Advantages and Disadvantages of Written Communication: Written communication is crucial in today’s work environment. It requires creativity and invention in the mind. Strong written communication skills must be developed by managers and business owners, who must also push their personnel to do the same. Effective written communication is a need for the development of meaningful advertising material for business growth. Effective writing requires deliberate word choice, appropriate phrase design, and word placement within sentences.

Meaning of Written Communication
In a wide sense, written communications encompass correspondence of all kinds, such as letters, circulars, manuals, reports, telegrams, office memos, bulletins, and more. It is a more formal, strict manner of speaking. It is rigid and unchangeable. An accurate written record that is preserved creates a permanent record for use in the future.

Written communication has various benefits, including the ability to be preserved, understood easily, and used as legal documentation. But “written communication” has two sides, just like everything else. We shall go into more detail about the disadvantages of textual communication in this article. Let’s talk about the many benefits of written communication first.

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Advantages (Merits) of written communication

1. Easy to Preserve: One of the key benefits of written communication is the ease with which written records may be preserved. Communication that is verbal and nonverbal is not maintained. Even though it can be recorded, it is not practical to do so every time. Crucial information is gathered by written communication from the already stored data.

2. Clarity and Clear Understanding: Written communication also offers a clear and thorough understanding of the message that has to be communicated. Written communication gives us the ability to reread the message until the intended audience understands it completely. Additionally, there are fewer opportunities for any communication-related information to be lost or misunderstood.

As a result, the sender’s intended meaning is precisely received and understood by the recipient. Oral or nonverbal communication is readily forgotten, and the recipient may not be paying close attention while listening in some cases. This is not the case while communicating in writing.

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3. Permanent Record: The fact that written communication records serve as a permanent document is another significant benefit of written communication. Additionally, a company’s records are typically in writing, making them very valuable as references in the future. For instance: Decisions made in the past may act as a guide for decisions made in the future and for other purposes. If it is in writing, it will save time and work in the future.

4. Makes Presentation Easy: We have the benefit of being able to quickly and more aesthetically communicate any difficult subject or information through written communication.

Executives in commercial organizations can convey information more precisely and concisely through textual communication. It offers guidance on how to succinctly explain the facts.

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5. Serves as a Legal document: Written records are used as legal documentation for significant company transactions and activities. Written communication is the type of evidence that is accepted in court cases. It is maintained with due care and attention because it is legal documentation, and all necessary standards were met while it was being written.

6. No wastage of time and money: Another benefit of written communication is that it helps to avoid time and money waste. It is because all parties or members who are expressing their ideas or data can do so even if they have never met, i.e., communicators and receivers can exchange opinions without ever having even spoken.

7. Fewer chances of distortion: Additionally, written communication lessens the possibility of distortion. Similar to textual communication, information is permanently recorded, reducing the chance of distortion or other changes to the content.

When communicating orally, the communicator may forget certain crucial details or facts as they are being said. However, since the communication’s contents are written, there is very little chance of distortion when using written communication.

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8. Ease in verification: This advantage of texting seems quite evident. It is possible to rapidly verify any uncertainty. You can verify the validity of something said or acclaimed by reading the written record. It is straightforward to check if there was an information breakdown between the parties.

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Disadvantages (Demerits) of Written Communication

1. Expensive: Being more expensive than other forms of communication is one of the drawbacks of written communication. To execute textual communication, a computer, a sizable workforce, paper, pens, ink, typewriters, printing presses, and sustaining such machines and equipment are required. Additionally, it costs a lot of money for a group of people to write and deliver the organization’s letters, which is costly for any organization. It is therefore expensive.

2. Time-Consuming: Written communication is not only costly but also takes a lot of time. It takes far longer to draft and create a statement in writing than it does to communicate it orally. An oral communication message can be delivered over the phone in a matter of seconds, whereas a written message may take two to three days to reach its intended recipient.

Additionally, written communication takes time because the response is delayed. A message must also be encoded and sent a lot of times.

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3.  Lack of confidentiality: The fact that it is not always possible to maintain the confidentiality of the information is one of the biggest downsides of textual communication. Because written communication is provided to everyone interested in the information or specific issue, there is a potential that any employee could leak information.

Losses might happen for the company as a result of this.

4. Delay in response and decision making: The reaction is not spontaneous since there is a lack of an immediate response, which ultimately causes a delay in subsequent decision-making if the message recipient is far away and has any doubts that need to be clarified.

5. Red Tapism: One of the main drawbacks of written communication is this. Red tape is the length of time it takes for a project to get approved. All messages are typically transmitted over the Scalar chain, however occasionally any typed messages or letters may be stored on file without being immediately responded to.

The concerned party purposefully delayed the response, which ultimately delayed the decision-making process.

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6. Impractical for Illiterate: Another drawback of written communication is that it is useless if either the sender or the recipient cannot read or write. Illiteracy makes it impossible for the sender to draft a written message, and it also makes it impossible for the recipient to read it, which frequently results in unsuccessful communication.

7. Fabrication of the information: There is a chance that employees will fabricate written messages when they conflict with the interests or concerns of higher officials or other authoritative figures. To seek the approval of higher authorities for their gain, they could exaggerate or flatter the information provided.

Additionally, the sender could embellish and flatter the truth in the prepared letter if they want to escape criticism from others.

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8. Complexity information: Any written communication must be created and drafted using specific guidelines and formalities that must be followed. It should be in the right format for the purpose for which it was written, which frequently causes difficulty for the person sending or writing the information.

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Conclusion

When it comes to business issues today, communication is crucial, especially written communication. As a result, written communication is the most common form of communication in business. As a result, among business professionals, it is regarded as crucial. Additionally, the effectiveness of written information is influenced by the appropriate word choice, how the words are arranged into sentences, and how well the phrases are put together. Written information is thought to be more legitimate and legal than spoken information.

Additionally, people place more value on written information than verbal communication. However u, like oral communication, written communication takes time to transform into an understandable form and does not offer a quick reaction because it is not spontaneous. Additionally, people place more value on written information than verbal communication.

Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka ACMC

Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.