Always Know What To Say

Revising Business Messages

   How are speakers different from writers in the way they emphasize ideas?

Speakers and writers have different tools to emphasize their ideas.  A speaker can and has to do some extra work beyond just saying the words. While speaker is able to change a tone of his/her voice, use facial expressions, a pose, put a stress on the key words and it might mistakenly look that a writer deprived of such eloquent features. There is a big space for writers to be not less expressive. There are many kind of writing techniques, for instance, playing with a text structure, with the sequence of ideas and the way they disclose, describing the main topic in a certain way and with certain words that makes us think the way that the author wanted to  make us believe.

  Why are short sentences and short paragraphs appropriate for business communication?

Short sentences and short paragraphs are appropriate in general because the main function of any business letter is informative. There is nothing common with your personal opinion or analysis of satiation unless you were asked to do this research. I think it is important to care about time which your receiver has to spend reading your message and how much valuable information he or she can get from this reading.

      When might it be unethical to use the indirect method of organizing a message?
Usually the indirect form of a message is used when the subject of a message is not really pleasant for instance it might be refuse of requests, reject claims or some kind of sensitive messages which have to respect the feeling of the audience and minimize a negative reaction. I think it is unethical to use indirect way of writing when people wait some kind of action, some information, some urgent instructions because it puts them in quandary. 

Composing Business Messages

How can the three-phase writing process help the writer of a business report as well as the writer of an oral presentation?

 The first phase of the writing process consists of analyzing the audience and identifying the purpose of  your writing. When your target is determined along with knowing who your audience is it becomes much easier to understand what  about you supposed to write and in a which manner. Researching, organizing and composing are involved in the second part of writing process. It let you see how much information do you have and how supported your ideas are.  The last step is really important. Revising may take 50% of all of writing time, depending on complexity of your topic. All of these steps are vitally necessary in order to write a good business message. Missing any of them makes your message weak, unclear and even unprofessional.

 Discuss the following statement: “The English language is a land mine – it is filled with terms that are easily misinterpreted as derogatory and others that are blatantly insulting… Being fair and objective is not enough; employers must also appear to be so.”

It is absolutely true. Being an immigrant I can’t agree more. Sometimes misunderstanding happens even among native speakers when they use a lot of slang or some kind of words which might be interpreted in several ways. To avoid this misunderstanding in a business communication  message has  to be clear, correct, understandable and simple.

 Why is writing in a natural, conversational tone difficult for many people?

There is huge difference between oral and writing communications. Sometimes it is difficult to say about business ideas in a natural tone for several reason one of which is the discussed subject is highly important or informative and sometimes it looks like there isn’t room for conversation but there is. While some people can’t combine importance of a message and natural tone some people abuse conversational tone in a business massage and sometimes  it looks rather unprofessional then good.

 If computer software is increasingly able to detect writing errors, can business communicators stop studying writing techniques? Why or why not?

The answer is obvious and the answer is not.  Modern software can detect grammar mistakes or mistyping that, of course, great and helpful tool for everyone but unfortunately that is not enough. What software can’t do is  that to understand to whom you write, what you want to emphasize, what you try to say really gently and what you have to force. Machine can use simple grammar rules to fix your words but it can’t choose the right meaning of these words in a certain context and it can’t change a form of your message. Software also can’t protect you of being rough because it is not able to fill your message with appropriate tone, words and form. All of these in your hands.

Why do you think managers prefer messages that are not written like high school essays?

          I think  managers expect to see messages that are different from college essays due to several reasons. First, a college essay has its specific format  that consists of an introduction (which includes some background about the topic), a couple of paragraphs and some conclusion. The significant difference here is that a school essay often has an abstract topic or a problem which can be solved or described in variety of ways because it’s based on your personal opinion, knowledge and believe. In other words, a topic of a school essay is more theoretical theme while a business message is more specific. Some kind of business messages need in identification of  the problem, find the ways to solve it and analyzes results or benefits of this way of solving. Second, a business message might be just an informative letter that says  about some changes, for instance, in policies or it might be an invitation, for example, to stockholders meeting that does not need to have background information (as a history of a company) and conclusion. Writing your business message you most often know who your receiver is and it helps to understand how much information this person knows about the topic. In a school essay you suppose to write descriptive, broaden text which usually is much longer  than business message should be.

What argument could you give for or against the idea that body language is a science with principles that can be interpreted by specialists?

Communicative activity in a person's life is one of the most important roles. The ability to transfer voice messages separates humans from the natural world, but the remaining part of it is in that we have the unique ability to consciously and unconsciously read body language each other gestures, different poses, arbitrary and involuntary movements.  In recent years adopted a more highly specialized objects of body language study: the doctrine of hand gestures, facial gestures, gestures, head and legs, posture and gestures sign. All these units are non-verbal communication are combined in the concept of "gesture" - from the Latin. gestus, meaning to do, wear, bear responsibility, control, execute, etc. The well-known researcher of body language A. Kendon, exploring the evolution of the term, noted that in the Roman treatises on the behavior of speakers, such as Cicero and Quintilian  meaning of  "gesture" was defined as the rules for using the capabilities of a body, significant movements of the arms, legs, body and face, that makes the term  really close to the modern usage of it - an interactive sign everyday nonverbal human behavior. Body language, occupying an important position in the history of culture, is the subject of rhetoric, medicine, psychology, pedagogy, art, hirologii (language of lines and bumps hands) hironomii (manual arts of rhetoric) and physiognomy, the study of the manifestation of inner qualities in terms of human and expression on the face. Skillfully using the body language you can add and accentuate your speech and enrich your nonverbal communication with others, to make a person to trust you, to convince others of your sincerity and righteousness.

How are listening skills important to employees, supervisors, and executives? Who should have the best listening skills?

                      Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. 

                                                                                                                                             ~ Winston Churchill

             Listening is a great complex phenomenon, which looks like a passive activity at the first sign.  There are some different kinds of listening. If fact, we can pretend to listen but at the same moment we can dream about something which is not related to the subject of talking. We also can listen by “half an ear". Most of the time that is exactly what we do. If we listen carefully, we learn many interesting things. Listening to others is a great talent. Someone who hears people will understand you, understand your needs and help solve your problems. The man who knows how to listen can resolve the conflict among other people at work place because he knows how to listen to everyone... The listener, which can analyze is the ideal leader, able to see the need of the company and find ways to solve a crisis because he has information. Than more liability does someone have at work than more carefully this person should listen to his co-workers, clients, and partners.  By listening you get the most expensive and valuable things. Practice and improve your listening skills, analyze that information you got and you will see how much you can get just simply being a good listener.

Because English is becoming the international language of business and because the United States is a dominant military and trading force, why should Americans bother to learn about other cultures?

Then why do Americans publish official US/local government documentation (tax, public voting, DMV documentation, etc.) in  foreign languages (Spanish, Chinese, etc.) here in the United States? The answer is – to deliver more effective message to the US public who came to the United States from various parts of the world. Communication with other people (including foreign nations) does not involve only written or verbal way of communication in English (which would be ESL for other nations), it also involves respect, tolerance and understanding of other nations’ cultures and traditions. 

             The most successful business strategy has always been based on the grounds of understanding of your foreign partner’s culture and mentality as part of effective and efficient business communication process. Thus, if we talk about business rationale for learning more about foreign cultures, we can clearly see that entrepreneurs who are proactive, curious and inquisitive about other cultures are more successful in their business then others. One of the starring actors (Shea Labough) in the movie of “Wall Street: Money never sleeps” was very effective and successful in his communications with foreign partners due to his ability to understand their language and use proper terminology, gifts and appeal to their cultural traditions.