16 Guidelines to Effective Business Writing

Dr. Mani Shreshtha

1. Module 16: Guidelines to Effective Business Writing

2. Learning Outcomes

3. Introduction

4. Stages of Writing

5. Guidelines for Effective Writing

6. Other Essential Elements for Effective Writing

7. Summary

1. Module 16: Guidelines to Effective Business Writing

2. Learning Outcomes:

understand the relevance of written communication in a business organizations
get familiar with do’s and don’ts of effective writing

3. Introduction:

A written communication is a creative activity that requires a sincere effort on the part of the communicator. A written message is considered as a well thought communication wherein the communicator takes reasonable time to encode a message before sending it to the receiver. Also, a written communication rarely generates an immediate response. The reason for this can be attributed to the time taken by receiver in carefully understanding the message and drafting a sincere reply. Overall, a written communication requires lesser interaction between the sender and receiver as compared to face to face communication. In today’s world, usage of written communication is imperative for any business organization. The importance of written communication is due to its several advantages for an organization. The greatest advantage written communication offers is that it provides records and references. All the written communication can be saved and stored. Such stored communication can be used for further referencing and decision making. It helps in providing clarity and avoiding confusion while communicating. Written records can be used as evidence in case of a lawsuit against organization. Written communication helps members of an organization in providing instructions and directions without any ambiguity. As it removes ambiguity in the communication, all the employees get clear understanding about their roles and responsibilities. Such understanding can further be used as a benchmark for measuring their performance. As a general practice, written communication is considered as more formal and reliable as compared to other modes of communication. It is now clear that why written communication is still one of the most preferred modes of communication among business organizations.

Although, written communication has many advantages still it suffers from certain problems. Effectiveness of written communication totally depends upon the writing skills of the people responsible for communicating. In many of the organizations, it still consumes lot of paper creating a space and handling issue. As a written communication can be saved and stored, keeping its secrecy is a daunting task for today’s managers. Written communication consumes lot of man hours that can be used for more productive works. Even for writing a small message all the steps of writing such as pre-writing, writing, and revising have to be performed. Although technology has enabled a faster written communication still getting an immediate clarification or feedback is challenging. Considering the pros and cons of written communication, it is evident that effectiveness of written communication is dependent upon the skill of its handler. Nowadays, organizations prefer those employees who can express effectively both in written and oral form. Keeping in view the indispensible nature of written communication, one has to understand the basics of effective business writing.

4. Stages of Writing:

According to the demand of the situation, various kinds of business messages are written at an organization. Such written communication could be in the form of a business letter, memorandum, notice, office order, proposal, report etc. Each form has its own purpose to execute. Irrespective of its form all the business messages are created by following certain steps. These are known as stages of writing process. In the context of writing process, remarkable contribution has been made by M.E. Guffey, author of Business Communication: Process and Product. The author suggested that writing a message can be broadly divided into three stages namely pre-writing, writing, and revising.

4.1. Pre- writing: As the name suggests this stage is prior to you start writing a message. Before starting to write a message it is important to understand the purpose for which you are writing and how you are intending to send the developed message. Generally, the purpose of a message is to inform the receiver or convince the reader to act in a desired manner. Also check the extent of receiver’s involvement in the communication. So it is very important to know about the receiver. Whether the receiver of your message is an individual or a group, a supervisor or subordinate, inside the organization or outside the organization, critical or less important. A clear understanding about the receiver of the message highly influences the way a message has to be written. it is important to understand that your message must be created in a way that it fulfils its objective and considers the receiver expectation.

4.2. Writing: Once the writer has considered all the issues related with identification of purpose of message and interests of the receiver, it is time to write a message. For writing a message, first you have to collect all the information required to draft. This information could be collected through various secondary resources present in the form reports, public documents, news items etc. First hand information could also be collected through discussions and surveys. Information such collected could further be grouped together on the basis of similarity. It helps in making the message specific and crisp. The organization of information also helps in creating the central idea of the message. Then the time is to begin writing your message. The first draft might be looking rough and imperfect but it is important to start like this only. A rough draft helps you as a base to further improve on it. Improvement can be done by rearranging the matter, using appropriate words, structuring the sentences and paragraphs, and adding supportive contents like pictures or graphs. At the end of this stage, your message almost takes its final shape.

4.3. Revising: Once the written part is done, it is important to read the message thoroughly. This step is also known as proofreading. After first proofreading, if you find any discrepancies in your message, edit them. After editing, again it is time for a second proofreading to further check any spelling mistake or grammatical error in the message. After all these steps, finally you have to check whether the message is serving its purpose and keeps the interest of the receiver. Now, your message is ready.

5. Guidelines for Effective Writing:

Following sub-sections will discuss few guidelines to write effectively:

5.1. Adapt: For writing effectively, you have to change your message using adaptation strategy. Adaptation concept says that a message should be developed by keeping the interests of receiver in mind. We have to understand receiver in context of the organization they belong, the position they are holding, and/ or their individual characteristics. Every receiver has a different level of knowledge and understanding that eventually affects the interpretation of the message. For effective writing, it is suggested to choose appropriate tone and words in such a way that matches the understanding level of the receiver. For example, in case of writing to a person who is unaware of the issue, it is better to elaborate the background of the issue in the message. While communicating to a person having less technical knowledge, always try to simplify the scenario and use simple non-technical words in your message. On the contrary, while addressing a message for a technical person, exact terminology can be used to make your point clear. The challenge of drafting an appropriate message increases if your intended readers are group of persons. Adjusting to everyone’s requirement in a single message is difficult. The suggestion here is to incorporate the viewpoint of broader groups of readers. All readers must feel that there is something in the message that they can understand.

5.2. Appropriate Word Selection: For actually adapting your message as per the readers’ expectation, it is important to select and use appropriate words. Again the principle to be followed is of simplicity. In general, we tend to use difficult words while creating a message. This happens because of our familiarity with the issue. If we write a level below our level, it would be definitely become simpler. While choosing the words, it is very important to keep in mind the field of experience of the readers. Try to identify the words that are simple and familiar to the readers. One suggestion is to use those words that are being used during conversation. A writer has to understand that the purpose of writing is to communicate the message effectively rather than impressing the reader through heavy vocabulary. Also take care that there is no need to simplify the word every time. If there is a need to use a difficult word do not hesitate to use it.

Always use concrete words while writing as opposed to abstract words. Concrete words provide a better clarity. On the other hand, abstract words create a vague picture in mind. Abstract words convey broader meaning while concrete words communicate exact meaning. For example, instead of writing ‘Profits are rising significantly’, it is better to write ‘Profits are rising by 50%’.

Do not write many words in sentence if those words could be replaced by a single word or few words. Do remember that such word should not compromise on the meaning. For example, instead of writing ‘the new manager is having a capability to come to such conclusions that are important to handle the situation’, write ‘the new manager is a quick decision maker’. It is always advisable to economise on usage of words to make your communication crisp. More the number of words you are using in a sentence more are the chances of misinterpretation.

Always be careful while using technical words in your communication. Specific technical words are generally related to a particular profession. So people belonging to that profession can only understand the meaning of those words. In case of communicating to readers outside your professional arena, it is suggested to either avoid technical words or provide their meaning. For example, choice of words for written communication between two aircraft technicians must be different for similar communication with a non technical person. Also, communication is more effective when it is done in active voice. Usage of passive voice decreases the strength of a statement. Although there is nothing wrong in using passive voice but its overuse makes the communication uninteresting.

Let’s consider few examples of proper word selection

Unfamiliar Words: The conclusion established from a scrutiny of applicable data is that a money-spinning market is present for the product.

Familiar Words: The data studied confirm that the product is in good demand.

Unfamiliar Word: Endeavour, utilize, demonstrate

Familiar Word: Try, use, show

Abstract words: Substantial increase in sale of products during last year.

Concrete words: An increase of 30% in sales of Product X and Y in the year 2014-15.

Abstract words: The minnows.

Concrete: Bottom 1%.

Passive Voice: The decision is supported by all the departmental heads.

Active Voice: All the departmental heads support the decision.

Passive Voice: A new committee was appointed by the top management to investigate the issue.

Active Voice: Top management appointed a new committee to investigate the issue.

Long Words: During the preceding year

Short Words: Last year

Long Words: Incontestable evidence

Short Words: Proof

With Jargons: The responsibility of a person from managerial cadre involved in pedagogical pursuits is to impart knowledge to subordinates sent to him for instruction.

Without Jargon: The manager’s job is to instruct subordinates.

5.3. Use Conversational Style of Writing: In order to write effectively and to establish connect with the reader; a conversational style of writing should be used. As the name suggests, conversational style is that matches conversation. It is considered as the most natural way of writing. It helps in generating a good impression. As the conversational language is natural, it is easily understood by the readers. Although it seems that writing in conversational style is easy but it is not so. You require a deliberate effort to improve on this style of writing. By default we are in a habit of writing in a formal way. At the time of writing we tend to choose such words that are dull and heavy. This habit makes the whole written communication complex and uninteresting. For example, ‘Please find enclosed herewith the catalogue you enquired about during our last communication’ could be written in conversational language is ‘Enclosed is the catalogue you asked about’.

Another area to focus is to avoid using clichés in your writing. A cliché is an expression which is technically correct but overused to describe a particular situation. The result of using a cliché is that the writer fails to impress the reader. Reader also perceives that the writer has nothing special to offer through the communication. Such communication is treated as par with any other communication. For example, while writing a cover letter for your job application if you mention that if selected I leave no stone unturned, you are using a cliché expression. As you are mentioning a similar claim that most of other applicants are citing, you lose a chance to impress the reader. Few more examples of clichés are: looking for an early response, this is to inform you that, last but not the least, for any other information feel free to contact me.

5.4. ‘You’ is better than ‘We’: While writing, it is important to adopt a ‘you-attitude’. Writing with a ‘you-viewpoint’ actually connects the reader instantly to the communication. Also, it conveys the feeling that the writer is concerned about the interests of the reader. Generating you-attitude doesn’t mean that ‘we’ cannot be used. In fact there are certain situations where it is imperative to use ‘we’ and ‘you’ both. But remember, usage of ‘we’ should not dominate the purpose of using ‘you’. For example: We extend our full support to protect your interests. In this sentence, ‘we’ is used but a due respect is given to the word ‘your’. Take another example: instead of writing ‘We are happy to inform you’, it is better to write ‘You will be happy to know’. For developing a skill to write with ‘you-attitude’, a write should look at the situation from the readers’ point of view.

5.5. Grammar and Punctuation: While creating written messages, it is pertinent that you should go through the fundamentals of writing the relevant language. It includes the understanding of grammar rules and usage of punctuation. In grammar, a writer brush-up the concepts related to the usage of modifiers, coherence, and parallel structuring. Knowledge of punctuation is important as a punctuation mark can change the meaning of a sentence. Punctuation forms include: period, hyphen, comma, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation, colon, semi colon, ellipsis, and quotation marks.

5.6. Sentence Structure and Length: All the rules should be followed while writing a sentence. A normal sequence writing a sentence is to write a subject first followed by verb and object. Each of these may be improved by adding adjectives or adverbs. As rule adjectives generally precede the subject, object or complement they qualify. Adverbs may be placed anywhere in sentence. Placement of an adverb decides what it is modifying. A greater amount of precaution is required at the time of placement of adverbs. For example

Only a manager can issue this instruction. A manager can issue this instruction only. A manager can only issue this instruction.

Here, the placement of the word ‘only’ changes the whole meaning of the sentence. Generally, short and simple sentences are having more acceptability as effective writing strategy. As such there is no limit to number of words used for writing a sentence. On the criteria of complexity of thought and reader’s ability to understand a maximum limit of 35 words is desired. While creating a sentence, following points should be kept in mind:

Put the words at right places to provide adequate emphasis. Remove redundant from the sentence.

Break the monotony while writing sentences.

Always keep a check on the length of a sentence.

5.7. Paragraph Structure and Length: A paragraph is a group of connected sentences with an aim of providing the complete thought. Generally, first sentence provide the basic thought and rest of the sentences give the supporting information. Overall, the sentences in a paragraph can classified as introducers (to establish focus of topic); developers (to support and clarify central thought); modulators (to offer seamless transition between sentences); and terminators (to conclude the paragraph). As far as length of a paragraph is concerned it depends upon the thought we wish to convey. Length of a paragraph increases as we move from simple to complex thought. As an understanding, longer paragraphs are difficult to read. Also, a reader loses interest of reading by looking at a long paragraph. It is suggested to break the long paragraphs while writing. As a standard, you can break one page of written material into 3-4 paragraphs. Short paragraphs also break the monotony of a reader. Importance of paragraphs increases while writing long reports. In such cases, the writer is prone to write longer paragraphs to provide the information.

Other Essential Elements for Effective Writing:

Other than what we have discussed so far there are few more elements that are required to write effectively. These elements are:

The structural element: Every written message must have three structural elements namely introduction (for comprehending the meaning of the message), body (presents the substance of the content), and conclusion (summary of message along with powerful expectation from the reader).

Clarity of thought: Every writer must have a complete clarity about the thought before writing a message. Any ambiguity in the message may lead to disinterest or misinterpretation.

Consistency: All the thoughts mentioned in your message must be consistent to the central idea. Any contradicting statements might affect the credibility of your entire message.

Selecting appropriate medium: The choice of medium also affects its effectiveness. Depending upon urgency, length, prospective reader you have to choose a correct medium to convey your thoughts in a better manner.

Summary:

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