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Review of Oral vs. Written Communication
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To review, what sets oral and written communication apart from one another are the following four things:

Oral Communication

Group of individuals in a board room talking

  • Environment
    • Given and received in a relatively stable, controlled environment
  • Feedback
    • Immediate Feedback
    • Adaptable message
    • Benefit of social cues
  • Context
    • Allows for showing, not just telling
    • Easier to give context
  • Style
    • Simpler
    • Shorter sentences
    • More universal word choice
    • Repetition/summarization

Written Communication

Man typing on a laptop computer

  • Environment
    • While written in a controlled environment…
    • …..It may be read in an unpredictable environment
  • Feedback
    • Delayed Feedback
    • Permanent message
    • Lack of social cues
  • Context
    • Relies solely on description (story telling)
    • More difficult to provide context
  • Style
    • More complex
    • Professional Community-specific jargon
    • Grammatical correctness

To better determine which method of communication to use and when, consider the following four things:

  • Topic of conversation
  • Urgency
  • Familiarity
  • Audience

Ponder and Record

Taking into consideration the four items above (topic of conversation, urgency, familiarity, and audience), read through the following scenarios and try to determine which method of communication would work best for each of them (oral or written).

Scenario #1
You work in the food manufacturing industry, and you are in charge of selling and shipping ingredients to customers for personal use in their businesses. One of your biggest customers, a bakery owner, just called to inform you that the flour that you shipped to her came opened and spoiled. As a result, she does not have all the ingredients that she needs to create her baked goods in time for the holiday rush (the most profitable time of year for her business). She needs a new order of flour shipped to her within the next 24 hours or she may have to take her business somewhere else.

  • Which form of communication (oral or written) should you use in this situation and why? Draw on the four considerations listed above to support your answer.

Scenario #2
You work in the IT department, and you are charged with the task of letting the staff know that a routine program update is scheduled to happen this coming Friday from 9:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m. During that time, all company programs and applications will be inaccessible.

  • Which form of communication (oral or written) should you use in this situation and why? Draw on the four considerations listed above to support your answer.

Scenario #3
For the past several months, you have been working with a small team of employees to create some large-scale improvements to some core programs and procedures within the company. After several weeks of deliberation, the executive board has approved the suggested changes and would like you to present those changes to all of the employees and also train them on how to use the new programs.

  • Which form of communication (oral or written) should you use in this situation and why? Draw on the four considerations listed above to support your answer.

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