Written communication

Disadvantages of Written Communication

1. Written communication does not save upon the costs. It costs huge in terms of stationery and the manpower employed in writing/typing and delivering letters.

2. 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.

3. Written communication is time-consuming as the feedback is not immediate. The encoding and sending of message takes time.

4. 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.

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

6. It leads to excessive formality in personal relations.

7. Confidential written material may leak out before time, causing disruption in its effectiveness.

Principles of Effective Written Communication

Businesses in almost every field need skilled writers. Advertisements, applications, reports, contracts, manuals, proposals, and memos are composed, revised, published and read in thousands of businesses across the nation. Then there are the countless letters, forms, and documents all of us encounter over the course of our everyday lives. In many ways, good writing is good writing regardless of its particular purpose, but the following characteristics are especially important for business writing.

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1. Brevity

The message should be as brief as possible. Here brevity means compiling the message with limited words and sentences. If this principle is followed, both sender and receiver can save time and cost.There are various common phrases and syntax structures that use unnecessary words: these should be avoided unless they are definitely needed for disambiguation. Some examples include these:

  • “in order to” (use “to”, or “so as to” if that would be unclear)
  • “for purposes of X” (use “for X purposes”, “to achieve X”, or even just “for X”)
  • “in terms of Y” (use “regarding Y” or the adjective form of Y earlier in the sentence)
  • “any variety of” (use “any type of” or just “any”)
  • multiple sentences with clauses (for completeness) that could be eliminated if the sentences were combined with a semicolon (the semicolon is often underused)
  • “on the other hand” (use “however”, “but”, “yet”, or (if feeling adventurous) “contrariwise”)
  • “as a result of Z, X”/”X occurred as a result of Z” (use “because of Z, X” or “due to Z, X”, or even rephrase to “Z caused X”) etc.

2. Clarity

There is a time and a place for creative figures of speech and poetic turns of phrase, but rarely is a business letter that time or place. The priority in business writing is the effective communication of specific information.The sender must convey the message clearly and confidently so that the receiver can easily understand the message clearly and confidently so that the receiver can easily understand the meaning of the message.

3. Courtesy

Courtesy is consideration of other people’s feeling.In written communication the style,the manner and the choice of words reflects the courtesy of the writer.It should make the reader comfortable,attentive and prompt in responding.The choice of words and style of message reflect the consideration for the feelings and needs of the reader.

4. Concreteness

A good business letter always provides concrete information and specific information.

For more notes on Business Communication click on the link below:

Business Communication Notes

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