Answer to Question 1
Answer: The active voice should dominate in business writing, as it leads to clear and lively writing. The passive voice is usually wordier and leads to a weaker style. However, there are special circumstances where the passive voice can come in handy. Stating, The deadline was missed, instead of, You missed the deadline, avoids placing blame on an individual. The passive voice deemphasizes the role of the participant, and focuses instead on the issue of the deadline itself. Saying A great new website was designed, instead of Our tech department designed a great new website, again deemphasizes the participants' role. In this case the situation is positive, and wording it in the passive voice does not single out an individual or group for praise. Depending on whether you want to focus on praising the people responsible or on drawing attention to the completed project, you could use either passive or active voice. So while the active voice is preferred in business writing, the passive voice can be useful when you don't want to assign blame, or when you want to emphasize the action instead of the actor.
Answer to Question 2
Answer: Inexperienced communicators often make the mistake of looking for content that supports their own point of view, rather than looking for content that provides a complete picture of the issue. As an ethical business communicator, you have the responsibility to provide information that al-lows your audience to make good business decisionseven if that information conflicts with your own ideas.
For example, assume you found positive information about flexible work hours from a non-profit workforce newsletter and two independent news agencies. You select information from each source to prepare a short email report intended to persuade your supervisor to adopt flexible summer hours. However, suppose you also find a source that suggests that some employees take advantage of the flexibility by arriving to work late and leaving early. If you fail to analyze and address relevant information that contradicts your point of view, you are committing an ethical error of omission. Decide how to deal with that information. Is it strong enough to make you modify your point of view? Is it weak enough that you can argue against it? Does it bring up a problem that you can solve? To be ethical, report the information, cite the source, and then argue against it or provide a solution to the problem the source raises. For example, you could suggest that the company implement a reporting process that documents employees' actual work hours. By addressing potentially negative information, you demonstrate your integrity as a business communicator as well as your ability to think critically and solve problems.
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