1. The Planning Process in Communication

1. The Planning Process in Communication

Planning and organizing are the keys to success in most activities, from constructing a
building, taking a 2000-mile trip, or performing a surgical procedure, to writing a report,
letter, or proposal. Few daily activities are carried through without a plan; unfortunately,
though, many people attempt to write without planning.
In communication, the planning process consists of clearly defining the problems to be
solved, recognizing the purpose of the communication, and identifying the audience to
which the communication is directed. Interestingly enough, many people begin their
research, or even their writing, without knowing precisely the problem they are
concerned with.
Example: Sales are declining in the Campbell Corporation and the president of the firm
requests a report. Before one can prepare a report on declining sales, it is vital to
determine the precise problem or cause of the problem. The decline could be due to
higher sales prices, ineffective advertising, poor sales representatives, increased
competition, or any one of a number of other causes. If the report writer offers a solution
based on an incorrect cause, certainly little would be achieved in the way of solving the
problem. The first step is to determine accurately the precise problem: sales prices?
Advertising? Sales personnel? Competition? Or what?
The report writer‟s second step is to determine the purpose of the report. The purpose
could be to inform the reader, persuade the reader, offer a comparison between two or
more situations to the reader, or explain a process or technique to the reader. For
example, if the writer simply wants to inform a potential buyer of technical details of a
product or service, he would be unwise to attempt to persuade the buyer to take a specific
action.
The report writer‟s third step is to determine who will be reading the report. Certainly,
the complexity of presentation, the choice of graphs, the depth of analysis, and the details
covered vary according to whether the reader of the report is a stockholder or a member
of the audit committee.