Business Communication in North America

A workshop for the Mansfield Center 2014 Economic Empowerment Fellows

What are your first impressions?

Please tell us one personal observation of how North Americans communicate.

Two goals for this workshop:

To provide some information on professional communication in North America.

To examine and try writing brief, typical business documents.

What is a North American communication style?

No matter where you go or what you do, you make communication choices.

These are based on a simple concept:

The Rhetorical Situation

Audience

PurposeSpeaker/Writer

Context

What do North American business people expect and value in professional communication?

Individuality

Audience

In general......

Clarity

Brevity

Credibility

Logic

DirectnessCompleting tasks

Linear thinkingRational appeals

Persuasive arguments

Formality?

Industry-specific

Language?

Industry-specific

What about…

Time?

Culture-specific

Mediums for communicating in business

It’s changing:

Instant messagesTextingSocial mediaOnline project management tools

Still important:

LettersEmailsMemosReportsFaxes

It’s easy to say yes.

What do North Americans expect from a ‘no’?

Generally prefer direct, but no too direct

Two goals:

Build goodwill and communicate the ‘no’ clearly

Dear Dr. Wofford: Info Tech has been happy to support Whittier Community College in many ways over the years, and we appreciate the opportunities you and your organization provide to so many deserving students. Thank you for considering our grounds for your graduation ceremony on June 3. We would certainly like to accommodate Whittier as we have in years past, but our companywide sales meetings will be held this year during the weeks of May 29 and June 5. We will have more than 200 sales staff and their families from around the world joining our activities. These activities will take place throughout our facility during that time. May I suggest that you contact the Municipal Botanical Gardens as a possible graduation site? I recommend calling Henry Kane, the director of public relations there. We remain firm in our commitment to you, President Wofford, and to the fine students you represent. Through our internship program, academic research grants, and other work, we will continue to be a strong corporate partner to Whittier College. Sincerely,

Now you try it!

To whom have you had to say ‘no’?

Imagine that you now must put that no in writing. Write the first few sentences of that message.

I will ask several of you to share what you have written so we can discuss the various choices.