Please read carefully there are an assignment and 2 responses

Please read the Harvard Business Review's "Bad Writing is Destroying Productivity" article described in Module 8.

https://hbr.org/2016/09/bad-writing-is-destroying-your-companys-productivity

After reading the article, please post a message that discussed your opinion of it.

• Do you think having good written communication skills is that important in the workplace? Why or why not?


• Do you have any pet peeves when it comes to written communication in the workplace? What are they?


• What is the most important point in the Harvard Business Review article?  Why?


• Have you ever had an academic or business writing situation where better attention to writing or revision would have saved you or someone you know from embarrassment?  Explain.

Once you've posted your message, please respond to at least two "Harvard Business Review Discussion" posts. Your responses must be at least two paragraphs in length and offer your opinions about other students’ ideas. Discuss what you agree with and why, what you disagree with and why and any other related topics.

1.Good written communication skills are that important in the workplace. Messages that are clear and concise demonstrate that you respect your reader’s time and that you know what you are talking about. Messages that have a variety of language (they don’t use the word ‘incredible’ four times in one paragraph) prove that you are organized and detail oriented. And messages that use proper grammar and avoid spellings errors help you build credibility.

My pet peeves for written communication in the workplace are poor grammar (example: there vs. their vs. they’re), use of slang, and spelling errors. These issues cause me to question authority, intelligence, if I can trust the writer, or if the writer is a credible source.

The most important point in the Harvard Business Review article is that “clear leadership…creates alignment and boosts productivity”. The author goes on to say that this builds a reputation for truth and allows your employees to trust your intentions and “get to work on accomplishing the goals you set out for them”. I think that this is very well put. When leaders are straightforward and clear about what they expect from their employees, it is much easier to go to work and also feel good about going to work. There are no feelings of confusion or deceit.

The most embarrassing situation in academic writing that I have ever witnessed was because of a simple spelling error. My class had been writing about our career intentions, an aspiring rapper labeled himself a “raper”. Spelling is very important!

2. I believe that it is crucial to have good written communication in a workplace. One way good communications will positively affect you and  your team would be if you know who your audience is you can better structure your message. This allows you to control the tone of your message to help clarify your message.

I do have pet peeves when it comes to written communications. As a previous manager, I would review any message I would post for the staff multiple times to ensure that my message was clear and there would be no confusion when an employee would read my message. One thing that I have noticed reading provider notes in the medical field is that they short hand their messages a lot, they do not use spell check and the grammar is poor with some providers. When reading patient's chart notes, I find myself rereading material because how poorly it has been put together. 

When the article talked about vague writing in a message towards employees was a very good point in the article. I was particularly interested in this section because I have never thought about how vague writing could impact the end message that is given. After thinking about it, I do believe this is a very good point. When writing a message for your team, doesn't matter if it is positive or negative, you never want to belittle the team.

When in high school, I had to write a personal paper that was later read to the entire class! If I would have paid more attention to my writing and had it peer reviewed more, my paper would have been a lot better. I thought I was submitting a decent paper, but when it was read out loud, my mind was quickly changed. From then on out, I have always read my writing out loud prior to submitting my paper.