Professional Communication: The Corporate Insider’s Approach

1. Professional Communication: The Corporate Insider’s Approach Chapter Eleven Memos: Relaying the Voice of Management

2. Genres of Communication Genres of organizational communication are characterized by • Substance—social motives, themes, and topics • Form—observable physical and linguistic features

3. History of the Memo Memos established a place in American industry due to an increasing need for • Control • Documentation • Less expensive, streamlined communication

4. Commission on Economy and Efficiency President Taft’s 1912 Commission on Economy and Efficiency declared that the essential elements of a memo are • Date • Person or office originating the communication • Person to whom letter is sent • Body of the communication • Signature

5. Problems with Memos • Incompatibility—mistaking memos for e-mail • Not acting one’s age—giving in to basic faults of professional communication • Generally misbehaving—making memos try to do the work of other forms of communication • Staying out late—confusing retrievability with permanence

6. Challenges of Memos • Ensuring correct placement of emphasis; using the memo in support of management direction • Maintaining proper voice to reinforce the one-directional nature of memos • Setting a final stamp on a question or problem; not opening an avenue for discussion or debate

7. Key Questions for Memos • Is the memo doing the work of a memo? • Is the memo stating or reinforcing policy, practices, or behaviors? • Is the memo doing the right job? • Is the memo stating a fixed position? • Is the memo providing a short-term remedy to a problem?

8. Essence of Memo Style • Purpose • Reinforce corporate expectations • Provide reminders of rules and protocols • Ensure managerial context • Directions—Primarily downward • Tone—Managerial, authoritative • Style—Terse, businesslike

9. Memos, at their most fundamental heart, are a narrative translation of a policy statement.

10. Elements of a Policy Statement • Policy • Requirements • Responsibilities • References The same structure, tone, and style are the fundamentals of all effective memos.

11. Memos—The Lessons • Primary Uses—Request compliance, remind, provide critical information with management perspective • Expectations—Adherence to request, follow-up for clarification only • Audience—Internal, generally downward • Style—Terse, businesslike

12. Memos—The Lessons • Length—One to two pages • Breadth—Single topic • Accountability—Author has authority to propose and enforce • Format—Standard internal correspondence format • Retrievability—Represents an official corporate document

13. Memos—The Lessons Potential Problems: • Incompatibility of purpose • Stylistic problems • Use of memos to the work of other document types • Hiding behind a memo when direction interaction is needed • Issuing a memo when a document with greater permanence is needed