Is the Quality of Writing in UK business as Bad as we Think?

Anecdotal evidence has led me to believe that UK business leaders despair at the quality of writing in their organisations. I am finding out the truth.

Over the next few weeks I am conducting a survey to test my theory that British business leaders think the quality of writing is falling.  I also aim to find out what they are doing about it, if anything, and why they think they have this problem.  As a result I will be able to write a report (very readable of course) with my friend and colleague Terry Sheppey.  We will publish our findings in September and recommend realistic actions that help organisations to aim the fire hydrant at the base of the fire.  Terry and I know from our day to day work that report writing courses are often arranged in the hope that they will help - and they do, a little.  But there are many other approaches that may be far more practical and focused.  Please complete the survey - and forward it to suitable colleagues - to help us to get to the truth.

Comments

• Being a very young surveyor, and far from ‘a business leader’ i’m not sure if my comments are of interest at all, but i’ll throw my two-pence in anyway.

  I have recently been working for a large surveying firm, where my line manager could be described as nothing more than a pedant when it came to the english language.

  I was regularly chastised for having extra words in sentences and incorrect word ordering, despite them meaning the same.

  I have since moved on, and although i do not understand how this benefitted the end user or the client i am somewhat grateful for the lessons.

  In my new job, i seem to have found myself able to take the high ground, and have found myself correcting a partner’s work, and have just noticed poor apostrophe control on a corporate brochure.

  In essence what my point is that the standard of business writing is important, but i feel that dwelling on the perfections of language sometimes detracts from the overall purpose of a report or the content within.

  In businesslanguage, grammar and vocabularly should be correct, but the time for pedantry is surely in academia. A fit for purpose approach should be taken, as long as the content is clear and beneficial.

  thanks for allowing me to ‘vent’ my views.

  feel free to drop me a line if you wish to further discuss.

  shaun

  By Shaun Collins on 2010 07 26

• I wholeheartedly agree Shaun.  I am not a perfectionist compared to a lot of grammarians.  I believe that the important thing is clarity and that some of the pedantic rules such as splitting infinitives and the difference between ‘would’ and ‘should’ should be relegated to the scrap heap.  However, a high standard of clarity, consistency and conciseness helps readers to read quickly and gives a professional impression.  Thank you very much for your comments.

  By GTG on 2010 07 26

• Firstly, I have to admit having a vested in this subject since part of my business is copywriting!

  However, in my experience, many people whether business owners/leaders or not, are not aware of what constitutes good grammar.

  I am regularly appalled at poor punctuation and spelling, and don’t get me started on apostrophes. Having said that, I am happy to concede I don’t know all the answers and I make mistakes too.

  However, I agree with Shaun that in today’s world, particularly on the internet it is generally accepted that some of the grammar rules can be set aside. Especially when writing marketing copy!

  That doesn’t excuse some of the howlers but hey ho!

  By Nicky Parker on 2010 09 01