or higher-level managers and perhaps Widener herself. Audience identification requires more than merely identifying who will receive the report. After identifying the primary receiver, try to empathize with that person and identify her or his information and ego needs. If your purpose complements those needs, your writing task is relatively easy. But if your purpose contradicts the receiver's needs, your task becomes more difficult. In such a situation, before you state the main point of your report, you will have to give enough information to overcome possible objections in the receiver's mind. Consider again the Widener example. One need of the human resources director is to be well informed about all personnel issues. You may also know that the director is altruistic(that is, desires to help other); and as busy manager, the director likely prefers clear, concise, complete messages that permit immediate action without further clarification. As an effective report writer, you will satisfy all those needs by indicating clearly what you want the director to do, including all necessary information to support that request and excluding unnecessary