Revising your Message: Evaluating the First Draft

Ricky Brackett

October 31, 2011

MAN 131

                                    Revising your Message: Evaluating the First Draft

            Today I want to discuss with you about revising your message. After you have completed

a first draft you may be tempted to be breathe a sigh of relief, send the message on it’s way, and

move on to the next project. We all know that successful communicators recognize that the first

draft is rarely as tight, clear, and compelling as it needs to be. Sometimes we have to be careful

of what we write because it will be revised . Careful revision can mean the difference between a

rambling unfocused message and a lively direct message that gets results. Depending on your

writing and the medium and the nature of your message revision task can vary somewhat. When

using instant messaging, text messaging, email, or blogging, the revision process is often as

simple as quickly looking over your message to correct any mistakes before sending or posting

it.  A lot of times we fall into the common trap of thinking that you don’t need to worry about

grammar, spelling, charity, and other fundamentals of good writing when you use these media.

Most of these qualities can be very important in electronic media particularly if these messages

are the only contact your audience has with you. Poor quality message create an impression of

poor quality thinking and can cause confusion, frustration and costly delays. To complex your

messages try to put your draft aside for a day or two before you begin the revision process so that

you can approach the material with a fresh eye.

            Making sure that you have accomplish your goal start with the picture before moving to

finer points, such as readability, clarity, and conciseness. When you begin the revision process,

focus your attention on content, organization, style and tone. From the textbook at my

Management class according to Bovee and Thill to evaluate the content of your message answer

these questions: “ Is the information accurate? Is the information relevant to the audience? Is

there enough information to satisfy the readers needs?”  When you are satisfied with the content

of your message ask yourself some few questions like Are all the points covered in the most

logical order? Would the message be more convincing if it were arranged in another sequence?

And also are any points repeated unnecessarily? Next consider whether you have achieved the

right tone for your audience. Spend  a few extra moments on the beginning and end of your

message these sections usually have the greatest impact on the audience.  Be sure that the

opening is relevant interesting, and geared to the reader’s probable reaction. Before you dive into

someone’s else’s work recognize the dual responsibility that doing so entails. If you try to edit or

revise without knowing what the writer hoped to accomplish, you run the risk of making the

piece less effective, not more. According to Bovee and Thill to evaluate someone else’s writing

ask these questions: “What is the purpose of this document or message? Who is the target

audience? What information does the audience need? Does the document provide this

information in a well organized way? Is the tone of the writing appropriate for the audience? Is

the writing clear? If not, how can it be improved? Is the writing as concise as it could be? Does

the design support the intended message?

            Substance refers to the content of the essay and the message you send out. It can be very

hard to gauge in your own writing. One good way to make sure that you are saying what you

think you are saying is to write down, briefly and in your own words, the general idea of your

message. Then remove the introduction and conclusion from your essay and have an objective

reader review what is left. Ask that person what he thinks is the general idea of your message.

Compare the two statements to see how similar they are. This can be especially helpful if you

wrote a narrative. It will help to make sure that you are communicating your points in the story.

A message also has to have a structure and in order to check the overall structure of your essay,

conduct a first-sentence check. Write down the first sentence of every paragraph in order. Many

people think only of mechanics when they revise and rewrite their compositions. As we know,

though, the interest factor is crucial in keeping the admissions officers reading and remembering

your essay. Look at your essay with the interest equation in mind: personal + specific =

interesting

Advantages and Disadvantages of Teams

Ricky Brackett
October 6th, 2011

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Teams

            We all know that there are no I’s in team. A team is not an individual that brings effort to

a team because one individual puts in all the work to get the effort but does not work with a

team. A team is a group or more than one person who helps each other to get the job done or in a

way work at things faster. According to the text book of business communication today a team is

“A unit of two or more people who share a mission and the responsibility for working to achieve

a common goal.” We all can agree that to be a team player it takes more than one individual to

succeed in the work force. However, there is always a good and a bad about teams in other words

there is an advantage and a disadvantage of teams. When teams are successful, they can improve

productivity, creativity, employee involvement, and even job security.

            Here are some advantages of just what a team is in a business sense. Work teams bring

another advantages as markets place a premium on cycle time, adaptability, and give a unique

response to the customer. Supervisor and management positions will survive as long as they

provide value to the core work teams who are now their customers. A facilitator role is a

transitional one because over time, even this role will either go away or their organization will

become correspondingly larger to justify their position. One advantage of team is team members

have the opportunity to learn from each other. Also, potential exists for greater work force

flexibility with cross training. Teams provided opportunity for synergistic combinations of ideas

and abilities. New approaches to tasks may be discovered, teams membership can provide social

facilitation and support for difficult tasks and situations. Also, communication and information

exchange may be facilitated and increased. Another advantage is that teams can foster greater

cooperation among team members. Interdependent work flow can be enhanced, also potential

exist for greater acceptance and understanding of team made decisions. Greater autonomy,

variety, identity, significance, and feedback for workers can occur. A few advantages that I want

to point out is that team commitment may stimulate performance and attendance, teams also

increased information and knowledge. They also increased diversity of views , increased

acceptance of solution and higher performance levels. Lastly, teams are often at the core of

participative management the effort to involve employees in the company’s decision making.

            Teamwork also has a number of potential disadvantages. Working in teams can be

frustrating waste of time. One of the disadvantages is that business teams can generate

tremendous pressure to conform with accepted norms of behavior. Hidden agendas is another

one because private counterproductive motives, such as a desire to take control of the group, to

undermined someone else on the team, or to pursue a business goal that runs counter to the

team’s mission. Cost is another one too because arranging meetings, and coordinating individual

parts of project can eat up a lot of time and money. Some individuals are not compatible with

team work as well as workers they must be selected to fit the team as well as requisite job skills.

Some members may experience less motivating jobs as part of a team. Another disadvantage is

that organization may resist change. The worse is having a conflict because conflict may develop

between team members or other teams. Another problem with teams is that teams may be time-

consuming due to need for coordination and consensus. When there is work to be done work

needs to be done. Where am I going with this? When you’re on a team and you’re on a team of 4

which is including yourself, there will be a situation when yourself and another person is doing

the work but the other 2 are not. However, the ones that are not doing the work want the credit

which leads to Free-riding and this may occur. Teams can have creativity and inhibit good

decision-making if group think becomes prevalent. Less flexibility may be experienced in

personnel replacement or transfer. According to the disadvantages of teamwork in a workplace

“Employees may be so focused on working for the overall good of the team and fitting in to the

team concept that they put their own ideas on the back burner. This lack of innovative thinking

may keep your company from moving forward, resulting in stagnation.” You can find this article

at http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disadvantages-teamwork-workplace-1937.html.