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Module -3

Written Communication

Written Communication: Purpose of writing – Clarity in writing –Principles of

effective writing – Approaching the writing process systematically: The 3X3 writing
process for business communication Pre writing – Writing – Revising. Audience
analysis, Writing Positive, Neutral, Persuasive and Bad-news Messages

• Types of Written Communication in Business: Business Letters, Employee

Reviews, Recommendation Letters, Thank You Letters, Memos, proposals and
Reports, Planning Documents, Press Releases, Proactive Media Writing and E-mail.

Introduction

In Business Communication, writing can be called effective only if its easy for the reader to
read and to understand, to remember and act upon it.

 What attracts you to a document?

 How do you select what to read?

 How do you choose to throw away/ignore some?

 What sustains your interest?

 What motivates you to keep reading?

• Written communication has great significance in today’s business world. It is an

innovative activity of the mind.

• Effective written communication is essential for preparing worthy promotional

materials for business development. Speech came before writing.

• But writing is more unique and formal than speech. Effective writing involves careful
choice of words, their organization in correct order in sentences formation as well as
cohesive composition of sentences.

• Also, writing is more valid and reliable than speech. But while speech is
spontaneous, writing causes delay and takes time as feedback is not immediate.

Purpose of Writing

There are mainly two purposes of communication in business situations.

 To inform

 To persuade
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Writing to Inform

 When the writer seeks to give information and offers to explain it, the writing is called
informative writing

checklist:

 Does it offer complete and exact information?

 Does it make good reading?

Writing to persuade

 Persuasive writing focuses on the reader.

 The writer attempts to change the reader’s thinking, and bring it closer to his own way
of thinking

check list:

 Does it focus on the reader?

 Does it clearly follow a logical arrangement of thought and reasoning?

Advantages of WC

• Written communication helps in laying down apparent principles, policies and rules
for running of an organization.

• It is a permanent means of communication. Thus, it is useful where record

maintenance is required.

• It assists in proper delegation of responsibilities. While in case of oral

communication, it is impossible to fix and delegate responsibilities on the grounds of
speech as it can be taken back by the speaker or he may refuse to acknowledge.

• Written communication is more precise and explicit.

• Effective written communication develops and enhances an organization’s image.

• It provides ready records and references.

• Legal defenses can depend upon written communication as it provides valid records.

Disadvantages of WC

• Too much paper work and e-mails burden is involved.

• Written communication is time-consuming as the feedback is not immediate. The

encoding and sending of message takes time.
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• Also, if the receivers of the written message are separated by distance and if they need
to clear their doubts, the response is not spontaneous.

• Effective written communication requires great skills and competencies in language

and vocabulary use. Poor writing skills and quality have a negative impact on
organization’s reputation.

Clarity in writing

Writing Something Important? Want to be Sure it’s Very Clear?

1. Be very clear about what it is you want to convey.

2. Have a good understanding of who you want to convey it to Focus on that audience .

3. Decide on an approach to your reader or audience and match your writing style to that
approach; avoid mixing approaches and styles.

4. Plan out the presentation of your ideas from a beginning that is (a) acceptable to your
audience, (b) encourages their interest, and (c) helps them track with you while they
read on.

5. clearly envision the end result or objective or product of your writing, and build up to
it connectedly and as strongly as you can, and put it in place like an anchor for the
whole piece.

6. When your design and objective are clear to you, start writing.

7. Use words and expressions that your audience is familiar with; if you need or want to use a
term, abbreviation, or phrase outside of their presumed vocabulary.

8. Design your paragraphs and sentences for greatest impact as your actual writing builds up
to the climax and completion of your message and request for action.

9. The purpose of business witting is to achieve the understanding & reaction needed in the
quickest & most economical way.

Principles of effective writing

1. Clear:
The basic principles of effective writing are the message should be presented
‘clearly’. Message should be easily understandable by the reader.

2. Concise:
Irrelevant and unnecessary words should be eliminated. The message should be short
and complete. Unnecessary words and long sentences interrupt reader’s attention and
failed to achieve the goal.

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3. Complete:
The message should be short, but in the same time it should be complete. That is, all
the required information must be provided by the writer.

4.Correct:
A concise and complete but wrong message is meaningless. Thus the given message must be
authentic and grammatically, correct. Wrong information not only disturbs the effectiveness
of writing but also adversely affect the goodwill of the firm.

5.Courteous:
Last but not the least tool for effective writing is ‘courtesy’. By emphasizing reader’s interest
and selecting right words creates courtesy. Courteous tone in the writing not only serves the
specific purpose but also boost up the image of the organization.

6. Accuracy

7. Brevity

8. Clarity

Failures to make a text readable

• Too many words

• Involved complex, long sentences and clauses.

• Unpleasant tone

• Poor organization, confused flow, lack of coherence

• High density of ideas

• Lacking interest, boring

• Containing too many modifiers

• Reader’s lack of motivation

• Reader’s lack of prior knowledge of the subject

• Content being irrelevant to the reader

• Poor appearance and poor quality paper

For an Effective Text

• Clear and simple in style and vocabulary; no jargon or phrases.

• Written in precise language without redundant words or phrases.

• Well organized information/ explanation with structure that is easy to grasp, and flow
that facilitates reading.
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• Substantiated and supported with verifiable proof.

• Focused on the reader and reader’s needs.

• In a format that is suitable for the content.

• Attractive in appearance.

Approaching the Writing process systematically

• Practicing a methodical approach brings certain rewards in production of better texts

in less time.

• Is requires change of mindset and patience to spend time on planning and preparing,
without feeling pushed to pen paper.

• It requires the persistence and tenacity of mind revise what has been written.

Basics of writing:

1. Purposeful.

2. Economical way.

3. Reader oriented.

3X3 Writing Process for Business Communication

The 3x3 approach to the task of writing divides onto three phases

Phase 1: Pre Writing

 Analyze

 Anticipate

 Adapt

Phase 2: Writing

 Research

 Organize

 Compose

Phase 3: Revising

 Revise

 Proof-read

 Evaluate

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• Pre-writing ( Phase 1)

Planning activities should contribute towards getting into the right frame of mind and
adopting the right attitude

Preparation has to be made by collecting material and organizing it

• Planning Stage

• Analyzing a situation beings with making a clear statement of the problem

• Necessary to look the background of the situation

• The writer clarify the purpose of the communication

• The writer must know what response he wants from the audience

• Analyze the audience thoroughly

• Choose the appropriate channel

• Anticipate and Adapt

Anticipate what the audience’s needs and responses might be.

• kind of language

• Background information

Adapting it involves how to create a message that suits the audience in tone structure and
accomplishes the writer’s goal

• View from reader's perspective and reader benefits should be highlighted

• Preparation ( Phase 2 ) writing stage

• It begins with Research to collect together all the information related to the situation

• Organizing the material and structuring the message is the all-important mental
exercise to be carefully done

• Writing, the writing tasks is also called as Composing It is difficult to draw a line
between the mental process of putting ideas into words and physical tasks of writing
words

• Revising ( Phase 3 )

• Revise the content , organization and style

• Is the purpose of document is clear?

• Does the order of the points make sense?

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• Are the words and sentence clear and within the audience’s comprehension?

Proof reading, mistakes in grammar, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary and sentence structure

Revising: revision is not limited to one time

It takes 4 times or more, it takes longest time to do it.

Proof-reading: mistakes in grammar, spelling , punctuation, vocabulary, sentence structure

are corrected a this stage

Evaluation: Last look to evaluate the effectiveness Evaluation is a very responsible task for
a management level person

• Specific writing features

• Organization.

• Coherence

• Appropriate tone.

• Readability: Clarity, conciseness, parallel structure.

• Coherence – One of the principle

Coherence is logical connection of ideas that makes any composition easy to read. It is the
product of two factors.

 Paragraph unity

 Sentence cohesion

 It contains more specific information than the topic sentence and,

 It maintains the same focus of attention as the topic sentence

• Coherence

Repetition: try using a synonym provided that it will not confuse readers

Parallelism: repeating a sentence structure is a useful way to create cohesion

Enumeration:

 It can link ideas that are otherwise completely unconnected

 It looks formal and distinctive

 It promotes the parallelism method of cohesion

In a multi-media environment, the written text can be enriched by the use of animation,
video-clips and audio-clips.
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Demerits:

 Some will become over depend on computer for spelling and grammar

 Some fail to realize the importance copyright rules

• Electronic writing Features

• Drafts were written by hand edited and corrected.

• Re-written or re-typed to get a proper view of the edited draft

• The electronic screen has affected every step of the process, making its easier

 Spell checks, auto-correction, and grammar checks, facilitated the reduction of errors
in the draft for layout such as italics, underling, bold face, bullet points are easier than
hand written

 Enrichment of the text became easier with facilities for thesaurus hunt for synonyms,
and for insertion of graphics

 Doubtful information or grammar points can be checked on various websites.

 Spell checks, auto-correction, and grammar checks, facilitated the reduction of errors
in the draft for layout such as italics, underling, bold face, bullet points are easier than
hand written

 Enrichment of the text became easier with facilities for thesaurus hunt for synonyms,
and for insertion of graphics

 Doubtful information or grammar points can be checked on various websites

What is audience analysis?

Audience analysis is the process of identifying your audience and collecting information
about them. Before delivering the speech, you should know the age group, expertise level,
needs, expectations, value system, attitudes, and beliefs of your audience.

Adapting your speech according to the types of audiences is likely to generate a better
response.

Some audience analysis factors are as follows:

• Audience expectations about the occasion of the speech, its topic, and the personality
of the speaker

• Audience’s knowledge or familiarity with the topic

• Audience’s attitude or approach towards the topic

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• Audience size and its ability to listen

• Why do you think accomplished speakers such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela,
Swami Vivekananda, and Steve Jobs won their audiences over? They knew the
importance of audience analysis. The content and style of their speeches touched on
subjects that were close to the hearts of their audience.

• The importance of audience analysis

• Analyzing different types of audiences will lead you to crucial insights that can help
you in creating a positive bond with the audience. For example, if you know that 70%
of the audience is female, thoroughly researched references to feminism or women
empowerment will likely be received well.

• Audience analysis prevents you from delivering an incorrect or offensive message. It

will also warn you against delivering a message that can be easily misinterpreted. It
will help you speak to your audience in the language they understand and appreciate.
Let’s now look at the different types of audience analysis.

Types of audience analysis

• Demographic Analysis

• Demographic audience analysis includes taking in factors such as age, gender, race,
culture, ethnicity, marital status, socio-economic conditions, education, occupation,
etc. For example, if the subject is healthcare and the audience is in their late fifties,
your speech should be geared towards age-appropriate recommendations for a healthy
lifestyle.

• Psychographic Analysis

• Psychographic is one of the types of audience analysis that covers understanding the
attitudes, beliefs, values and thinking patterns of your audience.

• Values such as freedom, honesty, justice, patriotism, equality are universal and
cherished by most audiences. The audience is likely to respect you and want to hear
from you if your speech reflects any of these values.

• Situational Analysis

• Situational audience analysis includes factors such as audience size, the occasion, the
room layout, the stage layout, motivation, or interest level of the audience.

• If your audience is smaller, there is a possibility of developing a rapport with each

member. Tailor your data and delivery to the occasion—what you will say at a
corporate conference will differ widely from your talk at a momentous family
function.

• Multicultural Analysis
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• The content of your speech should acknowledge the diversity of your audience.

• Different cultures have different value systems and behavior patterns. Being
judgemental in your speech creates a negative impact. Cultural sensitivity and
inclusivity should be part of your audience analysis.

• Some other types of audience analysis are:

• Is it a niche audience with a high level of expertise or a general audience without any
specialization in the subject matter? Consider this before using jargon or terms of art.

• Why are they investing their time in your speech? What inputs do they need from
you?

• Do a knowledge analysis of your audience and put your best foot forward. Let your
confidence and competence win over the audience.

Final Thoughts

• Understand the importance of audience analysis. Always keep in mind that the lack of
proper audience analysis will hamper your credibility as a speaker. Take your
planning to the next level with Harappa’s Speaking Effectively course.

• The course is designed to help you use nonverbal cues to speak powerfully. You will
also learn about Aristotle’s Appeals. It is an important framework comprising three
appeals that enhance the quality of your speech: reasoning, credibility, and emotion.
With the help of this framework, you can learn how to captivate, engage, and
persuade your audience.

• Explore topics such as Public Speaking, The Rule of Three, Tone of Voice, 7 C's of
communication, and the Elements of Communication from our Harappa Diaries blog
section to ace your soft skills.

Positive, Negative, and Persuasive Messages

• All business messages fit across to two broad categories with an overlapping third
category. There are communications where the receiver is expected to have a positive
or neutral reaction, and there are communications about which receivers may have a
more negative reaction. The image of the continuum below is focused on audience
reaction to a message.

• We’ll discuss exactly how to write these messages later in this module when we
discuss the three-part writing process. For now we’ll focus on how to determine
which type of message fits your audience.

• Positive Messages

• Positive messages include messages where the audience is expected to react in a

neutral to positive manner. Positive messages tend to consist of routine or good news.
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These messages might be items such as congratulations, confirmations, directions,

simple credit requests, or credit approvals. Also included in this category might be
denials that are somewhat routine or expected. This could be something like a parking
lot closure that inconveniences employees, but in a minor way. As strange as this
sounds, sympathy messages are in this category as well. Sympathy messages are
routine since they will not be a surprise to the receiver.

Consider the message to be a positive message structure when:

• The receiver likes or expects this news (product shipped on time)

• The receiver needs little education or background to understand the news (travel
arrangement for the conference)

• The receiver considers the message routine, even if not completely positive (parking
lot closed for three days for new striping)

• Negative Messages

• Negative messages include messages where the audience is expected to react in a

negative manner. Negative messages consist of bad news. In these messages, the
sender’s goal is to convey the bad news in a manner that preserves the business
relationship. While the sender must deliver bad news, the sender wants to avoid an
employee quitting or a customer finding another vendor. These messages might be
items such as refusal to provide a refund, cancellation of an event, inability to support
an event and more.

Consider the message to be a negative communication when:

• The receiver may be displeased (cost for repair is the receiver’s, not the utility
company’s)

• The receiver needs a little persuasion (new log-on procedure takes longer but is more
secure)

• The receiver may be somewhat uncomfortable (new badging system underway

because employees have been sharing badges)

• Persuasive Messages

• The third, overlapping category is persuasive messages. With this category, the
audience is expected to need encouragement in order to act as the sender desires. In
some cases, the receiver is more like a positive audience; for example, when you’re
asking for a recommendation letter or when you’re inviting someone to attend an
after-hours work function. In other cases, the receiver is more like a negative
audience; for example, when you’re requesting additional payment as a result of a
shared error or when you’re providing an extension to an impending due date.
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Consider the message a persuasive communication when:

• The receiver may be reluctant (please speak to the new employee group)

• The receiver is being asked a favor (please write recommendation letter)

• The receiver may be invited to something somewhat outside regular duties (please
supervise a new book club that will meet on campus after work)

Neutral message

• A neutral message is one that does not provoke emotion.To clarify, good news might
be a job offer. Neutral news might be that the company you applied to confirmed the
receipt of your resume. Deductive messages are pretty easy to draft.

Business letters and reports

Introduction to business letters

• Writing good business letters is an art that all technical people should master.

• when writing a business letter, the writer produces a one-sided conversation with the
reader in the sense that he/she has to anticipate the reader's questions and provide
answers to those questions.

• Letters are the most widely used form of written communication which can be between
friends on matters of personal interests or between individuals, firms or companies on
matters of trade & commerce.

What is a Business Letter?

 A business letter is a letter written in formal language, usually used when writing from
one business organization to another, or for correspondence between such organizations
and their customers, clients and other external parties.
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 Commercial letters are refers to all letters that are used in conducting different types of
business transactions with the outside world.

 Writing a letter can be the most challenging as well as rewarding.

 Challenging, since every letters are trials.

 Rewarding, since nothing can give more satisfaction than the feeling of achievement,
without face-to-face communication.

 Writing letters is both an art and technique.

Principles of drafting

 Determine the purpose of the message

 Plan the message

 Use natural conversation language

 Be compact & clear

 Be brief but not too brief

 Be courteous, considerate, friendly & helpful.

Essentials of an business letters

 Keep readers interest in mind

 Tone should be correct

 Be sincere

 To the point

 Prefer active voice

 Be consistent

 Use concrete words

 Persuasion

 Conciseness

 Positive & pleasant approach.

Structure/ parts of business letters

ℓ Letterhead

ℓ Date

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ℓ Inside name & address

ℓ Courtesy title: Mr., ms, M/S, etc…..

ℓ Salutation: Dear sir/ madam

ℓ Message:

ℓ Complimentary closure: Your truly

ℓ Signature & designation

ℓ Reference initials

ℓ Enclosure & copy line

ℓ Steps in writing a letter

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Types of business letters

Writing a Routine & Persuasive letters

 Letters are written only to persuade the reader to take an action.

 Persuasion does not occur in a single communication; it it’s a process and requires a
series of messages through different media.

 Persuasive writing must be simple, easy to understand, grammatically correct, not

have needless words, and use active voice.

Ex: Sales Letters

Persuasive techniques are needed for

• Sales

• Collection

• Bargaining

• Asking for favors

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• Cover letters letter that attempt to make the reader accept alternatives and counter-
proposals

Elements of Persuasion

 The writer’s credibility, reputation and expertise

 The writer’s concern fro reader’s needs and desires

 The writer must facilitate the action by pointing out in which it can be done

 The logic of the proposal must be clear

 The emotional appeal must not go against the reader’s beliefs, values and ethical
principles

 The tone must be self-respecting and respectful towards the reader

Positive & Negative Messages

 No organization can avoid writing bad news letters.

 There will be requests of all kinds from customers, employees, suppliers and members
of public.

 Bad news letters have elements of persuasion and information as well.

Techniques to Convey Negative Messages

 Be clear about your purpose in the writing.

 Take a positive attitude and use positive language.

 De-emphasize the negative by placing it in positions of low emphasis.

 Think carefully of the reason for refusal.

 Offer a substitute.

Begin the letter in a positive way

 Begin by thanking the reader.

 In the main paragraph give the explanation and the bad news.

 Present the justification/reasoning for the bad news tactfully.

Write positive, friendly close

 Appreciation

 Invitation to future action

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 Alternative

 Writer’s Action

 Reader’s Action

 Willingness to help

 Reader Benefit

In an employee performance review, managers evaluate that individual's overall

performance, identify their strengths and weaknesses, offer feedback, and help them set
goals. Employees typically have the opportunity to ask questions and share feedback
with their manager as well.

What to include in an employee performance review

• Regardless of industry, most employee reviews include assessment of these skills:

• Communication

• Collaboration and teamwork

• Problem-solving

• Quality and accuracy of work

• Attendance, punctuality and reliability

• The ability to accomplish goals and meet deadlines

Employee reviews

A review should also include any company-specific or position-specific competencies,

as well as the employee's accomplishments and contributions to their role or
organization.

After addressing the key areas of assessment, you'll need to evaluate and weigh each to
get a picture of the employee's overall performance. The way you format and organize
this information is up to you as well as your company's needs. Some organizations use a
grading system of A through F, numerical scoring or percentages, or written
descriptions (e.g., "most of the time," "some of the time"). Whichever system you use,
make sure that it is objective and easy to understand.

Once you finish the grading process, set up a time to discuss your findings with each
employee. It can be helpful to have a written copy of the evaluation to reference and
keep your meeting on track. Be sure to deliver transparent feedback, with examples
where appropriate, and allot enough time for the employee to ask questions or deliver
feedback.

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Recommendation Letter

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Thank you letter

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Memo (Memorandum)

 A Memo is used for internal communication, that is among members of the

organization.

 It is a short piece of writing generally used by the officers of an organization for

communicating among them.

 Memo is a written statement that you prepare specially for a person or committee in
order to give them information about a particular matter.

 It may be from one person to another or to many persons.

 To ask for information.

 To give information.

 To request approval, comment, decision or action.

 To seek explanation on some matter.

Memo Format

Memo has two subjects

 The heading
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 the body

A Memo format may be vertical or horizontal

In the vertical format al the lines of formal information begin at the left margin

Date:

To:

From:

Subject:

In the horizontal format, the “To” and “From” lines at the left margin, while the “Date” and
“Subject” are at the right

To: Date:

From: Subject:

Drafting a Memo

 A well-written memo is informative and concise

 Informative by the principles of preparation and organization

 Preparation: decide the exact objective

 Organization of content: it can be organized by decreasing order of importance or

increasing the order of importance

Memo Style

 A Memo is always brief

 Be cordial, straight ward, lucid but formal

 Use caution in negative situations too much technical jargon or complicated sentences
are not suitable for any business communication

Writing Reports

 A Report is a logical and systematic presentation of facts and information related to a

specific topic.

 A report can be defined as a communication in which the writer gives information to

some individual or organization because it is his or her responsibility to do so.

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 It is an assigned communication for a purpose & for a specific receiver/ reader.

 A written statement of the facts of a situation, a project, a process or a test; how these
facts were ascertained; their significance; the conclusions that have been drawn from
them; the recommendations that are being made.

Writing a proposal

• A proposal is the presentation of an idea that you wish to pursue.

• A good proposal presumes that you have already thought about your project and have
devoted some time and effort in gathering information, reading, and then organizing
your thoughts.

• A proposal is NOT a project to be thrown together in one night with ideas off the
top of your head. Thus, one might say that the research proposal is a second step,
following the selection of a broad topic.

• The actual proposal will indicate what analytical question you wish to address. The
foundation of a good research paper is a good research question. Just a tree needs a
good root system to grow to be strong, a good research paper needs a good analytical
question.

The specific parts of the proposal are as follows:

1. Statement of the question your paper will answer. Again, remember, the point of your paper
is to explain something.

2. Brief literature review in which you review the major works on your topic and indicate what
the arguments are. If you are applying a theory to an issue, you can review the theory used .The
point is to show an awareness of what has been written on your issue, what evidence was used,
what theories applied, and what arguments were made.

3. A statement as to what your argument/explanation will be.

4. A statement as to how your explanation/argument will differ from that which has been made
by other authors. How is your explanation original or different? If you applying a theory, you
can explain which theory you will use and why you think that is the appropriate theory to
explain the event(s) you are interested in.

5. A brief outline of the parts of the paper.

6. A short bibliography/statement as to the major sources you will use. This can include
databases, websties, interviews, etc.

7. The proposal need not be long, but the quality should be high. I would think that 3-4 pages
would be sufficient. The more effort you put into your proposal the better your paper will be.
Also, the more detailed your proposal, the more I can comment and usefully guide you to a
good paper.

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8. You should have a proposal prepared and submitted to me No Later than one month after
class begins. Start early; the earlier the better.

9. A proposal which does not follow directions is liable to be returned to you for you to re-do.

How to Write a Project Proposal

• Title page

• Project title

• Contents page

• Abstract

• Context

• Project justification/aim

• Target group

• Project implementation

• Budget

• Monitoring and evaluation

• Reporting

• Management and personnel

• Annexures

Media Management

 Press Release

 Press Conference

 Media Interviews

Press Release

 The writer is often filled with a sense of the importance of his own news.

 The immediate audience of the message contained in the press release is the editor or a
reporter.

 It is important to bear in mind that newspaper offices, radio and TV stations receive
hundreds of press releases everyday .

Purpose of the Press Release:

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 Award announcement.

 Opening of a social service project.

 International participants tie-up.

 New product or publication available.

 A new high level appointment in the organization.

 Shareholders’ meeting notice.

 Visits of important persons either from the country or from aboard.

 Any land mark event such as jubilee.

Audience Response

• What do you want the readers of the news to do?

• Factual Details: you must have full information on the six basics of news:

1. Who

2. What

3. Where

4. Why

5. Whom

6. How

7 Rules for Perfect Press Releases

• Decide Who and Why Before What

• Write A Great Headline

• Keep it Brief

• Provide Valuable Content

• Include Sharable Content

• Make it Search Engine Friendly (but don’t go crazy)

• Make it Worth Talking about

Press Check List

 Company letterhead, Name, Address, Phone number, Web site address

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 PRESS RELEASE in all caps, bold

 Contact person's name, telephone and mobile numbers, e mail address

 Immediate release or release date

 Headline or title in bold

 Body-city, date-who, what, when, where and why and how

 Sum it up

 Basic font, double-spaced, page numbers

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MBA-SVIT
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Press Conference

Introduction

 A press is held on the initiative of the organization.

 It is voluntary presentation of information to the media.

 It is the event hosted by the organization.

Preparing for the Press Conference

• Announcing the opening of an important new venture.

• Attracting more people to be interested and involved in your organization's activity.

• Demonstrating the strength of your organization.

• Getting publicity for your efforts and or problems.

• Getting widespread media coverage for your organization and its activates.

• Informing the media and the public about your side of a story which has been
circulating widely.

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• Sending a message to is decision-maker about a need.

• Media Interview

Media Interview

• Media Interview

• Media interview may be for the print media or for radio or TV.

• For the radio, tone of voice is of great importance, for the TV, personal appearance,
body language, besides tone of voice are important.

• Some time during a TV discussion, a manager from a company may be called upon to
intervene by video connection.

Before the interview

• Discuss all interview requests & other media opportunities or public information office
in organization.

• Get all the details about the interview (time, live or taped, queries).

• Find out every possible format of the program, style of the publication & about the
journalist.

• Develop three to five key messages.

• Anticipate questions & prepare answers ahead of time.

• If possible, make a rehearsal.

• Dress appropriately.

• It is useful to get to the interview location 15 minutes early to feel familiar.

• Be relaxed & focus – help the interview to be effective.

During the Interview

• Begin each answer with most important points.

• It is better not to make any comment which is not to be made public.

• Put life enthusiasm in your answers.

• choose words carefully.

• Use the pause to organize your thoughts.

• Anyone who is high position, must be able to speak fluently.

• Keep your answers brief.

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• Wait patiently for the reporter to ask the next question

• Be polite, honest & friendly but maintain a professional tone

• Emphasize what you say.

• Never lose your cool nature.

• Always remember you are representing your organization.

• Mention your company's name frequently.

• Maintain eye contact with the reporter/ interviewer.

• Avoid nodding your head.

• Be enthusiastic & use the opportunity to convey your message.

• At the end, thank the interviewer.

After the interview

• Follow up promptly with the additional information that you m have promised.

• Ask the reporter when the story will appear.

• Thank the reporter for featuring the program.

GROUP COMMUNICATION

Group: Three or more individuals who interact over time, depend on each other, and follow
shared rules of conduct in order to reach a common goal.

Ideal size: 4-7

Team: Special type of group characterized by different and complementary resources of

members and a strong sense of collective identity.

Factors that affect Group Communication

1. Cohesion

2. Group Size

3. Power Relationships

4. Interaction Patterns Chain

Wheel

All-Channel

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5. Group Norms: Rules v. Norms

6. Cultural Differences

7. Leadership Styles: Democratic, Autocratic, Laissez Faire

Meetings

Introduction

• Meetings are the commonest corporate ritual everywhere.

• Thirty to fifty percent of a senior manger's time is spent meeting.

• From the most junior to the CEO, everyone has to spent time in meeting.

• People consider the meeting as waste of time or as opportunity to take time off.

• Work’ is done by meetings

• It is the meeting that are called for examining problems, proposals, and issues that fail
sometimes.

• Many project groups that meet regularly actually produce results such as a design or a
model during a meeting

• If the meeting is not conducted well, it is sure to accomplish little & also leave a poor
impression on the participants

ℓ Poorly managed meeting.

ℓ Often e mail, messages, telephone calls, or a fax can settle a matter.

ℓ For some issues that need careful deliberations, however, there is no substitute for face
to face meeting.

ℓ Every manager needs the skill to plan a meeting & to guide subordinate in making
arrangements & in acting as facilitator.

Unproductive, Time-waste Meetings

• Lack of clear objectives

• Interruptions

• Silent participants

• No timely closure

• Too many people

• No agenda or not kept to

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• Agenda arrives too late

• Participants not prepared

• Poor time-keeping

• Poor controlled by the chair

• Minutes distributed too long after the meeting

Planning Meetings/ Organizing

• Objectives

• Creating an Agenda

• Topics

• Sequence of Items

• Time

• Circulation

• Participants

• Timing

• Venue

Conducting the Meeting:

 A meeting should run by itself- not be run by the authority figure.

 Once the discussion begins, the leader’s role is to observe, listen, facilitate, provide
needed information and ensure fair opportunity to every participant.

 Control:

 A meeting brings together people who have information, skills, representative interests
and vision.

The Six Most Common Complaints About Meetings

1. Getting off the subject by jumping from topic to topic or bringing up irrelevant issues.

2. Meeting with no goals or agenda.

3. Meetings that run too long (often because they got off to a late start).

4. Poor or inadequate preparation by the president and the other members of the officer team.

5. Meetings that reach no conclusions or produce no decisions.

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6. Disorganized meetings, especially those marred by interruptions.

Reasons For Holding The Meetings

• To convey information to a group

• To solicit information from a group

• To answers questions

• To participate in group decision making

• To brainstorm ideas

• To solve problems

• To network

• To sell an idea, product, or service

• To show or provide support for others

• To obtain quick reactions.

• To Accept the reports from participants.

• To Reach group judgments.

Types of Meetings

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Meeting Documentation

• Notice,

• Agenda,

• Resolution & Minutes.

Electronic writing Features

• Drafts were written by hand edited and corrected.

• Re-written or re-typed to get a proper view of the edited draft

• The electronic screen has affected every step of the process, making its easier

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 Spell checks, auto-correction, and grammar checks, facilitated the reduction of errors
in the draft for layout such as italics, underling, bold face, bullet points are easier than
hand written

 Enrichment of the text became easier with facilities for thesaurus hunt for synonyms,
and for insertion of graphics

 Doubtful information or grammar points can be checked on various websites.

 ELECTRONIC WRITING PROCESSES

 Electronic writing process is facilitated by facilities like hardware, software & all the
other computer equipment available.

 It is a speedy & efficient method of writing which is most commonly preferred by

everyone.

 The following are the steps involved in Electronic writing process

 Step-1- Note Taking

 Step-2- Searching

 Step-3- Word-polishing
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 Step-4- Outlining

 Step-5- Changing defaults

 Step-6- Using Multiscreens

 Step-7- Searching & replacing

 Step-8- Linking

 Step-9- Adding attribution

 Step-10- Using E-mail

EMAIL TEMPLATE

CONCLUSION

Written Communication plays a very important role in every organization.

Written messages should be composed carefully as a slight mistake may give entirely
different meaning to a situation.

Prof. Manjunatha S
MBA-SVIT