Will I really have to write?

• Yes. A lot.

Claims that people can get by without writing are flawed.

Claim 1: Secretaries will do all my writing.
Reality :  Because of automation and restructuring, secretaries and administrative assistants are likely to handle complex tasks such as training, research, and database management for several managers. Managers are likely to take care of their own writing, data entry, and phone calls.

Claim 2: I'll use form letters or templates when I need to write.
Reality  : A form letter is a prewritten fill-in-the-blank letter designed to fit standard situations. Using a form letter is OK if it's a good letter. But form letters cover only routine situations. The higher you rise, the more frequently you'll face situations that aren't routine and that demand creative solutions.

Claim 3: I'm being hired as an accountant, not a writer.
Reality  : Almost every entry-level professional or managerial job requires you to write e-mail messages, speak to small groups, and write paper documents. People who do these things well are more likely to be promoted beyond the entry level.

Claim 4: I'll just pick up the phone.
Reality : Important phone calls require follow-up letters, memos, or e-mail messages. People in organizations put things in writing to make themselves visible, to create a record, to convey their own messages more effectively. "If it isn't in writting, "says a manger at one company, "it didn't happen. "Writing is an essential way to make yourself visible, to let your accomplishments be known.

Business Communication, Management, and Success

To Learn How to,

• Begin to understand the organizational purposes and context for your message.
• Begin to analyze business communication situations.
• Begin to analyze your audiences.
• Begin to develop effective messages.
• Think Creatively.

Start by asking these questions:

1. Will I really have to write?
2. Don't I know enough about communication?
3. What does communication accomplish?
4. How much does correspondence cost?
5. What makes a message effective?
6. How should I analyze business communication situations?

Work requires communication. People communicate to plan products and services: hire, train, and motivate workers: coordinate manufacturing and delivery: persuade customers to buy; and bill them for the sale. For many business, nonprofit, community, and government organizations, created and delivered by communication. In every organization, communication is the way people get their points across, get work done, and get recognized for their contributions.

Unless you have a fairy godmother, you'll need to know how to communicate.

  Communication takes many forms. Verbal Communication, or communication that uses words,. includes

• Face-to-face or phone conversations
• Meetings
• E-mail and voice-mail messages
• Letters and memos
• Reports

  Nonverbal communication does not use words. Examples include,

• Pictures
• Company logos
• Gestures and body language
• Who sits where at a meeting
• How long someone keeps a visitor waiting

  Even in your first job, you'll communicate. You'll read information: you'll listen to instructins; you'll ask questions. You may solve problems with other workers in teams. In a manufacturing company, hourly workers travel to a potential customer to make oral sales presentations. In an insurance company, hourly workers travel to a potential customer to make oral sales peresentations. In an insurance company, clerks answer customers' letters. Even "entry-level" jobs require high-level skills in reasoning, mathematics, and communicating. As a result, communication ability consistently ranks first among the qualities that employers look for in college graduates.

  Communication affects all levels of work. Training specialists Brad Humphrey and Jeff Stokes identify communication skills as being among the most important for modern supervisors. Andrew Posner, a career counselor, advises that employees looking to make a career change need such "transferable skills" as the ability to "analyze, write, persuade, and manage."

  Employers clearly want employees who communicate well, yet a staggering 40 million people in the United States alone have limited literacy skills, including some college graduates. According to one report by the College Board's National Commission on Writing, states spend more than $200 million annually on remedial writing training for their employees, and corporations may spend $3.1 billion to fix problems from writing deficiencies; two-thirds fo private-sector employers surveyed said writing was an important responsibility for employees.

  Because writing skills are so valuable, good writers earn more. Linguist Stephen Reder has found that among people with two of four year degrees, workers in the top 20% of writing ability earn, on average, more than three times as much as workers whose writing falls into the worst 20%.

  The conclusion is simple: Good Communication skills are vital in today's workplace. Technology, especially through e-mail, instant messaging, and cell phones, is making the globe a smaller and busier place, one where messages must be understood immediately. Traditional paper messages must be understood immediately. Traditional paper messages flourish, even as electronic channels expand our ability to reach more people. The better an employee's communication skills are, the better his or her chance for success.