Reponse: Modules 1 and 2

According to the lecture, having good communication skills is essential in our increasingly globalized world. In the work place, communication is the way to get things done. Therefore, good business and administrative writing have to be clear, complete, and correct. It also needs to be understood immediately, and a good relationship between writer and reader must be built. Business communication is different from academic writing. In business communication the information is usually new, the style is friendly, and documents are designed to offer the information more effectively using visuals, and allowing the readers to skim through documents. In order to be successful in our writing, we need to analyze the purpose of our message, our audience, the information that needs to be included, the possible benefits and objections of our readers, and the economic, political, and social circumstances of our audience.

When adapting our message to our audience, an empathic and ethical approach obtains better results. First, we need to recognize who are the members of our audience, and what characteristics about them are relevant to our message. It is important to analyze them individually and the organization they belong to. In addition, we need to be aware that in an organizational setting there are five separate audiences: primary, secondary, initial, gatekeeper, and watchdog audiences. Therefore, our message needs to be adapted to meet these audiences’ needs. We should also be aware of the complexity of the communication process, and the possibility of miscommunication in every step.

In order to avoid miscommunication, our message needs to be interesting, easy to understand, and transmitted through channels that our audience attends to. Another aspect that is usually overlooked is the fact that writing costs money, and the cost increases if the writing is ineffective. Ineffective writing could put our company and our career at risk.

Source:

Locker, Kitty O., and Stephen Kyo Kaczmarek. Business Communication, Management, and Success. Business Communication: Building Critical Skills. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2011. Print.

---. Adapting Your Message to Your Audience. Business Communication: Building Critical Skills. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2011. Print.