I know when I write an essay, I only expect the professor to read it and nobody else, which often is the case in college. (Or a teacher if you're in primary school.) But in the job world, things are very different. You not only have to know who you're writing to as a primary audience, but also consider who may read it casually because of proximity, who you will refer your paper to, who needs to be able to translate it to then successfully perform THEIR work, what decisions will be made because of the information you gave, and so on.
Let me give you an example, because that probably didn't make a crazy amount of sense. I'll use the the example they gave in the essay. I'll also try and keep this as painless as possible, so stay with me here.
Imagine you're an engineer for a car manufacturer. You know all of the technical jargon associated with the job, the basic in's and out's of your role, etc. It is RELATIVELY safe to assume that the other engineers in your department also know what you know, but do not trust that fully. (I'll explain why later.) It isn't them you have to worry about when writing a briefing or report. It's those not related to the engineering role, such as design, marketing, HR, finance, and others. If you have to write a report about a problem you've encountered, you have to be aware of who is going to read it and how they are going to use and interpret the data, as well as their knowledge of engineering.
If you use big engineering words, is someone in finance who MAY read the report going to have a clue what you're talking about? Well, the less you take others into consideration, the harder of a time they'll have understanding. Even someone within your department may have been out of school for fifteen years and vaguely remembers a bunch of what they learned, whereas you remember it all because you just graduated six months ago.
Not taking your writing into consideration isn't just a burden for those reading whatever you wrote. It could also cause problems or miscommunication of all sorts, which is also what you don't want.
Mathes and Stevenson gave us some points to remember for when we're writing.
1. It is false to assume that the person addressed is the audience.
2. It is false to assume that the audience is a group of specialists in the field.
3. It is false to assume that the report has a finite period of use.
4. It is false to assume that the author and the audience always will be available for reference.
5. It is false to assume that the audience is familiar with the assignment.
6. It is false to assume that the audience has been involved in daily discussions of the material.
7. It is false to assume that the audience awaits the report.
8. It is false to assume that the audience has time to read the report.
These are what you should take into consideration when writing something of any kind in the business world that isn't explicitly private or for a single person.
The authors also offer a systematic way of gauging what audience members you'll have, as well as their technical knowledge of your department and how they will use the information you gave them.
Step 1: Prepare an Egocentric Organization Chart
Create a chart similar to the one above with you at the center and add in other people as you radiate outwards based on what they know/how familiar they'd be with your work, ideally using the four rings in the picture, with "audiences in own group" being other engineers, "audiences in close proximity to your group" being software engineers for the cars computer systems, "audiences elsewhere in the organization" being the people in finance, labor relations, and the vice president, and "audiences outside the organization" like maybe an average Joe reading your report after it was shared through a news outlet by the head of your factory.
Step 2: Characterize the Individual Report Readers
This is done after you get a good idea of who is around you from the chart, it's time to characterize each person within your chart. Know their names, level of education, degrees, and background in the organization. The authors suggest following three kinds of characteristics to determine: operational, objective, and personal. Operational characteristics will take into account what the daily duties are of each person and how they'll use the knowledge of the report, below if they can understand it in the first place. Objective characteristics will include stuff like their education, experience, etc. Personal characteristics being age differences (that can inhibit communication sometimes), how often the name changes of that role, and personal concerns that could alter their reactions.
Step 3: Classify Audiences in Terms of How They Will Use Your Report
Consider how each member of your audience will use your report. Will someone in Human Resources care that a piece of the door frame isn't welding on for a correct fit? Probably not. So, the chances are high that they will not use your report at all. They may read it, but that doesn't meant they'll use it. They could simply be an immediate audience member, or someone who will transmit the information along the route to the primary audience, who will be making decisions and whatnot based off of said information. Also take into account secondary audience members, who are affected by the decisions or actions of the primaries based off of your report. How will their job change because of how the primary audience viewed and used your report? Make sure what you want to get across is exactly what you want to get across. Any miscommunication could have consequences, severe or not.
You don't have to go through this rigorous process literally for every single report or memo you write. But it is important to have a general knowledge of who could view your report, why you should write it a certain way, and what the consequences will be. Don't just write it for you, write it for everyone. Keep these things in your mind every time you write something something for your job, and you'll be good to go.
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