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CMA Foundation · Fundamentals of Business Laws and Business Communication · Introduction to Business Communication

A purchase officer sends a request: 'Please send 200 units of item X.' She forgets to mention the delivery address, price terms and required date, so the supplier must write back with queries. Which principle of effective communication was violated?

The principle violated is completeness. A complete message gives the receiver every fact needed to act, such as address, price terms and date. Leaving these out forced the supplier to ask follow-up questions, causing delay and extra communication, even though the message was short.

  1. AConciseness
  2. BCompletenessCorrect
  3. CCourtesy
  4. DConsideration of tone

Explanation

A complete message carries all facts the receiver needs to act without further enquiry. Omitting address, price terms and date forced a follow-up. Conciseness is about avoiding wordiness, and a short message is not faulty for brevity alone, so it is not the violated principle here.

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