BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

Part 2:
The Writing Process
Recap of Last Lecture
• Visual aids
• Types
 Imagine
• Male
• Drives a Mitsubishi Lancer
• Sometimes, a driver drives him to work
 Overview
This lecture will touch on:
• Writing in Business
• Building Goodwill
Writing
Writing
Writing
 A Coma Error
• http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2013/03/08
/the-comma-that-let-a-malaysian-airline-
sneak-in/
 Writing in Business
• Good business & administrative writing
should sound like a person talking to
another
• But more formal and the words are
selected carefully, esp. for mass
communication
 Writing in Business
• Examples of good and bad business
writing tones
Good Bad/Improper
Business-like Stiff
Friendly Phony
Confident Arrogant
Polite Grovelling
 Writing in Business
• An easy to read document saves time &
resources
• A well-written document is also important
for the future of the organization
• How do you do it?
 Building Goodwill
• Goodwill smoothes the challenges of
business and administration
• 3 components – You-Attitude, Positive
Emphasis & Bias-Free Language
 You-Attitude
A style of writing that:
• Looks at things from the audience’s point
of view
• Emphasizes what the audience wants to
know
• Respect the audience’s intelligence
• Protects the audience’s ego
 You-Attitude
To create You-Attitude, do the following:
1.Talk about the audience, not about
yourself
2.Refer to the audience’s request/order
specifically
3.Don’t talk about feelings
 You-Attitude
To create You-Attitude, do the following:
4.In positive situations, use ‘You’ more than
‘I’. Use ‘We’ when you include the
audience
5.In negative situations, avoid ‘You’. Protect
the audience’s ego. Use passive verbs &
impersonal expressions to avoid assigning
blame
 Looks at Things from the
Audience’s Point of View
• Audiences want to know how they benefit
or are affected – make sure your message
is complete and more interesting
• Instead of focusing on what we are giving
to the audience, focus on what the
audience can do
 Looks at Things from the
Audience’s Point of View
Examples:
• I have negotiated an agreement with Apex
Rent-a-Car that gives you a discount on
rental cars.
• As a Sunstrand employee, you can now
get a 20% discount when you rent a car
from Apex.
 Looks at Things from the
Audience’s Point of View
Examples:
• We are shipping your order of 21 boxes of
computers this afternoon.
• The two dozen Corning Ware starter sets
you ordered will be shipped this afternoon
and should reach you by 28 September.
 Refer to the Audience’s
Request/Order Specifically
• When we write about the audience’s
request, order or policy, refer to it
specifically
• Avoid using ‘your order’ or ‘your policy’
• For individuals, specify the content of the
order
• For companies, give the invoice or
purchase order number
 Refer to the Audience’s
Request/Order Specifically
Examples:
• Your order...
• The desk chair you ordered...
• Your invoice #041681861809...
 Don’t Talk about Feelings
• In most business, your feelings are
irrelevant
• Exception: to congratulate or offer
sympathy
 Don’t Talk about Feelings
Examples:
• Congratulations on your promotion to
district manager! I was really pleased to
read about it.
 Don’t Talk about Feelings
Examples:
• We are happy to extend your credit limit
to RM5000.
• You can now charge up to RM5000 on
your American Express card.
 Positive Situations
• In positive situations, use ‘You’ more than
‘I’
• This is because ‘I’ suggests you are
concerned about personal issues, not
organization’s problems & needs
• In addition, ‘You’ shows that you
recognize and acknowledge the
importance of the audience
 Positive Situations
Examples:
• We provide health insurance to all
employees.
• You receive health insurance as a full-time
employee.
 Negative Situations
• In negative situations, avoid using ‘You’ as
it may send the message that you are
insulting or attacking the audience
• Alternative: use a noun describing the
group the audience is part of
• Alternative: use passive verbs without
necessarily saying who did it
 Negative Situations
• Examples:
• You made no allowance for inflation in
your estimate.
• No allowance for inflation has been made
in this estimate.
• This estimate makes no allowance for
inflation.
Good News, Bad News
 Positive Emphasis
• People respond better to positive context
than negative
• Positive emphasis focus on the positive
aspects rather than the negative aspects
of the situation
 Positive Emphasis
How to write in a positive manner?
1.Avoid negative words and words with
negative connotations/meanings
2.State information positively. Focus on
what the audience can do rather what
they cannot do
 Positive Emphasis
How to write in a positive manner?
3.Justify negative information by giving a
reason or linking it to the audience’s
benefit
4.If the negative is unimportant, omit it
5.Bury the negative information and present
it compactly
 Avoid Negative Words
• Negative words and words with negative
meanings are bad for business documents
• It affects the image of the whole
organization
 Avoid Negative Words
Common Negative Words
Afraid Anxious Avoid Bad
Careless Damage Delay Delinquent
Deny Difficulty Disapprove Dishonest
Dissatisfied Eliminate Error Except
Fail Fault Fear Hesitate
Ignorant Ignore Impossible Inadequate
Incomplete Inconvenient Insincere Injury
Lacking Loss Misfortune Mistake
Missing Neglect Never No
Not Objection Problem Reject
 Avoid Negative Words
Common Negative Words
Sorry Terrible Trivial Trouble
Wait Weakness Worry Wrong
Unclear Unfair Unfortunate Unfortunately
Unpleasant Unreasonable Unreliable Unsure
 Avoid Negative Words
Examples:
• We have failed to finish taking inventory.
• We haven't finished taking inventory.
• We will be finishing taking inventory this
Friday.
 Avoid Negative Words
Examples:
• Never fail to back up your data.
• Always back up your data.
 Avoid Negative Words
• Beware of hidden negatives – words that
are not negative on their own but become
negative in context
• ‘I hope’, ‘I trust’
• ‘But’, ‘However’ (if used after a positive
statement)
 Avoid Negative Words
Examples:
• I hope this is the information you wanted.
(meaning: I’m not sure)
• Enclosed is a brochure about road repairs
scheduled for 2009-2010.
 State Information Positively
• Sometimes, positive emphasis is a matter
of the way you present/write something
• How? Eliminate double negatives, focus on
the alternatives that remain
 State Information Positively
Examples:
• We will not allow you to charge more than
RM1500 in your VISA account.
• You can charge RM1500 on your new
VISA card.
• Your new VISA card gives you Rm1500 in
credit that you can use at thousands of
stores nationwide.
 Justify Negative Information
• When the negative aspect is unavoidable,
you can help the audience by giving them
a reason for that negative aspect
• Try to find the positive angle/opportunity
from that negative aspect when writing
 Justify Negative Information
Examples:
• We cannot sell computer disks in lots less
than 10.
• To keep down packaging costs and to help
customers save on shipping and handling
costs, we sell computer disks only in lots
of 10 or more.
 Unimportant Negatives
• If the negative is truly unimportant, omit it
Omit the negative only when...
The reader does not need the information to
make a decision
You have already given the reader the
information and he/she has access to the
previous communication
The information is trivial
 Unimportant Negatives
Examples:
• A one-year subscription to PC Magazine is
RM49.97. The rate is not as low as the rates
for some magazines.
• A one-year subscription to PC Magazine is
RM49.97.
• A one-year subscription to PC Magazine is
RM49.97. You save 43% off the newsstand
price of RM87.78
 Unimportant Negatives
Examples:
• If you are not satisfied with the Interstate
Fidelity Insurance, you do not have to
renew your policy.
• Omit the sentence
Bury the Negative Information
• In writing, the beginning and end are
always positions of emphasis
• Put the negatives in the middle of the
paragraph rather the first or last sentence
• For multiple pages document, avoid
putting the negatives in the top or bottom
position of a page
Bury the Negative Information
• Give as little space possible to the
negatives
 Bias-Free Language
• A language that does not discriminate
against people on the basis of sex,
physical condition, race, age or any other
category
 Bias-Free Language
Why Use Bias-Free Language?
Organizations that treat people fairly should use language that
treats people fairly
Remove potential barrier to the images people create of
themselves
The law is increasingly intolerant to biased documents and
hostile work environments
Profitable – wins loyalty and business
Fairer and friendlier
 Bias-Free Language
Exercises:
• You and your husband or wife...
• Chairman, foreman, woman lawyer,
salesman
• Senior citizens, golden agers
• The physically disabled, cancer patients,
stupid
 Just for fun:
Simplify this Sentence
Its injection-molded high-impact
polymer composite body is filled
with billions of tiny air bubbles that
reproduce the cellular structure of
wood, giving the guitar the same
resonant properties of hardwoods
used in standard-sized guitars
without the expansion and
contraction associated with wood.
 Just for fun:
Simplify this Sentence
It’s made of plastic and it sounds very close to a wooden
guitar.
 Exercises
• Discuss the exercises, go through them
one by one
 Conclusion
• To build goodwill in your writing, use You-
Attitude, Positive Emphasis & Bias-Free
Language
• You-Attitude always puts the audience as
the main focus
• Positive Emphasis focus on the positive side
• Bias-Free Language is non-judgmental &
non-discriminating