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Teaching Suggestions
This chapter introduces students to one of the standard organizaonal approaches in business wring:
the direct organizaonal paern. Because this paern is used most frequently in situaons in which the
reader will react posively or neutrally, Chapter 5 discusses the direct paern in this rhetorical context.
But many of the following suggesons for teaching Chapter 5 will also apply to teaching students to
write the other types of messages discussed in Chapters 6, 7 and 11 (e.g. negave-news messages,
persuasive messages, employment documents).
Lecture-Discussion
You can begin with a brief lecture that presents an overview of the direct approach and the contexts in
which it is appropriate or not appropriate. Students may be asked to assess either in an online or
face-to-face discussion their own communicaon style. Are they direct communicators? Indirect
communicators? Although you will discuss the indirect approach more thoroughly in Chapter 6, you may
also ask students to re/ect on a me when they received a message directly that should have been
communicated indirectly or vice versa.
Lecture notes for Chapter 5 to accompany the Chapter 5 PowerPoint presentaon appear below.
Instructors should emphasize that the text suggesons are not formulas; students must use the skills
they learned in Chapter 5 to understand their wring goals and audiences and adjust their messages
accordingly. Emphasis should be given to developing logical approaches to problem solving so that
students see their communicaon goals as ed to their business goals.
Illustration
A5er presenng the lecture, you may want to refer to the good and bad message examples in the
Chapter PowerPoint and have students analyze and arculate what happened in the wring that makes
the good message beer than the bad message (e.g., the main point is at the beginning, the wring is
more complete and the language more precise). You may also want to create good/bad examples from
the problem solving cases at the end of the text as addional discussion and illustraon opportunies.
Criticism of Student Messages
Students should write a direct message as an assignment for this chapter. A5er wring a dra5, students
can bring their work to class for peer eding. As a guide for peer eding, you may want to develop a
form based on your grading rubric for the assignment. Students should be reminded that a peer editor is
not a “8xer” or copy editor. The peer editor is simply to react to the format, content, and correctness.
The writer is ulmately responsible for the content. If the writer disagrees with the peer editor, the
writer is not obligated to make the editor’s changes.
Before beginning the one-on-one eding, you may want to discuss a few dra5s as a class, idenfying
strategies that have beer promise than others. A5er assignments are returned, you can show examples
of individual sentence or enre messages that were done well or that could sll use work.
Writing Contests
Another opon to movate students to produce good messages is to hold wring contests. The judges
are the students. They read the messages, grade them, and determine the winners. A prize may be
bonus points.
Speci8cally, this plan works as follows. We divide the class into groups of 8ve or six students. Each group
grades the messages of another group—making detailed comments on papers in the process. Each
grading group selects the best message in the group being graded. We give bonus points to the writer of
these messages. The grades given on all messages are the grades we record, but we permit anyone who
is not sas8ed with his or her grade to submit the message to us for reevaluaon. Usually no more than
10 percent do so.
We like this plan because it gives the students a view of the other side of the fence. They learn to
appreciate the problems in grading. Also, we think grading is a very producve learning experience.
Recognition of Good Work
Another e?ecve means of increasing student interest is simply to recognize good work. If you have a
class website or use a class management tool such as Blackboard, WebCT, or Desire2Learn, you can post
the best messages as examples for current students. Equally good results come from showing the best
papers on a screen if students agree to have their work shown.
Text Summary, Lecture Outline
Slides 5-1, 5-2, 5-3
Directness is appropriate in most messages such as roune inquiries, favorable responses, order
acknowledgments and thank-you messages, direct claims, adjustment grants, and operaonal
communicaons.
Slide 5-4
Begin preparing for a message by assessing the reader’s probable reacon.
If the likely reacon is posive or neutral, directness is in order.
If the likely reacon is negave, indirectness is in order.
The General Direct Plan
Slide 5-5
The general plan for direct order:
Begin with your objecve: Whatever your key point is, lead with it. You may want to provide brief
background informaon before presenng it.
Cover the remaining part of the objecve: Whatever else must be covered to complete your objecve
makes up the bulk of the remainder of the message. Cover your informaon systemacally—perhaps
lisng the details or arranging them by paragraphs.
End with goodwill: End the message with some appropriate friendly comment as you would end a
face-to- face communicaon with the reader. Include a closing that is relevant to the topic of your
message.
Routine Inquiries
Slides 5-6, 5-7, 5-8, 5-9
Roune inquiries are those where the writer expects a posive response from the reader. Begin with the
objecve. In doing so, you may ask a queson or give an answer to a queson the reader has previously
asked you. These beginnings save me for writer and reader. A5er you have done that, you can present
any necessary explanaon, ask addional quesons, or give addional answers. To close, end with a
goodwill message that is relevant to the reader. Many students may have diDculty with this. One of the
most common errors we see is the ambiguous thank you. It is not wrong to end with “thank you,” but
the thank you should be speci8c to the topic. Many students will, as an example, write a favorable
response that answers a reader’s many quesons. A5er answering all of the quesons, the writer will
type “thank you.” “Thank you” for what? Encourage students to 8nish the thought: “Thank you for your
interest in ACME products.” Slides 7-6, 7-7, and 7-8 discuss suggested orders, types of beginnings, and
the suggested format for roune inquiries.
Opening
Begin directly.
Use either a speci8c queson that sets up the enre message (“Is your Karatan line of leather goods sold
on an exclusive dealership basis?”) or a general request for informaon (“Will you please answer the
following quesons about your dealership policy for your Karatan line of leather goods?”)
Note how both of the openings above are faster and more interesng than indirect openings such as this
one:
“I saw your Karatan products adversed in this month’s Marketer Guide and am considering stocking the
line. But 8rst I need to know the answers to the following quesons:”
Content
Usually there is some need to idenfy or explain the situaon. Such informaon helps the reader in
answering. Most o5en this informaon 8ts best a5er the opening. When a number of quesons must be
asked, somemes explanaons are needed within the quesons. The point is to tell the reader whatever
is needed to enable her or him to answer.
Place all explanaons where they 8t best.
Cover the queson or quesons.
If your inquiry involves asking a single queson, the message is short—a direct opening followed by any
necessary explanaon and a friendly closing comment.
Somemes a number of quesons need to be asked.
In such cases, make each queson stand out. Do this by
1. making each queson a separate sentence,
2. organizing a paragraph around each queson (especially if some quesons require explanaons),
3. ordering (1, 2, 3, etc.) the quesons, and
4. wording each as a queson rather than as a hint for informaon (“Please send me . . .” rather
than “I would appreciate your sending me . . .”).
Generally avoid quesons that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”
“Do long periods of freezing temperatures damage Gardex?” vs. “What are the e?ects of long periods of
freezing temperature on Gardex?”
Close
End with a goodwill comment, preferably use words that 8t the one case:
“As we must decide about using Natvac by next Monday, please have your answers to us by that date.”
rather than “Thank you in advance for your help.”
Slides 5-10, 5-11
These slides present bad and good versions of the same message. Notes are provided on the PowerPoint
slides for discussion. You may want to divide students into small groups to analyze what makes the bad
message bad and the good message good and then have the groups arculate their analysis to the rest
of the class.
Slide 5-12
This slide presents ps on how to organize quesons for a roune inquiry. Most students need help with
formaLng and organizaon, so this is an important slide to share.
Favorable Responses
Slides 5-13, 5-14, 5-15, 5-16
Favorable responses are those that give the reader what he/she has requested. Because they are
messages that answer inquiries favorably and convey good news and because they do what the
respondent has asked you to do, the direct order is appropriate. The indirect order would get the job
done, but it would be slower, and it would waste me.
Opening
Directness here means beginning by giving the reader what is wanted—which is the informaon
requested.
So a good beginning is the one that starts answering.
If the inquiry concerned is one queson, it is the answer to that queson:
“Yes, Chem-Treat will prevent mildew if used according to instrucons.”
If it concerns a number of quesons, the opening is the answer to one of them, preferably the most
important. An alternate possibility is to begin with a statement that you are giving the reader what is
wanted. Although this beginning really is not direct, it is posive. Also, it avoids the abruptness that
directness somemes conveys: “The following informaon should tell you what you need to know about
Chem-Treat” or “Here are the answers to your quesons about Chem-Treat.”
Somewhere at the beginning, idenfy the correspondence you are answering.
One good way is to use a subject line of a message or in the subject iden8caon of an email message:
“Subject: Your April 3 inquiry about Chem-Treat.”
Another is to refer to it incidentally in the opening: “. . . as requested in your April 3 inquiry. . .”
Content
If you are answering just one queson, you have lile else to do. You may include any explanaon or
other informaon you think is needed. Then you close the message. If you must answer two or more
quesons, you answer them in succession. Work for a logical order, perhaps using the order used in the
reader’s inquiry. You may choose to number the quesons or to disnguish them by bullets.
If some negave informaon must be given with the good, handle it carefully. You may choose to
deemphasize it—placing it in a posion of lile emphasis or giving it less space. Be sure to avoid
language that is unnecessarily negave (e.g., unfortunately, disappointed).
For the best in goodwill e?ect, you may consider including the “extras”—something nice that is not
required (addional informaon, comment, or queson).
Close
End with friendly, cordial words that show your willingness to serve. Make these words 8t the one
situaon:
“If I can help you further in deciding whether Chem-Treat will meet your needs, please write me again.”
Slides 5-17, 5-18, 5-19
These slides present bad and good versions of the same message. Notes are provided on the PowerPoint
slides for discussion. You may want to divide students into small groups to analyze what makes the bad
message bad and the good message good and then have the groups arculate their analysis to the rest
of the class.
Order Acknowledgments
Slides 5-20, 5-21
Acknowledgments are sent to people who order goods principally to report the status of the order. They
simply tell when the goods are being shipped. Many companies use form messages for this; some use
printed notes. But individually wrien messages can be used, especially for important orders or to
welcome a new customer.
Opening
As this is a roune, good news message, it is appropriate to begin it directly—geLng to the point right
away.
“Your April 4 order for Protect-O paints and supplies will be shipped Monday by Blue Darter Motor
Freight.”
Content
The individually wrien acknowledgment message frequently includes various goodwill informaon
(e.g., reselling, appreciaon for the order). Somemes not all the items ordered can be sent. Some may
be out of stock and must be back-ordered. Somemes the informaon in the order needs to be cleared
before shipment can be made. In such cases, shipment must be delayed—a negave happening. This
informaon also must be handled in the message. If the delay will be taken as roune, it can be reported
directly. If it will be bad news to the reader, you should handle the situaon with a minimum of negave
wording and implicaon.
For example, if the reader failed to give complete informaon in the order, say: “So that you can have the
right color of leather on your master chair, will you please check your choice on the enclosed color
chart?”
For an item that must be placed on back-order, say: “We will rush the Shannon master chair to you just
as soon as our stock is replenished by a shipment due May 4.”
Close
End with a friendly, forward look. Comments about enjoyable (or pro8table) use of the product or a wish
for connued opportunies to serve.
Slides 5-22, 5-23
These slides present bad and good versions of the same message. Notes are provided on the PowerPoint
slides for discussion. You may want to divide students into small groups to analyze what makes the bad
message bad and the good message good and then have the groups arculate their analysis to the rest
of the class.
Thank-You Messages
Slides 5-24, 5-25
Thank-you messages are wrien for many occasions as a way to pracce good equee, build goodwill,
and present a posive professional image of the writer and the writer’s company.
Opening
The opening should be direct and include an expression of thanks.
Content
The content should be personal and speak directly to the reason for the thank-you note.
Close
The writer need not thank the reader again given that thank-you messages are very short and the writer
will have said “thank you” only a few sentences earlier. However, the closing should be relevant to the
topic of the message. This might be a statement regarding future business between the reader and
writer or wishes for success for the reader and his or her company.
Direct Claim
Slides 5-26, 5-27
Most businesses want to know when something is wrong with their products or services so they can
correct the matter and satisfy their customers. Many times the easiest and quickest way for you to address
these claims is simply to call the company directly to settle the matter.
Because you anticipate the reader will willingly grant your request, a direct claim begins with the claim,
moves to an explanation, and ends with a goodwill closing.
Beginning. The direct claim should open with the actual claim. This should be a polite but direct
statement of what you need. If the statement sounds too direct, you may soften it with a little bit of
explanation, but the direct claim should be at the beginning of your message.
Explaining the issue. The body of the direct claim should provide the reader with any information he or
she might need to understand your claim.
Providing a goodwill closing. Your close should end with an expression of goodwill. Keep it simple.
Slides 5-28, 5-29, 5-30
These slides present bad and good versions of the same message. Notes are provided on the PowerPoint
slides for discussion. You may want to divide students into small groups to analyze what makes the bad
message bad and the good message good and then have the groups arculate their analysis to the rest
of the class.
Adjustment Grants
Slide 5-31
Adjustment grants are wrien when you grant a request for an adjustment based on a claim someone
has made regarding a product or service (e.g., a request for a refund, a request for a product
replacement). Because you are doing what the reader wants done and are correcng an error or
problem, the situaon is posive; therefore, directness is appropriate. Because claims themselves
require communicang negave news, claim messages are discussed in Chapter 5.
Even though the situaon is primarily posive, it is not all good news. The problem that led to the claim
you are granng is in the reader’s mind. Something bad has happened.
Granng the adjustment may not eliminate all the negave feelings the reader may have toward you and
your company, but quesons about the service or products of your company may remain. You may need
to regain any con8dence lost if the adjustment grant is to be completely successful.
Opening
The opening words logically present the good news—granng of the adjustment. You will also need to
idenfy the correspondence you are answering in a subject line or in an incidental reference in the
opening.
In the opening and throughout the message, you will need to avoid words that recall unnecessarily the
negave thing that happened. Words such as mistake, trouble, damage, broken, and loss are especially
damaging.
Equally negave are general references such as problem, di!culty, and misunderstanding.
Content
Except in cases in which the cause of the problem is roune or incidental, you will need to work to regain
lost con8dence. Just what you should or can do will depend on the case. Determining your goals,
analyzing your audience, and all of the other steps in planning your document that we discussed in
earlier chapters are parcularly important here. Perhaps you can explain how a product should be used
to avoid the breakdown that occurred. Maybe you have taken steps to ensure that your personnel will
not repeat an error. Or you may explain how what happened was a rare occurrence.
Then if you have a reasonable explanaon, present it—clearly and posively.
Close
End the message on a posive note—a comment that 8ts the one situaon and does not recall what
went wrong. Move forward in the conclusion; do not dwell on the reason for the adjustment.
Slides 5-32, 5-33
These slides present bad and good versions of the same message. Notes are provided on the PowerPoint
slides for discussion. You may want to divide students into small groups to analyze what makes the bad
message bad and the good message good and then have the groups arculate their analysis to the rest
of the class.
Operational Communications
Slides 5-34, 5-35, 5-36, 5-37
These are the internal communicaons necessary in conducng the company’s business—those needed
to get the work done.
They range widely in formality—from the brief, informal exchanges between employees to formal
documents. The informal messages do not require our study. They are simple, direct, frank exchanges of
informaon between workers. The more formal ones resemble the messages we have reviewed in this
chapter. A few resemble those message types we will take up in the next chapter.
The suggesons for wring these messages are much the same as for those types previously discussed.
The need for clarity, correctness, and courtesy should guide these e?orts.
To write an internal operaonal message, writers should do the following:
Organize in the direct order
Choose the appropriate tone (casual, moderately formal, or formal)
Be clear and courteous
Order the informaon logically
Close in a way that builds goodwill
Slides 5-36 and 5-37 give an example of an operaonal message from the text. You may want to use this
example to discuss proper format and technique.
