Chapter 5: Teamwork and Global Considerations

• Appreciate the role of teamwork in technical communication
• Complex documents are usually collaborations
• Technical writers often collaborate
• In the digital age, people are able to collaborate across time zones and continents
• The internet allows for teams to interact
• Manage a team project and run a successful meeting
• Teamwork requires organization, cooperation, structure, and clear communication
• Manage a Team Project
• Choose a group manager
• Define a clear goal 
• Determine which type of document are you creating
• Divide tasks and give clear expectations for each
• Create a timetable
• Plan meetings
• Establish a method for responding to work from other members
• Establish a method for dealing with interpersonal problems
• Prepare a management plan
• Keep everyone up to date on progress
• Run a Meeting
• Set an agenda and circulate it prior to the meeting
• Everyone should come prepared
• Summarize minutes from the previous meeting
• Everyone should speak
• Stay on topic
• Continue moving along
• Don't lecture or dictate
• Summarize
• End on schedule
• Help team members overcome personal differences
• Personality, gender, and culture can all become sources of conflict between members
• Everyone should be heard
• Take opinions and feelings seriously
• It's ok to disagree
• Offer/ accept constructive criticism
• Find something to agree on
• When the group makes a decision, support it
• Never attack anyone
• Use listening skills and creative thinking in group settings
• Listening Skills
• Listen actively to avoid misunderstandings
• Always assume you aren't listening enough
• Don't dictate
• Have an open mind
• Be courteous
• Thinking Creatively
• Brainstorming, brainwriting, mind-mapping, and storyboarding are effective ways to get ideas out between group membes
• Review and edit the work of your peers
• Review for
• Accuracy
• Organization
• Clarity
• Use of visuals and page design
• Edit by
• rephrasing
• clarifying
• replacing words
• correcting spelling, usage, or punctuation
• Not all feedback has equal value
• Be prepared to explain why you made the edits you did
• Avoid unethical behavior as a team member
• Don't intimidate
• Don't take credit for others' work
• Don't hoard information
• Understand how to work productively on a global team
• Use available technologies
• email
• project management software
• instant messaging
• groupware
• digital whiteboard
• blogs
• teleconfrencing and videoconfrencing
• Understand who your team members are
• Humor, slang, and idioms don't always translate into other languages
• Culture differences prevent some references
• Use the right technology
• Social cues don't always translate well digitally
• Write with translation in mind
• Create a glossary so everyone is using the same vocabulary
• Agree on technical standards
• Be respectful
• Listen actively
• Choose your words with care
• Use visuals carefully

Chapter 4: Weighing the Ethical Issues

• Appreciate the role of ethics in technical communication
• Things can be technically accurate but also misleading
• Legal does not always mean ethical
• Identify workplace pressures that lead to unethical communication
• People exaggerate their credentials or experience
• People negotiate huge sales by downplaying the faults with a product
• Managers write strong recommendations for friends over someone more qualified
• Workers may
• Yield to social pressure
• Mistake groupthink for teamwork
• Recognize common workplace examples of hiding the truth
• Suppressing knowledge the public needs
• Biotech industries don't want genetically modified ingredients identified
• Science journals won't publish studies on chlorine and fluoride in drinking water causing cancer
• Airlines don't call attention to near misses and safety lapses
• Hiding conflicts of interest
• Research-related financial ties
• Drug review pieces with financial links to drug companies
• Exaggerating claims about technology
• Falsifying or fabricating data
• Using visual images that conceal the truth
• Stealing or divulging proprietary information
• Misusing electronic information
• plagiarism of electronic sources
• copying digital files
• failing to protect personal information of website visitors
• selling prescription medications online 
• offering inaccurate medical advice
• Withholding information people need for their jobs
• Exploiting cultural differences
• Use critical thinking to help solve ethical dilemmas
• How can I know the best action?
• What are my obligations, and to whom?
• Consider obligations to yourself, clients, your company, coworkers, your community, and society
• What values or ideals do I want to represent?
• What will happen if I make this decision?
• Anticipate some hard choices
• What do I report and to whom?
• How much should I reveal or conceal?
• How do I say what I have to say?
• Do I have any misplaced obligations that could be causing harm to others?
• Differentiate between ethical practices and legal guidelines
• Legal doesn't necessarily mean ethical
• Never depend solely on legal guidelines
• Misleading Statements
• Promises you know you can't keep
• Assurances you haven't verified
• Credentials you don't have
• Inflated claims about your commitment
• Laws
• against deception
• against libel
• protecting employee privacy
• copyright
• against software theft
• against electronic theft
• against stealing or revealing trade secrets
• against deceptive or fraudulent advertising
• liability
• Avoid plagiarism- either intentional or unintentional
• Give credit to those who have done the work
• Between paraphrasing and entire paragraphs- always cite your sources
• Determine when and how to report ethical violations on the job
• Make sure you get your facts straight
• See if the company has an ombudsman to help employees file complaints
• Check hotlines for advice on ethics problems and reporting misconduct
• Determine if there is a formal code for personal/ organizational behavior
• No employer will tolerate a public statement that makes the company look bad
• Some states protect employees who blow the whistle- you should know the potential consequences for whistle-blowing

Chapter 3: Persuading Your Audience

• Appreciate the role of persuasion in technical communication
• Persuasion- trying to influence someone's actions, options, or decisions
• Try to get the desired response
• Success depends on your request and whom you are persuading
• Persuasion goals can be implicit or explicit
• Identify a specific persuasive goal for your document
• What is your goal?
• influence people's opinions?
• enlist people's support?
• submit a proposal?
• change people's behavior?
• Anticipate how audiences may react to your argument
• Different reactions can depend on the reader's
• temperament
• interests
• fears
• biases
• ambitions
• assumptions
• Your audience will likely react with defensive questions
• Expect audience resistance
• Three levels of response to persuasion
• Compliance
• Identification
• Internalization
• Connect with the audience with common ground
• Be flexible and listen to opposing views
• Clarify what you want from your audience
• Never ask for too much
• Respect any limitations such as company rules or legal constraints
• Organizational constraints are based on company rules
• Carefully decide what to say and to whom
• Legal constraints are based on laws
• Understand legal liabilities and consider public relations
• Ethical constraints are based on honesty and fairness
• Just because something is legal doesn't mean it is ethical
• Time constraints are simply based on the right timing
• Decide if you should wait for an opening or release the information immediately
• Social and psychological constraints are based on your audience
• Consider the relationship with your audience, their personality, the audience's sense of identity, and the perceived size/ urgency of the issue.
• Support your argument using evidence and reason
• Evidence should have quality
• Sources are credible
• Evidence is considered reasonable
• Facts, statistics, expert testimony
• Appeal to common goals and values
• Understand that cultural differences may influence audience reactions
• Consider the cultural context
• Don't offend or embarrass
• Don't ignore customs
• Never trivialize their values
• Prepare a convincing argument
• Be clear about what you want
• Don't be extreme
• Find points to agree on
• Don't distort the opposing position
• Concede something to your opponent
• Don't simply criticize
• Use claims you can support
• Stick to your best points- not all are equal
• Seek a second opinion before releasing the document
• Time it right
• Use proper format/ medium
• Send a copy to everyone involved
• Invite responses
• Don't get defensive
• Understand boundaries- know when to back off
• Use the audience and use profile
• State your claim
• Offer a reason and follow up with examples/ evidence
• Repeat
• Find common ground
• Appeal to the reader's goal
• Close with best reason

Chapter 2: Meeting the Needs of Specific Audiences

Meeting the Needs of Specific Audiences

Who will be reading the document?

·         Analyze Your Document’s Audience and Purpose

There are several key questions to ask yourself when analyzing your audience

o   Who is the main audience? Is anyone else likely to read it?

§  Primary and Secondary Audiences

Primary readers are decision makers; secondary readers carry out the project or advise the decision makers.

·         Primary Audience: Instructions for installing new software for an office would be directed PRIMARILY at the people doing the installing.

·         Secondary Audience: Managers checking if the instructions comply with company policy

o   What is your relationship with the audience? Are multiple types of relationships involved?

§  Are you addressing superiors, colleagues, or subordinates?

§  Are the readers inside or outside your organization? Use this to decide your level of confidentiality

§  Do you know these readers personally? Maybe your tone can be less formal

o   What is the purpose of your document?

What is the main purpose and what other purposes will the document serve?

What will readers do with the information?

§  Primary Purposes: Inform, Instruct, or Persuade

·         Example: Instruction manuals are used primarily to instruct people in how to assemble or use a product. The Secondary purpose would be for people to use that product safely.

§  Start with a clear audience and purpose statement that identifies the target audience, primary purpose, and secondary purposes.

§  Is the document about teaching facts or understanding concepts?

§  Is this information going to be used to make a decision?

§  When should I expect people to act on the information?

§  Is a step-by-step necessary?

·         Assess the Audience’s Technical Background

o   What information does the audience need? Will they be familiar with technical details?

o   Do the readers have varying levels of expertise?

§  Think about writing for people in your field versus writing for a journal article. When writing for people in your same field, you can include more technical details and expect they’ll be understood. A journal article might include less technical detail because it is geared towards a much wider audience.

§  It’s important to decide if you are writing for a…

·         Highly Technical Audience

o   A highly technical audience will expect facts and figures—not long explanations.

·         Identify the Audience’s Cultural Background

o   What culture or cultures does your audience represent? How might cultural differences shape readers’ expectations and interpretations?

o   Some cultures consider getting directly to the point, rude.

·         Anticipate Your Audience’s Preferences

o   Guidelines for Analyzing Your Audience and Its Use of the Document

§  Your audience will have preferences for length and amount of detail

§  Consider the format and medium of your document

§  Your tone should be appropriate for the audience

§  Pay attention to deadlines and timing as well as budget

·         Develop an Audience and Use Profile

o   Who is my audience?

o   How will they use this document?

·         Brainstorm as a Way of Getting Started

o   Produce as many ideas possible without judgments

o   Focus on the issue

o   At the end, sort through the list- remove useless things and sort the remaining ideas into categories.

Introduction

My name is Cydney West. I am a Graphic Communications major and when I'm not cooking I'm usually spending time with my pug.