Effective communication in speech and writing is one of the most critical professional skills. The purpose of sending messages in the professional context is to facilitate understanding. Professional writing ensures that the recipient and audience receive the intended message and understands it as desired. It also ensures that the written message produces the desired effects (Nelson & Weatherald, 2014). For the mentioned objectives to be met, the author of the professional message must have the necessary technical competencies and interpersonal capabilities to deliver the message.
Effective professional writing also depends on the credibility of the author and the message. Credibility is determined by the absence of spelling and grammatical errors. The presence of spelling and grammatical errors influences the audience’s perception of the sender’s credibility. It causes the audience to develop a negative perception, thus affecting their understanding of the messages. For instance, some spelling and grammatical errors may influence the message and lead to some form of miscommunication. Miscommunication in the professional context can lead to high-magnitude errors that could affect project costs and outcomes.
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Cultural Context of Professional Writing
With the increase in globalization, various companies and organizations are utilizing the broadening global talent pool, which also means that organizations are becoming increasingly inclusive. Additionally, organizations are also providing their services to an increasingly diversified customer base. Therefore, professional writing requires cultural competence for effective communication with a global audience. Therefore, becoming a successful employee in the competitive global market requires professional writing skills (Kolin, 2013). The employee must be able to communicate clearly and diplomatically with an audience from varied cultural backgrounds.
Cultural competence requires the employee to recognize that their audience might not be native English speakers. One may be required to write a memo to readers from various parts of the world who speak varieties of English. The author must be able to communicate effectively in the required form of English. Additionally, cultural competence requires the author to be aware that English may not be the first language of the recipients. Additionally, cultural competence requires the use of business etiquette. Understanding culturally-unique business etiquette requires learning cultural values and assumptions. The international audience has different expectations of communication approaches and the use of first names (Kolin, 2013).
Effective and Ineffective Messages
Ineffective messages may be detrimental to businesses. For instance, they might lead to short-term and long-term hostilities. Additionally, ineffective messages may negatively impact work productivity. Ineffective communication leads to the creation of barriers. One of the characteristics of ineffective communication is the failure to use a language that the recipient understands. This creates a communication barrier that might be costly in the business sense. It is important to consider the recipient’s language and whether they understand the language used in the message. A lack of empathy also characterizes ineffective communication. Empathy requires the sender to put themselves in the recipient's situation and consider how they would like to be addressed. It requires high emotional intelligence. Therefore, ineffective messages are written in a language that the recipient does not understand, while effective messages are written in an empathetic tone and a language that the recipient understands.
Effective communication using emails becomes difficult since written communication does not include facial expressions, gestures, and tone variations. Therefore, misunderstandings are likely to ensue. Messages are likely to be misinterpreted since interpretation is dependent on the recipient’s mood. Therefore, one of the ways that authors can improve the effectiveness of their messages is by re-reading communication while putting yourself in the recipient’s shoes (Nicholaou, 2005). Consider how the message will make the recipient feel and edit it appropriately.
Ethical Issues in Professional Communication
Unethical behaviours, even in professional writing, attract investigation from local, state, and federal agencies. Ethical issues in professional writing require the employee to perform their job functions properly. If the employer determines that the employee is liable for wrongdoing in communication processes, the employee is liable to consequences determined by the organization’s policies. Therefore, employees are required to provide prompt and accurate messages using professional writing (Kolin, 2013). Professional messages must also comply with federal, state, and local codes.
References
Kolin, P. C. (2016). Successful writing at work . Wadsworth Publishing.
Nelson, P., & Weatherald, C. (2014). Cracking the code—An approach to developing professional writing skills. Social work education , 33 (1), 105-120.
Nicholaou, N. (2005). Email etiquette-or-never having to say sorry!-Part 1. The Clergy Journal , 1-2.
