TECHNICAL & BUSINESS WRIT

INSTRUCTOR: SEHAR R MIR

HU-212
 BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION
• “If I went back to college again, I'd concentrate
on two areas learning to write and to speak
before an audience. Nothing in life is more
important than the ability to communicate
effectively.”

• Gerald R. Ford, 38th President of the

United States
• When its comes to communication, its
more nurture than nature.

• Good communicators are not born; they

are made.
WHAT IS BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

• Strong business communication skills are critical to the

success of any organization despite its size, geographical
location and its mission.

• It is intertwined with the internal culture and external

image of any organization.

• Good business communication practices assist the

organization in achieving its objectives by informing,
persuading and building good will within both the internal
environment and, the external environment.
BUSINESS WRITING
IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS WRITING

• Strong, clear business writing is more important now

than ever. In today’s business world, “face time” is hard
to come by.

• Flex-time, telecommuting, geographically dispersed co-

workers, and pressing time commitments make it hard to
spend as much time as we’d like speaking with one
another directly.
 Written business communication

• Allow us to communicate with many people at once.

• Help us communicate with individuals in different locations.

• Verify and acknowledge verbal communications such as meetings.

• Can be copied and forwarded to provide information to others.

• Create a permanent record of the communication

• Ensure that information is received accurately and consistently by all

recipients.
What Can You Accomplish with Business Writing?
It can help you accomplish a variety of business goals.

By using effective business writing, you can:

• Inform others
• Make a request for approval, support, funding, or purchases
• Persuade other people to purchase a product or service, follow a
course of action, or approve a plan
• Create goodwill for you and your organization
CLASSIFICATION OF BUSINESS
WRITING

• Documents can be classified into two types: internal and

external. Internal documents circulate within the
organization and may include memos, reports and
proposals.

• External documents circulate outside of the organization.

Examples include: letters, proposals and reports.

• External environment may include customers, suppliers,

government, media and the general public.
STYLE IN BUSINESS WRITING
 Style in Business Writing

• Effective business writing is very different from the informal

communication.
• It is clear and precise. Good business writing avoids using words or
terminology that can confuse the reader. It leaves nothing to the
imagination.

• It is concise and gets to the point. Business writing doesn’t waste time on
words or details that are irrelevant to the main points or ideas. Good
business writing addresses the main points quickly and directly.

• It takes a tone that is confident, courteous, and positive. It speaks to the

reader’s interests, motivations, and needs.
 Tone
• Tone is the emotional content and attitude of your business message. Tone
can help you create a relationship with your reader—or can destroy that
relationship.

• Tone can be formal, casual, self-important, helpful, or neutral.

• Learn to adapt your tone to the specific situation and audience that you’re
addressing.

• However, good business writing always takes a tone that is:

• ·Confident
• ·Courteous
• ·Sincere
• ·Helpful
Tone to Avoid: No Exceptions
Regardless of the situation or your personal feelings
toward the recipient, never use a tone that is:
• Angry
• Indifferent
WITH EXAMPLE:

Ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner thinks

long and hard before dashing off e-
mail messages, especially when he is
angry.” I learned early in the hard
paper world of the ‘70s that when I
was annoyed with someone. I should
write it down in a memo. I would
then put the memo in my desk
drawer and leave it there until the
next day.” By the next morning, his
anger had passed; and he realized
that telephoning or seeing the other
person was a better way to respond.
Poor tone:
• I know that my qualifications are less than ideal, but maybe
you could give me an opportunity to prove myself in this new
position.
Better tone:
• My qualifications are relevant and I am dedicated to
developing the specific expertise you seek during my first
year in this new position.
• Poor tone:
Your concerns are noted, but the fact is that we have too much on
our plate to address them at this time.
Better tone:
• Thank you for your input. We share your concerns and
intend to address them fully after completing the
monthly report.
Business correspondence:

The success or failure of any organization depends to a large

extent on its correspondence.

1.Letters
2.Memos
3.Emails etc.
Business Letters
• are very important for any organization and individual for the
purpose of giving or seeking information.

• are the standard form of external communication_

communicating to people outside your company.

• Business letters can be informational, persuasive, motivational,

or promotional

• are the best format to use when you need to:

Communicate with individuals outside your organization, especially
when you don’t have a regular working relationship with them
• Letter usually fall into one of three categories.

1. letters about routine or pleasant matters

• For example: routine orders and other requests for
information

2. convey less pleasant information- so called ‘bad news’ letters

• For example: refusal letters

3.letters written to convince

• For example: application letters
YOU ATTITUDE
• The most effective business letters are those that show the writer’s
interest in the receiver. It means that the writer has to view things form
the readers’ point of view, so as to get a favourable response from them.
• Communication experts, therefore advise to shift our focus from I and WE
to YOU and YOUR.
• Comparison of the following examples show the differences in attitudes.
• You did not assemble the parts correctly, and so the
product is malfunctioning.

• Improved Tone: The product may not work correctly if

any errors occur during assembly.
•
 Business Memos:

• A memo, short for the word memorandum, comes from the Latin word
memorandus, which means, "to be remembered." It is a compact written
message designed to help someone remember something.

• Unlike letters, are generally meant for communication within a company

or among various branches of the same company.

• Their objective is to deliver information or instructions.

• Used to route information, inform recipients about various matters and

initiate some action. ( these messages get things moving)
• Less formal than business letters

• Action-oriented documents to provide a summary of

important information and suggests actions that should be
taken

• Their scope should be limited to a single topic so that the

reader will "get the message" quickly and, if necessary,
take an action.
Writing a Business Email:

• one of the most efficient forms of business

communication.

• make it easy to send messages to multiple recipients,

reply to messages, forward messages, and send
attachments.

• Unfortunately, emails are also the most misused form

of communication.

•
• Keep the following in mind when writing emails in a
business environment:

• Although they are the least formal type of written communication, you
need to pay attention to tone, style, organization, grammar, and
spelling, just as you would in any other form of written communications.

• Business emails are public, not private. You don’t always know who’s
going to read your email. Emails can be printed, forwarded, copied and
pasted into other documents, or simply left on the screen for anyone to
see.
Any message is a corporate communication that can be used against you.

• Anyone can fire off a curt reply in seconds by email. The speed and
convenience of email can lead people to send hasty, thoughtless, or ill-
conceived messages that they would never consider sending as a letter
or memo.
Don’t use email to avoid contact
Email is inappropriate for breaking bad news or for
resolving arugeumtnts.

Care about correctness

People are judged by their writing, whether electronic or
paper based. Sloppy email messages make readers word
too hard. The resent not only the information but also the
writer
Announce attachments
If you are sending a attachment, tell you receiver.
• Ensure that your attachment is in a format that is used
universally like - pdf, jpg, mp3 etc. An attachment is
meant to be read/seen/used. If you send it in a format
which is not widely used or cannot be easily opened, it
defeats its purpose.
Email Etiquette
Email is a form of written business communication, just like letters
and memos. If you stick to the same standards that you use when
writing other forms of business messages, your emails will be
professional and appropriate.
• Never engage in flaming
Other Inappropriate Email Techniques:
Avoid other inappropriate usage like the following:
• IM-speak: extremely informal language frequently used in
instant messaging and mobile text messaging.
• Uses emoticons or “smileys”
• ·cc everyone: In reality, most professionals already have more
email in their inbox than they want and excessive copying will,
in the long run, discourage others from opening your emails.
Copy only individuals that really need to see what you’re
sending.
• ALL CAPITALS: Using all capitals is interpreted as
“shouting” in email.
When Not To Send an Email

• There are a number of situations where paper or verbal

communications are better choices than email.
• Disciplinary action
• Concerns and complains about co-workers

• If you’ve traded two or more emails trying to clarify a point,

and it’s obvious that something is being misunderstood or is
still unclear
CRITICAL THINKING

a) Discuss the problem of workplace abuse of email and

internet. Should full personal use be allowed?

b) Should employees be allowed to access the internet for

personal use if they use their own private email accounts?
REFERENCES

• Essentials of Business Communication (6th Edition) by Mary Ellen Guffey

•
• https://
is.muni.cz/el/1456/jaro2016/MPV_COMA/um/E-book_II_Business-Communic
ation.pdf

• http://
www.abahe.co.uk/Free-En-Resources/English-for-Managers-Business-Corresp
ondance.pdf