Southwest Airlines Professional Communications Certification Practice Exam

Memos are commonly used to achieve which two objectives?

1. Inform; Persuade

2. Request; Decline

3. Review; Approve

4. Summarize; Analyze

The correct answer is: Inform; Persuade

Memos are an essential tool in professional communication, primarily used to inform and persuade. They serve to convey important information to colleagues, management, or departments within an organization, ensuring that everyone is on the same page regarding updates, policies, or decisions. Informing is a critical function of memos, as they provide necessary details and context. In addition to informing, memos can also be persuasive. They are often used to present a case for a particular idea, project, or decision. The structure of a memo allows the writer to outline reasons and evidence in a clear and concise manner, which can help sway readers toward agreement or certain actions. This dual function makes memos a versatile tool for effective workplace communication, ensuring that messages not only relay information but also encourage recipients to take specific actions or change their views. Other choices, while they may involve certain functions of communication, do not encompass the primary objectives you'd find in the majority of memo usage. For example, while requests and declines might occur within a memo, they don’t capture the broader informational and persuasive essence that is common to memos. Similarly, review and approve or summarize and analyze may relate to specific contexts or types of documents, but they do not cover the core goals of what