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Business
Purpose
Most transactions in business depend on successful communications. Memos, e-mails, power-point presentations, reports, letters, marketing plans, brochures and proposals are the primary conventions that characterize organizational communication.
The challenge for students is to think like business professionals and learn how to write effectively for various situations. Informing or persuading an audience depends on prose that is concise, clear and appropriate for the intent. Skillful business writing addresses the needs and expectations of specific audiences.
The Kinds of Questions Business Writers Ask
- What does the client need? How will my product/ service/ plan design, etc. benefit the client?
- What does the supervisor need to know to authorize me to proceed? What does the supervisor already know? How can I target my report to address the supervisor’s specific concerns?
- What qualifications do I have for the job, task, project, etc., to accomplish the job effectively?
RESOURCES
(all resources adapted from Hacker, D. and Sommers, N. A Writer’s Reference 7th ed. (2011).
New York: Bedford/ St. Martin’s.
ABI/Inform
Ann Arbor: ProQuest, 1971–. Covers industries, management techniques, business trends, and profiles of corporations and corporate leaders. Includes full text of financial news sources, journals, working papers, country reports, and more.
Accounting and Tax Index
Ann Arbor: ProQuest, 1992–. A detailed index of over 2,000 publications covering taxation and accounting, standards, conference papers, reports, journals, and books.
Business and Company Resource Center
Detroit: Gale Group, 2001–. An online database of business magazine articles, trade publications, company histories, rankings, and industry information. Many of the materials are available in full text.
Business Source Premier
Ipswich: EBSCO, 1990–. A database of journals and magazines in business and economics, with some full-text coverage (including a few titles going as far back as the 1920s). Coverage includes management, finance, accounting, and international business.
EconLit
Nashville: American Economic Association, 1969–. Provides citations (most with abstracts) to articles in scholarly journals in the field, covering all aspects of economics worldwide.
LexisNexis: Business
New York: LexisNexis, 1998–. A collection of full-text databases of continuously updated business news sources, industry news, and company and financial data as well as other news and legal sources. Includes company dossiers, profiles, SEC filings, accounting news, and business information from global sources. This resource can also be found as a tab in the LexisNexis Academic database.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://www.bls.gov
A mine of current statistical data and reports covering consumer spending, employment, wages, productivity, occupations, international trade, and industries as well as “The U.S. Economy at a Glance.” The bureau is a unit of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Economic Census, 2007
Undertaken every five years, the economic census gathers data on retail, wholesale, manufacturing, and other business by state and local subdivision. Results from the 2007 census are being released in parts from 2009 to 2011 and will be integrated into the American FactFinder system. Data are also available online from the 2002 and 1997 economic censuses.
Economic Report of the President
Prepared annually by the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, this publication explains the rationale for the president’s budget submitted to Congress. Of particular interest are the tables that cover income, production, and employment in time series.
globalEDGE
http://globaledge.msu.edu
Offers worldwide business information, including methods of comparing country data, country background information, an annual compilation of market potential indicators, breaking news of interest to the business community, and a glossary of international business terms. The site was created by the Center for Business Education and Research at Michigan State University.
SEC Filings and Forms (EDGAR)
http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
Provides information about publicly held corporations, which are required by federal law to file reports on their activities with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Most reports from 1994 to the present are publicly available through the EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System) database at this site. Information in company reports includes financial status, chief officers, stock information, company history, pending litigation that might have an economic impact on the company, and more. The site provides a brief tutorial for searching EDGAR.
U.S. Congressional Budget Office
http://www.cbo.gov
Offers material compiled by a nonpartisan office for congressional decision making. The site includes federal budget analysis; the economic outlook; analysis of specific topics on housing, health, education, national security, and telecommunications; and more.
Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management: Business Ethics
Ed. Patricia Werhane and R. Edward Freeman. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Blackwell, 2005. Offers substantial entries written by experts in business ethics on such topics as equal opportunity, corporate crime, participatory management, environmental risk, business ethics in different cultures, and electronic surveillance. This work is part of the 12-volume The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management.
Encyclopedia of Business and Finance
Ed. Burton S. Kaliski. 2nd ed. 2 vols. Detroit: Macmillan Reference, 2007. Offers over 300 articles on accounting, economics, finance, information systems, ethics, management, and marketing, with a U.S. focus.
Encyclopedia of Political Economy
Ed. Philip Anthony O’Hara. 2 vols. London: Routledge, 1999. Provides analyses of topics related to money and finance, labor, family and gender, political ideologies, development, theoretical schools, and methodology.
New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics
Ed. Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume. Rev. ed. 8 vols. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. A revision of the classic Palgrave’s Dictionary of Political Economy, offering scholarly analyses of economic theories and theorists.
International Encyclopedia of Public Policy and Administration
Ed. Jay M. Shafritz. 4 vols. Boulder: Westview, 1998. A scholarly compendium of over 850 articles on management, public institutions, theories, legal concepts, and definitions of terms, with an interdisciplinary and global perspective.
Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History
Ed. Joel Mokyr. 5 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Covers concepts and theories, economic development, background on countries and regions, and the history of specific products such as oil and coffee.
Sample Memorandum
To: Ray Crosson, Senior Vice President, Human Resources
From: Kelly Ratajczak, Intern, Purchasing Department
Subject: Proposal to Add a Wellness Program
Date: April 24, 2006
Health care costs are rising. In the long run, implementing a wellness program in our corporate culture will decrease the company's health care costs.
Research indicates that nearly 70% of health care costs are from common illnesses related to high blood pressure, overweight, lack of exercise, high cholesterol, stress, poor nutrition, and other preventable health issues (Hall, 2006). Health care costs are a major expense for most businesses, and they do not refl.ect costs due to the loss of productivity or absenteeism. A wellness program would address most, if not all, of these health care issues and related costs.
Benefits of Healthier Employees
A wellness program would substantially reduce costs associated with employee health care, and in addition, our company would prosper through many other benefits. Businesses that have wellness programs show a lower cost in production, fewer sick days, and healthier employees ("Workplace Health," 2006). Our healthier employees will help to cut not only our production and absenteeism costs but also potential costs such as higher turnover because of low employee morale.
Implementing the Program
Implementing a good wellness program means making small changes to the work environment, starting with a series of information sessions. Simple changes to our work environment should include healthier food selections in vending machines and in the employee cafeteria. A smoke-free environment, inside and outside the building, could be a new company policy. An important step is to educate our employees through information seminars and provide health care guides and pamphlets for work and home. In addition, the human resources department could expand the current employee assistance program by developing online materials that help employees and their families to assess their individual health goals.
Each health program is different in its own way, and there are a number of programs that can be designed to meet the needs of our individual employees. Some programs that are becoming increasingly popular in the workplace are the following ("Workplace Health," 2006):
•health promotion programs
•subsidized health club membership
•return-to-work programs
•health-risk appraisals and screenings
Obstacles: Individual and Financial
The Largest barrier in a wellness program is changing the habits and behaviors of our employees. Various incentives such as monetary bonuses, vacation days, merchandise rewards, recognition, and appreciation help to instill new habits and attitudes. Providing a healthy environment and including family in certain programs also helps to encourage healthier choices and behaviors (Hall, 2006).
In the long run, the costs of incorporating a wellness program will be far less than rising costs associated with health care. An employee's sense of recognition, appreciation, or accomplishment is an incentive that has relatively low or no costs. The owner of Natural Ovens Bakery, Paul Silt, has stated that his company gained financially after providing programs including free healthy lunches for employees (Springer, 2005). Silt said he believes that higher morale and keeping valuable employees have helped his business tremendously.
It is important that our company be healthy in every way possible. Research shows that 41% of businesses already have some type of wellness program in progress and that 32% will incorporate programs within the next year ("Workplace Health," 2006). Our company should always be ahead of our competitors. I want to thank you for your time, and I look forward to discussing this proposal with you further next week.
Types of Writing Assignments
Most assignments will mirror the actual writing needs of the business world.
Reports:
Reports present facts. If you work for, say, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, the company may be considering whether or not it should develop a line of “smoothie” dairy drinks. You may be required to write a feasibility report that delineates the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. You would have to investigate what products already populate the market and which are better sellers and why. You would want to determine if Ben and Jerry’s could offer something different – what, why and how – and if the company is advised to proceed.
If the company proceeds, you may be required to determine how the new smoothies compare in sales; your report would be an investigative report. You would need to gather sales data for the major competitors.
If the company determines that three flavors do not sell as well as three others, and it pulls those unpopular flavors from the supermarket shelves, you may be required to write status or progress reports on subsequent market effects.
After several months, you may be required to write a formal report that delineates the overall success of the smoothie line; how, exactly, has the product line increased company profits and expanded product line? What, exactly, does the product line offer the consumer in terms of healthy food choices and how does that nutritional profile compare to competitors’ products? What can Ben and Jerry’s expect to see in immediate, short-term gains as well as in long-term gains?
Proposals:
Proposals attempt to persuade an audience to adopt a plan. Audiences within a company require an INTERNAL proposal; audiences outside a company, who are typically considered potential clients, require an EXTERNAL proposal. Either audience may ask for a proposal; in which case, it would be considered SOLICITED.
If Hannaford Supermarkets consider shelving the new Ben and Jerry’s smoothie line, they may require, solicit, a proposal that outlines how Ben and Jerry’s would incorporate their product line to ensure successful sales in the Hannaford chain; they would look for specific demographic and/or economic data that would predict appeal in particular store locations. Data may be supplied by way of charts or other visuals that clearly represent projected benefits. Pricing, advertising and other costs would be addressed in detail.
Executive Summaries:
Executive summaries are synopses of longer documents; the key points are highlighted with the intent that reader will want to read how those key points are supported. In other words, the longer document will bear out the supporting details and data that can be deduced in the key points. Key points might be represented in charts, graphs, or other visuals.
Memos and Correspondences:
Business communications typically take the form of e-mails, letters, memos; electronic correspondence, most of the time carries authority and weight equal to paper correspondences. In-house memos refer to conveyances to personnel within the same organization or agency. Memos have a multitude of purposes: to describe policy, assign jobs or tasks; summarize work or results of personnel; seek input from colleagues.
Presentations:
Oral presentations often are accompanied by graphics or visuals generated by software programs, Power-Point, the most common. Oral presentations serve a multitude of purposes: to describe, summarize, explain, instruct, or persuade.
Brochures, Newsletters, Web Sites:
Products and services are often described to potential consumers, clients, etc. in public venues such as these.
Writing Conventions in Business
Business writing is straightforward and direct, not excessively formal.
Buzzwords that do not add precision or clarity should be avoided: words like no-brainer, win-win, value-added, for example, are not helpful to the reader.
Personal pronouns are acceptable; if you are using the “you” pronoun in the plural, you want to be sure you are, in fact, addressing all readers. If you speak for your company, you will want to use the “we” pronoun rather than “I.”
Language must be sensitive to possible offensiveness in interpretation; unless your point is specific to a particular group, readers’ class, race, gender, ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation need not be referred to directly or indirectly.
Always be concise: instead of writing, “at this point in time,” simply write, “now.” Rather than use the passive voice, use the active: instead of writing, “This report was prepared to infirm our customers,” write, “We prepared this report to inform our customers.”
Business writers rely on the CMS, The Chicago Manual of Style, system of documentation OR the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, the APA. Either offers professional guidelines for formatting and citing work.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press) is located below (as well as elsewhere):
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/726/1/
The APA’s style guidelines are listed in a multitude of sites as well as below:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/