Strategy Memo

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B. Pope, BUS 497-A

MEMORANDUM

TO: Students of BUS 497-A CSUN / Nazarian College of Business & Economics FROM: Blaine D. Pope, Ph.D. Lecturer, BUS 497-A SUBJECT: How to Write a Concise and Effective Memorandum (A memo about writing memos) DATE: 27 January 2018 OVERVIEW This paper concerns how to present ideas through the medium of a memorandum—a concise form of written business communication, designed to summarize information and highlight potential action items quickly. This means of communication can be found in a wide array of professional settings. In the body of the document you are reading here, the medium is also part of the message. Notice the structure of this document. Follow it, practice it, and you should have little problem in writing a clear and effective office memorandum over the course of your career. Memoranda can be on almost any topic but in each case the basic idea remains the same: to condense and simplify material for quick reading, and to facilitate organizational decision-making.1 Therefore, in this class, your memos should always contain suggested next steps (or action items) in the final section—“Conclusions” and/or “Recommendations.” IMPORTANT: The overall page length for your memos is a minimum of three (3) and a maximum of four (4) single-spaced pages. If you exceed the upper limit, I simply won’t read past the fourth page. DETAILS Memos should not usually be flowery or overly prosaic. When writing in memo format, it is okay (even encouraged) to use relatively dry language or wording. The idea here is to let the true power of your ideas (the underlying concepts the words should be conveying) speak for themselves. This can best be done by highlighting your ideas according to the following simple format—just like in you PowerPoint executive briefings

1 There is also an organizational historical dimension to memo writing. For further details, see the definition and origins of the Latin word, “Memorandum” in the Appendix section.

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/ presentations. The same basic principles apply in each case—simplicity. Less can be more.

• Basic identifying information: name and titles (and possibly the work units) of individuals involved, plus date, subject or topic at the top of the first page (see above); and page numbers typically at the bottom of the page. This is especially important for historical purposes. People who have never met you may read your memos months—or even years—later. This basic identifying information can help set some of the organizational context for those readers.

• Come to the point, immediately: wording along the lines of “This is a paper on/about/concerning . . . “ should usually be your first sentence. But by all means, it must be somewhere in your first paragraph. This is not negotiable.

• Use “Overview-Details-Conclusions/Recommendations” format: in much the same way that we employ executive briefings via PowerPoint, give your readers the brief overview of the issue(s), followed by the details explaining the importance of the issue(s), followed by your conclusion and/or recommended next steps.

• Consider itemizing an array of solutions: it’s one thing to eloquently identify problems; but, from a supervisor’s or a chief executive’s perspective, the next thought is typically something like, “Oh, okay, so what do your recommend we do about this issue?” Supervisors also usually like choices: consider an array of three (3) options. - Option 1: a reasonable choice, but not necessarily the one you most favor. - Option 2: a choice you might not advocate or actually prefer - Option 3: the choice you are actually recommending; the action you are

suggesting Then, having noted your own recommendation or choice, briefly explain to your reader why you are recommending it.

• Consider using sub-headings, to highlight certain key ideas: again, the basic idea is ease of viewing / reading.

• Quotes: typically, any quote that would take up more than two full lines of text on a regular page should be indented (see appendix).

• Avoid run-on sentences like the plague: an example of a run-on sentence is a sentence that just seems to go on and on without any kind of pause or break because the writer just seems to have so much to say in that particular sentence so every idea that he or she thinks is important at that precise moment—just like a brand new beautiful pair of shoes that deep down inside you actually know are too small for your feet—must somehow come-Hell-or-

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high-water be crammed in to that space. [This is a run-on sentence. Simple rule of thumb, if you have to pause to take a breath, then you probably need a period at that point; or at least a semi-colon. Break your long and rambling thoughts into two or more sentences. You reader will appreciate that.]

• Use white space on the page wisely: same reason as above, ease of viewing for your readers. Just like with PowerPoint, too much text that appears crammed together on a page is not a good thing.

• Appendixes: for purposes of our class, anything you cannot fit into your 4-page, single-space page limit, you can put into an appendix. Remember that this is merely supporting material that can help to bolster your argument. For purposes of this class, this optional section has no page limits. This might also be a good place to include charts, graphs, or other forms imagery, which help support your basic points, and recommendations.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The “Conclusions” and/or “Recommendations” section should initially restate your introductory sentence (which states “This paper is about X,Y, Z”). But you should feel free to embellish it, slightly, based on the strong case you’ve hopefully presented to your readers. In many ways, you’re selling something here: you’re selling your ideas. So, feel free to be somewhat “forceful” in your conclusion section (but don’t go over the top with this idea!). You should be subtly forceful, here. Think of it as “soft power,” in your wording. The main idea of any good office memorandum should be to convey an array of ideas (even complex ideas) as simply as possible. But, when analyzing problems or challenges, it is also important to provide recommendations or solutions—even if they are only tentative. Present your readers with proposed options. This conveys to them the feeling of being the decision-makers; however, you retain the power to “guide” your decision-makers toward the recommendation(s) you would actually like to see implemented. Finally, please note: it’s not always the “best ideas” that get approved. Instead, it is those ideas which are most clearly conveyed in the minds of viewers, listeners, and readers. Ultimately—in business just like in politics—the “best ideas” end up being the ones that finally got approved and implemented. This memo writing assignment is an exercise conveying ideas clearly and effectively, so that your ideas will hopefully be the ones chosen for implementation. Follow these simple steps, and you should do well in your business writing, both in this class and elsewhere. Blaine Pope

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APPENDIX (Use the appendix to supply what you think might be supplementary-but-helpful information to support your position(s). Remember, in writing memoranda, you are in the business of selling ideas. So try to avoid unnecessary material, even here!)

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Please follow these general guidelines, using APA (American Psychological Association) format, when citing references. APA is a common format across a wide range of academic fields. It is not the only format, however. In general, when citing references, just try to remember the who-what-when-where format. Who published the material (author’s name)? What is the name of the material (the title of the book, article, book chapter, or URL)? When was it published? Where was it published (the name of the publisher, or web site, if relevant)? Image source: https://www.slideshare.net/sherfel/apa-citation-28207081

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Memorandum Defined mem·o·ran·dum (from Latin) noun: memorandum; plural noun (Latin): memoranda; plural noun (English) : memorandums definition: a note or record made for future use. "the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on economic cooperation" synonyms: message, communication, note, email, letter, missive, directive; more a written message, especially in business or diplomacy. "he told them of his decision in a memorandum" synonyms: message, communication, note, email, letter, missive, directive Law: a document recording the terms of a contract or other legal details. Origin late Middle English: originally from Latin, literally ‘something to be brought to mind,’ gerundive of memorare . The original use was as an adjective, placed at the head of a note of something to be remembered or of a record made for future reference. Adapted from: https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome- instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=memorandum

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How MBA students should not approach business writing!

Source: http://navycaptain-therealnavy.blogspot.com/2012_12_01_archive.html

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Proper use of Quotations Proper use of quotations is also very important. Again, bear in mind the underlying concept or principle: ease of viewing and/or reading. With that in mind, it is important to know when / how to offset quotes from other writers from your own writing. Brief quotes: For an example of a brief quote, I will actually quote myself, from page 2 of this memo, above: “typically, any quote that would take up more than two full lines of text on a regular page should be indented.” Since this quoted sentence was less than two full lines of regular text, there is no need to indent it. It appears in italics simply to highlight it, for your ease of viewing here. Don’t use italics if it’s not really necessary, however. Longer quotes (more than 2 lines of text): Longer quotes: indent two (2) tab spaces. The following extended quote comes from my own 2007 Ph.D. dissertation. I am discussing the theory behind something called “world-systems analysis” (which I shortened to “WSA,” in this section), put forward by the American sociologist, Immanuel Wallerstein. I was required to use the formatting style of the American Psychological Association (APA); a virtual industry standard in many (but not all) of the social sciences. Beginning of Excerpt

In this section on the approach to WSA, it is important to define our terms before proceeding further. According to Wallerstein (2000), WSA entails the following:

The argument of world-systems analysis is straightforward. The three presumed arenas of collective human action—the economic, the political, and the social or socio-cultural—are not autonomous arenas of social action. They do not have separate “logics.” More importantly, the intermeshing of constraints, options, decisions, norms, and “rationalities” is such that no useful research model can isolate “factors” according to the categories of economic, political, and social. . . . We are arguing that there is a single “set of rules” or a single “set of constraints” within which these various structures operate. (p. 134)

One of Andre Gunder Frank’s points of disagreement with Wallerstein

came to be—in addition to privileging Europe (as Eurocentrism)—privileging human-to-human structures (as “humanocentrism”) to the exclusion of non- human/ecological structures which also influence those same human structures in a dynamic fashion. End of Excerpt

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Working (& Communicating) in Teams:

Are you a “Thinker” or a “Doer?” Part of being an effective manager involves an element of introspection. Know thyself. Do you tend to be more of a “Thought Leader” or a “Do Leader?” One is not better than the other. Each requires an element of the other (thought versus action), in order to bring about success. Balance is the key. Thought without action soon rings hallow or pointless. Action without thought can prove to be costly—even outright dangerous. Ideally, organizations need diverse teams of people working on projects. In that diversity, hopefully, there will be a balance of “thinkers” and “doers.” Each group, in its own way, can serve as a kind of check-and-balance, with regard to the behavior of the other. Thinkers should not let the doers run away with things just because “We have to get something done!” By the same token, doers must remind the thinkers that, eventually, they must get something done. Where do you see yourself in the scheme of things, between thinkers and doers? Consider how this may (or may not) be reflected in your writing, speaking, and learning style. How does it reflect how you interact with colleagues? If you tend toward the “thinker” or “Thought Leader” side, for example, you might want to consider aligning with some “doers” or “Do Leaders,” to assist you in implementing your great ideas. If you tend toward the “doer” or “Do Leader” side, you might want to include people you know to have solid thinking, and who can sometimes ask tough questions of the group— before things go too far in the wrong direction. As you refine and complete your group papers in this class, consider your own personal style. Again, no one way is necessarily better than the other. It’s really an issue of what seems most appropriate (what seems to be the “best fit”) for a given assignment, task, or project.2 Look at the graphic image on the next page; then ask yourself where you believe you fit in, among the characteristics described there.

2 There are numerous, formal ways of objectively assessing your own personal style. One of these ways is the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI. It is designed to measure psychological preferences. It does this by assessing how people perceive themselves, their environment, arrive at individual decisions, and under what conditions they can work and perform best in groups.

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Develop Your Unique Communication Style: Play to your strengths, but Be Aware of Your Weaknesses

Not all sound thinkers are good writers; and not all good writers are eloquent speakers. Consider where you fit in, among these three domains of communication. What are your strengths? Where could you improve? Know thyself. Ancient Rome: Caesar Augustus Below: a depiction of Caesar Augustus (reigned 27 BC to 14 AD) speaking before the Roman Senate. As the “chief executive” of the Roman Empire, his eloquent words could move armies, set domestic social welfare policy, as well as hopefully “appease the gods.” Most of important of all, he had to appease the Roman masses who had the power to determine if he either remained in power as Emperor, or met an early death. He would do this through a combination of thought, word, and deed.

Image Source: HBO Rome.

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Ancient Rome: Caesar Claudius Below: a depiction of Caesar Claudius (reigned 41 to 54 AD), at his desk, writing his memoir. He had been a precocious youth, with two distinct physical handicaps. Despite his having both a stutter and a limp (and his family initially thinking his congenital condition was some form of mental retardation), Claudius went on to become a brilliant and effective emperor of Rome. Although he sometimes struggled with his own speech (particularly when under stress), he was an excellent writer and strategic thinker. He was also known to be a first rate historian. Moreover, he used his vast knowledge of Roman politics and the imperial palace to surround himself with a highly competent staff—people capable of implementing his many brilliant ideas.

Image source: The BBC’s “Masterpiece Theater” series, I, Claudius.