Basic Strategies for Organizing Information

1. Business Writing Workshop Basic Strategies for Organizing Information Frank Hurley and Donna Kain

2. Session Agenda Writing Strategies and Specifics 7 Strategies for organizing information

3. Seven Basic strategies for organizing information in a genre 1. Compare and Contrast * Takes up each alternative in turn, discussing strengths and weaknesses. * Think of this is a pro/con pattern * Whatever information comes second will carry more psychological information

4. Example: Compare and Contrast Dear Team Brazil, I hope you are doing well. It was very exciting watching the UK hand the Olympic flag over to Brazil for the 2016 games! What an exciting honor! We look forward to 2016! The purpose of my email is to inform you that your plant is being considered to be included in the manufacture of part 90210 since company XYZ has recently been moved to Brazil. This will affect your work load significantly and we want to share with you the considerations we are making in the consideration. By including your team in this process we forecast significant increase in revenue by mid 2013 for both NMHG and your company. By excluding your team we stand to lose our contract with you and sign with your competitor, EVIL JOE, Inc. First, company XYZ moved from London to Sau Paulo – drastically reducing their operating costs and effectively lowering their prices by 60%. Secondly, you will have the opportunity to hire between 40 and 50 new employees to support your efforts in increased business. This cuts costs and creates jobs. Although we realize the transition will initially be costly and stressful on your side, the longer term benefits are favorable. By excluding your team we stand to move business to your competitor and, more importantly, end a long, well established and highly respected relationship with your team. Together we have revolutionized the way part 90210 has affected fork lifts and achieved much success over the past 15 years. We sincerely hope we can continue to work with you. We sincerely look forward to working with you on this consideration. We will make a final decision by Friday so please call me tomorrow at 9 am EST so we can discuss this opportunity further. All the best, Jane C. More

5. Seven Basic strategies for organizing information 2. Problem-Solution * Identify the problem * Explain its background or history * Discuss its extent and seriousness * Identify its causes * Discuss the factors that affect the decision * Summarize and conclude

6. Example: Problem/Solution Hi Max, As I was reviewing your report you are only showing $5,000.00 in open payables to Widget Inc. We already paid them 6,000.00 dated 8/1/12. If we still find it necessary to pay them this amount then the most viable solution to this would be to contact Karen for her approval. If she does not want to do this we will cut a check to Widget Inc on 9/1/12. This will resolve the issue quickly and concisely. All the best, Alex

7. Seven Basic strategies for organizing information 3. Eliminate Alternatives * After discussing the problem and its causes, discuss the impractical solutions first, showing them why it will not work. * Always end with the more practical solution

8. Example: Eliminating Alternatives Dear Team, As you know our supply chain is broken in Thailand due to the terrible flooding. It makes no sense for us to try to wait for recovery options since the entire country is in shock and chaos. By doing this we risk delaying our operations by six months. The best solution is to shift our supply chain efforts to Europe since they manufacture many of the parts we order. The parts they do not have will have to be ordered from India until Thailand gets back to recovery status. Thank you for your efforts and extra work on this. -Joe

9. Seven Basic strategies for organizing information 4. General to Particular or Particular to General *General to particular starts with a problem as it affects the organization and then moves to a discussion of the parts of the problem and solutions to each of these parts. * Particular to general starts with the problem as the audience defines it and moves to larger issues of which the problem is a part.

10. Example: General to Particular Alice, As you know, for over ten years Fed Ex ships all of our gizmo rotors directly from Seattle to Greenville. Our relationship with Fed Ex is very important to us and we are going to have to terminate one of our contracts with them so this is a sensitive issue that needs to be handled with great care and skill – that is why I am contacting you to handle this. NMHG has a contract with Fed Ex that states all of our Seattle shipments must be delivered and signed for every Wednesday. However, now that our gizmo rotors are being manufactured in Louisville, it makes sense to terminate our agreement with Fed Ex and have UPS ship gizmos since Louisville is their global headquarters and is located closer to Greenville than Seattle. What we will have to do is contact Fed Ex and explain our situation to them and remind them that future accounts will go through Fed Ex when appropriate. Then contact legal and have them terminate the contract. Finally, you will need to contact UPS to establish a new contract. Could you please see this happens by September 30, 2012? Please contact me should you have any questions. -Jack

11. Seven Basic strategies for organizing information 5. Geographical or Spatial * Here you discuss problems and solutions by units by their physical arrangement. * Examples: office to office, building to building, state to state, country to country.

12. Example: Spatial/Geographic To All Americas HQ Employees, The past five years have been a great challenge for all of us as we have weathered the worst economic conditions in the history of our company. Through hard work, dedication and loyalty, we have collectively trimmed our fat and are more profitable today than we have ever been! Today, I am very pleased to announce that our Greenville plant is going to expand in our effort to increase our world market share. This will require a lot of movement in terms of office space and location. We are building three new state-of-the-art buildings beginning September 1, 2012. Below lists what groups will be relocated. Because of our fiscal growth we are able to expand our operations in Greenville. Supply Chain will move to new Greenville building 1 in July, 2013. Sales and Marketing will move to new Greenville building 2 in August, 2013. IT will move to new Greenville building 3 in June, 2013. (Senior management stays right where they are). -Joe

13. Seven Basic strategies for organizing information 6. Functional *Discuss the problems and solutions of each functional unit. * Examples: a report on a new plant might divide data into sections on cost of land and building, on the availability of personnel, on the convenience of raw materials.

14. Example: Functional To All Americas HQ employees: Because we are making money hand over fist, it is imperative to conduct a department analysis each year to determine areas of improvement and opportunity. Below are the results of this years departmental analyses. IT – Weaknesses: Server security upgrades are standard but have failed in the last two upgrades. Strengths: Whiles these upgrades gave us all a scare, the IT team fixed the problem and implemented one of the safest networks in the industry. They have also improved their call center by adding three new customer service agents resulting in a 30% decline in complaints – well done. Supply Chain – Weaknesses: You are too darn nice. Try to be a little more human and occasionally have an off day where your mood is average. Strengths: You deal with a lot of “stuff” everyday yet your team keeps the NMHG blood flowing. You truly are the heart of our organization! Marketing – Weakness: Your ad campaigns are boring. Can’t you do something like that lizard or the talking baby? Strengths: You are working on a new campaign that involves a talking baby lizard.

15. Seven Basic strategies for organizing information 7. Chronological * Records events in the order in which they have happened or are planned to happen. * Examples:

16. Example: Chronological Dear Finance Team: Below is a chronological time line for our upcoming orders and product phase outs through 2015. 2013 - Yale is going to complete all 2012 orders by December 1, 2012. GP up 40% Hyster is going to phase out model X by 2015. 2014 - Yale is going to increase its sales 15% by June, 2013 Hyster is going to increase its sales by 30% by December, 2014 Yale is going to outsell all other fork trucks worldwide. Every employee gets a HUGE bonus. 2015 - Hyster exceeds all sales expectations – another huge bonus for employees.

17. Take Away Guidelines for Business Communication Genres • Prepare by knowing your writing strategy • Choose an appropriate strategy for your writing/communication situation • Think positively about what you know • Focus on providing support for your main ideas • Check your communication for content, logic and clarity.