A memorandum conundrum [professional communication]

Professional communication has manifestations particular to the type of organization in which it originates. Cutting across organization type, however, is the universally employed inter/intraoffice memorandum. The criteria by which a memo author selects individuals for inclusion on the ancillary, or cc, list are rather nebulous. It is this conundrum that the author elaborates on. He suggests that in the main the author's choices will be influenced by a task component which asks who needs to be told the information in the memorandum, whom the author needs to tell that information to, and who is privileged to know that information, as well as by a socio-emotional component deriving from the interpersonal relations between the author and potential readers.