call is used for gathering or sharing information quickly,
or for negotiating and clarifying contracts when it is impossible to meet in person; for meeting
with three or more participants via conference call as a less expensive alternative to a face to
face meeting
What is a voicemail message? A voicemail message is used for brief, uncompicated messages –
or a question, an answer, a request, or a confirmation- to which the receiver can respod when it
is convenient

What is social media? A social media is used for supporting and facilitating participation,
interaction, engagement, and awareness; for reaching dispersed audience, for linking to online
content and simultaneously sharing content;l useful for building communities, learning about
audiences, and increasing traffic to websites

What is messaging and chatting? Messaging and chatting is used for brief messages containing
time critical or routine information; useful for obtaining answers to questions, confirming
purchases, or offering customer service support

What is a face to face meeting? A face to face meeting is used for establishing initial contact
and rapport with clients, customers, and associates; for negotiating, brainstorming, problem
solving, or any other group communication where consensus is required

What is a face to face conversation? A face to face conversation is used for delivering a
personal message or negative news, or for communicating persuasively

What is videoconferencing? Videoconferencing is used for meeting when travel is impractical

and participants are dispersed; useful when participants need to both see and hear each other

What is blogging? Blogging is used for providing news and announcements, sharing knowledge,
and positioning yourseld as an expert to a broad audience; useful for building communities,
increasing web traffic, and developing influential relationships

What is podcasting? Podcasting is used for distributing audio content; reaching listeners on the
move; useful for providing valuable information, motivation, entertainment, and sometimes
business training

What are visuals? Visuals such as photographs, videos, and graphics are used for conveying
complex information at a glance

What are the elements of a good design? The elements of a good design include clean lines,
white space, no uncessary elements, consistent formatting, alignment, line spacing, wide and
even margins, easy to read fonts, sufficient contrast between text and background, useful and
well placed heading, and adequate labels for visuals

Why is effective design important? An effective design conveys professionalism, priming

receivers, even before they read the document, to be more receptive to the message. On the
other hard, an ineffective design – for example, one that contains inconsistent formatting or
poor use of space – may lead recievers to question the sender’s competency ort intentions
Why is formatting important? Formatting should facilitate the receiver’s understanding of a
message, not act as a barrier to comprehension. It should draw the receiver’s eyes to the
meaningful elements and indicate the sequence in which the material should be processed

What is content generation? Content generation is researching data or generate ideas for
content

What are informal idea generation strategies? Informal idea generation strategies include
brainstorming, listing ideas as they come to mind, mapping/clustering, visual form of
brainstorming and linking ideas into clusters, and asking questions such as who, what, where,
when, why, and how

What are the types of information sources? The types information sources include in house,
digital media, publisded sources, and market research

What is in house information sources? In house information sources include archived company
records, documents, and files

What are digital media information resources? Digital media information sources include social
media, websites, blogs, podcasts, and vido

What are published information sources? Published information sources include books,
research studies, and statistics.

What is market research? Market research is the process of gathering information about how
people will react to current or proposed products and services.

What is general merket research? General market research may involve sorting through data
from a third party organization that specializes in conducting public surveys (ex: the Conference
Board of Canada or Statistics Canada)

What is targeted market research? For targeting results, business can arrange surveys,
questionnaires, interviews, or even focus groups for which they specify the questions and topics
of discussion; large businesses often choose to conduct such research through an external
agency that provides market research for a fee (ex: Ipsos-Reid)

Why is providing details and context important for the audience? Provide details and context
the audience needs for your message to succeed. Major points sometimes cannot stand
entirely on their own. They often require amplification or explaination – in other words, details.
For example, a product may need to be described to help receivers fully inderstand its features
and benefits; new procedures will need to be explained so receivers will know when they go
into effect, what to do, and what will change as a result
What are the elements of supporting points? The elements of supporting points are evidence
and examples such as numerical, statistical, and factual data, visual and graphical elements,
appeals to authority, narratives, and descriptions.

What is numerical, statistical, and factual data? Numerical, statistical and factual data are
essential to operations and decision making

What is visual and graphical elements? Visual and graphical elements make complex data easier
to understand and remember

What are appeals to authority? Appeals to authority is quoting experts to build credibility

What are narratives? Narratives are detailed, chronological accounts of events, conversations,
agreements, problems and resolutions, progress

What are descriptions? Descriptions make concepts artifacts more tangible by providing details
about colour, dimensions, parts, materials, and functions

What is the relation of storytelling corporate narrative? Corporations and non profits are
increasingly captilaizing on this dynamic communication tool, making the ability to tell stories
well a sought after skill

Why is stories important? Stories not only convey information and promate learning but also
have the power to cement social bonds, inpire, warm, and bring abour change. The receiver’s
identification with that is being told can serve as a springboard to understanding, something
the facts and statistics alone connot always promote.

Whay are good stories important? Good stories engage their audience on an emotional level.
For example, stories that describe social problems but leave room for hope build empathy for
those in need, as exemplified bt the stories appearing on the website of War Child Canada;
stories that make the donor the hero or incolce the donor in the story, as in the Movember
Foundation’s annual campaign

How do companies use storytelling in campaigning? When designing campaigns, companies

consider the longevity of the story of their brand – what they are, what they do, what they
stand for – and how well the new campaign will fit with and retell this story.

What are effective business stories? Effective business stories are brief, believable, told from
one perspective, focus on a problem, give hope or have a positive ending, preserve
confidentiality, relevant, sat something about who your company is, win over the audience or
include a call to action.

What is organizing and ourlining? Organizing and outling is the process of arranging information
for clarity and impact.
What are the characteristics of organizing? The characteristics of organizing are sequential (step
by step), chronological, general to specific, and cause and effect

What are the characteristics of outlining? The characteristics of outlining shows how to arrange
ideas, ensures document is logical and complete, and provides a framework for
document/writing, showing its divisions and elements

What is sequential development? Sequential development is a method of organization that

describes the arrangement of steps in a process

What is chronological development? Chronological development is a method of organization

that describes events in the order in which they occurred

What is general to specific development? General to specific is a method of organization that

begins with general information on a topic followed by specidic details

What is cause and effect development? Cause and effect development is a method of
organization that links events with the reasons for them

What are the characteristics of drafting? Drafting consists of expanding your outline, beginning
with the easiet part, and not worrying about making it perfect

How do you overcome writer’s block? Writer’s block can be overcome by starting early, talking
it out, skipping around, taking a break, practicing freewriting, and adopting a positive attitude

What is writer’s block? Writers block is the temporary inability to formulate and express one’s
thoughts because of a lack of inspiration, even the best and most confident writers experience
writers block.

What can be the results of writer’s block? The results can be missed deadlines, a breakdown in
the communication process, and decreased productivity.

How do you overcome writing under pressure? Writing under pressure can be overcome by
allocating your time, keeping distractions to a minimum, word processing software, planning
the structure, remembering your audience, going with the flow, and leaving refinements for
revisions

How can you allocate your time? Consider how much time and energy you need to invest in
writing relative to its purpose and importance. Spending an hour drafting a brief email may not
make sense if you have 50 more messages to write that day

How do you kleep distrtaction a minimum? Tune out office banter and organize your writing
area by setting out all the tools and resources you will need
How do you capitalize on word processing software? Use the outline feature to brainstorm and
organize an outline. Cut and paste to organize alternative ways of presenting information

How do you plan the structure? Quickly select a method of development to keep your
information under control

How do you remember your audience? Visualize your reader. Explain difficult concepts by
relating them to what is familiar and already known to your reader

How do you go with the flow? Start with the section of your document that is easiest to write.
Resist the temptation to take a break once you have momentum. Reward yourself in some way
– with a break or a coffee – once you have finished

How do you leave refinements for revisions? Writing doesn’t have to be perfect until it is time
to send it

What are the strategies for revising, editing, and proofreading? The strategies are work from a
printed copy, read slowly, consider it from the reader’s perspective, read multiple times, read
the draft aloud, use spell and grammar checkers, but know limitations

What is revising? Revising is the process of reviewing and making changes in a draft document –
adding, deleting, reorganizing, or substituting -n to transform it into a finished document

What is editing? Editing is the process of checking a writing draft to ensure it conforms to
standards of good English, style, and accepted business writing practice

What is proofreading? Proof reading a process of checking the nearly final copy of a document
for errors and inconsistencies

How do you revise, edit, and proofread? (1) Read and revise for completeness (Did you include
all the information you need?) (2) Read and revise for coherence and structure (Do you need to
clarift any passages or explainations? Does the overall organization make sense? Do you need
to move any sentences or paragraphs around?) (3) Edit and proofread language and formatting
(accuracy, conciseness, sentence and paragraph construction, consistency and format,
readability, word choice, ethics, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and typographical errors

What is sequential integrating writing (lead writing)? Sequential integrating writing is a lead
authos produces an initial draft and ther other participants propose and discuss modifications
to it