Different forms of written
communication used in organization
•Business letters-parts of business
letters, office order, circular, notice, agenda, minutes
•Order, acceptance &
cancellation, complaint and adjustment letters
Introduction
•Letters, memos and emails are brief
pieces of communication.
•These modes of communication impact
the receivers in different ways.
•Learn to identify business
situations that require writing letters, memos and emails
•Acquaint yourself with different
formats of letters memos and emails
•A plan should be in order about the
message and how to execute it.
•A few terms to familiarize
with
Business Letters
Letters
A business letter is a formal document often sent from one company to another
or from a company to
its clients, employees, and stakeholders,
Business
letters are used for professional correspondence between individuals, as well.
PURPOSE OF
A BUSINESS LETTER
The
purpose for business writings is to inform readers of information you want to
get across or
possibly persuade the readers to do something.
THE 7
C 's OF BUSINESS WRITING
Make
sure to double
check the writing by following the
seven C's of business writing. The seven C's
are:
•Clear
•Concise
•Correct
•Courteous
•Conversational
•Convincing
•Complete
source: https://www.eduers.com/businessletter/
KEEPING
YOUR LETTER TO THE POINT
•The first
thing to
make
sure of,
when writing
a business plan is that you do not waste
the
reader’s time.
•How can you accomplish that will be
ask yourself two questions, "why am I writing"
and "what do I want to achieve."
•If you
are able to answer these two questions then, then you are definitely on track and you can start
writing.
•It is a
good practice
to keep your letter short and get straight to the point.
COMMON
TYPES OF BUSINESS LETTERS
The
different
types of letters are: acknowledgement, adjustment, complaint, inquiry, order,
and
response letter.
Acknowledgement letter:
•This letter
is meant to thank the reader for something they did for you in the office.
•It could
simply be saying thanks for receiving something the reader sent or maybe
thanking them for
their help with something.
•This type
of letter is not required in a business environment, but it is appreciated.
Adjustment Letter:
•This letter
should be used in response to a written complaint against someone or something.
•The purpose
of it is to inform the reader that actions are being taken against the wrong
doing as well
as it serves as a legal document acknowledging the complaint.
Complaint Letter :
•The complaint
letter is much like the adjustment letter except no wrong doing as
taken place.
•Instead,
this letter is just to let the reader know that an error as been found and
needs to be corrected
as soon as possible.
•Once again,
this letter is a legal document letting the reader know that something is being
done to
correct the problem.
Inquiry
Letter :
•An inquiry
letter is written as a request for a certain something or in response to a
request made by
someone.
•The object
of the inquiry letter is to get the object or material requested in the
letter.
Order
Letter :
•Order letters
are exactly as they sound, they are used to order material that is running low
and will
be needed soon.
•This type
of letter is commonly known as a PO (purchase order). This letter is also a
legal document
showing a transaction between a business and a
vendor.
Response
Letter:
•A response
letter is also exactly how it sounds. It is a letter written in response to
another letter received by someone.
•The objective
of this type of letter is to fulfill the request made by the person you are
writing this
letter to.
Memos
•Business memorandum/memoranda,
also called
memo or memos are specially formatted written
communications within your business.
•A memo’s
format is typically informal (but still all-business) and public.
•Memos typically
make announcements, discuss procedures, report on company activities, and
disseminate employee information.
•If you
have something confidential to communicate, don’t do it in a memo.
Point to remember
•The tone of memo
usually
is informal and friendly.
•Although you
don’t need to be curt, officious, or patronizing, a certain succinctness is
acceptable.
•Structure the
memo so that the most important information comes in the first paragraph and
that
subsequent paragraphs spell out what’s discussed in the first paragraph.
•Some people appear to think that memos
are
effective management tools.
•Although memos
are effective for direction and suggestion, criticism and praise are best given
in
person.
Source:
https://www.dummies.com/careers/business-communication/business-writing/how-to-format-a-business-memorandum/
Structure of a Memo
All
memos are structured similarly and have the
following elements:
•An
addressee: Flush
left, in capital letters, near the top of the page
•The
sender: Flush left, in caps, immediately below
the addressee
•Date: Flush
left, in caps, immediately below the sender’s name
•Subject: Flush
left, in caps, immediately below the date
•Use suitable paper for your memos —
white bond, either note size or standard to fit most desk in-baskets.
This
figure shows an example of a properly structured memo.
____________________________________________________
MEMORANDUM
DATE:
May 23, 2018
TO:
Advertising Department
FROM:
Mandy Joyne
SUBJECT:
Third- and fourth-quarter marketing ideas
____________________________________________________
After
our meeting on Tuesday, we had a chance to review your marketing suggestions
for the third and fourth quarters and would like to immediately move forward
with the "Back to School" series of advertisements.
____________________________________________________
Emails
Electronic
mail
or email is a method of exchanging messages between people using electronic devices.
There
are six
key components to structure business Email:
•Subject Line
•Greeting
•Intro/Purpose
•Detail
•Ask/Action
•Closing/Sign-off
Source:
https://www.emailoverloadsolutions.com/blog/structure-business-email
Subject Line
The subject line highlights
the importance of an Email and the key information or topics within the message.
•Make the
subject line clear, concise, and meaningful.
•It should summarize, not describe.
•Avoids one-word descriptions (e.g.,
Important, Help, or Urgent).
•Change the subject line if it is
vague, messy, or not related to the message.
•Use Subject Line
Hashtags as a way to standardize Subject Lines and provide key information
such as purpose and urgency.
•For short messages, use subject
line only message ending with “EOM”
(shorthand for "end-of-message").
•Bad Subject Line: “Re: Re: Re: Need to talk about change”.
•Good Subject Line: “Important: Project Orion Timeline
Acceleration”.
Greeting (or 'hello'):
•Use the
addressee’s name and title if it is a formal message.
•Follow institutional protocols for
the use of greetings.
•Casual business communications do
not always need a formal greeting - they can often just list the recipient
names.
The greeting makes
your first impression - ensure you identify people cordially and properly!
Intro/Purpose:
•Clearly and
concisely explain the purpose, question or issue.
•One or two sentences at most - you
will add the necessary detail below.
•Avoid Emails that span more than
one topic or request, unless they are closely related or linked.
•The Intro/Purpose provides
a summary of the issue or request. By reading the intro, the recipient
understands the context of the detail to follow.
Detail/Body
•Provides the
necessary background or supporting detail.
•Limit yourself to several bullet
points or a few, short paragraphs.
•Only provide the minimum
information needed to explain the issue or ask the question.
•Ensure you provide brief
explanation of the five key questions; What?
When? Where?
How? Why?
•If you need more then a page of
detail, consider attaching the detail in a Word document or
set a meeting to
discuss.
•When the Email has a file
attachment, ensure you refer to it in the message, what it contains,
and any
actions needed.
•Be polite, professional, and
respectful when presenting issues or asking questions.
•Avoid sarcasm, jokes, humor, or
tone that can be misinterpreted.
The Detail/Body provides
the background information about the issue or needed to help
answer the
question. If there is too much information to convey in a
page, consider if another
type of communication or even a formal meeting
is more appropriate.
Ask/Action
•Provide a
specific call for needed action.
•State the response or action you
want to receive.
•Ensure you are clear about exactly
“who”
needs to perform “what”.
•If there are deadlines, provide
the "when" prominently
to the recipients.
The Ask/Action is
one of the most important components of the Email message and where
you state
exactly what you are looking to get, from whom, and by when.
Unfortunately, it is
often omitted or not well defined.
Closing/Sign-Off/Good-bye
•Uses phrases
or words conveying respect and formality (e.g.,
“Sincerely,” “Best regards,”
“Best”).
•Include signature lines that
contain helpful contact information.
•Follow institutional protocols
for use of closings/sign-offs.
•Casual, routine business
communications often do not use formal sign-offs.
The
Sign-off is
where you provide a courteous "thank you" for assistance and provide
required contact information.
Newsletters
A newsletter is
a printed report containing news (information) of the activities of a business
(legal name; subscription business model) or an organization (institutions,
societies,
associations) that is sent by mail regularly to all its members,
customers, employees or people,
who are interested in.
•Creating a newsletter depends
on
the content
•Newsletter marketing provides an
excellent opportunity to make and maintain contact with
potential as well as
repeat customers.
• The
goal of these newsletters is first and foremost to inform people,
but many a time this
objective is ignored and they end up being misused.
•They often
contain more advertising than actual information, which leads to the recipient
finding them in spam.
• When
creating a newsletter, it’s important to develop a clear concept that maximize
readability
and user satisfaction without losing sight of the original marketing purpose.
The foundations of a successful
newsletter
•Depending on
the sector it’s being created for, a right balance of providing
information and
advertising can be
developed in a newsletter.
Keep
these
points in mind when creating a newsletter:
•Find an
appropriate and appealing layout
for your newsletter
•Ensure
a
clear and interesting structure
•Create
exciting
and informative content
•Determine
the
perfect time to send out the newsletter
•Analyze
your
readership with the help of relevant tools
Minutes
Minutes,
also known as minutes of
meeting (abbreviation MoM), protocols or, informally,
notes,
are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing.
What is the purpose of meeting minutes?
•To
capture the
essence of the meeting, including details such as:
•decisions made (motions made,
votes, etc.)
•next steps planned
•identification and tracking of
action items
•Minutes are a tangible record of
the meeting for its participants and a source of information
for members who
were unable to attend.
•In some
cases, meeting minutes can act as a reference point, for example:
•when a meeting’s outcomes impact
other collaborative activities or projects within the
organization
•minutes can serve to notify (or
remind) individuals of tasks assigned to them and/or timelines
What’s
involved with meeting minutes?
•There are essentially five steps
involved with meeting minutes:
1. Pre-planning meeting minutes:
A
well-planned meeting ensure effective
meeting minutes.
If
the
Chair and the Secretary or minutes-taker work together to ensure the agenda and
meeting are well thought out, it makes minute taking much easier.
2. Record
taking - what should be included?
•Before you
start taking notes, it’s important to understand the type of information you
need
to record at the meeting. As noted earlier, your organization may have
required content and a
specific format that you’ll need to follow, but
generally, meeting minutes usually include the
following:
•Date and time of the meeting
•Names of the meeting participants
and those unable to attend (e.g., “regrets”)
•Acceptance or
corrections/amendments to previous meeting minutes
•Decisions made about each agenda
item, for example:
•Actions
taken or agreed to be taken
•Next
steps
•Voting
outcomes – e.g., (if necessary, details regarding who made motions; who
seconded
and approved or via show of hands, etc.)
•Motions
taken or rejected
•Items
to be held over
•New
business
•Next
meeting date and time
The
Minutes Writing Process
•Once the
meeting is over, it’s time to pull together your notes and write the minutes.
Here
are some tips that might help:
•Try to write the minutes as soon
after the meeting as possible while everything is fresh in
your mind.
•Review your outline and if
necessary, add additional notes or clarify points raised. Also
check to ensure
all decisions, actions and motions are clearly noted.
•Check for sufficient detail: For
Board of Director’s minutes, an
Association Trends
article (by lawyers Jefferson C. Glassie
and Dorothy Deng) suggests the following for Board
minutes:
•include a short statement of each action
taken by the board and a brief explanation of the
rationale for the decision
•when there is extensive deliberation
before passing a motion, summarize the major
arguments
Distributing
or Sharing Meeting Minutes
•As the
official “minutes-taker” or Secretary, your role may include dissemination of
the
minutes.
•However,
before you share these, be sure that the Chair has reviewed and either revised
and/or approved the minutes for circulation.
Filing/Storage
of Meeting Minutes
•Most committees
and Boards review and either approve or amend the minutes at the
beginning of
the subsequent meeting.
•Once you’ve
made any required revisions, the minutes will then need to be stored for future
reference.
•Some organizations
may store these online (e.g., in Google docs or SkyDrive) and also back
these
up on an external hard drive.
•You may
also need to print and store hard copies as well or provide these to a staff
member
or Chair for filing.
Circular
•A letter
or advertisement which is distributed to a large number of people.
•Circular
Letters
•A circular letter
is
also a kind of letter that is issued for a large number of people.
•When any information / instructions
/ guidelines are to be sent to all the branches by the head
office, circulars
are usually issued by the head office to its branches or by higher officer to
its
junior officers for compliance.
•Business Circular Letters are
issued by a business entity to its client, dealers, sub-dealers,
branch.
•Following types of information are
usually sent through business circulars.
(a)
information about change of address of registered office to its share holders
(b)
Information about special discount on deepawali
festival to dealers and sub-dealers
(c)
Information about removal from service of an employee to all its offices,
dealers and sub
dealers
(d)
Information about a policy of incentive for achieving sales targets to dealers
and sub-dealers
(e)
Any other such information relating to business
•Miscellaneous
Circulars
•Circulars issued by a society /
organization to its members are called miscellaneous circulars.
•Personal
Circulars :
•Circulars issued by a person
regarding change of his / her telephone numbers or residential
address.
Structure
Of A Circular :
•Address of the issuing agency
usually in all kinds of circulars, the address, phone no. Etc. Of
the issuing
office / agency / department is printed at the top.
•Reference is usually written at the
left side. It is different for each circular.
•Date is written at the right side.
•Subject on which the circular is
being issued is written as in simple letters.
•After subject, FOR is written that
indicates FOR WHOM the circular is being issued.
•No salutation like Dear Sir &
Dear Sirs is used in circulars. When the circular is meant to the
authorities,
the use of salutation can be done. In business circulars, usually salutation
like…
Dear Dealers, Dear Customers and Dear Valued Customers are used.
•The body
of the issuing authority… The language used should be straight, unambiguous,
formal and simple that conveys the instructions / guidelines in clear terms.
•At the last circular issuing
authority puts his signature. The designation of the circular
issuing authority
is also written below the signature. The use of subscription yours faithfully
or yours sincerely is avoided in circulars.
Source
http://www.effective-business-letters.com/Circular-Letters-1.html
Agenda
An agenda is a list of meeting
activities in the order in which they are to be taken up,
beginning with the
call to order and ending with adjournment.
7 Steps to The Perfect Meeting Agenda
•Meeting
objectives give adults a reason to meet. If there is no clear objective,
there’s no point
in meeting. This objective should outline exactly why you are
holding a meeting and what
you hope to accomplish as a result.
•Here
are 7 guidelines to walk you through how to create an effective meeting agenda:
1. Create your
meeting agenda 3 days in advance
•Follow
a
process, whether it’s sent through email or printed and distributed, make sure
everyone on your team knows what to expect.
•Sending
it
in advanced ensures that attendees have ample time to prepare or read through
any
notes they will need before the meeting and raises flags if the objective
doesn’t match their
expectations.
2. Start with
the simple details
•What
time
it should start? (end time is determined after agenda topics are set)
•Who
should be attending? (more on this in day 2)
•The
place or dial-in information for accessing the meeting
The Meeting
Objective
•Before
you
start writing an agenda what is the goal of this meeting?
•If
asked
why you are meeting, the objective should answer this in no more than 2
sentences.
•Once
that goal is established, prioritize the list of topics from most important to
least (to ensure the most important pieces get accomplished).
Time Per
Topic
•Let
the content dictate how long each topic should take.
•Don’t
fall
into the trap of over scheduling time per topic.
•ex:
Introductions (2 minutes)
•People
tend
to schedule time based on the automatic 30 minute time block in their default
calendar even if it could be done in 15 minutes or requires 45.
•Let
the
content dictate time, not the software.
Keep the
agenda to less than 5 topics
No
one
wants to spend 2 hours in a meeting.
Long
agendas
seem daunting and often don’t get read.
Include any
other pertinent information for the meeting
Ex: @Stephen will be taking meeting
minutes.
Ex2: Please read attached document on
weekly sales numbers prior to meeting.
What if
someone sends an invite with no agenda?
•Come
up with a company policy to deal with agenda-less meetings.
•A
common solution is to decline any invites that don’t include the necessary
information to have a productive meeting.
•Below
is
an example of a typical agenda with a clear purpose:
•Objective:
Determine projected sales goals for 2014.
Agenda:
1) Intro (2 minutes)
2) Review previous years sales metrics
(10 minutes)
3) Review upcoming paper lead accounts (5
minutes)
4) Set targeted goals (5 minutes)
* Please review the attached doc with
last years numbers prior to attending.
•Stephen
will
be taking notes to be sent out after meeting
Source: http://lessmeeting.com/7-steps-perfect-meeting-agenda/
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