TM 1-9: Memo of Introduction

This is a great example of an introductory memo.

Business Communication: Building Critical Skills Module 1 Introduction to Business Communication

September 20, 2000 To: From: Subject: Business Communication Students Kitty O. Locker Kitty O'Donnell Locker on September 20, 2000

I'm looking forward to this quarter. I'm ending three years as a journal editor, and I hope to have time not only to teach well but also to do some of my own work and plant bulbs. I may not get all of that done, but I'm looking forward to ending a responsibility that has made life almost impossibly busy. I feel more relaxed than I have in a long time. Background Information I was born in Wyoming, grew up in Kentucky, attended DePauw University in Indiana, and did my graduate work at the University of Illinois. After earning my PhD, I taught at Texas A&M University for a year and at Illinois for seven years before coming to Ohio State in 1985. In 1990, I received tenure and promotion to associate professor. Although I got into business communication by accident, I have stayed in it by design. The field has been good to me. I've been very active in the Association for Business Communication; my textbook, Business and Administrative Communication, is the number 1 book in the United States. My research areas include the history of business communication, negative messages, collaborative writing, and the writing of factory workers. In January 1999, I finally published a project that I began in 1976 on reader responses to negative messages. My other decades-long project is a study of the correspondence of the British East India Company (1600-1858). In The Development of the Faceless Bureaucrat, I trace the evolution of bureaucratic writing in the first two centuries of the Company's correspondence and argue that the basic causes of bureaucratic writing are psychological, not rhetorical. I laid the East India project aside (not for the first time) to work on another textbook that will come out this December. But in 2001, I actually hope to finish revising the East India book and get it off to a publisher. I'm finishing three years of editing The Journal of Business Communication (JBC), which has been satisfying but very time-consuming. I'm looking forward to doing some of my own work. I've been fortunate in my personal life, too. In August, Bob Mills and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary (in Nikko, Japan--a beautiful place). When I met Bob (in a disco dance class!), I was divorced and felt dubious about marriage. With Bob, I've learned that a man and a woman can communicate openly, that conflicts can be resolved, and that resolution produces intimacy. In a world with so many unhappy marriages, I feel fortunate to be part of a strong one. I don't believe that people need to confront the world in matched pairs, like bookends, but it feels very good to love and be loved and to be part of a learning, growing, supportive relationship. We spent the first year of our marriage in tiny Homer, Illinois, where Bob was pastor of the Presbyterian church. Then Bob decided to pursue a ministry in "underdog law." His second career was as an attorney with Ohio Legal Rights Service (OLRS), a state agency which represents people who are mentally

Business Communication: Building Critical Skills Module 1 Introduction to Business Communication

Business Communication Students

September 20, 2000

handicapped in civil suits. He's now reinvented himself again, as a computer network administrator for OLRS. He got this new job without going back to school, without job hunting, and without losing pension benefits. He loves his work. When we married, we each had two cats. Four years ago, the last two died (at the advanced age of 18_). We now have just two cats in our second generation of cats. Honey-colored Webster is the neighborhood charmer. He likes small children and knows more people in the neighborhood than we do. One year a group of people came to our house to sing Christmas carols to him. Liza is solid black. She is more of a home body than Webster. She was so scared when we brought her home from the shelter that she slept in the ceiling of the basement for months. But over the years she's turned into a pet. In 1989, I went in for a baseline mammogram and discovered that I had breast cancer. I had a lumpectomy and radiation. Six years ago, I had a recurrence, a mastectomy, and six months of chemotherapy. I feel much more charitable about the chemo now that it's in the past and I'm fine and can do what I want to do. Personality and Beliefs In some ways--not all--I'm very independent. I can become very enthusiastic about ideas and people. I'm an ardent feminist, though there are definitely spots where my consciousness isn't as high as it could be and I enact sex-role stereotypes. Bob is also a feminist. Many years ago, however, we abandoned our early effort to split the cooking evenly: I do all the cooking and Bob washes all the dishes. We pay to have the house cleaned. What a pleasant luxury! Although in some areas I'm a traditionalist, I'm a liberal on most issues, partly as a result of living with Bob. I'm also developing a sense of humor. I actually emceed a roast a few years ago for a retiring colleague and had the audience rolling with laughter on the last joke. (To be fair, it was one I'd heard the roastee tell. But my timing was exactly right.) I complain about having too much work to do (and I overcommit my time), but I like being busy and I like doing projects that seem worth doing. When one project ends, I take on two more. I don't call myself a workaholic--for one thing, I love to goof off, too--but for the last dozen years I've acted like one! Interests Many of my interests are long-standing. I like houses and decorating and gardening. Each spring, we start some annuals and vegetables from seed in the basement under grow lights. I like OSU basketball, expecially when we win. I like organ and harpsichord music and medium-hard rock. I like representational paintings, traditional ballets, and cheerful movies. I read science fiction and non-violent murder mysteries (I like puzzles, not gore). I can appreciate modern and abstract art but I'm fondest of Impressionist paintings. Visits to Florence and Rome have made me really appreciate Renaissance frescos and everything by Michelangelo. Photographs of his statues and the Sistine Chapel just don't measure up to the reality.

Business Communication: Building Critical Skills Module 1 Introduction to Business Communication

Business Communication Students

September 20, 2000

Bob and I like traveling--to state and national parks, US cities, Williamsburg, Disney World, Europe, and, most recently, Japan. When my professional conferences are in neat places, we try to spend a few days before or after the conference exploring the city. I had a conference in Kyoto this summer, and we spent two weeks touring Japan. (We got around fine, even though we don't read or speak Japanese. People were very helpful.) Two years ago, we spent three weeks driving through Germany, Austria, and Belgium with my brother (who lives in Scotland and speaks German); we visited Bob's sister who was in Brussels at the time. She now lives in Africa, and perhaps someday we'll visit her there. In 50 years, I've had the opportunity to do many things. The accomplishments which please me most at this point are 1. Building good communication and problem-solving strategies in my relationship with Bob. 2. Playing Titania in a college production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. 3. Being a friend and having good friends. 4. Feeling that the English department at OSU has accepted me and (perhaps) is even beginning to accept business writing as a legitimate academic discipline. 5. Advising graduate students, and having both of my students on the job market last year get tenure-track jobs. 6. Being the only person (so far) to receive both the "Outstanding Researcher Award" and the "Outstanding Teacher Award" from the Association for Business Communication. 7. Helping a man at a local company go from being a "terrible" to an "excellent" writer, in the judgment of his supervisor. 8. Having people come up to me at conferences and tell me that they really like using BAC. Goals In October, I'm giving a series of talks in Finland, and I need to prepare those presentations. I'd really like to write two articles this quarter if I can. I need to finish up the remaining work on JBC. I also want to teach well, get back on a regular exercise schedule, give some energy to my marriage, and, if time permits, plant lots of spring bulbs. Five years from now, I hope that The Faceless Bureaucrat will be in print, that both my textbooks will be doing well in their respective markets, and that I'll be a full professor. This term should be busy and satisfying. I look forward to working with you and to a productive quarter!

Business Communication: Building Critical Skills Module 1 Introduction to Business Communication