Business documents are generally written without the use of personal pronouns, that is “I” , “you”, “we”, "they" and even "it". This is particularly the case when writing reports and contractual documents.
The main reasons why personal pronouns are avoided is the necessity to make documents completely clear in meaning. The following paragraphs provide and example of what can go wrong when personal pronouns are used.
"Machine operators have experienced difficulty in obtaining sufficient raw materials to ensure smooth production flow. Section supervisors have been asked to provide suggestions to management. They are making strenuous efforts to maintain production targets."
In the above paragraph does the "they" refer to Machine Operators or Section Supervisors? It is not possible to tell easily.
The last sentence should more properly read:
"All staff are making strenuous efforts to maintain production flows despite difficulty in obtaining sufficient raw materials".
"Machine operators must commence work at 7:00am tomorrow. Office staff commence one hour later at 8:00am. You must report on production volume by no later than one hour after the shift ends."
In the above paragraph does the "you" refer to Machine Operators, Section Supervisors or both? Whose responsibility is it to do the reporting on production volume.
The last sentence should more properly read:
" Machine operators are required to report on production volume by no later than one hour after the shift ends."
The case for avoiding personal pronouns does not seem to make sense at first. School students first learn to write using personal pronouns in primary school and old habits die very slowly. Sometimes students need a lot of convincing to make the change. However, when students are shown a well written document without any personal pronouns, the benefit becomes quite obvious.
Where there is a need for the author of a report to mention themselves, or provide their own opinion, there is a special way to do this that complies with the 3rd person rule. For example, instead of saying “ I think that . . . . ” it would be better to say “In the opinion of the author . . . .”