Re: Writing in the workplace (long)

[Jon Olson <jeo3@psu.edu>]

I think Leigh Pike's description of corporate workplace writing is pretty
interesting.  Notice how the matters we often link with careful thinking
("higher order concerns" of organizational unity, coherence, development)
aren't a great concern--they're taken care of by formulae or are caught
during a process of review; coworkers judge a writer's intelligence based
on what we often call lower order concerns.  I wonder if we in the academy
push our writing agendas a little too hard and don't always listen to folks
in the workforce who say they really don't do much writing; what little
they do is only done a sentence or two at a time.  They just want to make
their sentences accurate so they don't look stupid.   --Jon, Penn State,
jeo3@psu.edu

At 07:07 PM 5/3/98 -0500, you wrote:
>About a week ago, Jon Olson and I were talking about priorities for
>teaching writing for the workplace.  He raised the question of whether it
>would be good to teach grammar first rather than large structures of
>organization.  I wrote to my daughter Leigh Pike (whom many of you met at
>NWCA this past fall) and asked her about writing.  She is a systems
>engineer for a huge bank, and she does all the writing for the group she
>works with.  Here was her answer to my question (with the "Dear Mom" and
>the "I love you" at the end removed; those were just for me).
>
>I thought that some of her comments would stir some interesting
>differences of opinion and some good discussion.  
>
>Paula Gillespie
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1998 08:28:46 -0400
>From: Pike <pike3@hotcoco.infi.net>
>To: Paula.Gillespie@vms.csd.mu.edu
>Subject: Re: Question about writing
>
>I talked about your question with Allan [her boss's boss] and he and I
>feel exactly the same. 
>
>Where I work there are two groups:  those that notice and care about
>grammar and those that do not.  People that care about grammar think
>that if your grammar is poor you sound like an idiot.  However, we take
>English as a second language into consideration as we rush to judgement.
>
>Most people do not write lengthy proposals.  Most writing is short (one
>page) memos, usually in e-mail form.  People who write well are given
>all of the assignments to write long documents.  If you can't write, you
>don't get those assignments more than once.
>
>Allan says that if a document is poorly organized he simply won't read
>beyond the first couple of pages.  I agree.
>
>It is my opinion that grammar should come first, because everyone writes
>memos and e-mails.  Structure and organization are the icing on the
>cake.  If your grammar is bad, you'll never be given a chance to write a
>document so lengthy that structure and organization really matter.  
>Besides, long documents may be written by a team, with different groups
>submitting chapters, so the organization is predefined.  Finally, long
>documents are reviewed and walked through by teams, and a paper's
>structure will be addressed then if it is bad.
>
>We have a published Project Management Process (PMP). The longer
>documents that we write for every project have outlines defined in the
>PMP.  You do not have to use the PMP format, but if you are lost you can
>always fall back on the PMP outline.
>
>Allan and I agree on one final point:  poor grammar does not limit your
>career.  If your grammar is poor because you really are dumb, then it is
>your dumbness that will keep you from advancing, not your grammar.  If
>you have a lot of other valuable skills, people will overlook your
>rotten grammar.  Those that care about grammar will talk about your
>documents behind your back, but that is about the worst of it.  The
>topic might come up as management discusses your potential for
>advancement, but it is not likely to be a career-limiting factor.
>
>I'll give you two quick examples.  [and here I removed the names she named
>and substituted names of my friends] Bobbie used to be the Executive Vice
>President in charge of applications (computer program)  development for
>the entire Global Retail Bank.  Her boss reported to the CEO.  (She
>recently made a lateral move so that she doesn't manage my area anymore,
>but she is in the same EVP rank as before.)  Neal is our current CEO. 
>Allan mentioned his pet peeve that neither one knows the difference
>between "I" and "me".  They both say, "Bob told Joe and I..." 
>
>A much more serious offense, in my opinion, is that Bobbie never uses
>capital letters in any of her internal communications (memos in e-mail
>form).  This drives me absolutely crazy.  I think it is extremely rude. 
>She has taken a lot of complaints about it, but she brushes them off by
>saying she is simply too busy to bother with the shift key.  I hate that.
>
>I'll be curious to hear if what I described is what you expected.
>
>
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