Best Practices in
Business Writing and
Communication
A D R IA N ME DINA
MA R CH 1 , 20 1 4

Introduction and Agenda
“Communication is the transmission of information and meaning from
one individual or group to another” (Guffey & Loewy, 2011, p. 13).
Communication is a highly important skill to possess for employees.
Organizations want the best communicators so the organizations
message will be properly conveyed. To be able to properly
communicate effectively, we will look at the following practices to
becoming a better in business writing and communication.
• Effective and ethical business communication
• Professionalism in the workplace

Introduction and Agenda cont.
• Intercultural Communication
• Business professional writing tips
• Digital media and electronic messaging
• Positive and negative messages
• Business presentations
• Reports, Plans and Proposals for Business

Effective and Ethical Communication

The Four Communication Channels
• Oral
• Written
• Electronic
• Nonverbal
“Each of these channels has certain
characteristics that can either help
or hinder communication,
depending on the circumstances,
the message, and the sender and
audience” (Bowman, 2004, p. 1).
Do not worry it is not the end of the world.

The Four Communication Channels
advantages/disadvantages
Oral
• Immediate interaction and discussion among individuals.
• Inefficient in that there is no way to store information and retrieve it for later use.
Written
• Can cross barriers of time and provides that permanent record.
• Is a slow channel of communication and clarity is very important.
Electronic
• Very fast, convenient, cost effective. Can have a great record for historical data.
• Uses both synchronous and asynchronous messaging and cause problems if both parties
are not available.
Nonverbal
• Is able to communicate feelings, status and other emotional messages.
• Cultural differences can be a concern when it comes to eye contact or body language.

Ethical Communication
“Ethical communication enhances human worth and dignity by fostering
t r u t h f u l n e s s , f a i r n e s s , r e s p o n s i b i l i t y, p e r s o n a l i n t e g r i t y, a n d r e s p e c t f o r s e l f
a n d o t h e r ” ( M c G r a w - H i l l , 20 0 0 , p a r a . 7 ) .
• Honesty is of the up most importance.
• Understand and respect others that are
communicating.
• Do not allow communication that degrades others.
• Everyone must be held accountable for their
communication efforts.
• Have policies that promote and encourage ethics.
• Ethics training is essential to learn and maintain
ethics in the organization.
• Have leadership that exemplifies ethics.
• Give credit where credit is due.

Workplace Professionalism

Professionalism in Workplace
“The definition of professionalism indicates that each
person perform their tasks with genuine earnest and
honesty” (JWilliamsStaffing , 2013, para. 1).
There are many ways to show professionalism in the
workplace. This list will help employees and employers
know how to be successful in being professional.
• Treat everyone with respect.
• Stick to your commitments.
• Admit to your mistakes.
• Take on leadership roles when they are presented.
• Separate work and home life.
• Honesty is the best policy.

Professionalism in Workplace cont.
There are many characteristics that can hurt
professionalism in the workplace
• A negative attitude can destroy everything. It will undermine
everything that the organization has worked for.
• Tardiness and poor attendance hurts others when they have to pick
up your slack.
• Inappropriate body language can speak louder than words.
Professionalism must be established at the top and it must
flow down. The same goes for a positive attitude. Positive
communication is a good way to keep up the attitude in the
organization.

Intercultural Communication
Understanding other cultures can be difficult. The key is to
study and do your home work and take an interest in the
cultures you are doing business with. Here are some pieces
to remember when doing business around the world.
• Know the customs and the culture.
• Show respect.
• Speak clearly and write clearly.
• Must be able to adapt to meet the needs of all the organizations involved.
• Ethnocentrism cannot be avoided, but to be “developing more balanced
understandings is to recognize that we do not understand, that we are
falsely assuming something that is not the case and is out of context”
(Barger, 2008, para. 22).

Business Writing Tips
3 A’s:
Analyze, Anticipate, Adapt.
Decide the direction. Profile
the audience. Establish
techniques.
Prewriting
Writing
Research the topic.
Establish a rough draft.
Compose the writing.
Revising
Proofread, proofread, proofr
ead. Evaluate the writing.
Cutout unnecessary pieces.

Business Writing Tips cont.
The audience is the most important. Without them there is
not a purpose for writing at all. The audience must be
thought of and they must be engaged by the writer.
• Be sure to be inclusive. Addressing everyone keeps everyone
engaged.
• Do not waste time. Be informative and concise.
• Set a tone that is easy to follow and that is consistent throughout
your writing.
• Stay on track, do not deviate from the topic.
• Makes stories and examples relevant.

Electronic messaging and digital media

Electronic messaging
Electronic messaging allows for faster and more efficient
way of communicating. It is becoming the standard in
business in the way to correspond with different
organizations. There are many reasons to use electronic
messaging.
• Speed. Messages are now immediate.
• Record keeping. Still provide a record the way hard copies do.
• Lower cost than any other type of messaging.
• Can be formal and informal. Simple and complex.
• Easier to share among larger groups.
• Multi purpose use in communicating with people and organizations.

Digital Media
Social Media is a staple in doing business. Everyone is
using it and organizations are using it to get their name out
there and in the minds of people.
Facebook has made interaction between businesses much
easier. They have also included the customers and have
brought a new dynamic in doing business. Adding
YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin, Wikipedia, and flickr into the
mix creates a network of never -ending possibilities.

Positive and negative messages
“Positive messages are often the easiest to write because the
audience is expected to be fairly receptive of the presented
information. Negative messages are usually difficult to write
because the audience is being told exactly what they don’t want
to hear ” (Writing Center, 2000, para. 2).
There is a happy and sad, a ying and yang type of
interaction that is present that many have seen in life.
Where these typically represent a balance in life in
business it is the same. There must be balance, but the
positive is more appealing in communication.

Positive Messages
• Should have a direct approach.
• Used in all types of communication.
• Uplifting to person or group.
• Can be motivating.
Positive messages are the easiest to write. They will have a
clear statement and have a sense of gratitude and
appreciation. The message should conclude with courteous
and a request for action if needed.

Negative Messages
• Should have an indirect approach
• Need to be empathetic.
• Must contain a reason.
• Need to be explained very clearly.
Negative messages can be difficult especially when it is
firing someone. Buffers must typically be used when
presenting bad news. Empathy is important and must be
sincere. People want to know why when bad news arises so
clear answers must be given when they can. Always close
in a pleasant way.

Business Presentations

Business Presentation
Gathering all the information is done. Writing everything
out is complete. Now everything must be brought together
in a format that will make sense to the audience. According
to Guffey and Loewy (2011) there are eight steps when it
comes to making a powerful presentation and they are
explained below.
• Start with the text. This is the foundation of the presentation. The
words must be clear and concise. This must be completed first
before concerning yourself with anything else.
• Select background and fonts. Starting with a template is the easiest
way to begin. This will allow for consistent font styles and
backgrounds. Choose a font that is easy to read and do not use more
than two fonts in your presentation. Ensure the colors are
contrasting so everything stands out applicably.

Business Presentation cont.
• Choose images that help communicate your message. A picture is a
worth a thousand words, is how the old saying goes. Pictures need
to compliment what is going on with the text. Clip art images are a
great and easy way to add pictures to a presentation. Always check
for copyright issues when using pictures from other sources.
Photographs are the preferred type of images in a presentation.
• Create graphics. Like pictures a graphic can speak volumes. Charts
and SmartArt are great graphics when you are trying to get a specific
point across. The graphics need to be even more concise than the
words that are put down in the presentation. Use the handouts
more for the greater detail than the presentation itself, this way it
does not get so cluttered.
• Add special effects. Animations will help keep your audience
focused on the discussion. Having bullets appear one at a time gives
the audience time to take notes and discuss the bullet topic.

Business Presentation cont.
• Create hyperlinks to approximate the Web browsing experience.
This will make your presentation more interactive. It does not have
to be to a website, another presentation, a spreadsheet or any other
type of file or media. It provides a different level that is engaging.
• Engage your audience by asking for interaction. Asking questions is
great for interaction, but taking a step further with polling questions
is even more engaging. Using handheld devices that use PowerPoint
add-in program to rate the audiences responses and put the results
in a chart for the audience to see.
• Move your presentation to the Internet. Posting your presentation
online allows others to access it anytime they need to for reference.
This ease of access is growing with more organizations all the time.
This is the best way for Web conferencing especially when there are
international borders to cross.
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Reports, Plans and Proposals

Reports
There are formal and informal business reports. Each have
the advantages and disadvantages. It is knowing when to
use the right one at and for the right time.
Formal Reports
• Executive audience.
• More specific and direct, provide facts and data.
• Not as routine, more formal language.
Informal Reports
• Quick retrieval of information, no set structure.
• More routine and typically internal.
• Communication can come in different formats.

Plans
• Business plan is a formal statement that lays out the business goals
of an organization.
• They provide reasons why the goals are attainable.
• It also spells out how goals are going to be reached.
• There is typically background information about the organization.
• It is not just for new businesses, but also for changes in such things
as branding, customer service, or overall organization change.
• Plans can be externally or internally depending on what the plan is
geared towards.
• There is really no set structure and is dependent on what the desired
outcome is and who it involves.

Proposals
• Proposals can be for several types of scenarios.
• Proposals can be used for providing services, the sale of a product or
to solve a problem.
• Proposals can be informal or formal depending on the audience.
• A successful proposal will consist of a checklist when being written.
• They will contain several pieces to include:
• Title page
• Introduction
• Plan and schedule
• Authorization
• Appendix (Guffey & Loewy, 2011)

Conclusion
Effective Business Writing and Communication consists of:
• Communication Channels
• Oral
• Written
• Electronic
• Nonverbal
• There are ethical communication standards that enhance the people
and the organization that will make it better.
• Keeping a professional environment keeps things safe and
comfortable keeping the negativity down.
• Intercultural communication allows for people to understand and
communicate effectively with others from other countries.

Conclusion cont.
• Prewriting, writing and revising are the three steps to effective
writing for business communication.
• Electronic messaging and digital media are becoming the staple of all
businesses. They provide another means of getting the name of the
organization out for customers, share and stakeholders.
• Positive and negative messages are always going to exist. The key is
to keep the negative messages down as much as possible.
• Presentations are the tools used to communicate to a group a topic
that needs better clarification. Presentations need to be presented in
a format that the audience can understand. A lot of time and effort
need to go into them
• Reports, plans and proposals are all specific to a topic. They provide
the necessary information to complete a task.

Questions?

References
• Barger, K. (2008). Ethnocentrism. Retrieved from
http://www.iupui.edu/~anthkb/ethnocen.htm
• Bowman, J.P. (2004). Business communication: Managing information and
relationships. Retrieved from
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~bowman/mir.html
• Guffey, M., & Loewy, D. (2011). Business communication: Process and
product (7th Ed.). Independence, KY: Cengage Learning.
• JWilliamsStaffing. (2013). Professionalism in the workplace. Retrieved from
http://www.jwilliamsstaffing.com/job-tips/professionalism-in-theworkplace/
• McGraw-Hill. (2000). Ethical communication in small groups. Retrieved
from http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/comm/group/students/ethics.htm
• Writing Center. (2000). Writing in the disciplines: Business. Retrieved from
http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/business/message.html