Lecture 3:
Planning and Composing
Business Messages
Planning and Composing
Business Messages
PART A:
Planning Business Messages
I. Defining the purpose of writing task
A.
Common purposes of business messages
B.
Testing the purpose
II. Analyzing your audience and adapting your message
A.
Developing audience profile
B.
C.
Satisfying the audience’s needs
Personalizing letter
III.Selecting the appropriate channel and medium
A.
Oral communication
B.
Written communication
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Planning and Composing Business
Messages
PART B: Organizing and Composing Business Messages
I.
II.
Importance of good organization
A.
Helping audience identify the main ideas more quickly and
comprehend important information better
B.
Helping audience to accept your message
C.
Saving audience time by eliminating unnecessary information and
putting message in logical order
Four common organizational problems
A.
B.
C.
D.
Taking too long to get to the point
Including irrelevant material
Getting ideas mixed up
Leaving out necessary information
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Planning and Composing Business
Messages
PART B: Organizing and Composing Business Messages
III. Organization is a three-step process and can be achieved
by:
A. Defining the main idea
B. Grouping your ideas
C. Choosing between direct and indirect approaches
IV.
Types of messages and organizational plans
A.
B.
C.
D.
Direct requests
Routine, good-news messages
Bad-news messages
Persuasive messages
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Planning and Composing Business
Messages
PART B: Organizing and Composing Business Messages
V.
Composing business messages
A. Controlling both style and tone to suit the occasion
B. Selecting the best words for correctness and effectiveness
C. Creating effective sentences
D. Developing coherent paragraphs
VI.
Checklist for composing sentence and paragraph
A. Tips for creating effective sentences
B. Tips for creating effective paragraphs
C. Five common ways for developing a paragraph
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Part A
Planning Business Messages
6
Common Purposes of Business
Messages
General Purposes
To inform (Tell)
To persuade (Sell)
To collaborate (Join)
Specific Purposes
 To present last month’s sales figures
to the vice president of Marketing
 To announce a major management
structuring before the rumour mill
distorts it and gets out by the press
 To convince the vice president of
marketing to hire more sales
representatives
 To analyze the probability of a plant
your management is considering
closing
 To help the personnel department
develop a training program for new
members of the sales staff
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Audience Participation
Common Purposes of Business
Messages (cont’d)
High
Collaborate
Persuade
Medium
Inform
Low
Low
Medium
Communicator Control
High
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Common Purposes of Business
Messages (cont’d)

Using Inform (Tell) Approach When:
a. Messages at the informative end of the
continuum require less interaction with the
audience.
b. You are in complete command of the
necessary authority and information.
c. Example: You ask a subordinate to carry
out a routine task.
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Common Purposes of Business
Messages (cont’d)

Using Persuasive (Sell) Approach When:
a. You are in command of the information, but your
audience retains the ultimate decision-making
power.
b. Persuasive messages require a moderate amount
of audience participation and allow a moderate
amount of control.
c. EX: You ask a customer to buy your product.
d. Sell benefits, not features.
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Common Purposes of Business
Messages (cont’d)

Using Collaborative (Join) Approach When:
a. Your point of view is one among many.
b. Collaborative messages require maximum
audience participation.
c. EX: You serve as a representative at an
interdepartmental strategy session.
d. When collaboration is your goal, you must
be prepared to adjust to new input and
unexpected reactions.
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Testing the Purpose

Testing the purpose by asking:
1. Realistic?
2. Right time?
3. Right person delivering the message? (See
example on Memo to Henry C. Hendrikson.)
4. Acceptable to the organization?
*The memo will be discussed in tutorial.
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When Analyzing Your Audience
(Profile / Needs)
1. Developing an audience profile
 WHO
 WHAT Channel (size)
 HOW -


Anticipate the audience’s reaction
Gear information to the audience’s level of
understanding
Consider your relationship with the audience
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When Analyzing Your Audience
(Profile / Needs) (cont’d)
2. Satisfying the audience’s needs


Informational needs
Motivational needs -- Appeal to reason
versus Appeal to emotions
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When Analyzing Your Audience
(Profile / Needs) (cont’d)
3. Personalize your letter



Address a particular need (Sample A)*
Tailor to customer profile (Sample B)*
Appeal to audience empathy by using a
personal voice (Sample C)*
*Three sample letters are included for reference.
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Selecting the Channel and Medium
Oral Communication



Permits immediate feedback
Good for dealing with questions, making group
decisions, presenting controversial information
Forms: Unplanned conversations, telephone calls,
interviews, small group meetings, seminars,
workshops, training programs, formal speeches,
presentations
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Selecting the Channel and Medium
(cont’d)
Written Communication


Provides the writer with a chance to plan and
control the message
Good when




Information is complex
Documentation is required
Audience is large and dispersed
Feedback is unnecessary
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Selecting the Channel and Medium
(cont’d)
Written Communication

Most common forms:

Memos and letters
 Reports and proposals


Factual, objective documents for internal or external
audiences
Generally longer and more formal than letters and
memos
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Planning Audience-Centered
Business Messages
Purpose
(Be clear about exactly what you mean to accomplish before you write)

Information gathering through
Reading
Interviewing
Discussing
Thinking

Brainstorming by
5 “WH-questions” (Who; What; Where; When; Why)

Structuring your ideas in the order how best to carrying out
your purpose
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PART B
Organizing and Composing
Business Messages
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Importance of Good Organization
A. Helping audience identify the main ideas more
quickly and comprehend important information
better.
B. Helping audience accept your message.
C. Saving audience time by eliminating unnecessary
information and putting message in logical order.
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Four Common Organization
Problems
A. Taking too long to get to the point
B. Including irrelevant material
C. Getting ideas mixed up
D. Leaving out necessary information
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Good Organization Can Be Achieved
through a Three-step Process:
A. Defining the main idea
B. Grouping the main idea
C. Choosing between direct and indirect
approaches
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Establishing Organization Plans
Main idea presented first; followed by the
evidence; use your strongest evidence first
Direct approach
(Deductive)
Example:
The committee recommends Policy X for the
following reasons:
Reason 1
Reason 2
Reason 3
Evidence precedes main idea
Present your view last
Indirect approach
(Inductive)
Example:
Reason 1
Reason 2
Reason 3
Therefore, the committee recommends Policy X.
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When and Why Using Direct or
Indirect Approach
Direct Approach
Have receptive audience
Save audience time
Set a proper frame of mind
Prevent frustration
Have unreceptive audience
Soften audience’s resistance
and minimize a negative
Indirect Approach
reaction
Arouse interest and curiosity
Respect the audience’s
feelings
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Types of Messages and
Organizational Plans
Shorter Messages
Direct requests
Straightforward; easy to comply
Begin with the request or main idea
Provide necessary details
Close with a statement of the desired action
Audience will be neutral or pleased by
information
Routine, good-news Begin with main idea or good news
messages
Provide necessary details
Close with reference to good news or a
positive comment
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Types of Messages and
Organizational Plans (cont’d)
Shorter Messages
Bad-news
messages
Cushion the blow when the audience will be
displeased
Begin with a neutral buffer
Justify the negative point with evidence
State the bad news in positive terms
Close cordially
Persuasive
Messages
Provide motivational incentives (unwilling to
comply)
Begin with attention getter
Build interest by describing the general idea
Explain benefits to create desire
Request action
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Controlling Both Style and Tone
Beware of the differences between style and tone
•
•

Style: The way words are used to create effects
Tone: The overall effect; the result of style
Avoid big words
J I will fill the order as soon as I receive more supplies.
L Upon procurement of additional supplies, I will initiate
fulfillment of the order as quickly as possible.

Avoid gushy, overblown terms
•
(e.g. extremely, extraordinary, exceptionally)
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Selecting the Best Words
Use functional and content words:

Functional words (e.g. conjunctions, preposition,
articles and pronouns)
•
•

Express relationships
Have one final meaning
Content words (e.g. nouns, verbs, adjective,
adverbs)
•
•
•
Carry the meaning of the sentence
Are subject to many interpretations
Vary in degree of abstraction
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Creating Effective Sentences
Three types of sentences:

Simple: Profits have increased.

Compound: Wage rates have declined and turnover
has been high.

Complex: Although the sales force is strong, the
business depends heavily on advertising to reach
consumers.
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Developing Coherent Paragraphs
Three basic elements of a paragraph:
A. Topic Sentence


Summarizes main idea
Usually comes first
B. Related Sentences


Explain and pertain to the main idea
Are more specific than the topic sentence
C. Transitional elements


Link sentences and paragraphs
Establish relationships among ideas
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Developing Coherent Paragraphs
(cont’d)
Example:
Each year McDonald’s sponsors the All-American Band,
made up of two high school students from each State.
The band marches in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade
in New York City and the Rose Bowl Parade in
Pasadena. Franchisees are urged to join their local
Chamber of Commerce, United Way, American Legion,
and other bastions of All-Americana. McDonald’s tries
hard to project an image of almost a charitable
organization. Local outlets sponsor campaigns on fire
prevention, bicycle safety, and letter cleanup, with
advice from Hamburger Central on how to extract the
most publicity from their efforts.
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Developing Coherent Paragraphs
(cont’d)
Five Most Common Ways to Develop a
Paragraph
A. Illustrations: Examples that demonstrate the general
idea
B. Comparison or contrast: Similarities or differences
among thoughts
C. Cause and effect: Reasons for something
D. Classification: Division of ideas into sub-categories
E. Problem and Solution: What’s wrong and how to fix it
Examples: (to be discussed in tutorials; see Supplementary Reading)
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Checklist for Composing
Sentences and Paragraphs
Tips For Creating Effective Sentences
1.
2.
3.
4.
Use a mix of sentence type for variety
Keep sentences short – 20 words on average,
but vary the length to make writing interesting
Emphasize important ideas - (Key thoughts)
Apply active and passive verbs carefully - (Keep
verbs in active voice, but use passive voice to
soften criticism.)
EX: The shipment was lost. – NOT – You lost the shipment.
5.
Eliminate misplaced modifiers
EX: See next pages for examples
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Examples of Misplaced Modifiers
1. Antia Information Systems has bought new computer chairs for the
programmers with more comfortable seats.
Revised Version: Antia Information Systems has bought new
computer chairs with more comfortable seats for the programmers.
2. I asked him to file all the letters in the cabinet that had been
answered.
Revised Version: I asked him to file in the cabinet all the letters that
had been answered.
3. The merchandise was inspected by our inventory manager that was
received today.
Revised Version 1: The merchandise that was received today was
inspected by our inventory manager.
Revised Version 2: Our inventory manager inspected the
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merchandise that was received today.
Checklist for Composing Sentences
and Paragraphs (cont’d)
Tips For Creating Effective Paragraphs
1. Develop and stick to one point per paragraph
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Use the direct plan
Use the indirect plan
Build coherence by linking sentences
Provide road signs with transitional expressions
Limit paragraph length (100 words on average)
Use information heading to grab readers’ attention
and make document easier to read
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~ The End ~
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