Management 306

General Business Writing Information

There are various types of messages you may or will be required to send in your day-to-day business operations when you begin your career journey.  Some of those types include, but are not limited to:

· Inquiry/request and responding

· Writing instructions

· Claims and complaints

· Adjustments

· Extending goodwill

· Refusals

· Delivering bad news

Although each of these delivers a different message to your receiver, the way you put them together is oftentimes very similar in the sense that you are considering the audience, what you are writing and the tone you should select for that recipient. 

When writing on any of the above listed topics, you must determine what channels is best--e-mail, memo, letter report.  Some things to remember are e-mails are informal in nature and can be easily missed due to the sheer volume of e-mails your coworkers receive on any given day.  They are convenient to send quickly and blanket an entire organization in no time due to the ease of sending to multiple recipients at one time.  

Memos, on the other hand, in the hierarchy of business communication, are in the middle.  They are not as formal is letters, but are more formal than e-mails.  They are internal communication within an organization and serve as a permanent record for companies. 

Finally, letters are at the top of the business writing spectrum--they do a number of things for you and your company.  First, they are formal and set a professional tone for people both within and outside of your organization.  Second, unlike the other two forms of writing, they are what is sent when confidentiality is at the forefront.  A letter can only be passed around if the recipient chooses to do so.  Unlike memos and e-mails which are often shared electronically, a letter is delivered via snail mail.  The last element of a letter is its consideration.  Although you should always be thinking about audience/recipient, a letter begs for this step to be carefully considered.  If someone has taken the time to write you a letter, it typically is something that was carefully constructed and considered before being delivered (I realize this isn't always the case, but it would be if I ruled the world!  Scary thought, I know!).

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The Importance of Good Examples!

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After you have considered receiver, message and channel, one important step in the writing process, especially for business is examples.  When I ask students why they took Management 306 as opposed to all of the other 306 options available to them, I get the important answers like, "it is my major and I want to know how to write in the business world."  However, the less favorable answer I get is, "We don't have to write as much in this class."  Well, that is true in terms of length of assignments.  But business writing is a challenge for many because of detail or lack thereof. Once you strip away the format and organization, the next most important aspect of business writing is the details or examples you provide.  A well-written business document provides appropriate examples so the receiver understands specifically what happened without belaboring the point.

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Let's look at an example to illuminate my point.  If you are tasked with writing a complaint letter, remember you want to give specific examples to explain what happened and appeal to any personality type.  So, you may be asking yourself, what does she mean by this?  Well, I think people vacillate between Type A and Type B personality traits, but we all lean more toward one or the other.  Using this logic regarding personality traits, if I say I received poor customer service, a Type B person may say "Eh.  It's not that big of a deal," whereas a Type A person may say, "What happened here? We need to call a meeting to address this very serious situation."  The problem here is that poor customer service can mean anything.  And, depending on the person, we might get varying reactions.  You see, the level of detail in "poor customer service" is causing a disconnect between the writer and the audience.  Now, still thinking about personality traits, imagine I'm complaining about the service I received from your customer service representative, Brittany:

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5.     She put me on hold for over a half hour

5.     When she returned to the line, she explained that it wasn't her fault that my cell phone plan didn't include texting

5.     She ended up hanging up on me when I asked to speak with her supervisor

In this example, regardless of personality type, everyone understands what happened because I used specific details.  The details listed above are primary examples.  A primary example is describing what specifically happened.  Then to move the detail further, use secondary examples.  A secondary example, details the primary.  For example, she put me on hold for over a half hour, is a primary example.  Now, what would be a secondary example to that example?  She put me on hold for over a half hour.  This was frustrating because I was at work and had clients coming up and trying to ask me questions, but I had to gesture to them that I was on hold.  Considering your company prides itself on providing outstanding customer service, I was annoyed by this lack of care on Brittany's part.  The following items after the primary example are secondary.  When you add this detail, you help the receiver understand the situation and what you were experiencing.

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Formal Business Assignment Complaint Letter

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Formal Business Assignment Complaint Letter:

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Your first letter assignment for my class is due Thursday by noon and should adhere to the following format:

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Be in correct business letter format

9. Block paragraphing with 1" margins all the way around (with the exception of the first page which can be .5 at the top to accommodate your letterhead design)

9. Placed on the letterhead you created for this class

9. Be no more than two pages in length

9. Use appropriate and well-placed examples to illuminate your points

9. Language appropriate for your receiver

9. Be grammatically sound (please refer to the syllabus for error information and grading)

9. Select a topic that has depth to it.  If you write on a topic that only yields two short paragraphs of content before formatting, expect a failing grade

For this assignment, you are to write a formal letter that addresses one of the following:

9. Complaint or claim

9. Response to a request (workplace situation only)

9. Adjustment to a product or service (workplace situation only)

In a perfect world, I would have all of you write something school or work-related that you would actually turn in to a supervisor or instructor because it is wonderful to see your writing actually "work" for you in a real sense.  However, I understand this isn't feasible for every student.  So, that being said, if you have something you have been meaning to write either at work or personally that reflects one of the options above, please feel free to do so and turn it in to me as class work and your job to satisfy a need.  If this is not applicable to you on the job, but recently went out to eat and had a poor experience, please write a letter of complaint.  You may send it out or simply turn it in for a grade in my class.

As usual, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me but I will not edit/revise assignments sent to me via e-mail as that is the purpose of this class--to strengthen your ability to write without supervision.  I am not an editor.  I am here to teach you format, content and how to elevate your writing.  However, if you are stuck and need assistance, I am more than happy to help you.  You are always more than welcome to visit me during office hours or contact me if you are confused or lost on an assignment or a section within your writing.  Remember, you have to be able to write grammatically sound documents without the aid of my expertise--that is the essence of this course. 

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Formatting Your Letter

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In order to successfully complete this assignment, you should utilize the following format information:

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12. Use block paragraphing--no indents on the left margin and space between single-spaced paragraphs

12. Paragraph #1: identify the situation and/or faulty item. Be specific and include any relevant information to help the recipient understand (e.g.: dates, invoices, copy of your bill, etc …)

12. Paragraph #2: (this section may be more than 1 paragraph in length.  It is named 2 because of its order, not its content) explain logically, clearly and specifically what went wrong. Always use examples in the explanation

12. Paragraph #3: state what you expect the reader to do to solve the problem to your satisfaction

When you are writing a good-news based letter, the format is generally the same:

12. Use block paragraphing

12. Paragraph #1: identify the situation and why you are expressing good news.  Be specific and include any relevant information to help the recipient understand (e.g. dates, invoices, copy of your bill, etc ...)

12. Paragraph #2: (this section may be more than 1 paragraph in length.  It is named 2 because of its order, not its content) explain logically, clearly and specifically what happened and why you left satisfied--how did the person or service meet/exceed your expectations? Always use examples in the explanation

12. Paragraph #3: state why you wanted the person you are writing to know about your experience.  What are you hoping to accomplish with your letter?

For the purpose of this assignment, I want you to write a complaint, revision or problem letter.  Typically, we are better at delivering good news so it is a bigger challenge to write bad news while maintaining goodwill to your recipient.