Clientvriendelijk Leren Schrijven; Analyse Van Een Veranderings-Proces

Many organizations use a very formal, legally coloured jargon for internal communications (insurance companies, government organisations, etc.)Problems arise when they have to communicate with laymen. The topmanagement recognizes these problems and employs communication experts in order to teach correspondents to write in a client oriented way.The correspondents take up four lines of defence:- the problems do not lie with us, but with the client,- technically it is not possible to formulate in such a way that the client understands it,- the department manager will not allow us to spend the extra time or he won't accept it,- we can't do it.In this paper I elaborate on this practical sketch, giving my views on the question in how far the lines of defence (should) hold. In addition I indicate what conclusions one can draw from this sketch as to the way in which this process of change may be conducted and what is required of the communication expert.