【正文】 mportant during the past two decades. Because of demands by many special interest groups (labor unions, environmental groups, government agencies, political action mittees, and others), the media, business anizations, and political groups are seriously concerned about enhancing their public image. Important are wellplanned public speeches, tactful replies to ments and criticisms, free informative pamphlets, annual reports, and imagebuilding interviews with the news media. All these messages should be transmitted with an emphasis on honesty, openness, and concern for the public. Saving time and money Effective munication can save an anization time and money. In multinational corporations, thousands of hours are devoted daily to interviews, conferences, memos, reports, employee manuals, letters, advertising, new articles, bulletins, newsletters, and other messages. Time is the chief element in the overall cost of written and oral munications. For example, the time spent just in written tasks can occupy much of the working day. In a survey3[3] of four professional areas, a substantial number of respondents, none of whom was employed as a writer, indicated that they spent from。 Gamble, legislate brevity。 errors in diction or sentence structure will call into question our whole ability to manage information. But for many munications, individual linguistic correctness is not enough. To ensure clarity in instructions 中國最大管理資源中心 for routine procedures, or in policy statements, reports, persuasive presentations, and memos, we may have to discard many “correct” sentences before our language clearly conveys our meaning. If we find that we can?t write or say our message clearly, we need to reexamine the thinking that has led us to the position of our munication. Brevity Good business munications strive to be brief, to acplish much in few words. Brevity is a cardinal virtue whether our munication is going to the president, to a junior executive, or to hourly employees. Everyone?s time is valuable。 opinions ................................. 18 Chapter Two: Message Strategy in Effective Business Writing .................................................... 20 BUSINESS WRITING AS COMMUNICATION .......................................................... 20 Purposes of Business Writing ................................................................................... 20 RReeqquueessttiinngg aanndd FFuurrnniisshhiinngg IInnffoorrmmaattiioonn aanndd MMaatteerriiaallss ............................................2200 BBuuiillddiinngg GGooooddwwiillll ..............................................................................................................2200 INTRODUCTION OF MESSAGE STRATEGY ........................................................... 21 How can we emphasize?.......................................................................................... 22 aa.. DDiirreecctt aapppprrooaacchh iinn MMeessssaaggee SSttrraatteeggyy ......................................................................2222 bb.. IInnddiirreecctt aapppprrooaacchh iinn MMeessssaaggee SSttrraatteeggyy ..................................................................2244 How can we anize? ............................................................................................ 25 Chapter Three: The General Direct Approach in Message Strategy............................................... 28 THE GENERAL DIRECT APPROACH ...................................................................... 28 Beginning with the objective ............................................................................................ 28 Presenting necessary explanation ..................................................................................... 28 Covering the remaining part of the objective ...................................................................... 29 Ending with adapted goodwill .......................................................................................... 29 THE ADVANTAGES OF THE GENERAL DIRECT APPROACH ................................. 29 中國最大管理資源中心 THE APPLICATIONS OF DIRECT APPROACH IN BUSINESS WRITING ..................... 30 Routine news and its application .............................................................................. 30 RRoouuttiinnee mmeessssaaggeess ................................................................................................................3300 Good news and its applications ................................................................................ 32 ““YYeess”” RReepplliieess ttoo CCllaaiimm LLeetttteerrss ......................................................................................3322 ““YYeess”” RReepplliieess ttoo RReeqquueessttss ffoorr CCrreeddiitt ..........................................................................3366 ““YYeess”” RReepplliieess ttoo OOrrddeerr LLeetttteerrss ......................................................................................4400 ““YYeess”” RReepplliieess ttoo RReeqquueessttss ..............................................................................................4422 SUMMARY OF DIRECT APPROACH IN BUSINESS WRITING ................................. 44 Chapter Four: The General Indirect Approach in Message Strategy .............................................. 45 THE GENERAL INDIRECT APPROACH .................................................................. 45 THE ADVANTAGES OF THE GENERAL INDIRECT APPROACH.............................. 46 GOALS IN COMMUNICATING BAD NEWS ............................................................ 47 DIFFICULTIES IN COMMUNICATING BAD NEWS ................................................. 47 Tendency to avoid conflict ..............................................