Chapter 4
The Writing Process
Sending Written Messages That
Work
• Atlee Corporation is a
consulting company
with offices in several
major cities in the
United States. An old
firm, it is considered
conservative and
somewhat elite. The
company directors
have finally bowed to
pressure and agreed
to institute a casual
dress day for
employees, The
directors issued the
following memo
Case Study Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Is this business message receiver-oriented? What is
the messages objective?
Does this message contain any bias? What evidence
do you find?
What is the tone of this message? Are the sentences
easy to read, or do they contain unnecessary
elements?
Does this message contain opening, developmental
and closing paragraphs? Are they effective?
Does this memo include the five W’s. If so, what are
they? If not, what is missing?
What content and mechanical errors does this memo
contain?
The Writing Process
Prewriting
Planning Business Messages
Organizing Messages
Lets go back to questions 1 of the
case study.
Is this business message receiver oriented?
What is the messages object?
Drafting
• Cad drafting
Courteous words
Appropriate Words
http://www.world-english.org/facts.htm
Lets go back to questions 2 of the
case study.
2. Does this message contain any bias?
What evidence do you find?
Revising
Unnecessary Elements
Complete Paragraphs
Paragraph Structure in Business
Communications
Necessary Information
Lets go back to questions 3,4 and 5
of the case study.
3. What is the tone of this message? Are
the sentences easy to read, or do they
contain unnecessary elements?
4. Does this message contain opening,
developmental and closing paragraphs?
Are they effective?
5. Does this memo include the five W’s. If
so, what are they? If not, what is
missing?
Editing
• The cutting edge
Proofreading
Lets go back to questions 6 of the
case study.
6. What content and mechanical errors
does this memo contain?
Publishing/Presenting
• Facebook publishing
numbers
Enhancing Your Message
• Excel
The Final Document
• The crevasse
Case 4 Summary
The Board of Directors of Atlee Corporation sends a strong sender
oriented message. It almost seems as if the memo has a negative
message. The positive message is clouded in the boards own
misgivings about the need for a casual day and about the possible
abuses or so the Board thinks of casual day. In addition, the writers
of the memo do not include anything to promote goodwill among the
employees.
It is appropriate for a company to establish guidelines for a policy such
as a causal day. The guidelines should be laid out in an easy to read
list in a positive or at least a neutral manner. If violation of the
guidelines must result in disciplinary action, the possible disciplinary
actions should also be stated in detail.
Naming a contact person for questions or follow up is helpful. However,
the closing paragraph would benefit from a restatement of the main
idea, as well as from an expression of goodwill. If the Board
members had used the writing process or if they had at least edited
thoughtfully, they would likely have produced a more effective
memo.
Setting Up Shop: Case Study
• Page 143 of Textbook
• Must be typed in Times Roman Numeral
Font.
• Complete Sentences!
• Don’t start a sentence with yes, no or
maybe.