Business Correspondence

In David V. Lewis's article, one of the most important statements about what to avoid is, "The letter is writer- rather than reader-oriented" (119). Obviously we write for an audience. If the letter is more for the writer than the reader it defeats the purpose of writing. As a reader, crucial information could be missing because the writer is writing based on his or her knowledge versus the knowledge that the recipient has. This idea hits on the idea of audience adaption again.

In Allan A. Gatthorn's article, he lays out strategies for delivering bad news. I appreciate that he stated there is no good way to deliver bad news, but an empathetic manager who delivers the message in person can alleviate some of the disappointment. The ideas behind the direct and indirect delivery are interesting. I originally thought that the indirect method would mention the 'sorry' aspect sooner than the direct, but then the direct method is called direct because it gets straight to the point.

In Harold K. Mintz's article, he provides methods to writing a memo. As with other technical writing articles we've read this one also states that clarity is most important. He lays out the format of the memo with the questions, "What are the facts? What do they mean? What do we do now?" A memo is written to inform and to direct. If the memo is not clear then the purpose of the memo is defeated--once again hitting on the concept of adapting to the audience. Mintz also mentions this but terms it the "human approach."