Professional Documents
Culture Documents
BUSINESS LETTERS
Four Key Areas
o Stationery and printing of letter-headed paper
Bad Paper = Bad Future
No envelope? Bad Future
White bond paper is okay no board paper and oslo paper
You can use colored (quality) paper neuted colors (beige, cream, nude, etc.) but not much color
More fun colors reserved in creative fields, hip/artistic fields
Philippine use: 8.5”x11”, government: A4 Paper, companies: varies
Companies invest in influence
Employees bound in convention.
Letterheaded paper, logos
Best logos are simplest one
o Presentation
Overall impact of letter
White space
Spacing
Elegance part
o Language and Tone Used
Consistent
Email: Little less formal
Business letter: never conversational, formal
o Structure of the Letter
I want to express my appreciation for the increase in sales reflected in the last quarterly report. I am pushing
for even greater effort, but I want to emphasize that I am pleased with last quarter’s results. I expect the
good work to continue; I want sales to keep increasing.
All of us needed to push even more; but with efforts like yours, last quarter’s result have please and
encouraged us. Let us keep up the good work; let’s continue increasing those sales.
I is left for inquiry letters
“May…”
o Use of Constructive instead of Destructive Tones
Destructive Tones
You failed to….
You forget to…
I don’t like…
You’ve ignored…
X did it better.
Better:
Please insert this line…
Your design would be excellent if…
Did I dictate the second line of this memo?
Would your design have been better executed if…?
Couch tones I question form that connotes the need for improvement, and guide your receiver toward the
improvement.
Choose words that focus on what is needed instead of your receiver’s failure.
o Use of sexist and sex-fair Tones
Use the plural to avoid gender-based tones
Example:
An executive knows the value of continuing education for himself and his employees.
Executive know the value continuing education for them and their employees.
o Use neutral words to denote titles and occupations.
Dentist, not LADY dentist
Manager, not MANAGERESS
Chairperson, not CHAIRWOMAN
Wait staff, not WAITRESS
o Use of Data Organization
Rapport in Communication
Message data
Word choice
Message tone
Positive Data, Negative Tone
Positive Data, Positive Tone
Salutatory Close: Respectfully yours, Sincerely yours, Truly yours, Yours truly
Enclosures (Encr):
o Encr: Birth Certificate (Original)
GSIS Enrolment
o cc (courtesy copy/carbon copy)
o bcc (blind courtesy copy)
White Spaces
o Margin: 1 inch all side
o Short letter? 1 page.
Especially for cover letter.
One strong page is enough.
o Not extendable to extend to next page if you will only use a
few lines
You can reduce font (12 11) or you can use another
font (serif, sans serif ) but do not use default don’t (Arial,
Times New Roman)
o NEVER USE COMIC SANS
Helvetica is good
o Letter too short?
Move the letter down
Follow the picture frame format
Without altering the margin, move down the content
of the letter
Letter Envelope
o White envelope, size 10 (local: 4 1/8” by 9 ½”)
o No window
o Size 10, air mail envelope (international)
Example:
Shirley Taylor (Use honorifics, if necessary)
ST International PLC (sender’s address)
Aurora House
430 Ortigas Avenue (Ortigas is special/However, convention in PH: [Town] [Area Code] [City])
1605 Pasig City
Philippines
Mr John Leong .
International Holdings Sdn Bhd
12/F Wisma Genting .
Jalan Rajah Laut .
50245 Kualu Lumpur .
West Malaysia .
Other Reminders
o Open punctuation
o Picture frame format
o Blocked/fully blocked format
o Justification
Example Email:
To:
Cc:
Subject:
[[Dear/Hi] Receiver]:
[Message: opening, introduction, context]
<space>
[Message: details]
<space>
[Message: action]
<space>
I appreciate your prompt reply.
<space>
[block]
REPORT WRITING
Read the reading!
o GOAL: there are particular aspects in effective reporting and characteristics of good report
Sample Memo Format
o Academic report: manuscript format (essay/paragraph format)
o Internal to the company
o Possible that company generate prepared memo sheets
Please note the attached list of reminders for the weekend promos at out Alabang branch throughut the month of June
2019.
For disseminate to your board members. Thank you.
CLASSIFICATION OF REPORTS
According to predominance of words (narrative report), numbers (statistical reports)
According to intervals of transmission (routine report)
o Periodic Reports: issued regularly (unit production reports), annual reports
Progress or Interim Reports:
presents status of a project or progress toward a goal
Appropriate contents include
o Status/Plan
o Problems encountered or resolved
o Progress achieved
o Requests for special assistance or additional instructions
o Special Reports: non-routine activities, requests or need
Exception Reports
Reports of malfunctions, accidents, violation of company policies or procedures, unusual behaviors of
customers and/or suppliers
Usually uses a deductive ordering.
Trip Reports
Reports based on special assignments, conferences, seminars
For evaluation of the value of the trip for the employer and employee
Not about travel details or social amenities that may have been part of the trip
Recommendation Reports
Consists primarily of recommendations, with only minimal presentation of supporting data
May be used when the receiver is already aware of the conditions warranting the recommendations
Usually accompanies an oral presentation of findings
Policy and Procedure Reports
Instruct employees or customers about expected behaviors
Policies are general guides
Procedures are specific guides
According to direction of transmission flow
o Horizontal Flow: among levels of equal authority
o Vertical Reports: superior-subordinate
o Radial Reports: cut across levels of authority, may move within or outside an organization
According to context
o Technical Reports: specialized vocabularies, information conveyed among specialists with in similar training and
experiences
o Nontechnical Reports: simpler words, for receivers with dissimilar levels of training
According to message structure
o Chronological Structure/Narrative Reports
o Logical Structure/Rhetorical: according to patterns of reasoning: induction, deduction, comparison and contrast
According to message purpose
o Informational or fact finding: no interpretation
Observational, definitive
o Analytical: examination investigation, recommendation
Formulate an issue or identify a problem
Analyze, synthesize, interpret pertinent data
Present logical conclusion
Give suggestions/recommendations
o Research Reports
Analytical reports that deal with the quest for knowledge (basic or pure knowledge) or those with parctical uses
(applied research)
According to length
o Short Report: length fewer than 3 pages
Maybe presented in letter, memo, manuscript formats
o Long Report: anything longer than 3 pages
Manuscript format, accompanied by a cover memo or letter
o Not quite a clear categorization, though (depends on company)
According to formality of structure of tone and structure
o Informal Report: personal tone, memo or letter format
o Formal Reports: memo or letter format, but are presented as self-contained documents.
Particular conventions/form
With preliminaries like title page, table of contents, executive summary
With supplementary parts: bibliography, appendix, index (ex. ADB reports)
Usually written by a committee or group of people after a fairly detailed investigation or research
Terms of Reference:
o Why is the report written
o What is requested
o By whom?
o 1 to 2 sentences
The report is accompanied per request of Mr James Joyce to solicit suggestion in preparation for the construction
of the new building.
Procedure: brief description of methods used to collect information (interviews, visits/observations, questionnaires,
surveys, etc.)
Findings: point by pint discussion of the information gathered
Conclusion: np new facts introduced here; statement of logical implication based on findings
Recommendations: (if requested) no new facts are introduced here, but suggestions for further action
Closing Section: signature, name and job title, date report was written
%Check email, no class next week, module exercise with peer review sheet