Audience Caption

Effective business communication utilizes the concept of audience sensitivity to modify and
adapt messages to better inform and engage the audience. Audience sensitive communication
will engage the recipient and establish a relationship by clearly demonstrating how the
communication is relevant and beneficial to the intended audience. The concept of audience
sensitivity is particularly important in the supply chain and logistics field where clarity and
simplicity is at a premium. We want our communication to be a tool and resource for our
audience, rather than an obstacle to completing their task.
In logistics, time is money. An author can demonstrate respect for their audience’s time by
presenting information in a format that is clear and easy to understand. Using plain english, a
conversational tone, and biasfree
language are best practices to effective communication in the
supply chain and logistics field. Communication that fails to incorporate these practices risks
being interpreted as lacking in both credibility and sincerity and is also more likely to be
dismissed or ignored.
Bias free communication avoids words that unfairly categorize or stigmatize people in regards to
their gender, race, age, ethnicity or disability. For example, seemingly innocuous terms such as
“man made, manpower, or salesman” should be avoided in favor of “manufactured, workforce,
and sales representative.”
Audience sensitivity in business communication has benefits not just for the recipients of the
communication but for the business as a whole.
My current supervisor has made me very aware of the importance of audience sensitivity. She
used the following example: “Consider you are sending an email to our department of 120
people. Imagine your email takes a minute to read, but contains an idea which could be
communicated in under 30 seconds. While the original author might not be concerned about the
wasted 30 seconds,, when spread across our entire department...