Hi, and welcome to this video on Context and Directness in Email Writing. Imagine this situation where you're trying to ask for help or assistance. Would you approach the CEO or president of your organization differently compared to your friend? You probably would write and that would be an indirect or direct way. So by the end of this video, you will be able to identify the appropriate directness for certain contexts or situations in emails. Learn how to structure negative or highly sensitive messages. So, remember in course one there were two main approaches to business communication, the direct and indirect approach. Mary Munter mentions that with the direct approach the key point is usually at the beginning. The message is concise and easy to follow, focuses on efficient delivery to save time. And it's focused on the audience's suggested actions. She also mentions in the indirect approach the key point is usually at the end. These include highly sensitive messages, where perhaps you have lower credibility compared to the audience. Or that the audience can be negatively biased or even hostile. Or even if the audience prefers more analytical approach where you present the analysis at the beginning before you reach the decision or the key, or the main point. So in business email writing, we normally use the direct approach. Concise and plain English is usually used. Short and easy to follow subject lines and clear actions are specifically stated in the body of the email. Usually, in business email writing, we have to be direct because it's the most efficient way to deliver your message and it saves on time. But we also have to be aware of the directness of your message because the communication is usually on a one to one basis. And whatever you write, whichever approach you use, can potentially have a larger impact on the reader of the audience whether it's a negative or positive way. So let's move on. What are the key factor's in influencing the directness of your message? Well, in this video we're going to give you three key factors. Firstly, the negative or highly sensitive messages, the relationship with your reader can also influence the directness, and cross-cultural context which we'll mention briefly in today's video, but we'll talk about in more detail and closeful. So let's begin. Negative or highly sensitive messages. This can include anything from unpopular initiatives to announcements on corporate downsizing or restructuring. Rejections or even budget reductions. How should we structure negative or highly sensitive messages? We usually use the indirect approach. It starts with a buffer followed by an explanation, then the bad news and a redirect of the audience's attention. So we begin with a short statement, to cushion the impact of the negative message. You try to establish some common ground, you express appreciation. And usually in a relevant and sincere manner. This is followed by an explanation and usually the audience requires this to understand, or whether the writer can justify the negative news or the negative message. And you have to start positively, keep the explanation concise. The reasoning should be logical and factual. And then, you give the bad news. And here, you have to be very efficient and very clear, specific. There should be no room for ambiguity or misinterpretation. It's a short, concise factual statement. Then you move on quickly and redirect the readers attention. Make the focus of the email future oriented, perhaps give some solutions or alternatives to the problems. Or issues raised in the email and get some very clear subsequent actions for your reader to take, so you refocus the attention of the audience away from the bad news that you've just delivered. What about the relationship with the reader? Well, in the previous course, we mentioned how relationships can affect the tone and style of your message. It also affects the directness of your message. So, anything from internal or external relationships, how much credibility you have with the audience or whether there's even a knowledge gap also. So let's look at internal relationships in a top down communications. From senior management to subordinates, for example. Usually messages are direct. There are specific actions. Information flow is one-way. And it's delivered in a concise and succinct way. It's focused on delivering instructions from the top. Senior management, perhaps, to the subordinates. If it's the other way, from bottom up, possibly you would use a more indirect way to limit causing a potential offense path. What about an external relationships? For example, between the seller and a buyer. If the seller does not know the buyer, or hasn't even met, or had any correspondent, it probably be like less direct to avoid being to aggressive using explanations and reasoning behind selling the product or service with perhaps' using modal verbs. That suggests possibilities rather than certainties to avoid scaring off potential buyer. What about credibility or knowledge levels? Usually the rule is that the high credibility or knowledge that you have, the higher possibility of using a direct approach. But always keep your language polite. Again, it works way differently the opposite way. The lower credibility or the lower knowledge that you have compared to the audience you would use a more indirect approach. With cross-cultural factor's and the previous courses we mentioned that in Eastern cultures such as in Japan or in China, where there's high context and collectivist cultures indirect approaches are usually preferred. But we'll cover these in more detail as I mentioned in course four. So, let's do a recap of today's video. You should be able to identify the appropriate directness of certain contexts or situations in emails now. And you've learned how to structure negative or highly sensitive messages. But be aware, you always have to carefully consider which approach to use because no situation is the same. It always depends on the audience, the situation whether it's top down or bottom up relationship. Thanks for watching.
