Effective Writing in the Public Sector

John W. Swain, Kathleen Dolan Swain

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317472278
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Public Affairs & Administration
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Intended for both students and practitioners in public administration who want to communicate more effectively with a variety of audiences, this book offers clear, easy-to-understand guidelines on how to write more clearly, concisely, and coherently, as well as correctly. It covers the basics of good English and applies those basics to general forms (such as memos, letters, and e-mails) and more specific forms (such as newsletters, proposals, budget justifications, and rules) used in the public sector.

Part I The Basic Components

DOI: 10.4324/9781315704913-1

1 Essential Preliminary Steps to Effective Writing

DOI: 10.4324/9781315704913-2

As you probably gathered from our discussion in the introduction, the act of writing begins even before we pick up a pen or pencil or place our hands on the keyboard. To craft an effective message, a writer must take four preliminary steps:

• Why: Determine the purpose of your message.
• Who: Identify your audience and the proper tone for that audience.
• Which: Decide which form of writing is best in this situation.
• How: Consider how to prepare your message in the most effective way.

Each of these steps is described in turn below.

Step 1: Determine the Purpose of Your Message

Purposes can be put into two broad categories: writing to inform and writing to persuade. There is an easy way to determine your purpose. You simply ask yourself, “Why am I writing this message?” For example, are you writing to tell an individual or a group what transpired at a staff meeting? Are you writing to your immediate supervisor about an idea you have to streamline an office procedure?

The first message is intended to inform; the second is an effort to persuade someone else to consider your point of view. The construction of your message will vary depending on what your purpose is:

Example: Message to Inform

Dear Karen:

I will not be able to attend the meeting today because of a prior commitment. I will be in touch with you tomorrow to find out what was discussed.

Sincerely,

Lou

Example: Message to Persuade

Dear Janet:

In reviewing the latest figures from the accounting department, I noticed that we again are very close to going over our monthly budget for office supplies. As in the past four months, most of the expenditures went toward the repair and maintenance of our photocopier.

In conducting research into how to solve this problem, I located a photocopier at HMS Office Supply Store that is being offered at a discount because this particular model is being phased out.

The purchase price is $1,200. Even though the initial outlay for purchasing this new photocopier would cause us to go over budget, I think that in the long run this acquisition would be cost-effective. We would save not only in terms of eliminating the costly repairs the old machine requires (an average of $125 a month for the past four months alone) but also in terms of staff time now spent dealing with problems with the old machine.

Could we meet tomorrow to discuss this option?

Sincerely,

Carlos

• If your goal is to inform: Put the most important information at the beginning of the message.
• If your goal is to persuade: First present the problem and then propose your solution. Explain why you think the problem is a problem, why your solution will solve the problem, and how you would proceed to carry out the solution to the problem.

Step 2: Identify Your Audience and the Proper Tone

Once you have determined the purpose of your writing, you need to think about whom you are writing to and craft your message to that audience. If you do not address the right people, your message will lose much of its impact. In a very helpful chart in Plain Language in Government Writing, Judith Gillespie Myers groups public sector audiences into four main types: managers, experts or advisors, operators, and general readers.¹ We agree in general with her groups but would categorize the four types as follows:

• Decision makers
• Staff members
• Experts
• General public

Examples of decision makers are elected executives, appointed chief executives, and department managers. Overall, decision makers supervise others and decide how public organizations will act.

Staff members include people on the front lines of an organization and those who provide services to support them. Frontline staff members include teachers, postal workers, and firefighters; examples of support staff members are personnel clerks, finance clerks, and administrative assistants.

Experts can be internal or external to the organization. Examples include civil engineers, scientists, attorneys, and planners.

The general public can be defined as those people outside a public organization who have a need for the services provided by the organization or who have an interest in the organization’s goals and values. The scope of the public being addressed can range from very broad (for example, all citizens of a city) to moderate (for example, residents in a park and recreation district) to narrow (residents of a neighborhood or even a single individual).

Once you have identified your audience, you can set the tone of your message on the basis of your audience’s general characteristics. The table below lists each group’s general characteristics and the appropriate tone for each audience.

Type of Audience	General Characteristics	Tone
Decision makers	Broad perspective; relate the organization to a larger environment; most interested in information necessary to make decisions	Short, to the point, formal language
Staff members	Narrower perspective related to specific work responsibilities and personal situation; can only be expected to know their own jobs; looking for information related to their job and personal situation	Light, not as formal
Experts	Very narrow perspective; concerned about their area of expertise; looking for information specifically related to their area of expertise	Formal but more detailed than for decision makers
General public	Varied perspectives; lack in-depth knowledge of subjects and terms; looking for information that affects their personal lives	Conversational and explanatory

In the following examples, we can see how one topic—an organization moving to a new office—is approached differently depending on the audience that is being addressed.

Example: Memo to a Decision Maker

To: Peter

From: Robin

Date: August 6, 2014

Subject: Relocation Date

All preliminary work on the relocation of the staff to the new offices has been completed, and we have set a date of August 14 for the final move. You can now notify staff members.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

As you can see, this memo is short and provides only a broad overview of the subject.

Example: Memo to Staff

To: All Department Heads

From: Peter Piperman, Village Manager

Date: August 6, 2014

Subject: Relocation Date

It’s official—our new building is ready! We will start our move on August 14. Please plan to meet in the conference room at 9:00 a.m. on August 13 to review our plans.

Thanks for your continuing efforts as we make this move.

Even though this memo is also short, you can see a major difference in tone from the preceding example. This less formal tone fits well with the concept of a team approach to managing staff.

Example: Memo to Expert

To: Joe Lombardi, Crew Chief

From: Robin Mann, Project Manager

Date: August 7, 2014

Subject: Certification Request Form for the New Building

As soon as you can, please send me a copy of the certification request form from the ADA that shows the requirements to be in compliance with the specs in Title III. I will then make the certification request and supporting materials available for public inspection.

Thank you.

Here we see a memo with much more technical information, including some terminology that the expert will already be familiar wi...