How could the pigeon be more accurate than my courier service? That too without any Google maps. A friend of mine completed his bachelors from Europe and verbally told the university’s record management to send his degree, back to his home town in Asia through courier. But his degree landed in USA instead. How did that happen?
The significance of written communication
Written communication is one of the most ancient forms of communication and more relevant than ever. It is not just a method of conveying a message, but it is also considered to be an art.
It is an effective tool used everywhere and anywhere from a legal judiciary system, complex organization decision-making, to a Cheap Assignment Writing Service UK or students from other parts of the world might require, and even running the whole country’s administration through a written constitution.
Characteristic of written communication
Written communication has to be structured, concise, and connecting it with each paragraph.
Also, written communication includes the 5 W element of Who? What? Where? When? And Why? to make clear:
- Who is the target audience?
- What is the communication about?
- Where is the communication coming from?
- When will the event or action take place?
- Why? To make the purpose clear.
With this being said, here are 12 pros and cons of written communication.
Dominance
- Keeps Record
Humans tend to forget a lot of information but writing helps to keep those information preserved. The best example can be contracts, where everything is written down to avoid any breach.
- Understand Complex Information
People at times are unable to understand information until and unless it is written down. This gives sufficient time to understand complex information.
- Helps In Decision-Making
With written communication, the whole party will have the chance to study written information to make a sound and better decision rather than in oral communication. The best example can be in organizational decisions.
- A Network Communication
Written communication can act as a network, where one written document can be sent to multiple receivers at one time.
- Avoids Wastage of Resources
Instead of wasting time and setting up meetings, one comprehensively written message to multiple people might be sufficient.
- Solves Problems
If employees in an organization or even in a legal process, for example, differ against each other, then the problem can be solved through one authoritative written communication.
- Helps To Plan Ahead
Written communication helps to save a lot of time when there are last-minute changes in plans. It helps to officially defer any plans and look ahead for the future.
- Serves As A Backup
Written communication is considered the most chosen alternate form of communication and never fails to serve the purpose.
- Reduces Risk
Written documentations like national ID, vehicle registration, property ownership, and even a domicile, can help the chances of reducing risk in legal issues.
- Authoritative Command
Written communication will always have an authoritative command and it usually considered official. This makes it easy to assigned tasks and delegate responsibilities.
- Provides References
Written communication helps to improve any evidence, as it provides accessible information for confirmation as references.
- Reliability
It is said that written communication is more reliable than verbal speech. While writing, the mind is sound, and whatever written has fewer chances of mistakes. Unlike verbal communication, which has comparatively higher chances of mistakes.
Stumbling block
With every good, comes the bad and both can’t exist without each other. Here are the cons and limitations of written communication.
- Wastage of Time
Writing comprehensive information is excessively time-consuming rather than simply conveying the information verbally.
- No Immediate Feedback
As part of time-consuming, the feedback of written communication is not immediate which delays the process of anything urgent
- Risk Of Not Receiving
There are times where written communication is not received by the receiver and goes in the wrong hands. This opens up opportunities of miscommunication and misunderstanding.
- Risk Of Security
Written documents that are confidential, are also at the risk of being hacked. This faces security issues where another party can take illegal advantage of any written confidential information.
- One-Way Communication
Some written communications are one-way, where feedback is automatically discouraged. Some are open-ended, but the receiver might not feel the need to respond. This again discourages feedback and raise chances of misunderstanding.
- Increasing Doubts
The language used in written communication might not be understood by many. Even if there is two-way communication going on, still it might not be understood, which requires meetings to end any doubts.
- Annoying Formalities
The writer is forced to write with certain formalities with formal structure, length, usage of formal wordings which at many times, can get annoying and limits the writer’s abilities.
- Layers of Process
In an organization, urgent messages in written form goes through layers of process. An urgent CEO’s message is first sent to the assistant, the assistant sends it to the head, the head sends it to the supervisor, and then finally, the supervisor sends it to the worker. This discourages relations with the employees.
- Increases Burden
Too much paperwork and E-mails piled up, where many of them can be unnecessary, increase the burden as one might have trouble to find the needed document with jumbled-up paperwork or E-mail
- Risk Of Wrong Interpretation
Some written communication can be interpreted the wrong way by the receiver due to complex wordings or paragraphs.
- Fixed Timings
Formally written communications are non-flexible, where particular timings are fixed for E-mailing. It won’t really be considered acceptable when E-mailing about work at 11 p.m of the night.
- Emotional Expression
The receiver at times, might not be able to interpret the right emotional expressions used in written communication, and due to this, the response might not be desirable.
Conclusion
Written communication is a form of communication that depends upon the requirements. A comprehensively written document can be considered official and established.
