News Release

CHAPEL HILL -- Chi-Chi’s had to deal with an outbreak of hepatitis A in one of its Beaver County, Pa., restaurants in the fall of 2003 – presenting the immediate challenge of how company officials should communicate this crisis to employees, the community and local media.

A new book by Dr. Heidi Schultz, professor and director of management and corporate communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, drops readers in real-world workplace scenarios, such as the Chi-Chi’s example. The book then requires readers to come up with a communication strategy to address increasingly complex situations.

The recently released "Business Scenarios: A Context-Based Approach to Business Communication" (McGraw-Hill/Irwin) covers building blocks for successful business communication: document design, strategy, tone, creation and delivery of business presentations, writing about negative news and effectively dealing with crisis situations.

"For instance, the ‘Business Writing Basics’ chapter addresses writing from the perspective of business readers rather than English teachers," Schultz said. "Split infinitives may drive English teachers crazy but go unnoticed by successful business leaders. As such, professionals need to master only a handful of basic business writing rules to become better business communicators."

Although the book is especially geared for business students, it’s also full of practical advice for busy executives, including the following:

· Strive for an average of 20 words per sentence, which is a good match for the short-term attention span of busy readers.

· Use plain English. "Favor the words you use in everyday conversation; use the technical jargon of your discipline only when you have a good reason to do so," Schultz said. "This approach allows your reader to experience a common-sense, conversational tone."

· Avoid repetitiveness, redundancies, verbosity and evasiveness.

· Develop an effective communication strategy, one that recognizes the medium, the audience, and the organization’s credibility and message.

· Cushion the blow of bad news with a short "context statement." "Negative information should come relatively early on in the document, and it should be direct, clear and succinct," Schultz said. "End with a positive close."

· Use PowerPoint effectively. Specifically, choose colors that contrast well, keep transitions consistent so your audience focuses on the message and not the "bells and whistles," make sure bullets are grammatically parallel, use a consistent capitalization style, limit information on slides and incorporate visuals and charts.

· Create effective headings in written communication, by being specific and using questions. "A heading like ‘Results’ doesn’t do much," Schultz said. "‘Earnings are up this quarter’ is a heading with more specific results." Concerning questions, she added, "Something like, ‘How were results last quarter?’ implicitly promises your reader the answer in the ensuing section."

Schultz teaches oral and written business communication to undergraduate and master of business administration students and executive education clients at UNC Kenan-Flagler. Her research emphasizes electronic communication issues and the presentation styles of successful business professionals. She also has written "The Elements of Electronic Communication" (Allyn & Bacon/Longman Publishers, 2000).

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UNC Kenan-Flagler contact: Kim Weaver Spurr, (919) 962-8951 or spurrk@unc.edu