GROUP 4

Corporate Culture and

Communication
Lesson 1: Guide Questions

1. What are the Genres of Professional Writing?

2. What are the Elements of Design Principles of
Professional Writing?
3. Why is it important to adopt reader
perspective writing?
4. What are the important points of professional
language?
5. What are the principles of professional
communication?
 Summary Report

Lesson 1: The Principles of Professional

Communication
 Corporate Culture and Professional
Communication
- Corporate Culture comprises the attitude,
experiences, beliefs and values of an
organization. It is a specific collection of
values and norms that are shared by people
and groups in an organization and that
control the way they interact with each
other.
• In Technical Writing: A Practical
Approach
• In Business and Administrative
Communication
• The Traditional term paper style
 Professional Purpose
• Record important workplace information for
example via minutes of meetings, secretarial
notes and official documentation.

• To give or ask information from people within a

company, via memos, business letters and
professional reports.
 Professional Purpose

• To persuade readers to take action, pay a fee,

buy something, accept changes and give
someone a job.

• To build an individual or company’s positive

image to establish rapport, essentially to
build goodwill.
 Audience of Professionals
- The target audience of Professional Writing are
sometimes one reader and sometimes multiple
readers.

- The audience may be homogenous one, a group o

people who share assumptions about what
channels, formats and styles to use for
communication.
 The Style of Professional Writing

- According to Kitty Locker and Donna

Kienzler (2013) in Business and
Administrative Communication, effective
professional writing is reader-centered,
emphasizes the positive, and uses bias-free
language.
 The “you-attitude”, as Locker and Kienzler
(2013) call it, is defined as a “style of writing
which looks at things from the reader’s point of
view, emphasizing what the reader wants to
know, respecting the reader’s intelligence, and
protecting the reader’s ego”.
 I-Attitude You-Attitude
If I can answer any of If you have questions,
your queries, I’m please ask.
perfectly willing to do so.

We delivered the order Your order was shipped

to the provided address to your address this
this morning. morning.
I’m happy to tell you You’ll be happy to hear
that… that…
 The second important aspect to a
professional style is emphasis on the
positive in order to build a positive image
and goodwill. All information should be
stated positively, which means that there is
a focus on what the reader do.
Negative information, if not important, may
be omitted. If it really needs to be said, it
should be communicated briefly.
 Negative Wording Positive Wording
We cannot process Your reimbursement
your reimbursement request will be
request because your processed as soon as
documents are not you submit all the
complete. required documents.
 The third aspect of the professional style is
its use of bias free language.To reiterate the
context of workplace communication: It is
unprofessional and in very bad form to use
language that shows bias against certain
people or groups of people.
 Biased Bias-free
Set 1  
chairman chairperson/chair
salesman sales
stewardess representative/rep/sta
fireman ff
flight attendant
firefighter
 Professional Language

- Professional documents require language

that is appropriate to workplace setting:
polite, professional rather than overly
personal, and grammatically accurate.
 Professional Language

• First, polite language is essential in a

context wherein there are power
asymmetries.
• Second, both personal matters and
overly friendly language should not
appear in workplace correspondence.
 Professional Language

• Third, professional writing should exhibit

grammatical accuracy in the use of
Standard English.
• Fourth, professional writing can be made
clear and direct by avoidance of what is
called “business jargon.”
 Genres of Professional Writing

- As mentioned in the section “Professional

Purpose” there are different types or genres of
professional documents. Each type of document
follows specific generic conventions which are,
simply put, conventions for the formatting,
layout, and contents of the document.
 Business Letter

- Business letter is a form of external

communication it is formatted to contain
among others, an inside address and a
signature block that specify the recipient and
sender respectively, along with their contact
information.
 Memo

- A memo, on the other hand, which is internal

communication, immediately gives the date,
the addresses and sender, and the subject of
the memo in a standard format.
The Design Principles of Professional Writing
- One final feature of professional writing is
that it is very attentive to design principles.

Good Design Elements

- are tied to the purposes of professional
writing.
Various Elements
- it’s make a document, website, brochure or
poster engaging.

Another design element to consider is the use

of negative space or white space.
Lesson 2: Guide Questions

1. What are the importance of considering culture

in workplace communucation in the 21st century?
2. What are the benefits and challenges of having
a multinational or cross-national team or
partnership?
3. What should be conveyed to the audience or
recipient clearly and in a few words as
mandatory?
4. Why does language play such an
important role in building respect?
5. Why intercultural communication is
more challenging than intracultural?
 Summary Report

Lesson 2: Intercultural Issues in Workplace

Communication
 Communication and the Twenty-First
Century Workplace

In a study called “The Impact of

Globalization on Cross cultural
Communication” the authors make the
point that in a global environment the
ability to communicate effectively can be
 Communication and the Twenty-First
Century Workplace

Even when both parties speak the same

language theirs can be misunderstanding
due to ethnic and cultural differences. This
type of communication called cross-cultural
or intercultural comunication.
 Cultural Differences

Having a multinational or cross cultural team has

its benefits and challenges. On the other hand,
certain ideas may be at risk of being "lost in
translation" Cross Cultural faux pas result when
we fail to recognize that person of other cultural
backgrounds have diffirent goals, costums and
values.
 Cultural Differences

The pronoun System of Tagalog Language for

example, has two equivalents of the english "we"
the term kami is exlusive and refers to the in-
group (and excludes the outsider) while the term
"Tayo" is inclusive (Pascasio, 1999). Such a
pronoun system suggests the Filipino value for in
group loyalty
 Cultural Differences

In western countries like the U.S. Clarity is very

Important, this means communicating a refusal ha
to be belief and direct. In many Asian Countries
"More focus is placed on the context of
communication than the communication itself".
 Cultural Differences

Many Guidebooks for westerners warn westerners

about Misunderstanding regarding the japanese o
saying "no". In fact, at book entitled doing busines
with the New Japan, lists sixteen ways of avoiding
saying 'no'. These include targential responses. A
conditional "no," or silence.
 Effective Intercultural Communication

• Directness Versus Circumlocution

• Personal/Friendly Language Versus Respectful
Language
 Directness Versus Circumlocution

As mentioned earlier, brevity, clarity, and

directness of communication are favored in
American and British cultures.
Personal/Friendly Language Versus Respectful
Language

• Employers and employees are encouraged to

use personal pronouns such as I, you, me, and
we in writing.
• In American workplaces, colleagues are
encouraged to use first names when
conversing with each other and even with
 Personal/Friendly Language Versus
Respectful Language

• In Asia, the use of formal titles is a way

of showing respect for someone
considered superior- "I age, economic
status, education, profession"
(Chan,1999)
 Synthesis

Gloria S. Chan says that intercultural

communication is more challenging than
intracultural communication because
there is greater mastery of one's own
language and culture.
Lesson 3: Guide Questions

1. What are the specific formats in writing a

Memo?
2. The interview is categorized into 3 types, what
are those?
3. What should be the things that will be taken
into considerations upon making a cover letter?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages
of a Work Emails?
5. What are the 4 main types of Resume?
 Summary Report

Lesson 3: Simulating the Philippine

Workplace
 Professional Correspondence

• Memos
• Bussiness Letters
• Work Email
 Memos

Follows a specific format designed for internal

communication. It’s content arrange into
paragraphs, typically one to three. Can
highlight the good news in the subject line;
specific, concise, and appropriate. Bad-news
memos and letters should have a neutral
subject line.
 Bussiness Letter

• should be clear, concise and organized.

• contains brief introductory paragraph, body
and conclusion.
• write effective opening and closing.
 Work Email

Advantages
• allow professionals send, forward, and
receive messages quickly and efficiently.
• messages may also organized easily in
electronic folders for later references.
• also, it is eco-friendly.
 Work Email

Disadvantages
• loss of credibility.
• dangers of messages traveling to unintended
recipients.
• are only partially able to convey the writer's
attitude and emotions.
• long lead-in and wordy phrase must be
 The Job Application Process

• Cover Letter and Resume

• The Job Interview
 Cover Letter

• Letter you write to a prospective employer

to persuade him/her to give you a job
(Arinto, 2009).
• covers goes on top résumé.
• formatted like a business letter, with its own
challenges.
 Resume

• a document attached to a cover letter to

serve as "a persuasive summary of your
qualifications for employment" (Locker and
Kacsmarek, 2009).
• one page is adequate.
 Resume

• less important content should be trimmed in

order to fit the more important
achievements.
• information should neatly divided into
clearly labeled section.
• there should be no mechanical error.
 Three types of Resume

• Chronological Resume
• Functional Resume
• The Chrono-functional Resume
 Job Interview

• if the employer like the overall picture

presented in the cover letters and résumé,
they will then ask the applicant for a job
interview.
• can be structured or formal with a set of
questions to unstructured freewheeling
conversation.
 Types of Interview

• The traditional one-on-one interview

• The panel interview
• The panel interview
• The panel interview
 Group 4

Keith Shelly Ygay Emelito Munar Jr. Camille Viloan

Leader Assisstant Leader Recorder
 Group 4

Krystelle Catalon James Tubongbanua Princess Sonsona

Member Member Member
 Group 4

Fretzie Sam Sagon Jessa Mae Cablay Tracy Avril Rose Ostan
Member Member Member
Quiz